Video (02:43) : CineSport's Brian Clark asks the Star Tribune's Phil Miller if the Twins' scoring output from the weekend can continue, and what the team plans to do with its rotation this week.
The Twins are coming home for a brief two-game set against San Diego before hitting the road again. But many eyes will be on the grass at Target Field and how it survived the Paul McCartney concert on Saturday night.
About 39,000 fans attended the event, with many allowed on the field to listen to the pop icon.
Add to that an elaborate stage arrangement, and the field is expected to show signs of stress when the Twins and Padres take the field Tuesday night.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said they have seen how the grass has been beaten up by past concerts.
“They’ve got a lot of extra grass they’ll have to put in,” Gardenhire said. “It tears up the grass. And there were some bad spots last time. They had to do some work. It’s not pretty after a concert, but the way our guys handle it, it’s pretty good. They do a hell of a job.
“It’s going to be interesting, because we’re coming back for a two-game series. and I’m sure you’ll notice it. You’ll see a lot of patches. There’s no way around it, you’ve got all that heavy equipment going on, people out on the field walking around, poppy seeds growing in the outfield, if that’s what you want to call it. It’s entertaining.”
Twins General Manager Terry Ryan on Monday said that the field will be playable on Tuesday. Head groundskeeper Larry DeVito and his crew were all over the field as soon as the stage was removed.
“They replaced sod in center field where the stage was set up,” Ryan said. “Other than that, the field held up well. The infield grass and dirt weren’t affected at all. Larry and his staff have been at it all day.”
Offensive surge
After scoring 32 runs in three games against the White Sox over the weekend, the Twins are hoping their offense is entering a hot streak. The Twins batted .409 in the series.
Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia hit a long homer and had two hits off lefthanded pitchers, which has been a problem for him. Third baseman Trevor Plouffe was 9-for-14 with three RBI in the series. And the Twins hit .389 with runners in scoring position, a glaring weakness of the offense in recent months.
“We scored some runs in the series,” Gardenhire said. “And that will help us with confidence in the bats.”
The Twins will have to prove they can do a reasonable job against good teams. The White Sox aren’t a good team. But the Twins travel to Oakland this weekend. Jon Lester, Scott Kazmir and Jeff Samardzija — all All-Stars this year — are in line to face the Twins in the four-game series.
