Are You Kidding Me?

Let me start off by saying how awesome the atmosphere was at Target Field at the start of yesterday's playoff game against the Yankees. It was loud, it was exciting, home hankies were twirling, everyone was hanging on every pitch.



Then, when CC Sabathia hit Thome in the 2nd inning, followed by Cuddyer's homerun, Target Field went even crazier.




The Twins were definitely feeding off the energy. So great home field advantage, right?

But fast forward a few innings. In the top of the 6th, the Yankees score 4 runs to take the lead by 1--and the fans just went silent. Things perked up a little when the Twins tied it up in the bottom of the 6th, but when the Yankees scored two off Jesse Crain (!#!@!) the next inning, Target Field just went dead. And I mean dead dead. I literally turned to my mom and said, "You could hear a pin drop in here." You could even hear people cheering for the Yankees.

Oh, but it gets worse.

My reaction to all this quietness, quite obviously, was to continue to cheer. I mean--these are the Twins! This is a playoff game! We're only behind by two runs! You would think it would be acceptable--no, mandatory--to continue to cheer for your team. Apparently, the family sitting in front of me did not agree. All three of them turned around and glared at me whenever I opened my mouth. They said something to my sister. And then, their daughter did this:



SHE SHOVED A HOMER HANKY IN HER EAR. Yes. She shoved a Homer Hanky in her ear because she was so annoyed with the girl sitting behind her cheering for the Twins at a Twins playoff game. No, I was not yelling in her ear. Yes, I was loud, but frankly, it was no where near as loud as it had been just a few innings earlier, when the girl was happily waving her Hanky around as it is properly to be used.

I look at the picture, and a part of my heart just dies.

Out of the hundreds of baseball games I have gone to in my life, I could count the number I left early on one hand. And after this family continued to tell us to pipe down, last night's game became one of them. It was probably the first time I left Target Field both before the game ended and thinking "I miss the Metrodome."