Summer in The Cities

All photos of Target Field available on Flickr.

Megan and I reached another parenting milestone this past Tuesday when our daughter Molly completed her first year of school - only 18 more to go!  As any parent knows, along with that comes how the hell we are going to figure out child care for 12 weeks until school starts again.  Our first leg of our jam-packed summer kicked off the minute we picked her up from school and headed to Minnesota for 2 weeks to stay with the in-laws - and of course, to take in a couple of Twins games.

The first game of two was last Thursday.  My company's annual Twins outing happened to coincide with when we were home, so my wife and I took advantage of that.  It was great to put a human in-person face with many people I had only talked to over Zoom for the last year, if at all.  We had seats in on the third base side of the 3rd level, which may have been pretty high up but also boasted a great view of downtown, and a nice wind-tunnel effect channeling its way between the tall buildings to cool us on a warm night.  My second Twins game of the trip came yesterday with the entire family in tow, including both kids and newborn nephew.  For this game we sat in the 4th row of the 200 level directly behind home plate, which is one of my favorite places to sit in the park.  It's got one of the best views of the entire field, but it's also the upper deck so not terribly expensive.  It's also one of the sections that falls into the shade first with the setting sun during a day game, which is crucial in the Minnesota humidity, but if that is not enough there are two publicly accessible indoor bars right above that section with a great open view to the field - something that AmFam Field needs to take note of.  We spent a fair amount of time with our son in the bar area, letting him walk around and not be confined to a seat while we could still grab a beer and keep an eye on the game.  I say "bar" but it really feels more like an enclosed standing area that happens to serve drinks, just in case there is anybody reading this and judging that I would let my 1-year old crawl around in a bar.  As you can see in the headlining photo, it worked quite well and he tuckered himself out enough for us to actually pay attention for a few innings.

Target Field remains one of my favorite parks in the league, I would still say 2nd place behind PNC Park in Pittsburgh, but a close 2nd.  All of my favorite parts of the stadium remain and are even improved from when it opened in 2010 - an abundance of standing room/social spaces, a great 360° view of the field from just about every part of all levels of the concourse, an outstanding food and beer variety, a wide array of seating options, and an urban setting that is unmatched by almost every park in the league.  I'm not the type of person that remembers a detail like a food I ate twelve years ago, but I had a vivid lasting memory of the Tony Oliva Cuban Sandwich I had during our inaugural season visit and was on a mission to find the lonely stand that sold them.  I finally did on Sunday and it was even better than I remembered, especially when paired with a frosty Killebrew Root Beer.  The park is not without its flaws however, but one of the major deficiencies that has been remedied since the park opened in 2010 is the pinch point from the main entry in the right field corner.  They've pushed the gate back I would say a good 50 yards further towards the street to allow for a formal entry plaza.  It's geared as a kids area, which was also a lacking feature of the park, but it also serves as a much needed buffer zone between entering the stadium and the main concourse.  It's pretty normal to walk into a large stadium and just kind of look around and take it all in, and get your bearings a little bit, and now there is a great space to do just that and not having to worry about being in anyone's way.  This existed during my last visit here in 2019, but this was the first time we actually spent any time in the space, as the kids got their wiggles out here for 20 minutes before we headed to our seats.

The Thursday game pitted the Twins against the Yankees, and the Sunday game versus the Rays, and both unfortunately turned out to be losses.  We got to our seats just in time on Thursday to see the ABC's go 1-2-3 with homers to lead off the bottom of the 1st - Luis Arraez, Byron Buxton, and Carlos Correa.  Even a total of 5 homers off of one of the best pitchers in baseball, Gerrit Cole, was not enough to hold on for the victory, and the Yankees came back to win 10-7.  On Sunday, the Twins sent Cole Sands and his 9+ ERA to the mound to go for a sweep of the Rays, but ended up falling short in the 6-0 shutout.  This game featured a rare hitless performance from Arraez, who still leads the league with a .359 average as of this post, and most notably for me also featured an appearance by former Brewers closer and 3rd-round draft pick Tyler Thornburg.  He has faded into obscurity over the last few years dealing with a malady of arm issues that cost him a couple of seasons and a tumultuous time in Boston sandwiched in between (he was a part of the original Travis Shaw trade), and to be honest I didn't even know he was still playing.  The Twins picked him up recently after having been released by the Braves and he was called up just in time on Sunday to throw 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

These two games at Target Field really helped affirm for me the decision my wife and I made to move to the Twin Cities in a couple of years, not just because of the ballpark but just generally being in downtown Minneapolis.  "The Cities," as the locals call them, are two vibrant, eclectic urban centers with two top-notch ballparks that I cannot wait to visit on a regular basis, and it felt great to purchase a new Twins cap in the team store in preparation of my future fandom.  But not to worry, no matter how much objectively better Target Field is than American Family Field, the Brewers and their ballpark will always be #1 in my heart - particularly in those April ballgames.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 6/13/22:

Brewers 34-28, -0.5, -0.5 WC; 3 @ Mets, 3 @ Reds

Twins 35-27, +3.0; 3 @ Mariners, 3 @ Diamondbacks

2022 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 1

Peter - 8