Happy Birthday–August 29

Pep Young (1907)
Joe Schultz (1918)
Billy Cox (1919)
Orval Grove (1919)
Dave Nicholson (1939)
Doug DeCinces (1950)
Bill Latham (1960)
Jeff Kellogg (1961)
Henry Blanco (1971)
Steve Lomasney (1977)
Aaron Rowand (1977)
Roy Oswalt (1977)

Bill Nicholson is the one nicknamed "Swish", but Dave deserved the nickname more.  In the one season in which he played more than a hundred games (126 in 1963), he struck out 175 times.  He did hit 22 homers.  In 1964 he had 294 at-bats and struck out 126 times while hitting 13 homers.  Come to think of it, that sounds like what Adam Brett Walker II's major league career might be if he gets that much of a chance.

Jeff Kellogg has been a major league umpire since 1993.

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2016 Game #130: Minnesota at Toronto

First Pitch 12:07 p.m. CDT

Kyle Gibson (5-8, 5.09 ERA, 75 K, 1.538 WHIP)
R.A. Dickey (9-13, 4.43 ERA, 111 K, 1.314 WHIP)

Now in his third full season as a starting pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, Kyle Gibson is thoroughly eroding any hopes I had that he would ever be more than a journeyman hurler in the back end of a rotation. Nobody doubts his stuff, except Gibson himself, it often seems. Mrs. Twayn shares my frustration with Gibson. She's coined a term for pitchers who consistently get ahead in the count only to end up walking the batter because they try to be too fine. They're Gibbynibblers, and that term is generally preceded by an Anglo-Saxon expletive.

The Twins are trying to keep their current losing streak, a match for their first one this year, from going to double digits. I thought Santana had a good shot yesterday, even against this Toronto murderers' row, but things fall apart. I do know one thing -- if the Twins don't acquire some better pitching before next year, we're going to see this season all over again next year. And I'm not so sure I'll be willing sign up for that.

Play ball!

Happy Birthday–August 28

Joe Yeager (1875)
Dode Paskert (1881)
Aaron Ward (1896)
Charlie Grimm (1898)
Paul Bowa (1918)
Tony Gonzalez (1936)
Tom Satriano (1940)
Lou Piniella (1943)
Mike Torrez (1946)
Ron Guidry (1950)
Joel Youngblood (1951)
Darren Lewis (1967)
Jay Witasick (1972)
Tom Shearn (1977)
Ryan Madson (1980)
Carlos Quentin (1982)

Paul Bowa is the father of Larry Bowa and the grandfather of Nick Johnson.  He was a minor league infielder who reached as high as AAA, and later became a minor league manager in the St.  Louis Cardinals’ organization.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to bhiggum.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 28