Otto von Ballpark

Thanks for sharing! I expanded on the game’s circumstances in a blog post: FLASHBACK 1986: Weather Delay in the Dome

36 years ago today, Twins fans had a frightening experience at the Metrodome. And Ron Davis hadn't even entered the game yet! It was a Saturday night in April 1986, and the stadium was unusually crowded with fans for that era, with an announced attendance of 31,996. I'd like to report that a mass of Twins faithful had shown up to support a young, exciting team building towards a World Series championship the following year, but Howard Sinker in the next morning's Star Tribune likened it to a timeshare presentation instead: 125 vacations were being awarded to fans that night. As the Twins built a 5-1 lead in front of that captive audience inside the Dome, a severe thunderstorm was happening outside. Roads were flooded and trees were downed in the metro area, but thanks to the Dome's roof, the Twins and Angels played on in comfort. That is, until Mickey Hatcher stood at the plate in the bottom of the 8th inning, when the roof began to undulate, heavy light banks to sway, and rainwater to pour on fans in several places. The next day's KARE 11 newscast likened it to "a scene from a horror movie." Caught in the turmoil were these two Chippendales dancers, apparently: Home plate umpire Ken Kaiser halted play and called the players off the field, while public address announcer Bob Casey told fans to remain calm and evacuate the upper deck. Despite the drama, fans were never in any danger, the Metrodome operations crew was quickly able to adjust the air pressure to stabilize the roof, and the game resumed after a 9 minute delay. How did it happen? Jay Weiner broke it down in the Monday April 28 Star Tribune: When play resumed, Hatcher scored Steve Lombardozzi with a sacrifice fly to extend the Twins lead to 6-1. Unfortunately, that is when the real disaster began. Frank Viola started the 9th inning by allowing a double and a home run to cut the lead to 6-3, and the Twins brought in the aforementioned Ron Davis to try for the save. Davis had begun the 1986 season with 5 scoreless appearances, but his previous outing was a five-run shellacking at the hands of this very Angels ballclub. As might be expected, Davis was greeted with a single and home run to further cut the Twins lead to 6-5, before finally recording the first out of the inning. A Reggie Jackson pinch-hit walk and another out followed, to bring the Twins within one out of victory. But eventual Rookie of the Year Wally Joyner clubbed a two-run homer to put the Angels on top 7-6, and the Twins went down in order in the bottom of the 9th to end the game. This game turned out to be the penultimate 9th inning save opportunity of Davis' career; remarkably, he was still able to be traded to the Cubs in August 1986 with a 9.08 ERA for the season. This game proved to be the final Twins weather delay at the Metrodome, according to Stew Thornley. Even after being wind-battered, the Dome further proved it was not broken by hosting the Twins and Angels again the following afternoon, although the final outcome wasn't much different: an 8-7 Angels victory, this time without the help of Ron Davis.

Twins fans experience a scary scene as a storm wreaks havoc with the Metrodome roof during a game. KARE 11 news also runs down four previous roof-related incidents at the Dome. Watch the rest of KARE 11's coverage of that storm here. Presented in partnership with TC Media Now. View full video

Here are a few things I've always wanted on the Twins official roster pages: - Shading the player rows to reflect their status -- primarily to recognize the 60-day IL guys who don't count against the 40-man limit, but if a second additional shade wasn't too intrusive, you could do one for the non-active roster guys too (minors or 10-day IL). - Total counts above each positional group would be nice. For example, if the heading said something like "Pitchers (23 + 3)" or "Pitchers (23 / 26)" to indicate that there are 23 pitchers counting against the number 40 at this time, and an additional 3 beyond that. Same for catchers, infielders, and outfielders.

Great point — that play was really all on Abreu. I think he could have done a better job blocking Anderson’s offline throw in the first place (or at least managed to keep his glove on ), but Abreu’s throw home after that was simply pointless.

Prince may be gone, and Josh Donaldson too, but there's still a place for controversy here. Temperatures are finally rising at Target Field and also in the Twins Daily forums, as the community contends with a non-contending start. Our resident shock jock @Vanimal46 proved he can still stoke the forum fires by soliciting Your Most Controversial Baseball Opinion. The result is a crowdsourced compendium of scorching hot takes that is just waiting for your input, if you haven't shared it already. At least the Twins got back in the win column Thursday, and @Linus showed some appreciation for the stars of the game: our strike-throwing de facto ace and strike-throwing fill-in centerfielder Joe Ryan and Nick Gordon. No baseball discussion can be complete without a closer controversy, and the Twins obliged by swapping a Taylor for a Tyler (among others) on the eve of opening day. @alexthegreat puts the Duffman under a microscope by asking, Tyler Duffey: Too early to panic? Perhaps early detection is the key to preventing another Colomé conflagration. Like Garfield hates Mondays, @Number3 casts aspersions on a whole calendar month by claiming April is a waste, and advises the Twins to just hang in there, baby, like the proverbial cat on a clothesline, at least until May 1st when "the real season will begin." No one is running away with the division yet, so they could be right. Finally, broadening our horizons beyond baseball, we look across the street from Target Field toward Target Center, as @Bad Loser Blog asks of the Timberwolves, How far can this team go? Even if you don't know a three-second lane violation from a fifteen-minute oil change, breaking a basketball curse could bode well for busting a baseball one too. The return of the White Sox to Minneapolis this weekend is expected to inspire more great discussions, so be sure to follow along in the forums and join in the fun and/or frustration. View full article

In what is now a rare occurrence, the Twins beat the Yankees behind the offensive and defensive contributions of centerfielder Darrell Brown (soon to play Wally Pipp to Kirby Puckett's Lou Gehrig), per this WCCO Noon Report from the following day. New acquisition Mike Smithson improves to 2-0 while Ron Davis nails down the save. Watch the full newscast here. Presented in partnership with TC Media Now. View full video

A few days ago, we got shut out with 14 strikeouts. Baby steps!

It may be that they view one multi-inning outing as less risky for Duran’s health than multiple shorter outings. Roles are fluid and the season is long, so he could still transition to a multi-inning piggyback starter role, setting up a full-fledged return to starting in 2023 even if he doesn’t get there in 2022.

The bullpen has only given up 1 lead so far, and it was really just 1 inning and Tyler Duffey. Also, the starters have pitched pretty well. Probably have to see how they stretch out before we can render much judgment on the pitching staff.

? Losing 9 to 5, what a way to making a living ?

The season is only one week old, and the Twins Daily community is already answering questions (and questioning answers) in the forums. Slumps, exes, and stats were a few of the themes this week. Has a once-exciting romance fallen into a predictable pattern of disappointment? Twins fans might feel that way about Miguel Sanó, and @beterday is seeking answers: Sano Replay Maybe you're just having trouble getting your relationship off the ground? @bighat wondered how long that might continue to apply to a (now-injured) promising young hitter: Kirilloff's cold start Do you ever read about an old flame and wonder what might have been? Now you can do the Twins baseball equivalent, thanks to @Rosterman: 2022 Season Begins! - Where Are Our EX-MINNESOTA TWINS Or maybe you feel a general ennui and despair and don't know where to begin discussing it? No-prize-winning poster @mikelink45 has you covered with handy prompts to begin your baseball therapy sessions: A guide to complaining about the Twins Not all is bad news! In the minor league forum, @stringer bell foresees our Twins cashing in prospects to bolster our chances in a pennant race this year, which prompts the question: Who Gets Dealt? Finally, @Twins_Fan_In_Texas wanted to better their knowledge of the sport and naturally turned to an intelligent, trusted source. But they were closed, so they came to the Other Baseball forum, which is always open! Advice Needed Got your own question or an answer? Please share it in the forums! View full article

Fangraphs has an international board that already lists Susana at 40+ -- that may be why BTV is pegging his median surplus value at $2.9 mil: https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/international-players/summary?sort=-1,1&type=0&pg=0&pageitems=10000000000000&q=Susana Fangraphs also listed him as the #1 international pitcher (non-NBP amateur), as did MLB Pipeline. His $1.7 mil bonus was the highest for any pitcher in the class, and ~14th highest overall, I think. If Susana was the guy, or was available on a list for the Twins to select, I don't know if I would describe this PTNBL as Wolfson and Rosenthal have done so far. He's not really a normal 40+ FV prospect. Although you are right that the Padres have been aggressive in trades.

A couple years ago, Fangraphs pegged the value of a 40 FV position player prospect at $2 mil: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/putting-a-dollar-value-on-prospects-outside-the-top-100/ That fits with Baseball Trade Values pegging Rooker at $1.9 mil in this deal. They also estimated a 40+ FV pitcher at $3 mil, and a 40 FV pitcher at $1 mil. So one way to look at it, we might just be exchanging Rooker for someone younger or a better positional fit for us.

Just to be clear, $2 mil is the recommended bonus/slot for the #35 pick but that isn't really reflective of the player's value. Fangraphs estimated the #35 pick to be worth $8.8 mil in 2019 https://blogs.fangraphs.com/an-update-on-how-to-value-draft-picks/

I wonder about the Upton side of this equation. Perhaps part of the reason he still hasn't signed (and part of the reason the Angels released him when they did) could be that he's not too eager to take on a reduced role yet Not that he's likely to get more playing time from anyone else right now, but he might not be in a hurry to sign either, especially in a new place which may or may not be a contender. He's got two young daughters, one of whom has Emanuel Syndrome, and lives in CA, with his parents back in Virginia: https://mlbbro.com/2021/05/29/justin-upton-is-proudly-and-publicly-leading-the-fight-against-emanuel-syndrome/

For those looking for no-fee second-hand tickets, I had a good experience with Tick Pick: https://www.tickpick.com/mlb/minnesota-twins-tickets/

Looks like each $4 ticket bought online had a $2 fee added, plus another $4 fee added to each order. Not sure about the per-ticket fee on the $25 ones (it appears the normal per-ticket fee is $4.25+ -- guess it was hard to charge that for a $4 ticket ). So a single ticket would have cost $10 after fees, and a single order of 4 tickets would have cost $28. Not sure if this particular promotion was also available at the Target Field box office, but that would have been a way (albeit inconvenient for most) to avoid the fees.

On Kershaw, it's also worth keeping in mind what happened to him in 2021. He was out over 2 months with an elbow injury from early July into September, and after coming back for a few games at the end of the season, got shut down again with elbow/forearm issues and missed the Dodgers postseason. This was his first competitive game back since then, so I think it's understandable why both he and his team would approach it with some caution.

That's an interesting idea, although health is kind of a subjective criteria. We've seen how it affected trades with San Fran and Boston in recent years. It's hard to imagine that could swing the PTBNL value too much, or it would be prone to manipulation.