A Bluebird Banterer in Minneapolis

Thought I'd chime in with a post on tonight's game too, Johnny's already got the recap up but wanted to add my two cents, US.

Most importantly, Carm got carded trying to get a drink. Yes, she looks too young to drink.

It seems like every time I go to a live baseball game I meet someone interesting. Tonight it was a fellow who went to every MLB ballpark, every season. He told us this was his 19th park this season, and it is only May. He writes about it for Baseball America, I'm going to get a link. Rogers Centre is not one of his favorites. Pittsburgh is his fav, with the park in San Francisco number two.

There were a couple of plays worth mentioning:

• Yunel Escobar scoring from second on the first at second base. Terrific call by Brian Butterfield to send him and Yunel, just after sliding home safe, pointed to Butter as a way of giving credit. Just a great play.
• The same inning Brett Lawrie went first to third on a wild pitch/passed ball (I didn't see the ruling). There isn't much space behind the catcher, so moving up one base on a wild pitch is a tricky thing. Brett saw that the catcher didn't know where the ball went and just flew around the bases. Great job.
• Our infield defense looks even better in person. Lawrie started a great DP in the first inning. Kelly Johnson made a nice play in the 7th, getting a tag out on the base path and then throwing to first for the second out.
• Henderson Alvarez didn't look great but still went 7 innings and only allowed the 2 runs. He made a nice grab on a ball hit up the middle too. He seemed to be spinning out of his windup on occasion. The strike zone wasn't the most consistent. We had a great view directly behind the plate.
• I don't know what the umpire was thinking on Jose Bautista's hit by pitch. And I'm almost sure he was being thrown at. The first pitch didn't miss by much, the second one was further inside. I took it for granted that the umpire figured the ball had hit Jose's bat, but maybe he had some other reason not to give him the base. Full marks for talking to the other umpires to get the call right.
• Target Field is beautiful. And they had some nice beers. I tried out a couple. They also had Newcastle Brown Ale, which would make my Jordie dad happy.

Really enjoyed the game. Maybe I was just happy to be out of the car. That was a lot of driving, but worth it for that game. But tired now, gotta find my hotel room, more baseball tomorrow. I'll wear the BBB shirt tomorrow.