MINNEAPOLIS — Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel is a character on “The Simpsons.”

At the Minnesota Twins home opener Monday seemingly thousands of his clones were unabashedly dumbstruck by the new friendly confines of Target Field.

When Minnesota State University student Stephanie Janke walked into the park it stopped her dead.

“It was intense and extreme,” she said. “You had to pause a minute because it’s nothing like you’ve ever seen.”

The words “awesome” and “unbelievable” were being tossed about like parade candy by goggle-eyed fans on a sunny, 65-degree afternoon that carried the added bonus of a 5-2 Twins win over the Boston Red Sox.

After a 28-year purgatory of indoor baseball, the ultra-intimate Target Field provided a cathartic release for many.

Twin Cities resident and former Mankatoan Steve Underdahl was clam-happy in the new digs.

“Outdoor baseball. It makes you feel young again,” he said.

Speaking of which, youthful fans were aplenty on Monday and raring to go even before they entered the park.

College-age fans on an arriving bus began chanting “limestone! limestone!” in beery reference to the ballpark’s Kasota stone exterior (see accompanying article).

The fan consensus was immediate and inescapable: This is one sweet crib in which to swat curves and down cold ones for decades to come.

Target Field is as far removed from the Twins’ former digs in a dank bus garage across town as Club Med is from a junkyard.

Is this heaven?

No, it’s I-owe-a ... debt to the designers of this place, who left no style point unturned in creating an urban ballpark with enough amenities to woo to even non-fans.

The Rushmore-size high-definition video board is nine times larger than its grainy predecessor, the sound system is big league as opposed to the fast-food drive-through speakers in the Metrodome, and food and drink offerings have taken a large leap in both quality and variety.

(A note on the latter: The Twins permit fans to bring food into Target Field as long as its eaten in the general seating areas and is packed in a soft-sided container that can fit under a seat. Sealed bottled water 32 ounces or less and soft-side single juice or milk containers also are allowed.)  

When the home team homers sensory overload ensues. The video board and ballpark ribbon boards go all a-twitter, the Minnie and Paul mascot sign in center field alights and gyrates, and fans can expect to hear Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” blaring amid a salvo of fireworks.  

In addition to the obvious fact that Twins home baseball has moved  outdoors, this venue features another huge game-changer — fan mobility.

In the Dome game-viewing was pretty much confined to a person’s assigned seat.

Target Field’s double-wide open concourses encircling the entire park allow fans to get up and roam at will — and watch the game all the while.

“In a way, I feel sorry for season ticket holders because I’m going to want to sit somewhere different every time I come,” said Erik Root of Rochester, who was seeing his first outdoor big league contest.

“This isn’t just a ballgame. It’s an experience. You’ll have to come a few times to take it all in.”

A caveat regarding the sightlines: They’re by and large superb from anywhere, but the not-a-bad-seat-in-the-house mantra must be qualified.

All baseball parks, because of the asymmetrical nature of their designs, have seats less favorable than others.

The Twins’ Web site has a page detailing which sections have restricted views of certain parts of the outfield and video board, but in general the view restrictions are negligible and limited to a handful of spots.

Fact is, an exploration of virtually every Target Field fan vantage point revealed that the term “bad seat” gets redefined here.

The second deck of the left-field seats hovers so cozily over the field that it’s remindful of a Fenway Park Green Monster seat view — minus the stiff cost. Even seats on high in dead center field give fans a “zoomed in” feeling.

The Budweiser party deck down the left field line provides a high catbird-seat view, albeit with much of left and center fields obscured.

But then, it’s a party deck, sight of this surreal scene: People sitting at the deck’s outdoor bar in a ballpark watching the game — on bar TVs.

Mankatoan Mark Ehlers, 41, was also taking in his first outdoor major league game and reveling in the moment.

“I was talking to an usher and I said, ‘Look what we’ve been missing all these years,’ “ Ehlers said as he sat in his bleacher seat in the right-field corner.

Earlier he, like thousands of other fans, had strolled the park’s concourses to absorb the field from all angles. He came away overwhelmed.

“Fantastic. It was just too much right away. It’s the openness of the whole thing. Just being able to see everything from everywhere.”

 Instant comfort zone, he said, uttering a Target Field pixie dust sentiment expressed by many:

“It almost feels like it’s always been here, like it belongs here.”