Minnesota
After ‘thawing out,’ Twins reveling in the Minnesota sun
With roots in Southern California, where the weather is notoriously perfect for baseball, Twins first baseman Ty France – in his first season in Minnesota after spending 2024 with Cincinnati – admitted there is a little more spring in the step when you come to work on a June morning with sunshine, low humidity and the thermometer headed for the 70s.
“Whenever you get a little bit of sunshine, it’s nice to get out there,” France said prior to Saturday’s game versus Toronto, admitting that recent road trips have offered better weather than what they experienced at home early in the season.
“The first month was a little bit of a grind, but we ran into some warm weather too, in Tampa, Sacramento, Seattle was nice,” France said. “But it’s nice coming home to this, for sure.”
First proposed in the late 1990s, the original plans for a ballpark to replace the Metrodome included a retractable roof similar to those in Seattle and Houston. When legislators and much of the voting public in Minnesota soundly rejected the cost of a retractable roof facility, the design of what eventually became Target Field was scaled back, and outdoor baseball – for better or worse depending on the whims of Minnesota weather – returned in 2010.
Some believe that April and May games at Target Field, when the weather can be colder than anywhere else in the majors, give the Twins a home field advantage. On a smaller scale, similar to what the Minnesota Vikings enjoyed for their first two decades, playing outdoors at Met Stadium, where the weather could be frigid late in the football season.
France said they play in any temperature, but admitted that short sleeves and sunglasses are ideal.
“It’s a more comfortable environment for us,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s necessarily an advantage, but once we get the opportunity to thaw out after the first month, it’s nice. I haven’t played here in the summertime, but I’ve heard the ball starts carrying a little better, and I’m looking forward to that.”
Lewis past slump
After snapping out of a brutal 0-for-32 slump at the plate during the Twins’ three-city road trip, Royce Lewis continues to do good things with his bat, going 3 for 3 with a walk in Friday’s loss to Toronto.
“I think he has looked good at the plate. I think he has looked more comfortable. I think his swing has been synced up really good,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Both his timing on his swing, and actually the swing itself, has looked a lot like the Royce you would see last year at times and the year before.”
Lewis, who scored a run in the Twins’ 6-4 loss, said he’s concentrating on what he can control at the plate, and leaving the rest to the hands of fate.
I can only control so much. Once the ball leaves the bat, it’s on God and it’s on those fielders where they’re playing. So I’ve just got to keep doing my thing and controlling what I can control, and looking for my pitch, which is key I think for any hitter,” he said following Friday’s game.
“If you’re looking for your pitch, and you’re focusing on every pitch of every at-bat which is tough to do sometimes, I know you wouldn’t think it, like ‘oh, you should be focused.’ Well, sometimes you just lose sight of your plan. You get homer happy or you swing too hard. Those are the little things that I’m trying to take care of right now. Just breathing and having fun.”
Whatever is working for Lewis, Baldelli wants to see it continue.
“It’s been a week, so we want to keep this going throughout the whole season,” the manager said.
Happy birthday “Buck-Ninety”
Tim Laudner, the former Twins catcher and current member of the broadcast crew, celebrated his 67th birthday on Saturday, noting that he and late Minnesota music icon Prince entered this world on the same day: June 7, 1958.
Born in Iowa, Laudner played high school baseball at Park Center, in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and at the University of Missouri before making his major league debut with the Twins in 1981.
As a catcher on Minnesota’s 1987 World Series title team, Laudner was beloved for his local roots, and playfully teased for his light-hitting ways.
He batted .191 for the 1987 season with 16 home runs, prompting some fans to hang a banner from the facing of the Metrodome’s upper deck during the playoffs with Laudner’s number, declaring them members of the “Buck-Ninety Fan Club” in reference to his batting average.
In the clubhouse before Saturday’s game, Laudner joked about being the second most prominent Minnesotan – after Prince, who died in 2016 – but said that a fan once noted that for their careers, Laudner had more hits than the musician.
Originally Published:
Minnesota
Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes further into US, engulfing DC in eerie haze
NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states muddled through another day of unhealthy air from uncontrolled wildfires on Friday, as smoke enveloped the nation’s capital in a gloomy, eerie haze.
Air quality warnings were expected to remain in effect through Saturday across a wide swath of the U.S., but there’s potential for temporary relief with rains and storms forecast over a chunk of the affected region over the weekend.
The smoky conditions won’t be gone anytime soon, though, as fires burn unchecked across a remote region of Canada, cautioned Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service based in Maryland. Wildfires in a wilderness area in Minnesota are also contributing to the smoke.
“The source of the smoke is going to continue on for certainly a week, probably,” he said. “So in some form, there’s going to be smoke that gets transported from the fires downstream, and it’s just going to depend upon which way the wind’s blowing as to where the smoke is going to affect the most.”
On Friday, communities in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois closest to the Canadian border and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota again registered some of the worst air quality in the world, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.
Not far behind them was Washington, D.C., where the thick smoke created eerie scenes. The Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other national landmarks could be seen enveloped in a thick, orange-hued haze in the morning.
“Wow that Canadian smoke haze is no joke,” Stewart Verdery, a former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, wrote on X as he shared a panorama of D.C. at sunrise. “Almost nothing visible – no sun, no monuments, no Reagan Airport.”
Air in and around Washington was expected to go from bad to worse as the day progressed, reaching “very unhealthy” and potentially “hazardous” levels on the air quality index, regional officials said.
People, particularly those with heart or lung disease, older adults and children, were urged to limit or avoid going outside as much as possible until air quality improved.
There was also concern in the New York City area about how the foul air might impact the World Cup final match between soccer powerhouses Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.
Oravec said winds will continue pushing the wildfire smoke east in the U.S., though conditions should be better on game day Sunday than on Saturday.
Just a day earlier, a thick haze tinged with orange and yellow darkened skies across several states and partly obscured Manhattan’s skyline.
Officials from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other Northeast states distributed free K95 face masks, canceled outdoor programming and opened libraries and other public buildings as cooling centers where people could get a respite from the sooty air.
As Friday progressed, air quality measures improved from “unhealthy” to “moderate” in some places in and around New York City.
A strong sun broke through a thin veil of smoke, and large chunks of clear blue sky were visible across much of the region by Friday afternoon.
Saturday brings a high chance of thunderstorms across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, which will help dampen the bad air.
How long the reprieve lasts depends on what happens hundreds of miles north, as some 100 wildfires burn without end in sight, largely in the Ontario area in Canada. In the U.S., officials have closed the Boundary Waters while battling multiple fires.
Long-term exposure to smoky conditions can complicate existing health problems and lead to chronic and deadly issues, including respiratory illness, cardiovascular and neurological diseases and premature death.
See how the bald eagle’s story shows its enduring symbolism
As the U.S. celebrates 250 years, the bald eagle endures as North America’s native sea eagle and national bird.
The common loon, Minnesota’s state bird, is more closely related to a penguin than a duck.
Despite loons predominantly living in the northern hemisphere and penguins mostly living in the southern hemisphere, researchers consider them to be genetic cousins. Taxonomic analyses placed them in an evolutionary cluster tracing back 40 million to 50 million years ago, along with herons and pelicans.
While loons and ducks share habitat on Minnesota lakes, they aren’t close relatives. Ducks are closer cousins to geese and swans.
After sharing a common ancestor, penguins and loons developed distinct characteristics. Loons can fly, but struggle to move on land; penguins can’t fly, but waddle on land. Penguins use flipper-like wings to swim; loons use webbed feet for underwater propulsion.
They have some similar features, however, including dense bones to help dive underwater and their tuxedo coloring.
MinnPost partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.
Fires in the past burned more frequently in western Canada, but recent years have seen that trend migrate eastward, with large fires now burning in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic provinces, Prof Chasmer said, leading to more noticeable smoke in densely populated cities like Toronto and New York.
-
Milwaukee, WI4 minutes ago12-year-old injured in Milwaukee shooting, police seek information
-
Atlanta, GA10 minutes agoYou can watch the Atlanta United vs Nashville MLS match live for free tonight – Here’s how
-
Minneapolis, MN16 minutes agoMinneapolis man charged for driving at 2 Washington County campground workers
-
Indianapolis, IN22 minutes agoCanada wildfire smoke leads to air quality alerts for Sunday, Monday
-
Pittsburg, PA28 minutes agoAbandoned mini golf course in Westmoreland County getting new life
-
Augusta, GA34 minutes agoRichmond County traffic stop attempt leads to chase, rollover crash
-
Washington, D.C40 minutes agoWildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota pushes farther into the US and engulfs DC in haze
-
Cleveland, OH46 minutes agoIdentity sought after 19-year-old man killed outside Cleveland Heights convenience store
