It's Jackie Robinson Day all over baseball. Here in Minnesota, it's also one of those Metrodome Appreciation Nights we have every year, where we bundle up and wonder why anyone would play baseball in weather this cold.
The Twins knew they were a little lucky last week, when the season-opening series with Oakland took place in 60-degree, and even 70-degree, temperatures. But just like last season, the mid-month games are running into some winter weather. It's 34 degrees at Target Field right now, and might drop into the 20s before tonight's game is over. The Twins took an abbreviated session of batting practice, but the Blue Jays chose to stick to the indoor batting cages.
Joe Mauer -- one of the few Twins players whose vanity doesn't prevent him from wearing a baseball cap with ear flaps -- said it's just part of being in the Twins' system, because every level has games like this one in April. The coldest game he's ever been a part of, he said, was in Beloit, Wis., when he was playing for Quad Cities. "Twenty-five degrees at the start, wind whipping from the outfield, nobody in the stands," he said. "But we played."
And he'll play tonight, too. Here are the lineups for the Twins' frigid series opener against the Blue Jays:
BLUE JAYS
Cabrera LF
Kawasaki 2B
Bautista CF
