For me, the trip was all about baseball. My friends, on the other hand, had needed some coaxing before I finally persuaded them that the seven-hour drive was worth it. We ended up sharing the road with fellow Twins fans the entire way down, Highway 35 a clutter of Minnesota license plates and Twins memorabilia. We were even welcomed by a group of fans in our hotel lobby, no doubt enjoying a long happy hour before heading out to Kauffman for Friday night’s game. It was like half of the state of Minnesota had descended upon Kansas City, the other half staying in the Cities to cheer on the Vikings and our newly acquired Brett Favre.
Friday night in KC was a blur of football, baseball, and dirty martinis. Unable to watch the Twins game at our hotel, we were forced to continuously check our Blackberrys to keep up-to-date on the score while watching the Vikings play in the hotel bar. Needless to say, cheering for the Twins and Vikings in a bar full of Kansas City folk did not make us very popular but we didn’t care. Four quarters of football and ten innings of baseball and both of our teams had come out victorious. Time to celebrate!
For those of you who survived Friday night in KC, I applaud you. For those of you who felt it on Saturday morning like we did, I commiserate. One of Kansas City’s newest hot spots, the Power and Light District is like a two-story shopping center—only all of the stores are bars and restaurants. To put it simply, it’s amazing. As a college student who has survived her share of fraternity parties and spring breaks, I’ve got to say I was surprised at how Kansas City parties. Or more so the degree that they party to. Three a.m. bar close? Yes, please! The concept is great—who doesn’t love an extra hour at the bar? It just becomes a problem when you wake up the next morning and realize that you weren’t actually hit by a bus, it just feels that way.
I have to confess that it took all of us until mid-afternoon to start functioning at a minimal pace. But as we pulled into the parking lots around Kauffman Stadium, we couldn’t help but feel better. It was as if God had answered our prayers, deciding to give us this one glimpse into baseball heaven. Rows and rows of Minnesota plates, the entire lot filled with Twins fans, drinking and enjoying the sunny, 80-degree weather. Situated next to Arrowhead Stadium, the K is named after the Royals’ founding owner Ewing Kauffman and recently went under a $250 million renovation, adding in a HD scoreboard, fountain view terraces, and two very sweet bars in the outfield. Honestly, we never even made it to our seats! Instead we saddled up to one of the new bars, our stools looking right out over center field. You couldn’t have asked for better seats.
After so many years in the Metrodome, it was like staying in a five-star hotel after you had finally grown accustomed to the hard beds and stale air of an AmericInn. And even though the Twins easily won the game, you couldn’t help but get into the game. The stifling feeling that settles into the Metrodome was gone, replaced by a soft breeze and a gorgeous Missouri sunset--getting all of us excited for our own outdoor setting next year. As you know, the Twins ended up sweeping the Royals during their third series and we happily went back to Minnesota, our only wounds a result of too many Miller Lites at the Fountain Bar. It took me a full week to recover, my only regret not getting a chance to eat any BBQ while in KC.
What happened next surprised even the most devoted Twins fan. Picking up major wins against Detroit and the White Sox meant we had two intense weeks of Minnesota rally baseball ahead of us—the Twins were not quite ready for their October 4th departure from the Metrodome. Three games back with ten games to go and we were still in it! I was going to get my second chance at trying that famous Kansas City BBQ. With the Gophers on the road at Northwestern, we were free to invade the K again. So we happily packed up the Mazda and headed down 35, picking up every lucky penny we found along the way.
The trip was pretty much the same, only this time we were just as concerned with the Detroit-Chicago series as we were with our own. Finding out that Chicago had won on Friday night was like getting to open up Christmas presents a day early. I never thought I would be cheering on Ozzie Guillen, or for that matter Mr. Pierzynski. But there I was, jumping up and down in my Steve Madden’s fist pumping the air. A smooth 9 to 4 victory for the Twins and we were just two games back.
Well, you already know we didn’t take the sweep again. Greinke was solid and with nothing happening offensively for us, we had to let Sunday’s game go. It was a hard loss, especially after a great weekend of Twins baseball. The drive home was made even worse after finding out the Tigers had also lost, another missed chance at taking away one more game.
Well, you already know we didn’t take the sweep again. Greinke was solid and with nothing happening offensively for us, we had to let Sunday’s game go. It was a hard loss, especially after a great weekend of Twins baseball. The drive home was made even worse after finding out the Tigers had also lost, another missed chance at taking away one more game.
For anyone who remotely follows baseball, you know what happened next. With a rained out Monday night game, the Twins split a Tuesday double-header with the Tigers, each team taking a game on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Going into the last weekend of regulation, we were still two games back—and for one more weekend, I was a White Sox fan. With the help of some powerful hitters, Ozzie took two games from the Tigers at Comerica Park leaving the Twins to battle Cy Young contender Zack Greinke at home.
If you believe in the power of prayer, you were on bended knee during Saturday’s game. In the bottom of the eighth with the game tied at four, Michael Cuddyer hit a one-run homer to left field to pull the Twins ahead. The Royals couldn’t come up with a rebuttle and the Twins ended the series tied for first in the AL Central division race, taking powerhouse Greinke down at the same time.
In about 12 hours my beloved Minnesota Twins take on the Detroit Tigers in a one game ‘winner-take-all’ series at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Game 163, a first in league history. Everything seems to be working in our favor. A sold-out Thunder Dome. A beer-loving, fist throwing Cabrera. A Twins-Tiger record of 11-7, giving us a home-field advantage of 7 to 2. Scotty Baker. Yup, things are looking really good. But I won’t count my chickens before they hatch. I remember what it felt like last year to watch our playoff dreams slip away in a 1-0 loss to the White Sox. There were tears then and I’m sure there will be more tomorrow, win or lose. It’s just been one of those years.
Like I said, no one said being a Twins fan is easy. And I don't see that changing in the near future. But I think I'm okay with that. These past two weeks have been the most nerve-wracking, exciting weeks of my life, all thanks to the Twins. So let's go boys... it's New York or bust!
Hanging out Kauffman Stadium
Twins Win!
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