CALIFORNIA 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA
Date: Friday, April 17.
Batting star: Randy Bush was 1-for-4 with a triple and a run. Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Pitching star: Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, going eight innings and giving up two runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts.
Opposition stars: Mike Witt also pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. Devon White was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third. Mark McLemore was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, scoring once.
The game: Blyleven left a pitch up to Devon White, who homered in the third to put the Angels up 1-0. Bush led off the fourth with a triple and scored on a Puckett single to tie it 1-1. McLemore led off the sixth with a ground-rule double and scored on a Wally Joyner single to give California a 2-1 lead. The Twins did not get a hit after Puckett's fourth-inning single and their only baserunner after the fifth came when Puckett reached on a strikeout/passed ball leading off the ninth.
Of note: Puckett's average dropped to .425. Dan Gladden struck out as a pinch-hitter and dropped to .381. Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 and was batting .345. Al Newman went 0-for-4 to fall to .320. Bush fell to .313.
Record: The Twins were 7-3 and were tied for first with California.
Notes: Newman was again at second base with Steve Lombardozzi on the bench. Bush again started in right with Tom Brunansky in left and Gladden on the bench...Devon White had more power than I remembered. I think of him as a speed guy, but he hit 208 home runs in his career. 1987 was his first full season in the majors and his best from a home run standpoint, as he hit 24 that year. His highest slugging percentage, and his highest OPS, actually came in his last season, with Milwaukee in 2001, when he hit .277/.343/.459. He became a free agent after that season--I don't know if nobody wanted him or if he simply decided, at age 39, that he'd had enough. My recollection of him as a speed guy is not entirely misplaced, as he stole 346 bases. His highest number there came in 1989, when he stole 44.
Yeah, I knew Devon was a really solid player and hit a bunch of homers but I'm still surprised every time I see it. For some reason I lump him in with Gary Pettis.
I tend to lump Devon White in with 3-Dog Davis in the sneaky power department. Davis had more speed, and White's era was more hitter- and power-friendly. One-Dog Johnson was the poor man's White/Davis.
White's most similar batters by B-ref is pretty impressive: A. Otis, C. Lemon, C. Washington, M. Grissom, B. Anderson, F. Alou, C. Cedeño, J. Callison, J. Cardenal, K. Griffey. Steve Finley, who pretty much is the gold standard for a solid late prime in center field, is White's most similar from age-32 to age-36 seasons.
That is, indeed, a pretty solid group.
Cr@p, I better pay attention to these -- there was a good chance I was at this game.
Bert clearly didn't know how to pitch to the score. Good thing the Twins eventually found a pitcher who could do that.
If i used the b-r finder tool correctly, Bert had 11 career complete games in which he lost while giving up 2 runs. I couldn't figure out how to limit the find to only 2-1 CG losses (and can't inspect, since I'm not a subscriber).
That's gold, Jeff. Gold!
I expect to use that line about forty-six times in this series.
I remember Mike Witt as being a lot better than his career stats, which show him to be basically a little above average, probably because in '87, he was a 26 year old that made his second straight All-Star Game and at the end of the year was 87-73 with a 113 ERA+. His top comps for ages 24-25 were Greg Maddux and for age 26 was Mark Gubicza. However, he kind of fell off a cliff after that, going 30-43 with an 89 ERA+ the rest of his career. He pitched over 200 innings in both '88 and '89, so it doesn't appear that he was put on the DL, but his K rate plummeted at age 27 and 28 and never recovered. I don't remember him ending his career with the Yankees.