Target Field a born winner: Impressions from the Opener
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| Nick Vlcek for City Pages |
The questions will be presented throughout the Twin Cities today with near seismic repetition: "Were you there?"
Target Field opened with aplomb on Monday as the Twins christened Major League
Baseball's newest cathedral with a 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox, improving to 6-2 on the young season. Carl Pavano pitched six solid innings of four hit ball to improve to 2-0, while Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel collected three hit apiece. Kubel's seventh inning home run (his second of the year) put the Twins ahead 5-1, while Mauer upped his average to .423. Closer Jon Rauch hurled a nine pitch ninth to earn his MLB-best fifth save in five chances.For those fortunate enough to own, inherit or scalp a ticket (I picked up mine for what proved a "cheap" $120 on the street), the Twins' return to outdoor baseball after 28 seasons indoors meshed a snapshot of a club every bit poised to return to the postseason, with the callow and/or intoxicating wonder of baseball fans primed for sunglasses and ample exploration of stimuli both foreign (sky) and familiar (booze).
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| Nick Vlcek for City Pages |
The Twins organization should be readily lauded for orchestrating a powerful pre-game ceremony. Replete with an F-16 flyover formation, an on-field gathering of Twins retired numberees (Kirby Puckett, Jr. stood in for his father), and a goose-bumping video montage -- club suits met lofty expectations of the gathering throngs, some of whom were buying scalped tickets for as much as $500 a block from the park
On a near-idyllic day where the hardball Gods warded threats of potential late-inning showers, fans' necks continually craned, cameras ubiquitously flashed and pointed fingers perennially
A palpable buzz moved through this compact space on Monday, a tangible fervor that will echo throughout the season even should the Twins fail to meet on-field expectations. When TCF Bank Stadium (like Target Field, a Populous design), opened in the fall, something of campus carnival vibed our T.C. The opening of Target Field was different: this was a communal colossus that painted our state anew and gripped Minneapolis is a rare frenzy. While it was all-too-apparent that some employed the moment as an opportunity to get sloppy drunk in mid-day (in the second inning, some crazy-sauced dude berated a nice guy donning a Red Sox cap in the seat before mine and then took issue with my own apparel) -- that's to be expected when
40,000 people get together for a good time. More importantly: the entire Twins' machine -- from front office to the players to the ticket takers -- put on an exceptional show that created a memory in the structure that will house our boys through the generations, immortally forming that question, "Were you there?"
It's gonna be a long, hot, beautiful summer.
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