NEW YORK 6, MINNESOTA 1 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Sunday, May 10.

Batting stars:  Randy Bush was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one.  Roy Smalley was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Joe Klink pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Charles Hudson pitched a complete game, giving up one run on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts.  Gary Ward was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his second, scoring once and driving in three.  Rickey Henderson was 2-for-5 with three stolen bases ( his fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth), scoring twice.

The game:  Ward had a two-run single and Claudell Washington had an RBI double in the first inning, giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead they held the rest of the way.  The lone Twins run came in the fifth, when Al Newman hit a two-out single and scored from first on a Bush double.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .339.  Mike Smithson pitched only two innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks.  He also hit a batter and committed a balk.

Record:  The Twins were 16-14, in fourth place, but only a half game behind California, Kansas City, and Seattle, who were all tied for first.

Notes:  Newman was at second in this game, with Steve Lombardozzi on the bench...Bush was in right field, with Brunansky in left and Dan Gladden on the bench...Despite the short start from Smithson, the Twins used only two relief pitchers.  Klink went 2.2 innings and George Frazier pitched 3.1 innings.

Player profile:  Charles Hudson had a memorable rookie year, but never quite lived up to the expectations it raised.  He came up with Philadelphia in late May of 1983 as a twenty-four-year-old rookie, was immediately placed in the starting rotation, and went 8-8, 3.35, 1.25 WHIP in 26 starts.  He also got a complete game win in the NLCS, although things did not go as well in the World Series as the Phillies lost to Baltimore.  That would be his best year with the Phils.  He was okay for the next two seasons, had a poor 1986, and was traded to the Yankees after the season in a trade involving Mike Easler.  He was with the Yanks for two seasons.  The first, 1987, was the better of the two, as he went 11-7, 3.61, 1.25 WHIP.  He started that season in the rotation and pitched extremely well through May 15.  He then had four consecutive poor starts and went to the bullpen, where he stayed most of the rest of the season.  His ERA in 1988 was 4.49, but his WHIP was only 1.21, so he perhaps was not as bad as the ERA would show.  In spring training of 1989 he was traded to Detroit for Tom Brookens.  He had bad year for them, broke his leg in a car accident in August, and his playing career was over.  Well, that's not quite true--he got an invitation to spring training with the Cubs in 1995 as a replacement player.  He is one of two players from Ennis, Texas to make the majors (Bob Finley).