Well, that sucked. I went from the best game ever to pretty much the worst game ever. Last night’s game was one of those games non-baseball fans use as an example of how “Baseball is boring.” Other than the 2 run fifth inning, Garza pitched pretty well and held the Royals at bay. Unfortunately, the Twins really couldn’t get anything going offensively the entire game. Kudos to Royals pitcher (and former Twin) Mark Redman for the shutout, but you were supposed to pitch like that when you pitched for Minnesota, not against them.
And I was inside the whole time, which brings me to my second point and rant.
Yesterday Hennepin County passed whatever it is they needed to pass to approve the sales tax that gives the new Twins stadium the green light. Great news for Minnesota baseball fans, right? Well as a Twins fan, I would think so, but today at the Great Minnesota Get Together, I discovered that there are fans who like the Dome. I was standing in line to get fair tickets when I heard the following conversation behind me:
“… I can’t believe they’re going to build a stadium without a roof. What will they do if it rains? And you know, it still snows in April so they’re going to have problems with that too. It’s all these young people… they want the outdoor stadium so they can drink their beer and take their shirts off. They don’t care about the game.”
ARE YOU &*^%$# INSANE, RANDOM FAIRGOER?!?!?!?
Now, I’ve been to six major league baseball stadiums this year, nine in the past two years. The Metrodome, despite being the stadium I grew up with, remains firmly at the bottom of my stadium rankings, even when you throw in AAA Toledo, primarily because it is indoors. It’s dull and lifeless in there, even when the crowd gets going (which it did on a few occassions last night — mostly on great defensive plays, since as I said before, there was pretty much no Twins offense). Upper deck seats, which I’ve come to enjoy at other stadiums because of the birds eye view, are even worse than the rest of the dome because you can practically reach up and touch the ceiling.
It’s an outdoor sport. It’s supposed to be played outside. You’re not supposed to be in a giant bubble where you don’t notice the sunset. When it rains, you schedule a rain date. When it snows, then I suppose you schedule a snow date. This works for every other team in the league — I don’t see why it’s not going to work for the Twins.
And I’m not even going to touch the comment about young people just wanting to take their shirts off. That’s just a whole new level of absurd.
Be upset because there’s a new tax that will cost you approximately $17 a year if you want. But don’t be upset because you think indoor baseball is better. That’s just wrong.
End rant.