Final, Twins 5-2: People always seem a bit happier in the Midwest, but they are downright ecstatic on the streets of Minneapolis after the Twins open Target Field in fine fashion.
Jon Lester struggled and Carl Pavano, who entered with a .360 BAA when facing the Red Sox, shut down Boston in what seemed like more of a one-sided affair than the score suggests.
We have a day off before John Lackey and Nick Blackburn take the mound for the second game of the series on Wednesday afternoon.
End 8th, Twins 5-2: Scott Schoeneweis does his job to send this one to the ninth, where we will see Twins closer-by-default Jon Rauch.
Rauch has converted all four of his save opportunities in place of Joe Nathan, out for the year following elbow surgery. Nathan’s last pitch in a game was thrown against Boston back in spring training.
Mid 8th, Twins 5-2: The Sox get a run back on a Dustin Pedroia sacrifice fly, but Victor Martinez kills the chance for anything more when he grounds into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Martinez has grounded into four double plays this year. The rest of the team has hit into a total of three.
End 7th, Twins 5-1: The first home run in Target Field history goes to Jason Kubel, who takes Scott Atchison deep to right. Other than that, Atchison has a pretty solid two innings for the Sox.
Mid 7th, Twins 4-1: With his second strikeout of the game to open the seventh, David Ortiz takes over the American League lead with 11 on the season.
J.D. Drew is not that far behind him. His ninth of the year is the second out.
Minnesota’s bullpen entered Monday with an American League-leading 1.45 ERA. Brian Duensing worked the seventh.
End 6th, Twins 4-1: The Red Sox entered Monday tied with the Yankees for having allowed the most stolen bases in the majors with nine. Add three to Boston’s ugly MLB-leading total.
Denard Span is the latest to take advantage of Victor Martinez, whose throws have sailed high repeatedly this year.
Span gets to third with one out on a ground ball before the Sox get a nice boost from Scott Atchison, who strikes out Joe Mauer in a prime RBI scenario.
Mid 6th, Twins 4-1: Remember what I said about the baseball gods? Carl Pavano makes the decision to play a comebacker with his bare hand and it somehow glances directly into his glove.
Pavano was checked out by the trainers and threw a few practice pitches before resuming. No issues. He gets Kevin Youkilis to ground to second to end the sixth.
That’s eight in a row retired by the former Red Sox product.
End 5th, Twins 4-1: Jon Lester survives a jam in the fifth but that should do it for the lefty, who worked from behind all day. He is up to 107 pitches.
Scott Atchison was warming in the Red Sox bullpen.
Mid 5th, Twins 4-1: After a delay to review Mike Cameron’s near-home run, Carl Pavano strikes him out. He then whiffs Jeremy Hermida and gets Marco Scutaro on a fly to center.
Pavano is cruising along, although he can thank center fielder Denard Span, who has chased down five line drives or fly balls with ease.
Torii Hunter had the highlights at the Metrodome. Span is the man in Target Field.
5:50 p.m.: A Mike Cameron drive that was initially ruled foul is being reviewed to see if it was a home run. To my eyes it is a foul ball.
End 4th, Twins 4-1: You have to figure the baseball gods were going to do something to help out the Twins on this day. A comebacker off the bat of Joe Mauer somehow misses Jon Lester’s glove and then bounces off second base with shortstop Marco Scutaro in prime position to play it.
It results in an RBI single for Mauer.
Lester has given up seven hits and three walks in four frames. He has thrown 93 pitches.
Mid 4th, Twins 3-1: David Ortiz finally breaks out by taking Carl Pavano to the wall in left for a double. A better left fielder than Delmon Young might’ve caught it, but it goes into the books as Ortiz’s third hit of the year, driving in Kevin Youkilis.
It became clear on Youkilis’s one-out double that very few Sox fans were able to get their hands on a ticket for the Target Field opener. We didn’t hear one single “Yooooouk”. There were a few fans saying Uff Da, a common “curse” in my house when something goes bad.
End 3rd, Twins 3-0: That’s a little more like it. Jon Lester does allow a single but otherwise is in control of the Twins in the third. He strikes out J.J. Hardy to end it.
When does it start snowing?
Mid 3rd, Twins 3-0: Mike Cameron is now 1-for-14 with five strikeouts in his career against Carl Pavano.
Pavano whiffs Cameron in the third, later working around a walk to retire the side.
There seems to be a ton of room in the alleys at this place. The dimensions do not suggest anything too crazy, but a few drives off Red Sox bats have hung up there a long time and were tracked down by the speedy Denard Span.
End 2nd, Twins 3-0: More issues for Jon Lester in the second. He has thrown 58 pitches and seems to be 2-0 on every single hitter. Joe Mauer lines an RBI double to left for the lone run in the second.
The Red Sox are 1-of-10 in throwing out runners after Nick Punto takes second on Lester and Victor Martinez.
Martinez has been behind the plate for nine of the 10 attempts. The one runner the Sox have nailed was slow-footed Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano.
Punto moved to third on a groundout and scored when Mauer’s hit dunked in just fair down the line in left.
Mid 2nd, Twins 2-0: Jon Lester gets almost no time to stew over his rocky first inning. The Sox are gone in an instant in the second. David Ortiz’s fifth straight strikeout and 10th in 19 at bats started the 1-2-3 inning.
End 1st, Twins 2-0: April has been unkind to Jon Lester (2-3, 4.71 ERA in 12 career starts), as have the Twins (0-1, 5.66 ERA in four outings). His first inning in Target Field offers up more of the same as Minnesota uses two walks and three singles to push across a pair.
The first run in Target Field history comes on an RBI single by Michael Cuddyer and is scored by Denard Span. The second came on a hit by Jason Kubel that brought in Orlando Hudson. Lester also walked Delmon Young on four pitches, issuing a free pass to a hitter who entered 3-for-19 with six strikeouts against him.
Interestingly enough, the only two batters Lester retired among the first seven in the Twins lineup were Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. All others reached before J.J. Hardy grounded out to end it.
Mid 1st, 0-0: Marco Scutaro took the fourth pitch in Target Field history into center field for a leadoff single. One pitch later he was caught stealing when Twins starter Carl Pavano wheeled and fired to second to nail him streaking toward the bag.
It prompted the first argument at the park when Terry Francona leaped out of the dugout to plead for a balk on Pavano.
The out loomed large when Dustin Pedroia doubled seconds later. He stayed right there when Victor Martinez flied to center and Kevin Youkilis grounded to first to end it.
4:03 p.m.: You might be inundated with several Minnesota memories throughout this blog. Yours truly married a Minnesota gal (sorry, ladies), and after years of summer and winter visits can call the state a second home.
One early memory popped into my mind during the moment of silence. We were married in St. Paul on Aug. 4, 2007, three days after the bridge collapsed out there. Our rehearsal dinner involved hot dogs and beer for 100 guests at a Twins-Indians game on the 3rd. It was the first game after the tragedy and there were some wet eyes in the house. There is a very powerful sense of community there. You could feel it then, and it’s evident today in the opening ceremonies.
I digress. Great to see some of the Twins greats out on the field here. After three first pitches we are just about set for baseball. Marco Scutaro will be the first batter in the new park’s history.
3:10 p.m.: Here is the Twins lineup card that will one day be the answer to a trivia question in a Minneapolis bar (let’s say Murray’s, where I recommend the Silver Butter Knife Steak):
Dernard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
Joe Mauer C
Justin Morneau 1B
Michael Cuddyer RF
Jason Kubel DH
Delmon Young LF
J.J. Hardy SS
Nick Punto 3B
All this talk about weather and why the Twins built an open-air stadium. It’s all hogwash. The time to avoid the outdoors in Minnesota is the heart of winter, when temperatures and conditions would make the most hardened Bostonian sob. But I’ve stepped off a plane in Minneapolis at all times of the year, and aside from those trying winter months, the weather is fine. It’s just like it is here for nine months of the year.
If they decide to extend the regular season to December there will be issues in the Twin Cities. But for now we can enjoy pleasant conditions for the opener of Target Field, which looks fantastic.
12:25 p.m.: As we await the eventual pregame ceremonies at Target Field, here are the starters for the Red Sox. As expected, Jacoby Ellsbury is on the sidelines following his shot to the ribs.
Marco Scutaro SS
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Cameron CF
Jeremy Hermida LF
The weather in Minneapolis is warm but a few storms might hit late in the afternoon or early in the evening. That’s how it looks through much of the week so it seems as if Boston’s string of good luck in terms of weather will continue.
8 a.m.: In possession of their first winning streak of the 2010 season, the Red Sox will be part of history Monday when they face the Minnesota Twins in the first regular-season game at new Target Field.
It is the opener of a three-game set at the Twins’ new home, and the Sox cannot be happier to be a part of it. They were 10-19 over the last nine years in the old Metrodome.
Jon Lester gets the historic start for Boston. He was roughed up a bit by the New York Yankees in his first start of the year Tuesday. Carl Pavano will be going for the Twins, who had a five-game winning streak snapped Sunday in Chicago.
Expect to see some of the greats in Minnesota baseball history during the pregame ceremonies. After the festivities, the first pitch will be tossed at 4:10 p.m.
