Monthly Archives: October 2016

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Six

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MINNESOTA 8, SEATTLE 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Sunday, April 12.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a triple, and a stolen base, scoring twice and driving in three.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base.  Tim Laudner was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Ken Phelps was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his second and third), scoring three times.  Alvin Davis was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.

The game:  In the first inning, Puckett hit a two-run triple and scored on a balk, as the Twins jumped on Mark Langston for a 3-0 lead.  It was 5-0 half-way through, but the Mariners hung around, and it was 6-3 through seven.  Laudner hit a two-run homer in the top of the eighth to make it 8-3, but Davis' two-run double cut it to 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth.  Juan Berenguer, who came in to start the seventh, settled down after that and retired the final five Mariners, four by strikeout.

Of note:  Gladden was making his first start of the season...This was Puckett's third three-hit game of the young season.  He was batting .520 (13-for 25)...Blyleven apparently left a couple of pitches up to Phelps.  But they were both solo home runs, so they didn't hurt him.

Record:  The Twins were 5-1, in first place by one game over California.

Notes:  Ken Phelps had four seasons in which he played over a hundred games.  In those four seasons, he hit 99 home runs and had an OPS well over .900.  He had a heck of a time getting teams to play him that much, though.  In 1979 he hit 20 homers with an OPS of .885 in Omaha.  In 1980 he hit 23 homers there with an OPS of .988.  The Royals saw fit to give him exactly four major league at-bats in those two seasons.  Yes, the Royals had some pretty good teams back then, but they also gave nearly two hundred games at first base to the immortal Pete LaCock.  It took a trade to Seattle to give him substantial playing time at age twenty-nine, which he took advantage of.  The Mariners eventually traded him to the Yankees for Jay Buhner, which worked out pretty well for them.  The Yankees didn't give Phelps a ton of playing time, either, but they at least had the excuse of having Don Mattingly at first base.  Phelps bounced around his last few years.  He still had a decent career, but one wonders what he might have done had the Royals not made him waste some prime years in Omaha.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 9

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Dave Rowe (1854)
Al Maul (1865)
Rube Marquard (1866)
Joe Sewell (1898)
Mike Hershberger (1939)
Joe Pepitone (1940)
Freddie Patek (1944)
Bob Moose (1947)
Steve Palermo (1949)
Brian Downing (1950)
Randy Lerch (1954)
Felix Fermin (1963)
Danny Mota (1975)
Brian Roberts (1977)
Mark McLemore (1980)
Jason Pridie (1983)

Steve Palermo was a major league umpire from 1977-1991, when he was shot and paralyzed while trying to prevent a robbery.  He became Supervisor of Umpires in 2000.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to brianS' dad.

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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Five

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SEATTLE 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Saturday, April 11.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Randy Bush was 2-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Apparently, the rules allowed relief pitchers to work more than one inning back then.

Opposition stars:  Donell Nixon was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two stolen bases, scoring once and driving in one.  Ken Phelps was 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and two RBIs.  Rey Quinones was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins trailed 5-2 after five, but a Puckett home run in the sixth, an RBI groundout in the eighth, and a sacrifice fly in the ninth tied it 5-5.  Jeff Reardon came on to work the ninth.  He retired the first batter, but Scott Bradley singled, Mickey Brantley doubled, and Mike Kingery singled home the winning run.

Of note:  Les Straker started but lasted only four innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks with one strikeout...Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 with a run...Mark Davidson was used as a pinch-runner and stole a base.

Record:  The Twins were 4-1, falling into a tie for first with California.

Notes:  Gladden remained out of the starting lineup, with Tom Brunansky starting in left and Bush in right.  He was used as a pinch-hitter and hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the ninth...Davidson stole nine bases in 1987 and was caught stealing only twice...1987 was one of the better years of Minnesota native Mike Kingery's career, as he batted .280 with 25 doubles.  The next two years he would bat .204 and .223 and see substantial time in the minors.  He signed with the Giants for 1990 and bounced back to bat .295 in part-time play, although with an OPS of just .673.  The next two seasons he again spent substantial time in the minors and could not top the Mendoza line in his major league time.  He wasn't in the majors at all in 1993, but he signed with Colorado for 1994 and had the best season of his career at age 33, batting .349 with an OPS of .933 in 349 at-bats.  He had a decent year in 1995, but didn't do much upon moving to Pittsburgh in 1996 and was done after that.  It appears that he returned to Minnesota and operates the Solid Foundation Baseball School in Grove City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 8

Ping Bodie (1887)
Donie Bush (1887)
Doc Crandall (1887)
Wally Moses (1910)
Danny Murtaugh (1917)
Catfish Metkovich (1920)
Ed Kirkpatrick (1924)
Don Pepper (1943)
Paul Splittorff (1946)
Rick Stelmaszek (1948)
Enos Cabell (1949)
Jerry Reed (1955)
Mike Morgan (1959)
J. T. Bruett (1967)
Olmedo Saenz (1970)
Antoan Richardson (1983)
Cody Eppley (1985)

Right-hander Jerry Reed was drafted by the Twins in the eleventh round in 1973, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish E-6 a very happy birthday, and a very happy anniversary to Rhu_Ru's parents.

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