Blown Fuses Shut Down Twins' Replays Before Opener

CHICAGO (AP) — A pair of blown fuses shut down the Minnesota Twins' replay system before Monday's season opener at U.S. Cellular Field, and manager Ron Gardenhire hoped it would be fixed by gametime.

Technicians were working to solve the problem as the Twins prepared to play the Chicago White Sox.

"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."

The two monitors perched on a wall in the back of the Twins' locker room were disabled. Gardenhire was talking to Twins videoman Sean Harlin, trying to figure out how they would coordinate to challenge plays.

Gardenhire said the White Sox could still use their system if the Twins' monitors don't work.

"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," Gardenhire said. "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.

Gardenhire kept a laminated card telling him which plays were reviewable under Major League Baseball's new expanded replay format.

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 said. "It should work very well, but there's going to be some things you have to work through. Power outages are one of them."