CHICAGO (AP) - The Minnesota Twins’ replay system was up and running in time for Monday’s opener against the Chicago White Sox after a pair of blown fuses shut it down.
The two monitors perched on a wall in the back of the Twins clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field were disabled. But technicians were able to solve the problem before the first pitch.
While the issue was worked on, Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire had some questions just in case it couldn’t be resolved.
“How’s that going to work out? I get to kick dirt again?” Gardenhire asked. “So, hopefully, we’ll get it before the game starts.”
Gardenhire was talking to Twins video man Sean Harlin, trying to figure out how they would coordinate to challenge plays.
“I just might lose my battle a little quicker than I would have if we have a guy telling me it’s OK to challenge it,” said Gardenhire, who kept a laminated card telling him which plays were reviewable under Major League Baseball’s new expanded replay format. “I’ve got the same questions right now - what happens if it goes down? We were told it’s still going to be in play because it’s out of New York. We’ve just got to figure out how.
“I’m talking with Sean as we speak because it’s down right now. Where do we go if ours stays down? I want to know that,” he said.
It wound up being a moot point.
MLB spent more than $10 million to wire the 30 stadiums with Fiberlink cable that will transmit images from at least 12 cameras in every park.
Despite the hiccup, Gardenhire said he supports the system.
“As we talked about, there’s going to be some issues. We just have to keep working through it because ultimately it’s going to be a really good thing for baseball,” he said.
“We’re going to get calls right in a time period that’s not going to take a long time,” he added. “It should work very well, but there’s going to be some things you have to work through. Power outages are one of them.”
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