Torii Hunter dazzled by Twins’ new park

Reporting from Minneapolis

Torii Hunter got to Target Field at about 1 p.m. CDT Friday, six hours before the Angels’ first game in Minnesota’s new $522-million open-air stadium, and after taking a tour of the facility the Angels right fielder declared, “This place is awesome!”

Hunter, who played nine years for the Twins in the dingy and sparsely appointed Metrodome, loved the limestone exterior and interior accents, the playing surface, the seating configurations and the giant video board.

He marveled at the statues of Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett and Tony Oliva, and at the stadium’s signature piece, a 46-foot-high sign that features the original Twins logo outlined by the state of Minnesota, high above center field.

Then he walked into the Twins’ clubhouse and couldn’t believe his eyes: A spacious, oval-shaped room with six wall-mounted flat-screen televisions, leather couches and chairs, two massaging chairs, natural wood cubicles and a state-of-the-art weight room.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hunter said. “You could throw a rock in our old locker room and hit everybody; that’s how small it was. This one is huge. There are flat screens all over the place, remote controls everywhere. When I was here, we used rookies as our remotes.

“You can see why guys get there at 1:30 every day. They were playing video games, they were all happy, eating lunch — they have a chef now. I said, ‘What did you guys do, spend the night here?’”

Mike Scioscia didn’t want to compare Target Field to the Metrodome “because I don’t want to slight this place,” the Angels manager said. “This place is gorgeous. From everything from the fans’ perspective to the playing surface, they did it right.”

Hunter had no problem comparing the new stadium to the old one.

“It’s like night and day from the Metrodome, literally,” Hunter said. “When I was playing here, this was my dream. All we heard about was trying to get a stadium deal passed. Now, you see the finished product, and it’s pretty cool.”

Who’s on first?

An injury to second baseman Maicer Izturis set off a chain reaction in the lineup that resulted in Brandon Wood making his first start since July 17, at first base.

The oft-injured Izturis, who has been on the disabled list twice this season, was slated to bat second but was scratched because of a sore right shoulder caused when he dived for Mike Lowell’s ninth-inning single Thursday in Fenway Park.

Scioscia moved Howie Kendrick from first base to second. He could have moved catcher Mike Napoli to first but liked the “rapport” Napoli had with starting pitcher Dan Haren, who entered with a 2.74 earned-run average in 23 innings with Napoli catching.

So, with left-hander Brian Duensing starting for the Twins, Scioscia went with the .166-hitting Wood, who lost his third-base job in July and had two at-bats since July 17. Wood, in his fifth career start at first, was hitless in three at-bats, striking out twice.

Izturis underwent treatment Friday and said he expects to play Saturday.

Short hops

The Angels went 37-17 against left-handed starters in 2009; they are 17-22 against them this season. … After tying Philadelphia for the major league lead with 48 road wins in 2009, the Angels are 6-18 in their last 24 road games and 28-35 overall this season.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com