just about a perfect day

i suppose some of you may have figured how i spent the last couple of days with the dodgers visiting the twins for the first time since 2014. well, if you assumed i was at target field, you were correct. 

i experienced some mild stress about this series due to the lockout and then the weather, but it all worked out fantastically. it was cold, dreary, and drizzly on tuesday night, but we still made our way in and found our seats among the other dodger faithful near the visitor's dugout.  here's a photo of the first pitch of the game - from chris archer to mookie betts

poorly framed, i admit.  i took a photo of archer pitching to the next batter, freddie freeman

it was weird to see freeman as a dodger, although i had never seen him in person as a brave.

back in 2014, the dodgers played at target field early in the season as well, and i remember the weather being very un-spring like then, too. i took a photo at one of those games of the sign on the twins' office windows out past left field, and did so again on tuesday:

not so beautiful in terms of weather. also, the retired numbers are on display. jim kaat's number will be added to the roster later this year. i always like to find jackie robinson's number at ballparks i visit and the twins make it easy. speaking of jackie, the twins recognized robinson's legacy at tuesday's game since the dodgers were in town and they will be on the road tomorrow. only the twins mascot, tc, wore number 42 though.

here's a photo of freeman on second base after hitting a double

that was leading off the top of the fourth, but he was stranded as the game remained scoreless through four innings. the dodgers scored in the top of the fifth off of josh winder who was making his big league debut (there was no topps now card, but i'll keep an eye out for a rookie debut card in update!) but the twins tied it in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a trea turner error. 

this was about when the big storms were supposed to roll in, so we made our way up to the concourse. here's freeman at bat again in the top of the 6th

shortly after freeman's at bat, we saw lightning and decided that we were not going to stay through any delay. the storms were supposed to last for a couple of hours so we took off. i got home before the game was actually delayed which was surprising, but i was happy to see that the dodgers had taken the lead before the delay. that meant that the game would most likely be completed and not suspended. i didn't want anything to affect the wednesday game because clayton kershaw was starting.

andrew heaney pitched really well on tuesday night, but when i saw that dave roberts was going to start tony gonsolin in the second game of the season and julio urias in game three, i got super excited. sure enough, a couple of days before the twins arrived in minnesota, it was announced that heaney and kershaw would start the games in the two-game set.  longtime readers might recall that i have never seen kershaw pitch in person despite my best efforts. bad luck on my part in terms of the dodger rotation and injuries to kershaw have thwarted me at every attempt i had made to date. but not this time!

wednesday was cold but not wet by the time the game began, and this time we were sitting down the first base line. here's the first pitch from chris paddack to mookie betts

paddack was a bit shaky all around, and the dodgers scored twice in the top of the first. then i got to see kershaw pitch. i assume you all know how this turned out, but please bear with me as i relive it.

twins first base coach hank conger was positioned such that my view was somewhat obstructed, but it was too cold to get up and move around. i did take a few videos though.  here's one of kershaw striking out the first batter he faced - byron buxton

conger looked like he knew it was going to be a long day.

here's a photo from the bottom of the 6th

kershaw is getting the ball back from austin barnes and is one pitch away from striking out nick gordon for his 12th k of the day and 3rd of the inning.

i was a bit surprised to see kershaw come back out for the 7th inning, but his pitch count was ridiculously low. here he is pitching to leadoff man buxton again.

buxton would be his 13th and final strikeout victim of the day. the inning ended with gio urshela hitting a ball up the middle that gavin lux was perfectly positioned to handle. he made a nice play to field the ball and i figured we had seen our good defensive play that is required in every no-hitter. i thought that it was really going to happen, even though i knew kershaw was done.

now, we will never know if it would have made a difference, but when the dodgers broke the game open in the 8th with back to back to back home runs from cody bellinger, lux, and barnes, blake treinen stopped warming up and alex vesia got up. would treinen have allowed a hit in the bottom of the 8th, just five outs away from a perfect game like vesia did to gary sanchez? the what ifs strike again!

so, i settled for a one-hitter, one of a handful i have seen in person. this was by far the most exciting and captivating pitching performance i have ever seen in person and i am really happy to have seen kershaw in one of his best starts ever.

here's the scoreboard just as the final 0 was being added to the twins' linescore

you know it's a great game when the dodgers hitting three home runs in the span of four pitches is a minor footnote.

i think the twins do still provide paper tickets - i saw a couple on tuesday night - but all i have are my digital tickets:

that's ok - i have the photos, videos, and memories, too. and eventually, i will have these topps now cards of kershaw:

and the back to back to back boys

in a few weeks. here's the back of kershaw's card

i was at the game when don sutton passed don drysdale for the all-time dodger strikeout lead, but i will fall a baker's dozen short of seeing kershaw take the title from sutton. unless i road trip somewhere in a 10 days or so....

anyway, that was a lot of good baseball in less than 24 hours, but there was more! after the wednesday dodger game, i went back to work for a couple of hours and then headed in to downtown st. paul to see the twins' triple-a team in action. it was just the third time i have ever seen the saints play, and the second time i've been to their new-ish ballpark in the state capital. this was the first time i've seen them as a twins affiliate, and we were looking forward to seeing first round pick royce lewis. in town were the indianapolis indians (they have no plans to change their name apparently), who are the pirates' triple-a team.

before the game, i noticed that there are plaques on an exterior wall of the stadium honoring st. paul's finest:

local heroes paul molitor, dave winfield, and jack morris are represented. joe mauer will most certainly get a similar plaque when/if he is inducted in cooperstown. there were a bunch of other plaques on display as part of the baseball scouts' hall of fame (not pictured). al avila was one of the names that i recognized.

we made our way in to the stadium and took our seats

not too bad. chs field is a great minor league stadium and these games are a lot of fun. by this time, however, the temps were dropping in to the 30's and my handwarmers were losing their luster.

former dodger prospect chase de jong was pitching for indianapolis - here's a 2015 bowman's best auto of de jong from my collection

he threw 7 innings of no-hit ball against lewis and the rest of the saints. unfortunately, i only saw six of them.

yes, i committed the cardinal sin and left the game during a no-hitter, leaving in the middle of the top of the 7th inning. being outside in the cold all day was wearing on me and with a trip coming up next week i wanted to avoid getting sick. i couldn't stop shivering and the heaters at chs were not as strong nor as plentiful as at target field. i did get home in time to see the requisite great defensive plays made by indianapolis to preserve the no hitter, and when the last out was recorded in the bottom of the 9th the wave of regret hit me. i have never seen a no-hitter in person beyond the high school level and i walked away from my best chance.

oh well, i feel okay about it now, and kershaw's performance is more than enough for me to remember april 13, 2022 in a positive way for the rest of my life. what a perfect day.