CLEVELAND — The ballpark is mostly empty. The big American flag in center field is mostly still. Beautiful night here at Progressive Field, and I’m all done writing my game story and notes, etc., for the Sunday paper.

A chance to sit back, relax and blog, right?

Well, I’ll have to do it over the obnoxious roar of the leaf blowers.

This is the part of the job you can’t relate to friends. Ballgame ends, and the crowd files out peacefully. (They play tunes over the loudspeakers, sure, and there’s nothing quite like Frank Sinatra belting out 10 straight versions of “New York, New York” after a Yankees game.)

But the writers go to the clubhouse, where we patiently wait for the players to finish their postgame meals, ask a few questions and then scramble back to the pressbox to make deadline.

By then, in most outdoor stadiums, the cleaning crews have unleashed the fury of those angry leaf blowers. A moment inside a ballpark that could be so peaceful winds up giving you a splitting headache.

OK, thanks for letting me vent.

Not much that needs to be added after the Twins’ 11-4 victory.  I wrote about the team’s three first-inning walks being the key to foiling Fausto. Interesting to note that Scott Baker was frustrated for not being able to correct his mechanical flaws.

Oh well, the guy has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 23 of his last 25 starts. If he was going to struggle, he picked a good night.

I’ll be back in the morning with Sunday’s starting lineups.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 at 10:58 pm and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.