Ballpark: Target Field

The Metrodome was notorious for being an awful venue to watch a baseball game. On Tuesday, June 11, I attended the Twins vs. Phillies game at the Twins new home: Target Field. I took the light rail to the Target Field stop in downtown Minneapolis. The Target Field stop kind of boxes you into Target Field and it is a little difficult to walk around the stadium. I was able to buy a ticket from a scalper for $15, which was also the cheapest price at the ticket office before fees, and entered the stadium near the light rail stop. When I exited the stadium after the game, I went through the Target Plaza gate. The Target Plaza is a cool courtyard-type area beyond right field of Target Field and enclosed by the Target Center (home of the NBA's Timberwolves) and the corporate headquarters of Target. Once outside this plaza, there are numerous newly-built bars and another light rail stop. In hindsight, I should have gotten off at that light rail stop and gone through the Target Plaza gate to enter Target Field. I can imagine this area would be hopping before big games.

Much of the brick at Target Field is limestone from Minnesota. The tan color of the stone gives the ballpark a little different feel compared to the more "retro" ballparks. The limestone is most visible in two places from the field: a wall near the left field foul pole and the "flower box" in right field. The "flower box" is a seating section that overhangs the field about 5 feet, about 25 feet off the ground. This feature is may seem odd from a baseball perspective but I think right fielders should be able to handle the challenge with a little preparation. Even though the "flower box" overhangs the playing field, it doesn't make hitting homeruns easy. The distances to the fence are moderately long to all fields and the wall is roughly 25 feet from the right field foul pole to centerfield. There are several other cool feature of Target Field: a Budweiser Rooftop with an open fireplace, a throwback structure of two cartoon twins (Minneapolis and St. Paul) shaking hands, a long vertical video board which cycles through the MLB divisional standings, a downtown view of Minneapolis, bars right behind home plate in the upperdeck, and a neat-looking club level which extends on the 2nd level from the third base dugout to above the Target Plaza.

There is not much foul ground at Target Field leaving fans close to the action. There isn't really a bad seat in the house. I did notice that the upperdeck stands in left field are a little too close to the field and you cannot see the left field fence (similar to Citizens Bank Park but not as bad). My seat was about 8 rows up on the upperdeck above first base and gave me a great view of the ballpark. Instead of keeping a scorecard, I was given a TWINGO sheet. This game was like BINGO except the spaces were filled with possible scoring plays (e.g. E-7, 6-4-3, 1B, 3B, etc.). I found this was a unique and effective way to keep me focused on the game. I also have to complement the ushers at Target Field as they were all very nice and actually enjoyed watching the game. One underrated feature of Target Field that I love is the concourses. Even though the concourses are covered, they still feel open to the city. There were a variety of food choices at Target Field and I went for an authentic Polish sausage with onions and peppers per recommendation of one of my friends who is a native Minnesotan. He also recommended a microbrew but the game was so fast that before I knew it, they were about to stop selling beer and I had just bought my souvenir pop.

In a stark difference from the White Sox game, the previous night, this game was fast and entertaining. The game was a pitching duel between Cole Hammels and PJ Walters. The Phillies got on the board first with an unearned run in the 3rd inning. The Twins came back with two runs in the bottom of the 4th with 3 straight doubles followed by a single. The game remained 2-1 with only a scattering of hits until the 8th inning. Three hits by the Phillies in the top of the inning tied the game up, but Justin Morneau came through with a big two-out RBI single to give the Twins the lead back. Glen Perkins shut the Phillies down to save the 3-2 victory. It is interesting that I have seen the Phillies play four times on the season and they have lost every time.

My take-away from Target Field is that it has upped the ante for ballparks. Since Target Field is one of the newest ballparks, it has incorporated the best features of existing ballparks. Additionally, it introduces some new features that make it distinct from all other ballparks while keeping the baseball feel.