Cheer for the Minnesota Twins To-Day!
We had a “free” day in Minneapolis with no events or baseball games, but our time was spent going from media appearance to media appearance. We were in studio on the Eric Perkins and Tony Fly radio show on 96.3 KTWIN in the morning. We met with Star Tribune writer Michael Rand for a story he was writing on us around lunchtime, and we met with Fox 9 sports reporter Dawn Mitchell for a TV interview that afternoon. Crazy day!
Michael Rand’s story was in the paper the next morning, which also happened to be the same day we were attending the Twins game in the afternoon. Perfect timing! We met numerous people throughout the day who said they read about us in the paper. One lady even tracked us down and gave us a $20 donation. Thanks! Here’s the Star Tribune story.
Minneapolis is a great city for biking, and Chase was our tour guide around town. We stayed at his apartment, which is a nice 4-mile bike ride from the stadium. Chase knew from experience that biking to Twins game is the best way to get to the game, and he was eager to show the team the way. So the four of them and our amazing host Deanna hopped on their bikes to ride to the game down Mississippi River Road to the Cedar Lake Trail, which runs directly to the stadium. Beautiful riding!
On the way to the game, we met up with Fox 9 videographer Vince to get some footage of us for the story they were going to run. He filmed some of us riding past the library on Nicolett Ave, and he booked it to the stadium to get more footage of us riding up to the main entrance. It was great working with Vince! You can tell he loves his job!
Outside Gate 34 of the stadium there is an awesome plaza with statues of former Twins greats Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew, and Kent Hrbek. We asked a couple of Twins fans to take our picture in front of this iconic gate, when suddenly Vince and his camera appeared behind them, and a reporter with a camera popped up next to that. The poor people didn’t know what was going on, but it was funny. We told them what we were doing and they thought it was cool. The reporter with a camera was Fox Sports North writer Tyler Mason who did a great story on us for the Fox Sports North website found here. We chatted with him right there in front of the gate.
Target Field is in its third season, and it is one of the best in baseball. Twins fans invested in the team a few years ago, and this stadium is a great reward for them. Although the product on the field hasn’t been what fans expect the past few years, they still care about the team A LOT. This Thursday day game was still very full with engaged fans all wearing Joe Mauer jerseys.
The concourse is very wide and easy to walk around the entire stadium. Standing room only seats are great at Target Field because the field is visible from the concourse no matter where you are. The stadium itself is literally dropped into a small parcel of the city and it mushrooms over it. The right field seats are over a highway and directly next to a parking garage. Train tracks and a bike path go beneath the third base line side of the stadium. Commuter rail and light rail stop directly next to the stadium, making Target Field one of the most accessible stadiums we’ve been to. The view from our seats on the third base side was of the beautiful Minneapolis skyline of the IDS Tower and Capella Tower.
Star Tribune writer Michael Rand walked over from his office to meet us at the stadium. He is a great guy to chat with! He also walked around a bit with us to meet with the Fox Sports North girls. That’s right! We met two of the Fox Sports North girls, Kaylin and Angie. We hung out with them for awhile, and learned what it takes to become an FSN girl. We’d make for great FSN boys, right? Nice to meet you, ladies!
Michael left to get back to work after a few innings, and we walked around enjoying the stadium and our company. B4B supporters Emily, Carolyn, Brenda, and Chase’s girlfriend Deanna all joined us at the game. We had a blast with our Minnesota posse during the game. Thanks for skipping out on work to come watch some day baseball with us!
The Twins started the game with 2 runs in the first inning and held the Orioles at check for most of the game. With the score 3-1 going into the 7th inning, the Orioles scored one in the 7th on a throwing error by Trevor Plouffe. The Orioles came back in the 8th with a Mark Reynolds 2-run single off of Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak to pull ahead for good. Jim Johnson retired the Twins 1-2-3 in the 9th inning for his 28th save.
The game didn’t turn out how we hoped it would, but we had a great time watching a day game in a beautiful stadium. We got back on our bikes and easily got through traffic back to the Cedar Lake trail to River Road. We will definitely miss biking through cities like this. We can’t wait to come back!
Gm 1– 4/13 @ Safeco Field – Oakland A’s @ Seattle Mariners
Oakland wins 4-0 (WP – Colon, LP – Hernandez)
Gm 2 – 4/24 @ O.Co Stadium – Chicago White Sox @ Oakland A’s
Oakland wins 2-0 (WP – Milone, LP – Floyd, SV – Balfour)
Gm 3 – 4/27 @ AT&T Park – San Diego Padres @ San Francisco Giants
San Diego wins 5-3 (WP – Luebke, LP – Hacker, SV – Street)
Gm 4 – 5/3 @ Angels Stadium – Toronto Blue Jays @ LA Angels of Anaheim
Toronto wins 5-0 (WP – Morrow, LP – Haren)
Gm 5 – 5/7 @ Dodger Stadium – SF Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodgers win 9-1 (WP – Lilly, LP – Zito)
Gm 6 – 5/8 @ Petco Park – Colorado Rockies @ San Diego Padres
Padres win 3-1 (WP – Suppan, LP – White, SV – Thayer)
Gm 7 – 5/12 @ Chase Field – San Francisco Giants @ Arizona Diamondbacks
Giants win 5-2 (WP – Cain, LP – Cahill, SV – Casilla)
Gm 8 – 5/20 @ Coors Field -Seattle Mariners @ Colorado Rockies
Mariners win 6-4 (WP – Beavan, LP – Guthrie)
Gm 9 – 5/30 @ The Ballpark in Arlington – Seattle Mariners @ Texas Rangers
Mariners win 21-8 (WP – Beavan, LP – Holland)
Gm 10 – 6/3 @ Minute Maid Park – Cincinnati Reds @ Houston Astros
Astros win 5-3 (WP Lyles, LP – Arroyo, SV – Myers)
Gm 11 – 6/15 @ Tropicana Field – Miami Marlins @ Tampa Bay Rays
Rays win 11-0 (WP – Moore, LP – Zambrano)
Gm 12 – 6/22 @ Marlins Park – Toronto Blue Jays @ Miami Marlins
Blue Jays win 12-5 (WP – Romero, LP – Sanchez)
Gm 13 – 6/30 @ Turner Field – Washington Nationals @ Atlanta Braves
Braves win 7-5 (WP – Minor, LP – Strasburg, SV – Kimbrel)
Gm 14 – 7/6 @ Busch Stadium – Miami Marlins @ St. Louis Cardinals
Marlins win 3-2 (WP – Nolasco, LP – Westbrook, SV – Bell)
Gm 15 – 7/13 @ Kauffman Stadium – Chicago White Sox @ Kansas City Royals
White Sox win 9-8 (WP – Alexrod, LP – Teaford)
Gm 16 – 7/19 @ Target Field – Baltimore Orioles @ Minnesota Twins
Orioles win 4-3 (WP – Chen, LP – Burnett, SV – J. Johnson)