What a game!!!
It was an amazing come from behind win that puts us 1/2 game ahead of Chicago. The team and the fans did not give up despite being down 6-1 due to a bone head play, losing Slowey early, and going to the bullpen so early in the game yet again.
It was a game that felt like the play-offs. I have no voice left (literally), my hands hurt from applauding the entire, and I mean entire, game and I got plenty of exercise by standing probably 75% of the game. The fans were wonderful, no slobbering drunkards, no swearing, just a stadium FULL of screaming cheering baseball lovers! And best of all, no barbies asking if a RBI is a good thing. The poor little girls in front of us was not thrilled about the volume, and was covering her ears and looking a little shell shocked, but the rest of us had an amazing time.
Even after spending an hour trapped in the parking garage and not moving an inch, I still feel high.
Congrats Twins on a delivering a fun game to watch! I am back at the dome on Sunday hoping for another exciting game.
Go Twins!!!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Blackout? Are you kidding me?
So I have been fanatical about watching the games this year, DVRing any that I could not catch. Here we are at the end of the season, the three most important and exciting games of the season, and I will not be able to watch them! My family has both channels of the DVR booked and despite my efforts to find a way to schedule around them, it doesn't look at this point like I will be able to watch or tape the games. How ironic is that? I am not comfortable enough to go to a bar alone to watch. (If anyone wants to go and keep me company, you would have my undying gratitude, and a few drinks bought by yours truly!)
In my spare time I have been reading about MLB contracts. One fun thing I learned is that MLB players are actually protected by a minimum wage. For next year, a MLB player cannot be paid less than $400K. Now, admittedly that sounds low when you think about how high some of them go. But it is a big jump from the minor league minimum of $65K for next year.
The second big surprise? How many of our players are making just over minimum wage. I guess it shouldn't be too big a surprise given the experience level of our team, and the fact that our opening day 25-man payroll was just under $57 million. Take out the big salaries for the stars like Nathan, Mauer, Morneau, and the few veterans and you see that there is not much in the pot left to give.
Gotta tell you, it is exciting reading. Have a night you can't sleep? Just go read the MLB contracts.
Hope to be joining someone at the bar tonight!
Go Twins!!!
In my spare time I have been reading about MLB contracts. One fun thing I learned is that MLB players are actually protected by a minimum wage. For next year, a MLB player cannot be paid less than $400K. Now, admittedly that sounds low when you think about how high some of them go. But it is a big jump from the minor league minimum of $65K for next year.
The second big surprise? How many of our players are making just over minimum wage. I guess it shouldn't be too big a surprise given the experience level of our team, and the fact that our opening day 25-man payroll was just under $57 million. Take out the big salaries for the stars like Nathan, Mauer, Morneau, and the few veterans and you see that there is not much in the pot left to give.
Gotta tell you, it is exciting reading. Have a night you can't sleep? Just go read the MLB contracts.
Hope to be joining someone at the bar tonight!
Go Twins!!!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
What is in a name?
Interesting thought today. The rumor is that Target paid somewhere in the ballpark (hee hee) of $100 million for the naming rights to the new Twins stadium for 25 years. Questions abound as to if it is worth it. What do they get for approximately $4 million per yer? Name recognition, invaluable to retailers, especially during difficult financial times. But how do you put $4 million into perspective? How do we determine if it is worth it? To me, that is a huge amount of money. Heck, nowadays, $4 is a lot of money to my budget.
I read today that Target donates $3 million per week to local charities. $3 million per week! So I would guess that $4 million a year, given the potential name recognition increase makes it piddly in the scope of their advertising bucket. Given 81 home games, there name will get exposure at least 81 times. $50K per televised event suddenly doesn't sound so bad. Plus the fact that they get rights for a strong presence inside the stadium. Sounds bargain basement to me. Heck, a 30 second Superbowl commercial is rumored to cost $3 million.
One thing I am very pleased about is that they went with a local business that is likely to be around for a long time. When researching fields it was interesting to see how many have changed names (talk about confusing) and how many have changed multiple times. Minnesotans are not good with change, so let's hope the name lasts as long as the rights do!
One thing non-baseball friends are confused about is that this agreement in no way affects the ownership of the team, or the field. All this does is buy the name, advertising and a presence in the ballpark.
Go Twins!!!
I read today that Target donates $3 million per week to local charities. $3 million per week! So I would guess that $4 million a year, given the potential name recognition increase makes it piddly in the scope of their advertising bucket. Given 81 home games, there name will get exposure at least 81 times. $50K per televised event suddenly doesn't sound so bad. Plus the fact that they get rights for a strong presence inside the stadium. Sounds bargain basement to me. Heck, a 30 second Superbowl commercial is rumored to cost $3 million.
One thing I am very pleased about is that they went with a local business that is likely to be around for a long time. When researching fields it was interesting to see how many have changed names (talk about confusing) and how many have changed multiple times. Minnesotans are not good with change, so let's hope the name lasts as long as the rights do!
One thing non-baseball friends are confused about is that this agreement in no way affects the ownership of the team, or the field. All this does is buy the name, advertising and a presence in the ballpark.
Go Twins!!!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Target Field
Today's announcement that the new stadium will be called Target Field, and Target's plans for the area including a plaza connecting the ballpark to the Target Center, has some of my non-baseball friends discussing the new ballpark. Their main point has been that the team should have put out the extra money for the roof. All that discussion, plus my earlier blog today about the weather had me curious about retractable roofs.
There are currently five fields that have retractable roofs as far as I could find.
Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners) - Has a three panel system that is meant to be more of an umbrella, rather than an airtight climate controlled covering. This means there are some areas that can be very chilly. It takes 10 minutes for the roof to close.
Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros) - The first of the retractable roofs, it cost $65 million to build. Most of the roofs do not open to provide a 100% viewing area, but this one does. It takes 20 minutes to close but only costs $5 of electricity to open or close.
Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays) - The four section roof cost $100 million and takes 20 minutes to close. Unlike most parks, Rogers closes the roof very seldom, around four times per year.
Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks) - The two halves do not close 100% but take only five minutes to close. The stadium can be cooled 30 degrees in three hours when needed, which given Arizona's weather, is most of the season. The halves are so light that it only takes $2 in electricity to open or close them.
Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers) - The fan shaped, seven panel system cost $50 million, closes in 10 minutes and has been plagued by issues. When opened the fan still shades the first base side most of the day making it hard to grow natural grass. It also leaks (which designers say it was never meant to be 100% waterproof) and has had several expensive mechanical repairs needed.
While I agree that it would have been nice to have a retractable roof on Target Field during some games, I still think the impact of postponed games will be minimal. Listening to my friends, the rain delays might have a larger impact. Make some of the less fanatical fans wait for a game to start for a few hours, and they might not come back.
Now for my bigger question - Target gets extensive brand presence as a part of the 25 year deal. Wonder what we can expect under that umbrella?
There are currently five fields that have retractable roofs as far as I could find.
Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners) - Has a three panel system that is meant to be more of an umbrella, rather than an airtight climate controlled covering. This means there are some areas that can be very chilly. It takes 10 minutes for the roof to close.
Minute Maid Park (Houston Astros) - The first of the retractable roofs, it cost $65 million to build. Most of the roofs do not open to provide a 100% viewing area, but this one does. It takes 20 minutes to close but only costs $5 of electricity to open or close.
Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays) - The four section roof cost $100 million and takes 20 minutes to close. Unlike most parks, Rogers closes the roof very seldom, around four times per year.
Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks) - The two halves do not close 100% but take only five minutes to close. The stadium can be cooled 30 degrees in three hours when needed, which given Arizona's weather, is most of the season. The halves are so light that it only takes $2 in electricity to open or close them.
Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers) - The fan shaped, seven panel system cost $50 million, closes in 10 minutes and has been plagued by issues. When opened the fan still shades the first base side most of the day making it hard to grow natural grass. It also leaks (which designers say it was never meant to be 100% waterproof) and has had several expensive mechanical repairs needed.
While I agree that it would have been nice to have a retractable roof on Target Field during some games, I still think the impact of postponed games will be minimal. Listening to my friends, the rain delays might have a larger impact. Make some of the less fanatical fans wait for a game to start for a few hours, and they might not come back.
Now for my bigger question - Target gets extensive brand presence as a part of the 25 year deal. Wonder what we can expect under that umbrella?
More on that to come...
Go Twins!!!
???
I am very excited for outdoor baseball to begin. I am old enough to remember games in the Met, and some friends drove to Milwaukee for a game when we were in college**. Outdoor baseball IS baseball.
But the recent wash outs have posed an interesting question as teams clamoured to find an indoor arena to complete postponed series games. Given another end of season pennant race, would we move washed out games to the Metrodome? The White Sox even approached the dome but were turned away because of scheduled football games.
I heard someone say a few weeks ago that this would have been the perfect year to start outdoor baseball because the weather had been ideal. Huh? We hearty Minnesotans have selective memories apparently. (After giving birth, many moms also forget the pain that made them swear at their husbands and can be heard to say it really wasn't that bad.) Now, I am not saying it was horrible weather, but I remember game after game of my daughters' lacrosse team being cancelled due to the late departure of winter and then as storm after storm rolled through.
We will need to expect games to be postponed due to weather in Minnesota. At the beginning of the season, not a big deal. But as we have seen in the last few days, end of season delays can cause big issues.
I would be curious to see if any games are ever moved to the dome...
My first gut reaction is to wish they had pursued the retractable roof harder. But then the baseball lover kicks in and except for a few weeks at the end of the year, a few postponed games will cause no issues. I love the design of the stadium, which would have had to have been altered to accommodate the retractable roof. Besides, we Minnesotans will forget the hassles of rescheduled games and only remember enjoying a cool beer and hotdog out in the sun as our Twins headed full steam for the World Series!
**(I have always loved Paul Molitor since one of the guys that we went with to that Brewers game had the same name. So of course, every time the Brewer's Paul Molitor had a good play, we congratulated our version. Did I mention there was drinking involved?)
Go Twins!!!
But the recent wash outs have posed an interesting question as teams clamoured to find an indoor arena to complete postponed series games. Given another end of season pennant race, would we move washed out games to the Metrodome? The White Sox even approached the dome but were turned away because of scheduled football games.
I heard someone say a few weeks ago that this would have been the perfect year to start outdoor baseball because the weather had been ideal. Huh? We hearty Minnesotans have selective memories apparently. (After giving birth, many moms also forget the pain that made them swear at their husbands and can be heard to say it really wasn't that bad.) Now, I am not saying it was horrible weather, but I remember game after game of my daughters' lacrosse team being cancelled due to the late departure of winter and then as storm after storm rolled through.
We will need to expect games to be postponed due to weather in Minnesota. At the beginning of the season, not a big deal. But as we have seen in the last few days, end of season delays can cause big issues.
I would be curious to see if any games are ever moved to the dome...
My first gut reaction is to wish they had pursued the retractable roof harder. But then the baseball lover kicks in and except for a few weeks at the end of the year, a few postponed games will cause no issues. I love the design of the stadium, which would have had to have been altered to accommodate the retractable roof. Besides, we Minnesotans will forget the hassles of rescheduled games and only remember enjoying a cool beer and hotdog out in the sun as our Twins headed full steam for the World Series!
**(I have always loved Paul Molitor since one of the guys that we went with to that Brewers game had the same name. So of course, every time the Brewer's Paul Molitor had a good play, we congratulated our version. Did I mention there was drinking involved?)
Go Twins!!!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Game 16
Game 16 done... fun game what I saw of it. FSN did not carry the entire game. Denard Span got two homeruns, and Carlos Gomez four RBIs in the 12-2 win. Plus, it was nice to see Michael Cuddyer back after missing so much of the season. He didn't do much, but it was a baby step back. Most fun? Seeing Carlos coming back to life and starting to smile again. Keep smiling Carlos!
25 minute break till the next game. Time enough to fill and empty one of the aforementioned bar glasses!
Go Twins!!!
25 minute break till the next game. Time enough to fill and empty one of the aforementioned bar glasses!
Go Twins!!!
Nothin says lovin...
...like new Twins barware!!!Thanks to the hubby for some awesome glasses.
Better than a dozen roses
- cheaper
- last longer
- won't make you bleed if you grab them wrong (well... it is harder to do anyway)
- can't drink cranberry vodka out of a rose!
Go Twins!!!
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