We just watched the MLB All-Star Game at Target Field. It feels a little like a blur because we're working off of fumes. It also feels like a blur because, really? The All-Star Game was HERE?
It was. We're pretty sure. And we're pretty sure we saw these things happen:
1) An unforgettable top of the first inning. Derek Jeter leads off with a double. Adam Wainwright grooved the pitch. Don't let him backtrack and say anything different. He was giving Jeets something to hit because he thought he deserved it. That was not a joke. It made for a bad bit of baseball in a game that means something, but it also made for great theater and a great moment. Mike Trout followed with a triple. Miguel Cabrera homered. We're pretty sure Wainwright was trying to get them out, and he couldn't. It was an electric first inning.
2) Jeter blooped another hit in his second at bat — this after another ovation before he batted. He left the game to a grand display with the AL in the field. Another long ovation. So he went 2-for-2, almost made the defensive play of the game on the NL's first batter of the game, and finished his All-Star career 13 for 27 (.481). Remarkable.
3) If the Jeter stuff felt scripted at the start, the finish was equally Hollywood-esque. Glen Perkins, the Minnesota native, the former Gopher, the Twins closer … came on for a perfect ninth inning, throwing to Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki.
Come on. Really? Games with so much hype so often wind up as duds. This one had real moments, from start to finish. This happened here. We were here to see it. Minneapolis did well.
Now let's all go to sleep with a smile (after the 4 a.m. bar close, that is).
