Eight.

The last time I lived in Minnesota, the Twins were still playing in the Metrodome, which, frankly, I had a real fondness for. The seats were cheap, and on Thursday they had five dollar student ticket night and dollar hot dog night, and we used to go sit in centerfield and heckle Torii Hunter. It never rained on you because it had a roof, and also it had air conditioning and no mosquitos. AJ Pierzynski once stole my friend Justin’s peanuts when we were sitting in the first row on the Twins’ side and he was still their third string bullpen catcher. In the dark early days of the Bad Times of Orioles fandom (ie, 2002), I once saw them win a 14 inning game against the Twins. Geronimo Gil was the hero of that game; Orioles fans, you may begin weeping with joy over the Wiets if you remember when Geronimo Gil was our catcher. Good memories!

That said, I wasn’t about to miss the chance to a) see Target Field b) see Joe Mauer in the wild c) eat a hot dog in Minnesota and d) possibly kidnap Justin Verlander for my own nefarious purposes when Gorman offered to take the crew of Every Everything to a Twins game. The park is gorgeous, August in Minnesota is the perfect weather for baseball, and Joe Mauer is very, very handsome, you guys. Very handsome.

I’ve yet to see a park, old or new, that I think is as a fundamentally in its bones as beautiful, flat out beautiful, not handsome or interesting or historic or nice to watch a game in, as Camden Yards, but Target Field is damn close.

The rest of the Day 1 of Every Everything shooting, plus the rest of the ballgame photos, will be up in the morning. I’m too tired to think tonight.