On the way, we passed
Qwest CenturyLink Field which is right next door, and site of the “Immaculate Reception”
last season.
We were still a little early for the main gates to open, but The ‘Pen gates
were open so we went through those. I was a little nervous to go through security as I had read on their website you weren't supposed to bring removable camera lenses in. But thankfully it wasn't an issue at all.
The ‘Pen is a new addition in 2011 to Safeco Field. It’s right in
Center Field and Left Field, and part of it directly overlooks the home and
visitor bull pens. It’s really cool. It also features concession stands with
gourmet food not found anywhere else in the park.
We watched the Twins batting practice from Center Field.
Deduno was right in front of us catching balls. It was amazing.
Before the game started, we walked around the
stadium and
then sat in our seats in the section that was between behind home plate and the visitor's/Twins dugout.
We had such a
big lunch that neither of us were hungry. Adam stayed in the seats, and I
wandered back to The 'Pen to get my free drink coupon. On my way back, I
stopped by the Twins bullpen and watched the Long Haul Bombers hit
homeruns with softballs. This delayed the pitchers warming up in the
bullpen, and I didn't want to miss the start of the game, so I headed
back to our seats before seeing Diamond warm up. However, it was helpful
in that I knew exactly where I wanted to be on Saturday to watch Deduno
warm-up!
This is what it looks like from afar. You can see the bullpen, and then the railing right behind it where people are standing and watching. This is free to anyone at the game. It's an awesome feature.
Scott
Diamond was pitching for the Twins against "King" Felix Hernandez.
They
take King Felix really seriously out there, and have a whole section in
left field that they call "The King's Court." Everyone in that section
had on a yellow Hernandez shirt and held up a big yellow K sign
everytime he struck some one out. I wish I would have taken a photo of
it. It was really obnoxious. Thought it was brilliant marketing as those
aren't very good seats and that section was mostly empty on Saturday
afternoon (verses completely packed on Friday night).
We finally got a little hungry and decided to split a Philly Cheese-steak sandwich. It was yum!
The game was a pitching duel. Felix would have
pitched a complete game shut-out except he gave up an RBI single to
Plouffe in the 9th. Diamond actually pitched a great game and kept the
Twins in it.
Just when I was beginning to wonder if either team wanted
to win the game, the Twins scored in the 13th inning, and kept the lead
to win it. it was really exciting and we were relieved the Twins won at
least one game on the road trip! The final score ended up being 2-1.
We walked to the bus stop, and it was a short bus ride back to the hotel where we crashed.
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