Legal Commentary

Sure, it takes a certain kind of person to live in a state where there's two kind of weather: winter, and August, and neither are good for baseball. But why should that stop the Twin Cities from building a new ballpark -- WITHOUT A ROOF??? (Hey, the Yankees' new stadium doesn't have a roof either, but we don't routinely have 20 below Aprils, and our state bird isn't the mosquito).

Hey! The seats will have heaters. Hey! Whaz a leetle snow? The whole Minnesota Tough thang can be summed up by this report of Saturday's frigid game, from the St. Paul Pioneer Press: (Yeah, yeah, I SEE that the game was played in Kansas, but the point's still the same:)

Minnesota Twins Freeze Out Royals

By Phil Miller

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ? Darn right the Twins' new ballpark isn't going to have a roof on it. If they keep rolling like this, the Twins might decide to schedule a few games in January, too.

Playing in freezing weather for the third consecutive game, Minnesota's abominable snowmen made their constituency of ice fishermen and snowmobilers proud, functioning just fine in the Arctic air. While Twins starter Boof Bonser and the bullpen froze Kansas City's bats, the Twins managed two runs and won 2-0, their third straight victory at Kauffman Stadium.

"It was tough to feel my fingers. Unbelievable," Bonser said after securing his first win of the season ? and first-ever in April. "I don't know how it got done, but it did."

after securing his first win of the season ? and first-ever in April. "I don't know how it got done, but it did."

Bonser used his standard mixture of sinkers and curves, along with plenty of control, and dared the Royals to risk their frozen hands on his bat-breaking fastball. Bonser didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, and gave up just three singles in six innings. Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek and Joe Nathan were just as successful, extending Minnesota's shutout streak against the Royals to 20 consecutive innings.

"Hitting's not the best in weather like this," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It's tough to put the cold out of your mind."

Tough for the Royals, maybe. The Twins have done it pretty well. Since the baseball weather turned Minnesota-like, the team from the north has thrived, outscoring the opposition 19-5.

Sure, only two of thoseruns came Saturday ? one on Jason Kubel's fly ball that curled around the right-field foul pole for his third home run ? but that might have had as much to do with K.C. starting pitcher Brett Tomko, who beat the Twins in the Metrodome a week earlier. Besides, two runs was plenty.

"Boof made it stand up," Gardenhire said. "He was fantastic."

Kansas City, which finished with five hits, all singles, threatened only once, when a rare Bonser walk and an error by shortstop Matt Tolbert put runners at the corner with two outs in the third inning.

But the Twins' right-hander, now 1-2, fooled Mark Teahen with a sinker, and the Royals never pushed another runner to third base, making a winner ? after two decent, but unsuccessful, starts ? of Bonser.

Last season, the 26-year-old right-hander didn't win a game until his eighth start, on May 13, so "this one was the best," he said. "I got the hard one out of the way."

And make no mistake, it really was hard. Light snow fell in Kansas City throughout the day, and while it ended by game time, the temperature was 41 degrees at first pitch ? and falling.

"You just try not to think about how cold it is out there. You just have to block it out," Bonser said.

His night would have been a little longer if the temperature had been higher, but when the Twins sent seven men to the plate in the seventh ? and left the bases loaded ? Gardenhire decided Bonser had sat too long in the cold, and summoned the bullpen.

The rest of the Twins had to keep fighting the weather.

"It's pretty difficult," said Denard Span, who drove in an insurance run with a solid single to center in the seventh inning. "It's hard to get your hands warm, and it makes your hands slower."

That wasn't a problem for Kubel, who this season has half of the Twins' six home runs ? Justin Morneau hit the other three. Tomko tried a formula on Kubel that had worked on Mauer and Morneau earlier in the game: get ahead in the count, then come inside for the putout.

"Kube didn't let him in there," Gardenhire said. "He was able to get the bat head through the zone quick."

It produced a high fly ball to right that headed for the corner and appeared headed for foul ground. But it stayed fair just long enough to get past the pole, providing all the offense Bonser needed.

Joe Nathan pitched the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season (but first in a week). It was his 28th career save against the Royals, more than against any other team.