Just a few of the many pictures I took at the stadium. More to come later!

The wonderful Minne Paul logo sign. I have to admit I was unimpressed when I heard about it and saw it on tv. It is an amazing sight, especially at night! Against the skyline it is beautiful.

More Kubel fans! Okay - not taking my shirt off for him (at least not in public) and especially when it is as chilly as it was that night. Loving the Kubel-love!

I thought this made a cool picture. It is from the outside looking up. The louvred wall and cool lights, paired with the limestone were a striking combination.

I know - you have seen this one million times, but the first time you walk up the plaza, the sight of it takes your breath away!

First Target Field game!!

I was very excited to actually make it to a game at Target Field! What a game! Saw Liriano pitch a wonderful game, Delmon made a few excellent catches, Cuddy got a homerun so I got to see Minne and Paul shake hands, and enjoy the beauty and splendor the our new magnificent home!

I take it all back... I am thrilled that they did not leave the design open for adding a roof. There is nothing like walking around in the open air concourse, seeing the sky all around you, that makes you thankful that there are not pillars built in to accommodate future retractable roof plans. Yes, there will rainy/snowy days when I will be whining that I wish there were a roof. Yes, there will be days when I whine about the cold. Yes, there will be days when I whine about the heat. I whine by nature. Heck, I was freezing at the game. But, there were places to go up to the concourse and stand under some warming lights if cold. If it is raining, again there appears to be plenty of room on the concourse to get out of the weather. And unlike TCF, you can bring in umbrellas.

So honestly, my ONLY serious complaint is that on their site they claim to have gluten-free and vegetarian food choices. I now need a gluten-free diet. If you know anything about GF you know that it is VERY hard to find foods you can eat. So I excitedly (is that a word) went to Customer Service to find out which vendors had gluten-free offerings. My answer was Caribou coffee, a beer, and the Farmers Market (fruit and veggie stand). So in other words - nothing. I was pretty disappointed. Now - it just may be that as the stadium gets going and the vendor get established they will communicate more offerings. But in the meantime, I welcome being able to bring in my own food.

Curious what you can bring into the stadium with you? I was surprised to find you can bring in food, unopened water bottles, empty refillable water bottles (although my friend did have a hard time finding a drinking fountain to fill hers), and umbrellas. I assumed they were all no-nos. Wonderful move by TF. The whole event feels so much "homier" than it ever did at the dome. The dome was like going to an institiutional event, Target Field is going to a huge tailgate party.

Bring a camera. The sights are amazing! And walking into the stadium for the first time - all I can say is WOW!!! You will walk in a stop in your tracks and stare open-mouthed.

Go Twins!!!

Off to a GREAT start!

What a fun year to be a Twins fan! I am so used to making excuses, and looking ahead to the eventual improvement as the young team finds their footing. But here we are 10 games into a new season at .700. Last year we were only 4-6 (.400).

What does the early success mean for the rest of the year? Only time will tell. We have been a team that has revelled in the underdog role. Give us a challenge and we posture and somewhere down deep find a fighting spirit. This year we may not be the underdog. Does that mean we will become apathetic or pompous? Possibly. But I doubt it. One stat I saw (that I have not verified) is that the last time we were in this position was 1987. We know what happened that year!

I believe that we have enough of a young and hungry team that will fight the entire season. But this year we also have the veterans to guide the young players on how to get through a very long season. I hate to jinx us but I really think we have a chance this year.

But no matter what, they have already made it a very fun season to watch. I am loving baseball in Minnesota this year!

Oh yeah - and WHO got the first Target Field homerun??? Way to go Jason Kubel!!!

Go Twins!!!

Game 1

Well, it was a late night last night. So what is your opinion of the first game?

It was not a great game, and at times hard to watch. But what surprised me the most was the tweets and blogs that were so unbelievably negative. It was ONE game. Had this been in the middle of a winning streak, it would have been written off as just another stinker of a game, but go you amazing WS bound Twins! It seems many are already writing the team off for the year.

I believe that the spring hype over the team with the new aquisitions and resignings may have contributed to last night's negativity. We believed for an instant that we were invincible. Watch out world, the Twins are new and improved. But we forgot that this is a game, and the best players have bad days, and moderate players can make amazing plays.

So we had a bad game. It could have been worse. We had a few good plays. We had a few disasters. Yes, we left a lot of men on base (my biggest frustration) but to leave that many on base meant we GOT that many on base.

Call it for what it was - ONE bad game.

161 to prove the nay-sayers wrong.

Still saying - GO TWINS!!!

Opening Day Tomorrow!

Dear family,

It has been fun spending time with you and getting to talk to you these last few months.

But, baseball season starts again tomorrow. Yes, I realize I have been listening and watching Spring Training games for a month, but this is the "real" season. I apologize in advance for all the screams of joy or anguish that will wake you from that nap on the couch, the nuked meals so I can concentrate on what is important (the game), the long dissertations about all things baseball which you neither understand nor care about, and all the things I will say I will do that don't get done because I wasn't really listening to you when I nodded in assent. (Actually want to get my attention? Try starting your sentences with the word Kubel.)

I will try not to scoff when you ask questions such as, "What team does Span play for?" I may not understand your lack of interest in the greatest game on Earth, but I will try to be patient with you. After all, you are my family.

I love you all! See you in November!!!

All arbitration eligible players signed

All eight arbitration eligible players have signed deals.

• Crain - 1 year $2mil
• Pavano - 1 year $7mil
• Liriano - 1 year $1.6mil
• Guerrier - 1 year $3.15mil
• Neshek - 1 year $625K
• Young - 1 year $2.6mil
• Hardy -1 year $5.1mil
• Harris - 2 year $3.2mil

Welcome back for another year, guys!

Gonna miss Redmond

Mike Redmond has signed a one year deal with the Indians. No details have yet been released. While nobody is surprised about the signing, I personally am gonna miss him on the team. Maybe not for his amazing abilities, but more for being one of those all around great guys that help make a team cohesive. His antics in the locker room are well known and publisized. Players often discuss his leadership. He seems like one of those rare genuine men who are really just little boys who LOVE the game and never grew up. It couldn't have been easy being back up to Mauer and seeing so few games. Anyone who plays sports knows that shaking off the rust after a long time on the bench is really hard. But he always came out and gave it his all with a huge smile on his face. I really hope that he comes back to Minnesota as part of the coaching staff in a few years. I wish him well!