Little did I realise that I was about to witness one of the great games of the season. The Twins against New York Yankees in the first of the American League playoffs!! For those of you who have not been paying attention, the Twin Cities are St. Paul (capital of Minnesota) and Minneapolis. I am glad that we have that clear now.
Minneapolis won their division and now have to play the Yankees in a five game play-off. Marlin and I went to see the first play-off last Wednesday (6 October).
Starting at 7.37 in the evening (the .37 to allow for TV commercials), we arrived at 6.00 pm to soak up the atmosphere, walk around the new stadium, which has just completed its first season, and for Marlin to explain more of the history of the club to me. We also had time to soak up a couple of beers, but this, of course, was not the main purpose – oh no sirree.
My cricket grammar and vocabulary had to be correctly translated into baseball speak:
Batsman is a Batter
Wicket keeper is a Catcher
Bowler is a Pitcher
Three strikes and you are out. Four Balls and you walk to first base. Three Outs marks the end of the Innings.............I am really into this now.
The marathon game took nearly 4 hours. We returned home at 12.30. (As Hazel and I were getting up at 6.00 am for Marlin and Heather to take us to the airport the next morning, I had already packed).
.....and you are asking, “Well, what happened”. Oh yes. We came second. The Yankees won 6 – 4. Match report http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101007/sp_nm/us_baseball_playoffs_minnesota_2
It was a really good game, and I have no idea whether the better side won or not. I do know that I had a great time. The ground was full (about 45,000, I think). Although there is no band or cheer leaders at Baseball games, the crowd more than made up for this and the ball by ball tension is almost unbearable.
p.s. Very bad news – The Twins lost the second play-off yesterday evening 5 – 2.
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