I saw three ships sailin', they were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was and how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus, I just said, "Good luck"-Bob Dylan
October 14, 2024: 115th Dream
Random Rewind: 1970, Game 158
KANSAS CITY ROYALS 4, MINNESOTA TWINS 3 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Sunday, September 27, 1970.
Batting stars: George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with a double. Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a triple. Brant Alyea was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Luis Tiant pitched four innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Bobby Floyd was 4-for-4 with two doubles. Lou Piniella was 3-for-4. Amos Otis was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Jim Rooker pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out seven.
The game: Kansas City jumped out to an early lead. In the first inning Otis led off with a single and Piniella followed with a one-out single. The Twins had Piniella picked off first, but an error, put men on second and third and a wild pitch brought home the game’s first run. Ed Kirkpatrick then singled to make it 2-0 Royals.
There were a few threats before the next run scored. In the second Floyd led off with a double and Tommy Matchick followed with a single, putting men on first and third with one out. A strikeout, a popup, and a fly out ended the inning. In the third, Mitterwald led off with a single and went to second on a two-out walk to Frank Quilici, but Harmon Killebrew struck out to end the threat. In the fourth, Alyea had a one-out single and Bob Allison followed with a walk. A balk put men on second and third, but Rick Renick and Mitterwald were each caught looking to strand the runners. Oliva tripled with one out in the sixth, but a strikeout and a fly ball left him on third.
The Royals broke through in the sixth, as doubles by Bob Oliver and Floyd brought home a run. They added one more in the seventh when Otis doubled and scored on Piniella’s single, making it 4-0.
The Twins got a one-out double in the seventh from Mitterwald, but again could do nothing with it. They finally got on the board in the eighth. Killebrew singled with one out. With two out, Alyea singled and Allison hit a two-run double. Rich Reese followed with an RBI single, making the score 4-3.
But that was as much as the Twins could do. A ground out ended the inning, and the Twins went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Rooker (10-15).
LP: Luis Tiant (7-3).
S: Ted Abernathy (14).
Notes: Quilici was at second, with Danny Thompson moving to short and Leo Cardenas getting the day off. Renick was at third with Killebrew moving to first and Reese on the bench, although he would pinch-hit. Allison was in right, with Oliva moving to center and Cesar Tovar on the bench, although he would also pinch-hit.
The Twins had clinched the division title, and this was in the days of September call-ups and before thirteen-man pitching staffs, so they used a lot of bench players. Nine of them, to be exact. They used six pinch-hitters and two pinch-runners. I kind of miss that.
Tiant had his best year at the plate in 1970, batting .406/.424/.531 in 32 at-bats. Oliva was batting .322. He would finish at .325. Tovar was batting .299. He would finish at .300. Rod Carew was injured much of 1970. He batted .366 in 191 at-bats.
Jim Kaat made 34 starts and pitched well over two hundred innings in 1970, yet he pitched two innings of relief in a meaningless game and was probably quite happy to do so. Put that in your file of “things that would never happen today.”
Bobby Floyd batted .326 in 43 at-bats in 1970. Take away this game and he batted .256.
While Tiant was injured much of 1970, he pitched pretty well when he could pitch, going 7-3, 3.40 in 92.2 innings (17 starts). Makes you wonder why the Twins were so quick to give up on him. In their defense, he had a poor year in 1969 and would have another one in 1971 before his career resurgance.
Record: Kansas City was 64-94, in fourth place in the AL West, 31 games behind Minnesota. They would finish 65-97, tied for fourth with Milwaukee, 33 games behind Minnesota.
The Twins were 95-63, in first place in the AL West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland. They would finish 98-64, in first place, 9 games ahead of Oakland.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 7-6 (.538).
October 13, 2024: Floodgates
One of the campaigns somehow got a hold of my email address in the past few days and my inbox is getting absolutely stuffed with their emails. I hope the weather's nice in the spam folder.
Happy Birthday–October 13
Charles Somers (1868)
Wild Bill Donovan (1876)
Rube Waddell (1876)
Pickles Dillhoefer (1893)
Frankie Hayes (1914)
Lou Saban (1921)
Charlie Silvera (1924)
Eddie Yost (1926)
Eddie Mathews (1931)
Bob Bailey (1942)
Randy Moffitt (1948)
Dick Pole (1950)
Frank LaCorte (1951)
George Frazier (1954)
Bryan Hickerson (1963)
Chris Gwynn (1964)
Trevor Hoffman (1967)
Damian Miller (1969)
Charles Somers was one of the founders of the American League and was its principal financier.
Better known as a football coach, Lou Saban was the president of the New York Yankees in 1981 and 1982.
Lankum – Go Dig My Grave
What if an Irish folk tune also had a freight train solo?
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 10)You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading... 
Random Rewind: 2002, Game 155
CHICAGO WHITE SOX 8, MINNESOTA TWINS 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, September 22, 2022
Batting stars: Dustan Mohr was 3-for-5 with a double. Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4. Michael Restovich was 2-for-4. Luis Rivas was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Johan Santana pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one. LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: D’Angelo Jimenez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and two runs. Frank Thomas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-seventh) and three RBIs. Magglio Ordonez hit a home run, his thirty-sixth. Mark Buehrle pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out three. Antonio Osuna struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.
The game: The Twins got singles from Rivas and LeCroy in the first, and a passed ball put men on second and third with two out, but a ground out ended the inning. In the bottom of the first, Jimenez singled and Thomas hit a two-run homer, making it 2-0 Chicago.
The Twins got on the board in the second. Michael Cuddyer walked and singles by Restovich and A. J. Pierzynski produced a run. The Twins still had men on first and second with none out, but Denny Hocking popped up a bunt and a double play ended the inning. The White Sox got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Jeff Liefer doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly, making it 3-1.
The Twins threatened in the third. Mohr led off with a double, but was thrown out trying to go to third on a fly to center. They had a chance to score anyway, as LeCroy singled and Corey Koskie walked, but a ground out ended the inning. Chicago got another run in the bottom of the inning when Jose Valentin walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Thomas single, increasing the lead to 4-1. The White Sox put it away in the fourth. Joe Crede and Aaron Rowand hit one-out singles, and with two down Jimenez hit a three-run homer.
The lead was 7-1, and the Twins would not get back into the game. They did get one more run in the fifth, when singles by Rivas and Mohr put men on first and third with none out and a double play brought a run home, but that was it. Ordonez rounded out the scoring with a home run leading off the eighth.
WP: Buehrle (19-11).
LP: Joe Mays (4-8).
S: None.
Notes: LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz. Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman. Restovich was in left in place of Jacque Jones. Cuddyer was in right field, with Mohr moving from right to center. Torii Hunter was the DH in place of David Ortiz. The Twins had clinched the division at this point.
Pierzynski was batting .304. He would finish at .300. Restovich was batting .300. He would finish at .308 in 13 at-bats. Javier Valentin, who came in at catcher for Pierzynski late in the game, was batting .667. He would finish at .500 (2-for-4).
Hawkins had an ERA of 2.18. He would finish at 2.13, easily his best season in the majors up to this point. J. C. Romero had an ERA of 1.96. He would finish at 1.89.
We talked about Mays a few days ago. He did pitch much better in the second half of 2002, after he came back from injury. Not great, but his ERA in the second half was 4.52 with a WHIP of 1.30.
Santana made fourteen starts and had thirteen relief appearances in 2002
Jimenez was a future Twin, playing in their farm system in 2010. Another future Twin, Joe Crede, was 1-for-4. I always remember him as “Home Run Greedy Crede” because of a Twins radio commercial at the time.
The Twins out-hit Chicago 12-9, but still lost by six runs. Eleven of the twelve hits were singles. They stranded nine men and went 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.
Record: Chicago was 79-77, in second place, 10.5 games behind Minnesota. They would finish 81-81, in second place, 13.5 games behind Minnesota.
The Twins were 89-66, in first place, 10.5 games ahead of Chicago. They would finish 94-67, in first place, 13.5 games ahead of Chicago.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 7-5 (.583).
October 12, 2024: Don’t Knock It
I stopped by a gas station later in the evening. After the young lady rang me up, I saw her start speaking to someone. As I walked out, I saw it was to another employee that was squatting behind the counter. I glanced over and it was this hipster looking guy that was eating Spam straight from the can with a fork. Not sure if I'd seen that before.
Happy Birthday–October 12
Sam Field (1846)
Pop Smith (1856)
Malachi Kittridge (1869)
Pete Hill (1882)
Dixie Davis (1890)
Rick Ferrell (1905)
Joe Cronin (1906)
Al Smith (1907)
Bob Sheppard (1910)
Tony Kubek (1935)
Glenn Beckert (1940)
Herman Hill (1945)
Garth Iorg (1954)
Jim Lewis (1955)
Sid Fernandez (1962)
Jose Valentin (1969)
Derrick White (1969)
Tanyon Sturtze (1970)
Tony Fiore (1971)
Nick Tepesch (1988)
Ketel Marte (1993)
B-r.com says "Sam Field played only 12 games in the majors, but managed to do so with three teams in two leagues. He played mostly catcher. His career may have been doomed by his .712 fielding percentage." It may also have been doomed by his .146 batting average.
Pete Hill is considered one of the greatest outfielders of the Negro Leagues. Incomplete statistics list his average as .303.
Hall of Famer Joe Cronin, of course, played for the Washington franchise from 1928-1934, managing the team in the latter two years. He married Clark Griffith’s niece, which did not keep Griffith from trading him to Boston after the 1934 season.
If there was a Hall of Fame for public address announcers, Bob Sheppard would be the first one in.
Jose Valentin is the brother of ex-Twin Javier Valentin.
First baseman/outfielder Derrick White was drafted by Minnesota in the 23rd round in 1989, but did not sign. He played in the major leagues for Montreal, Detroit, the Cubs, and Colorado, playing in three seasons and totaling 116 at-bats.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Dr. Chop.
Meshuggah – Combustion
Meshuggah are the king of riffs, I enjoyed this translation. He tried so hard not to headbang throughout, but we get a couple at the end.
Original - (is this the best djent riff? or just the best riff?)
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 10)You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.
Loading... 
October 11, 2024: For Sale
Well, I guess I just hope the new owner isn't worse.
(Also, hell of a game from the Lynx last night.)