Photos from the following Twins games can be found here:

Link: Twins vs. Tigers, May 10, 2011

Link: Twins vs. Tigers, May 11, 2011

Link: Twins vs. Blue Jays, May 13, 2011

Link: Twins vs. Blue Jays, May 14, 2011

Link: Twins vs. Blue Jays, May 15, 2011

First of all, remember what I said about Mother Nature being a Twins fan back on Opening Day? I take it all back. During the previous home stand it rained and even snowed and ultimately 2 games had to be rescheduled. During this home stand it was 50 degrees warmer for the first 2 games, but with the hot weather came a crazy storm. For the May 10th game against the Tigers all of the weather forecasts predicted a chance of rain after 11PM, which would be well after the game should end. That was far from what happened and I didn’t bring rain gear to the game. First it began to rain….

Detroit Tigers 1st baseman, Miguel Cabrera, reacts to the rain coming down during the game at Target Field on May 10, 2011.

Then it began to hail….

A photographer takes photos of the hail at Target Field on May 10, 2011.
Fans use their chairs to protect themselves as hail came down at Target Field during the game on May 10, 2011.

As the storm passed it left some eerie clouds overhead. The color of these clouds in this photo were not altered at all. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a wider shot. Since it was raining I didn’t want to change lenses on my big camera, so luckily I had my Canon S95 point-and-shoot camera along that allowed me to get this photo. To say the least the weather was very interesting that game. It ended up raining at 4 out of the 5 games with the last game, Sunday, May 15th, against the Blue Jays being the only game that had good weather.

Storm clouds hover above Target Field after a severe storm passed through on May 10, 2011.

To make matters worse, the Twins lost all 5 games of the home stand and slipped even farther into last place in the division. They lost two games against the Tigers and three games against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Twins tried to make the second game against the Tigers interesting, but unfortunately Matt Capps blew not one, but two leads in the game.

Twins outfielder Ben Revere collides into Tigers catcher Alex Avila during a play at home plate on May 11, 2011 at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN. Revere was called safe on the play, which tied the game in the 8th inning. However, the Tigers would go on to score 2 runs in the top of the 9th and hang on for the win.

The series against the Blue Jays can be summed up in one line: Jose Bautista hit 5 homeruns in the series. Below is the 2nd of the 5 from the weekend.

Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista watches his 13th homerun of the season land in the right field seats at Target Field on May 14, 2011. It was only the second time in the last 2 seasons that he has hit an opposite field homerun and both have come at Target Field. The homerun was hit off Twins reliever Jim Hoey in the 11th inning and represented the go-ahead hit. Tied at 3 in the 11th inning, the Blue Jays would go on to win 9 to 3.

Bautista hit one homerun in each of the first two games and then went off for three in the last game of the series. I have photos of all 5 homeruns covered over the galleries from each game (linked at the top of this post). So it’s been hard enough dealing with the Twins losing ways, but the bad weather has made things even worse. I’m hoping that both the weather and the Twins improve soon.

The next home stand includes three games against the Mariners starting on May 23rd and three games against the Angels starting on May 27th. I plan on photographing two games from each series, so check back here frequently as I will update the Galleries page as I finish the photos from each game. I also decided to make a gallery that will have highlights of the season so far and I will update it as the season goes on. That gallery can be found here directly: 2011 Season Highlights