THE QUIRKINESS OF TARGET FIELD.

THE QUIRKINESS OF TARGET FIELD. About two thirds of the way into the 2010 season, it looks as if Target Field is quirky. I googled “Target Field quirkiness” and got 97,600 hits. I did the search after reading this article in USA Today Sports Weekly by Paul White with the headline “Twins are trying to adapt to Target Field’s quirkiness” (of course, the headline may have led to a lot of the hits.) The article deals with the difficulty that the Twins are having dealing with the quirks of the new ballpark even after over 50 home games. The article features the difficulties of playing a fly ball near the right field wall. There is an overhang which. If the ball misses the overhang, the fielder can catch the ball. If it hits it, it can’t. The extent of the overhang depends on where the ball hits, varying from two feet at the foul line to eight feet in center field. If the ball hits the wall, it will bounce in different directions, depending on where it hits because there are different surfaces. A ball may bounce off the limestone overhang, a concrete portion of the wall, a wood portion or padding. Mike Cuddyer, the Twins right fielder, says: “It’s definitely quirky. You have to deal with four different surfaces, and the ball bounces differently off each one.” Of course, it would take several years for a right fielder for an opposing team to have the experience with the wall that Cuddyer has at this point in the season. It’s a small sample, but the Twins have a home field advantage at this point that is about 120 points, which is greater than the 100 point advantage that they had last year.