Short and sweet:
Mom took me to the Twins Game, great to spend a few hours with her.
I got a Cuban sandwich and Tony Oliva was at his stand. Mom got the picture:
Then to the game–a back and forth affair that our pitching staff tried very hard to give away, but Jim Thome saved with a 2-run homer to win the game:
(Photo from StarTribune)
A great night, all the way around.
See you tomorrow.
Another long weekend, and another busy weekend. But it will have its highlights.
Today was the second Twins game in 3 days for Patrick and I. Fun and enjoyable, but danged hot, really. Sure we were in the shade for the entire game, so we probably can’t complain as much as those in the full sun for the entirety of the festivities. But still, it was hot. And when the ballpark is full, and you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with other fans, it doesn’t make it any more comfortable. The only saving grace: when you buy a “collector” cup (read: plastic versus paper) for your pop, you can go back and get a free refill of ice. So Patrick and I were awash in ice cold water for the entire game.
But the game wasn’t until mid-afternoon. So prior to leaving, I did some cleaning in the kitchen, picked some raspberries from the bush beside the house and made homemade raspberry ice cream; and made some chicken fried rice for Jenni for dinner and for as long as it lasts…
After the game, home briefly and then up to a family event to watch the annual homemade fireworks show. Uh, no, the fireworks weren’t homemade…Those were still cooked up in a sweatshop in China, like all fireworks…The show was homemade…Oh, never mind. They were fireworks. Fun time. Except the bugs and the one green firework that shot past Jenni and I. But no harm, no foul.
I think there are things going on each day this weekend. We’re talking about a movie tomorrow. Then the possibility of something on Monday.
I’m waiting anxiously for Jenni to settle in her new den here so I can kind of expand my desk to her old one until I get to move into my man-cave space in the basement. She still has a few things on her old desk, and I don’t really want to be presumptuous and pack it all up and bring it down to her…That just seems a little wrong. But see…I have this vision of my computer desk on a larger space: monitors, laptops, a practical nerve center of computing power. When it’s set up I’ll snap a picture of its drool-worthy, awe-inspiring appearance.
So well, there you go. Probably more than you needed to know, but not enough detail to want to care, which is good enough for me.
See you tomorrow.
I’m back, as promised. Thursday night was AMAZING and the ballpark is truly wonderful. And I wouldn’t mind having tickets to every single game…But the night was a lot of fun, and I’ll start with the end:
Well, really it was almost the end. Last night featured the game that wouldn’t die, and this was taken right before the start of the 10th inning. Sadly the Twins lost, but it was still a good time, even though the game lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes and took 14 pitchers for both sides to give up a total of 9 runs.
So here’s how the night unfolded up until then:
Patrick worked on his “Circle me Bert” sign Wednesday night, in the hopes of actually getting circled. (For those who have no idea what that means, please accept this explanation: Bert Blyleven, former Twins Pitcher, is the analyst on the TV games, and during the game, they show fans holding the signs, and he uses the TeleStrator to circle the fan.) Here’s Patrick at the game trying his best to get circled:
The sign says “Circle Me Bert. I want to make my Twins sisters jealous!!” See? Get it? Twins? Twin sisters? Yeah, okay.
We stashed the girls with mom at the condo for a girls night, and took dad to the game (it is he who shot the first pic, FYI). We took the long, meandering walk through the skyway to the game, and exited onto the plaza outside of Gate 34. Now, one amazing note about the plaza is that you really aren’t given any real clue that it’s nothing more than a bridge over the freeway that otherwise would divide the Target Field from the rest of downtown.
Once we got to the gate, we had to make sure we had our tickets:
Tickets in hand, we made our way to the seat…Once the gates were finally opened. I’d messed up and thought the gates opened 2 hours before gametime. It turned out to be an hour-and-a-half. Oh well. But oh, how the wait was worth it:
That is actually taken from my actual seat for the game: Section 104, Row 6, seat 6. We were so close that during batting practice, I could actually hear the ball hit the grass on a hit down the right field line right in front of us. It was a straight line from me past Justin Morneau’s butt to one of our eight pitchers for the night.
What? Yeah. While I didn’t particularly care, I’m sure some people out there would have been very happy to have prime seats to watch Morneau’s backside. Here’s the basic in-game view:
Patrick planted himself at the wall in front of our section for almost all of the 90 minutes before game time. And a good thing, too: Denard Span came to the wall after doing some warmups and signed autographs for the fans, including a great signature on the brim of Patrick’s cap. That’s what he’s pointing to in the first picture.
Yes, I was in heaven. I haven’t sat this close to a major league baseball game since a pair of seats Judy got for Patrick and I that were about six rows above the Twins dugout in the dome. But before that, it hasn’t been since my primo seat right behind home plate in Milwaukee (County Stadium days) for two Twins games in 1991 or my seat just a few rows back of the Oriole dugout at Camden Yards in 1992.
Saturday, Patrick and I get to compare and contrast when we get to sit in the upper deck. I’m sure I’ll offer up more pictures then.
But the night was great, almost magical. And I know that sounds dorky and stupidly romantic about something as meaningless as a game. But there is NOTHING like sitting in a ballpark as the sun goes down for the night, and the breeze cools off, and it seems that the lights in the ballpark keep getting brighter and brighter. You’re wrapped up in the game, sure, but also the environment is what really sets it apart from any other experience: you’re sharing it with 38,000 (okay, 40,000 with the standing room tickets they’re now selling) of your temporarily closest friends. And it’s just perfect. If it rains, the game can be dismal, but when it’s a beautiful night, even a bad game has its merits. That’s one of the magic things about baseball: it’s an experience, not just a game.
What was even better, though, was that I could share a really special night with Patrick, the best baseball companion I’ve had since he was born; Jenni, who I always love to have along on outings and events; and dad, who took me to my first baseball game.
I’ll say it again: it was a brilliant, wonderful night. A few more, and certainly larger versions of the pictures are over at the Flickr site. And a few additional photos are on my Twitter page. I did (sort of) tweet during the game…Or at least up to a certain point.
So with that, here’s the payoff–the photo that may just be the best one I took all night:
Makes me happy just looking at it.
See you tomorrow.
You stand warned: I will not be blogging tomorrow night. Unless it rains. Or some other unforeseen act of God swoops down upon me during the seventh-inning stretch.
The fact is that I–and probably Patrick– will be in the grips of extreme hyper-happiness over our first chance to finally catch a game at Target Field tomorrow night. Remember: these were the tickets we won in the drawing at Sunrise last fall. And…They’re…AWESOME! Even without being there yet, I know they’re awesome, simply because we’ll only be six rows removed from the field itself. Just a decent throw away from beaning Justin Morneau as he patrols first base. I will, in short, be content.
Hell, I’ll be glowing.
So you’ll get the short end of the stick. Because baseball, and especially an opportunity to watch said game from seats as nice as these, are far more valuable to me than you readers are. Well, wait. Maybe that didn’t come out quite right. Let me read that for a sec…Nope. I got it right the first time. I’d rather watch the game than blog to you people about it.
It’s all about priorities, right?
Sure, you’ll get the photoblog update Friday night, after I’ve had the opportunity to go through the pictures and just soak them in. I might even give you the edited highlights of the evening.
But, as they say in infomercials: “But wait! There’s more!”
Saturday afternoon, Patrick and I get to reprise the visit. No, not to the same seats. These will be in the upper deck down the right-field line, but still…Baseball+new ballpark+outdoors+me and Patrick=happy time. The weekend’s posts will practically write themselves!
So now you know. My preemptive warning to you has been issued. Perhaps I’ll get really nerdy and tweet from the game…Who knows? (Go to my Twitter feed, just in case.)
Stay tuned!
See you Friday night/Saturday morning!
So the easy topic would be the baseball game today. It’s hard to not be excited about it all–the new ballpark; a hot, very good team. And the baseball fan in me loves it. But the cynic in me is waiting for the fair weather fans (pun perhaps intended) to lost interest.
Minnesota baseball fans fall into two categories: the die hards, who’ve suffered for almost all fifty of the seasons they’ve been here; the other is the ones who jump on and off the bandwagon as the team ebbs and flows.
There weren’t 38,000 regular fans at the dome last year. But there will be this year. And I hope they stick with it for years to come. Sure, the quality of the product on the field is the important thing–everyone wants to see a winner–but this season, it’s perhaps as much for the facility as for the team. At least I hope so.
For today, though, it was magic–the whole town was buzzing. The lucky few who got into the ballpark for the game will historically be joined by probably three times as many years from now who will say they were there opening day. But such is the lore. And so be it. If they look back at this season, this team, and say “I saw them,” it’ll be a good thing.
I know, I’m laying it on thick here, and many of you don’t see the wistful romanticism in baseball that I do, but that’s what makes baseball so much better than other sports: Baseball is about memories: memories of players, experiences, time spent with friends or family at the ballpark. Wins and losses fall into a blur, and only the remarkable games will stand out, but the players and maybe a few individual plays will stick forever.
I remember my first Twins game, ages ago: so long ago, I don’t remember the year, though I want to say it was ‘76. Dad and a friend of his took me and the friend’s nephew to a game at Met Stadium. Even better: we were playing the hated Yankees. Our seats were down the first base line, toward the top of the lower level, but not far enough back to be under the overhang of the upper deck. I have no idea who won–don’t care, really. But I do remember sitting with dad as he pointed out some of the finer points of the game prep: Butch Wynegar, the catcher, playing pepper against the netting behind home plate; a very young Roy Smalley (who according to the Google joined the Twins in ‘76 in a trade with Texas) taking some extra infield; and another player (who I don’t remember) practicing bunts seemingly endlessly.
I remember the first home opener I went to with Patrick–seven years ago, the first of five consecutive home openers he and I went to. Sure, the six-year-old was more infatuated with the popcorn than the baseball, but he understood the basics and yelled like crazy for the Twins, regardless of how they were doing. The thing is, he still does that…And I love it about him.
Sure, this being the first “real” game in the ballpark, the record books will reflect the fact that the first hit was by Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox; the first home run by Jason Kubel; the first win by the Twins. But next year, we won’t care any more. It isn’t important: Baseball marches on and a new season is all new for everyone. Including the fans as they fill up on more memories made at the ballpark.
For now, for this season, the Twins–an extraordinarily great team–are 6-2. They’ve got a gorgeous new ballpark. And will almost certainly fill up all 38,000+ seats every game. And that’s great for baseball and for fans and families. That’s what the game is about.
See you tomorrow.