The Gophers take back the Axe, tie up the lifetime series, deny Wisconsin a bowl game, deny them a winning season, and do it all in convincing fashion on Badgers soil.
November 30, 2024: Careful With That Axe, Eugene
Amy Winehouse – Back To Black
Happy Birthday–November 29
Tom Hughes (1878)
Irv Noren (1924)
Minnie Minoso (1925)
Vin Scully (1927)
George Thomas (1937)
Dick McAuliffe (1939)
Bill Freehan (1941)
Otto Velez (1950)
Mike Easler (1950)
Rick Anderson (1956)
Joe Price (1956)
Dennis Burtt (1957)
Howard Johnson (1960)
Bob Hamelin (1967)
Mariano Rivera (1969)
Brian Wolfe (1980)
Guillermo Quiroz (1981)
Craig Gentry (1983)
November 29, 2024: BFFs No More
I'm no longer a Black Friday Friend. Really, I never was, but I was just thinking that I almost completely ignore it now. I don't really look up anything and I tune out adverts as if it was a Presidents Day sale or something. Not sure if I'm missing anything or not but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
November 28, 2024: Gratitude
The World's Greatest Online Magazine wishes you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are thankful for you!
Happy Birthday–November 28
Heinie Pietz (1870)
Frank O'Rourke (1894)
Johnny Wright (1916)
Jerry Gardner (1920)
Wes Westrum (1922)
Sixto Lezcano (1953)
Dave Righetti (1958)
Walt Weiss (1963)
John Burkett (1964)
Matt Williams (1965)
Pedro Astacio (1969)
Robb Nen (1969)
Jose Parra (1972)
Carlos Villaneuva (1983)
Miguel Diaz (1994)
Jerry Gardner spent most of his life in baseball as a minor-league player and manager and as a scout.
We would like to wish a very happy birthday to Mom Runner.
November 27, 2024: Broken
I wasn't as against the KAT trade as others were/are. I hated to lose him, but the numbers of the deal made a bit of sense. That said, man, the Wolves are just missing something right now. It's not that hard to make the connections.
Random Rewind: 1982, Game 110
OAKLAND ATHLETICS 7, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, August 7, 1982.
Batting star: Gary Ward was 3-for-4. Ron Washington hit a home run, his fifth.
Pitching star: Jeff Little struck out five in three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition stars: The Twins missed a chance to score in the second. Kent Hrbek led off with a walk and Gary Ward doubled, but Hrbek was thrown out trying to score. The Twins still had Ward on third with one out, but a pair of ground outs to third ended the inning.
That was as good as it would get for the Twins. In the third, Jeff Newman walked, Jimmy Sexton singled, and Dwayne Murphy hit an RBI double to put Oakland up 1-0. It went to 4-0 in the fourth. Tony Armas led off with a single and Wayne Gross homered. Davey Lopes then singled, stole second, and scored on a one-out single by Jeff Newman. They scored again in the fifth when singles by Armas and Gross were followed by a walk.
The Twins threatened in the fifth when Tim Laudner hit a two-out triple and again in the sixth when Bobby Mitchell singled and Ron Washington walked with one out, but neither threat produced a run. The Athletics tallied two more in the seventh. Armas led off with a home run, followed by a walk to Gross and a Lopes single. A wild pitch advanced the runners and Jeff Burroughs walked to load the bases. With one out, Jimmy Sexton hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-0.
The Twins’ lone run came in the ninth when Ron Washington led off with a home run. They got one-out singles by Jesus Vega and Gary Ward, but a line drive double play ended the game.
WP: Matt Keough (9-15).
LP: Bobby Castillo (5-9).
S: None.
Notes: Ron Washington was at second base in place of John Castino. Mickey Hatcher was the DH. Randy Johnson played the most games at DH with 66, followed by Jesus Vega (39) and Hatcher (29).
Kent Hrbek was batting .321. He would finish at .301.
Dave McKay came in late in the game at second base, replacing Davey Lopes. He had played for the Twins in 1975-1976.
Despite this game, Bobby Castillo was the closest thing the 1982 Twins had to an ace. He went 13-11, 3.66, 1.28 WHIP. A reliever most of his career, he moved into the Twins rotation in late May. There’s no significant difference between his relief stats and his starting stats. He’s best remembered now for teaching Fernando Valenzuela to throw the screwball.
This was the first triple of Tim Laudner’s career and the only one he would hit in 1982. That tied his career season high, as he never hit more than one triple in a season. He hit five in his career.
Three Jeffs played in this game: Jeff Burroughs, Jeff Little, and Jeff Newman. That may be close to the record for most Jeffs in one game.
Matt Keough would lead the league in losses with 18. He also would lead the league in earned runs allowed (133) and home runs allowed (38). His ERA was 5.72 and his WHIP was 1.60. Still, he made 34 starts and pitched 209.1 innings.
Record: Oakland was 48-63, in fifth place in the AL West, 15 games behind California. They would finish 68-94, in fifth place, 25 games behind California.
The Twins were 38-72, in seventh place in the AL West, 24.5 games behind California. They would finish 60-102, in seventh place, 33 games behind California.
Random Record: The Random Twins are 26-31 (.456).
Happy Birthday–November 27
Bullet Joe Bush (1892)
Johnny Schmitz (1920)
Billy Moran (1933)
Jose Tartabull (1938)
Dave Giusti (1939)
Dan Spillner (1951)
Mike Scioscia (1958)
Randy Milligan (1961)
Tim Laker (1969)
Ivan Rodriguez (1971)
Willie Bloomquist (1977)
Jimmy Rollins (1978)
Kody Funderburk (1996)
Billy Moran was part of a three-team trade involving Minnesota, Cleveland, and the Los Angeles Angels. Minnesota acquired Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall and sent Lenny Green and Vic Power to Los Angeles. Moran was sent from the Angels to Cleveland in that trade.
Gwen Stefani, Jimmy Fallon, and The Roots – Hollaback Girl
Hey, it's another one of these.