Monthly Archives: October 2016

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Twenty-eight

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NEW YORK 11, MINNESOTA 7 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Friday, May 8.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk, driving in three.  Mark Davidson was 2-for-2 with a home run.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his second and third) and a walk, driving in five.  Gary Ward was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his second and third) driving in four.  Rickey Henderson was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his seventh), a double, and a walk.

The game:  Four singles, accompanied by a couple of stolen bases, produced three first-inning runs for the Twins.  The lead was down to 4-3 after two, but Brunansky hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 6-3.  The Yankees cut the lead to 7-5 after seven.  New York loaded the bases with two out in the eighth, but Jeff Reardon came in to strike out Rick Cerone.  In the ninth, however, a leadoff walk to Wayne Tolleson was followed by Henderson's two-run homer to tie the game.  Willie Randolph then walked and went to third on a stolen base-plus-error.  With one out, Dan Pasqua walked and Dave Winfield was intentionally walked to fill the bases.  Gary Ward struck out, but Pagliarulo hit a walkoff grand slam.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his fifth, making his average .345.  Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-4 with a run.  Tim Laudner was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .040.  That was as low as it would get, but it would not get into triple digits for a couple of weeks.  Starter Mark Portugal pitched six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts.  By allowing six runs in one inning, Reardon's ERA rose to 9.24.  Tommy John started for the Yankees and lasted only 1.2 innings, surrendering four runs on six hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 15-13, in third place, a half game behind California and Kansas City.

Notes:  Al Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  He led off and went 0-for-5, dropping his OBP to .301.  Gladden was in the number two spot...Davidson was in right field, with Brunansky in right and Roy Smalley on the bench...The winning pitcher for the Yankees was Cecilio Guante, who struck out five in two shutout innings of relief.  He had a pretty successful career as a set-up man and occasional fill-in closer.  He made his major league debut with Pittsburgh in 1982 and came up to stay in late May of 1983.  He was with the Pirates through 1986 and did very well, posting a 3.06 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and getting 20 saves.  He was traded to the Yankees after the 1986 season in a multi-player deal that also included Doug Drabek and Rick Rhoden.  Despite how well he pitched in this game he had a poor year which ended in early July due to injury--one wonders if he wasn't dealing with an injury much of the season.  He came back to pitch well in 1988 but was traded to Texas at the end of August.  He did not do as well in 1989, signed with Cleveland for 1990, pitched poorly, and was released in late August.  Boston signed him but he did not play for them, and he was again released in April, ending his playing career.  It was a pretty good one, though:  363 games, 595 innings, a 3.48 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and 35 saves.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 31

Harry Smith (1874)
Cal Hubbard (1900)
Ken Keltner (1916)
Jim Donohue (1938)
Ed Stroud (1939)
Dave McNally (1942)
Dave Trembley (1951)
Mike Gallego (1960)
Matt Nokes (1963)
Fred McGriff (1963)
Eddie Taubensee (1968)
Steve Trachsel (1970)
David Dellucci (1973)
Tim Byrdak (1973)
Mike Napoli (1981)

Cal Hubbard was an American League umpire from 1936-1951.  He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dave Trembley was the manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 2007-2010.

David Dellucci was drafted by Minnesota in the eleventh round in 1994, but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Twenty-seven

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MINNESOTA 5, BALTIMORE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, May 7.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks, scoring twice and driving in one.  Gary Gaetti was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Al Newman was 1-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, scoring twice.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Cal Ripken was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Alan Wiggins was 3-for-5.  Eddie Murray was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  Gladden had an RBI double and later scored to give the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first inning.  It was 2-1 after six, but the Twins took control in the seventh on a double and three singles.  Kirby Puckett singled in one run and Gaetti singled home two.  The Orioles cut the lead to 5-2 in the eighth.  In the ninth, a bloop single and an infield hit brought the tying run to bat with two down, but Reardon struck out Fred Lynn to end the game.

Of note:  Puckett was 0-for-4 to make his average .333...Tim Laudner was 0-for-3 and was now hitting .048.

Record:  The Twins were 15-12 and in second place, a half game behind California.

Note:  Al Newman played shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne...Gladden played center, with Puckett at DH.  Mark Davidson was in left and Roy Smalley was out of the lineup...In the 1965 series, we were profiling players you may only have read about.  In this series, at least for those of a certain age, it's more along the lines of players you may remember but haven't thought about in a long time.  Alan Wiggins is probably one of those.  He made his debut in 1981 with San Diego as a September call-up.  He was with the Padres for about four months in 1982 and became a regular in 1983.  He was an outfielder that season but moved to second base in 1984.  He had a decent OBP but almost no power.  His calling card was stolen bases, as he stole 66 in 1983 and 70 in 1984.  The seventy stolen bases, along with the fact that San Diego reached the World Series, are presumably why he got a few MVP votes in 1984, because his OPS was .671.  He got suspended in late April of 1985 due to cocaine usage, and when he came back in late July he was a member of the Baltimore Orioles, traded for Roy Lee Jackson and a player to be named later (Rich Caldwell).  He was the Orioles second baseman the rest of 1985.  He was the Orioles regular second baseman in 1986 to the extent they had one, but made only 66 starts there.  One assumes Baltimore knew he wasn't really good enough (OPS of .581 that season), but had no one better.  His playing time declined still further in 1987, as he started only 33 games at second.  Oddly, he started 36 games at DH, despite having an OPS of .566.  Rick Burleson and later Billy Ripken took over at second base, and Wiggins was released late in the season, ending his career.  Sadly, it was not too much later that Wiggins contracted AIDS.  He passed away due to complications from the disease in 1991.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 30

Ed Delahanty (1867)
Buck Freeman (1871)
Charlie Deal (1891)
Clyde Manion (1896)
Bill Terry (1898)
Dave Barnhill (1914)
Leon Day (1916)
Bobby Bragan (1917)
Joe Adcock (1927)
Jim Perry (1935)
Bruce Gardner (1938)
Jim Ray Hart (1941)
Mickey Rivers (1948)
Houston Jimenez (1957)
Dave Leeper (1959)
Dave Valle (1960)
Lee Tunnell (1960)
Gerald Perry (1960)
Scott Garrelts (1961)
Danny Tartabull (1962)
Mark Portugal (1962)
Marco Scutaro (1975)
Jason Bartlett (1979)
Laynce Nix (1980)
Shane Robinson (1984)

Pitcher Dave Barnhill was a four-time all-star in the Negro Leagues.

Pitcher Leon Day was a star in the Negro Leagues, primarily with the Newark Eagles.

Dave Leeper was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1978, but did not sign.

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