After what seems like an insufferably long winter, at least by recent standards an global warming standards, and a first few weeks of spring with daytime temperatures peaking in the 40F degree range, Mother Nature proves she's a Twins fan once again by opening up the skies for some sunshine.

The game was scheduled to start around 3PM, with pre-game festivities beforehand, including opening the park at noon to let people mill about and watch on-the-field batting practice. I'm not that into most of the festivities, but knowing I'd be of no value at work, I took the day off anyway. I lingered around the house doing some undone chores, heading downtown a little after noon to meet up with the wife, who couldn't get out of a whole day's work.

I parked the Valkyrie across the street from the stadium and then wove through the Twins crowd to meet the missus at my company's downtown office. We chatted with the fellas working there, and excused ourselves to enjoy the rest of the day. We tried a couple of nearby restaurants for lunch, only to find that they were already filled with fans and downtown workers caught in the furvor.  We chuckled and then thought we should just head to the park early.

We took a stroll on the plaza, noting the new Harmon Killebrew statue, unveliled last week. We noticed nothing else really new jumping out on the plaza. Later they would be unveiling a statue honoring Tony Oliva, but it was on the other side of the park, and we wanted some lunch. After strolling the plaza, we climbed the stairs to the Legend's Club entrance and entered the park. It was a little like coming home.

We went right to our seats and took a first view of the stadium from there. The A's were on the field tossing balls around. Batting practice seemed over, and there weren't many Twins running around, so we set out to other parts of the stadium to quest some repast.

We first encountered the dessert cart. In the Legend's Club they have a cart filled with all of the carb-goodness you could want, including cupcakes, and real cakes, and tortes and creme brule. The kind attendant went over the new stuff, and then just went into the stuff improved from last year, and then the stuff that was still there but otherwise unchanged. We learned that they were going to be out from pre-game through the seventh inning, unlike last year when they were out from the third to the seventh inning. We pulled ourselves away and continued our quest.

We peeked at the restaurant in the Pucket plaza, and while filled with tasty Kramarczuk sausages, it was unchanged from last season. We stopped by the concierge and asked about new foods, and she kindly gave us a food pamphlet. She also gave us a scorecard without hesitation, just for the asking!

We'd had some issues with scorecards last year; one of the benefits of the Club is still up for debate, what the "complementary player information packet" was, and where to get it. We worked out with our rep that a fair interpretation of it would be to give scorecards to those who asked, and partway through the season last year, that's what started happening. Some of the people manning the desk last year also gave them freely, some grumbled, and others wouldn't bend.

We continued our quest past the Rod Carew plaza, where they changed their buffet to a larger selection of ala carte food. A very helpful rep was there and went through all of those selections and changes, too. They tried to bring the best of the ballpark to one place, she explained, as she made us hungrier with every bite.

We left the Legend's Club and thought to go get something at the Town Ball Tavern. A quick scan there and we found we weren't the only ones with the idea. Of course, the crowd was there for the duration, so we completed a circuit of the stadium, and returned to the Club. We made our way back to the Carew cafe, grabbing a couple cold brews on the way.  I settled on the Tony O Cuban sandwich, and she on the bacon-wrapped hot dog. Who would have imagined?

We made it back to our seats in time for the pre-game festivities, incluing a good rendition of the Star Spangled Banner culminating in an F-16 fly-over. The sky was a cloudless blue as the game got underway, and once the wind died down a little bit, the temperature was very nice.

The A's struck first, with a run scored from the game's only walk. They held the only run through a strong pitcher's duel into the eighth inning. The Twins fought back with a single, a couple sacrifices, an a couple more singles, to pull ahead 2-1. Then Joe Nathan stepped out for his first appearance in a game at Target Field, and earning his first save at the new Field.

Baseball is back, and I'm so glad to be able to take part.