And if there was any chance that Boston might spoil the afternoon, the baseball gods ensured it would never happen.
Fueled by pregame ceremonies involving Twins legends, the unveiling of a Kirby Puckett statue and the requisite flyover by some of the North Star State's favorite sons, the Twins outplayed the Sox from the outset en route to a 5-2 victory.
The 39,504-seat venue basked in sunny, warm conditions many feared would not arrive at the new open-air park until Memorial Day. But Boston, which had some miserable times in the old Metrodome, never made it to the party.
Marco Scutaro singled to lead things off but was promptly caught stealing one pitch later, a gaffe which loomed large when Dustin Pedroia followed with a double.
Jon Lester then allowed six of the first nine men he faced to reach safely. And when native son Joe Mauer dropped an RBI double down the left-field line in the bottom of the second inning, it was already 3-0.
Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz stroked back-to-back doubles in the fourth to get the Red Sox within two runs. But that would be enough from the visiting side. The gods took over from there, sticking their noses into three specific plays which killed Boston in the middle innings.
A walk, stolen base and groundout put Minnesota center fielder Denard Span on third with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Lester got Mauer to ground one back to the mound, an inning-ender for sure. Somehow, however, Lester's glove moved out of the way at the last moment and he watched helplessly as the ball bounced high off second base with Scutaro, the shortstop, in perfect position to make the play.
Scutaro had no play at first and Span scored the fourth and final run off Lester, who gave up nine hits and three walks in five difficult innings.
"I don't want to attribute it to one thing or another. I just didn't have it today," Lester said. "Some days you do and some days you don't and today was one of those where I didn't have command of four pitches. Regardless of what team you're facing, they're big league hitters and they know that."
The first official review in Target Field history took place moments later, and naturally it went against the Sox. Mike Cameron, leading off the fifth, launched one down the line in left. It either hit the foul pole or bounced off the facing of a limestone wall, prompting the umpiring crew to take a second look.
Replays confirmed that it did indeed go foul. By inches. Perhaps some unfriendly Midwest winds were at play.
Following the delay, Cameron struck out.
"I put a swing on a ball like that. … I don't know what to think. There were a couple of balls we hit that didn't do anything," Cameron said.
One of those came in the sixth, when Victor Martinez smoked one back at Twins starter Carl Pavano, who made the dangerous decision to stick his bare hand out to try to stop it. While Lester's glove acted like a matador's cape, Pavano's fingers somehow got in the way and, magically, the ball caromed off his hand and directly into his glove. It was out No. 2 of the inning and Pavano's start was complete one batter later.
Three innings. Three plays, each of which could have gone either way, each of which seemed to conspire against the Sox, who are now 0-5 as the visitors in opponents' first official games at new ballparks.
While the negative results spoke volumes, there was one point which seemed to signal more than anything that the Red Sox were merely footnotes to history.
Accustomed to having their fair share of fans at nearly every destination on the road, the Sox had to look far and wide to find a card-carrying member, and when Youkilis doubled in the fourth, not one "Yoooouk" was heard. There was nothing more than a smattering of Minnesotans enjoying a day all their own. And food on a stick.
