Baseball is Back!

Baseball is officially back and the first home stand at Target Field is in the books. After last season’s 99 losses it’s impossible to not be a little apprehensive about what might happen this season, but there is also a little renewed hope. Opening Day always exudes that feeling of the unknown and how anything is possible with the start of a new season. For the 3rd time in as many years, the weather on Opening Day at Target Field was gorgeous despite being a little chilly with temps in the 40’s. Last season I attended 76 home games and I hope to again document as much of the season as I can. As before, I try to post photos regularly and quickly to Flickr with full galleries following on my site later. My Flickr page can be found by following the link here.

Also, if you’d like you can follow me on Twitter (@ben_c_krause) where I will post the links to new galleries.

By the way, that photo was taken with the new Nikon D800. I’m really looking forward to using that camera for more ballpark landscape photos. The resolution is just incredible and combined with the new Lightroom 4 the dynamic range possible is unbelievable. It basically eliminates the need for HDR completely for shots like the one above (note: the shot above did NOT use HDR, it is a single exposure).

It was interesting seeing the Twins open their home games with a series against the Los Angeles Angels since the Angels had made some big signings in the off-season. Most notably was Albert Pujols and his $240 million contract.

The last time Albert played in Target Field was actually before Target Field had officially opened. Then a St. Louis Cardinal, he played in two exhibition games in 2010 against the Twins prior to the start of the season as a way to give Target Field a test run.

Probably the most encouraging sign for this season is the return of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau to the regular every day lineup. Even more encouraging was seeing each of them homer during the third home game of the season against the Angels. It was only the second time Joe Mauer has officially homered at Target Field. As for Morneau, at the time of writing this he has four home runs, which matches his entire total from last season.

On April 14th during the home stand, Kent Hrbek was officially honored with a bronze statue outside Target Field prior to the game against the Texas Rangers. Of all the Twins great former players with gates to Target Field that share their jersey numbers, Hrbek was the last to get a bronze statue. So it was great to see one of the most beloved former Twins players get honored.

The last game of the Twins home stand was actually Jackie Robinson Day across Major League Baseball and every single player wore #42 for the day. Because the weather was rather dreary that day I decided to have a little fun with my photo editing, so I tried to make the photos look like old photos from baseball’s past. I was curious to know what it would look like if I took what would have been fine photos on their own ordinarily and give them a drastic new look. It’s fun to give different ideas a try every now and then.

All in all it’s exciting to see baseball back again. The world just feels right when the baseball season is going. I’m looking forward to the next six months and I can’t wait to see what happens.