Today was the Twins Home Opener – the first game in their new ballpark in downtown Minneapolis. I’m on my way to Seattle for work, so I’m going to the game and flying out from the Minneapolis airport afterwards.
The game started at 3:10, but they were opening the gates earlier than normal – at noon. I got down there about 11:40, so I had time to park at the garage right next to the stadium and walk over quickly. Tons of people were waiting to get in:
Everyone was wearing their Twins garb – usually for a Red Sox game, there’s a good 10% of the people wearing Red Sox gear – not today. In fact, this was my favorite Twins outfit – a guy I saw as a I walked in:
I walked in the right field gate and made a quick tour around the outfield to get to my seats. They were handing out opening day Homer Hankies and a certificate stating you attended the first game – just not at my gate. So I picked them up at the next gate in center field as I walked by. The Twins were taking batting practice, and it’s really rare to be able to see the home team take BP, so I settled into my seats in the hopes of catching a homer. I was sitting in Section 129 in lower left field, row 5. Here’s the view as I settled into my seat:
The Twins cranked out quite a few homers, including one hit two runs in front of me. It really made me mad for forgetting my glove. Delmon Young annihilated three balls into the upper deck over my head. Now I see why everyone thinks he has so much potential – if only he could do that when an opposing pitcher is on the mound. As the Twins wrapped up BP, the Red Sox made their way out to the field. Josh Beckett and John Lackey were playing catch right in front of the wall as the rest of the relievers were getting some sprints in. With all the noise and excitement of BP, I had missed a call from my brother Marc who was on his way over. I walked around the concourse the long way to go meet him over in the right field gate. Just after he came in, we ran into future Hall of Famer (and Twins announcer) Bert Blyleven:
We got in line at the Mill City Concession Stand (there are two) because we had heard about a Murray’s Steak Sandwich. Murray’s is a famous steak place downtown in Minneapolis, so we wanted to try that out. When we finally got through the line, they said it was a 20 minute wait for the steak, and since it was already 1:30, we ate whatever we could. I tried the walleye – I don’t usually eat walleye, but I figured I should try something a little out of the ordinary since they offered it there.
When we got back to our seats, I heard a college friend yelling down to me – my good friend Kris Nelson and his wife were at the game too. After that I got texted by a guy in my fantasy baseball league and had run into a former work colleague on my way to meet Marc.
The one downside to the lower left field seats is that you can’t see the massive scoreboard in upper left field. There were opening ceremonies set to start at 2:15, so rather than squint from our seats, we decided to head up to center field to watch the pageantry. There are some nice standing areas in the second deck in dead center field where we could watch the whole thing. Here are a couple views from center field and of the opening ceremony as they announced the rosters of each team:
The game started on time at 3:10 and we were one of the last people to get back into our seats – the bleachers were packed and we were right in the middle of our section (note to self – there are 33 seats in the bleacher row, so 19-20 are not easy to get in and out of). Boston led off with a hit (Marco Scutaro) and then he got picked off – that was good because Dustin Pedroia followed with a double. The Red Sox didn’t score and the Twins scored 2 in the bottom of the first to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. We got to see Jason Kubel hit the first ever home run in the new ballpark. I was actually talking to my friend Shelley who works for the Twins at the time. I actually kept score on the scorecard throughout the game, just so I could have that record of the first game. I picked up an extra scorecard and Homer Hanky for my friend Uggie, so he can tell people he was there.
The weather was awesome during the game. When I got out of my car at about 11:45, it was a little chilly, so I put on my Twins sweatshirt instead of my Mauer jersey. I felt good about that decision for about 30 minutes, but by the time I had sat down for BP, it was very warm. I spent the rest of the day in a T-shirt and was sweating during a good chunk of the game since we were looking right into the sun as it sat above the Twins dugout.
Here’s a little video I shot during Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
To top it all off, the Twins held on for a 5-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox with Jon Rauch getting the save and Carl Pavano the win.
All in all it was a great day – a great day for baseball, a great day for the new stadium and a great day hanging out with my brother. It also didn’t hurt that the game got over in time so I could get to my flight on time.
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