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).

MINNESOTA 2, NEW YORK 0 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Saturday, May 9.

Batting stars:  Al Newman was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double, driving in two.  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-2 with a double and a run.  Mark Davidson was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and three walks with two strikeouts.  Juan Berenguer struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and two walks.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up a walk and a hit batsman.

Opposition stars:  Dennis Rasmussen pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks with two strikeouts.  Dan Pasqua was 0-for-1 with three walks.  Rickey Henderson was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his thirteenth.

The game:  In the third, Lombardozzi doubled, went to third on a groundout, and scored on Newman's squeeze bunt.  In the fifth, Davidson doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on Newman's triple.  The best scoring chance for the Yankees came in the ninth, Willie Randolph led off with a double, bringing Reardon into the game.  A one-out walk to Pasqua and a two-out hit batsman (Gary Ward) loaded the bases.  Mike Pagliarulo then popped up to end the game.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4.

Record:  The Twins were 16-13, in third place, a half game behind California and Kansas City.

Notes:  Puckett raised his average to .351...Straker lowered his ERA to 1.45...Newman played shorstop, replacing Greg Gagne...Davidson was once again in right, with Tom Brunansky at DH and Roy Smalley out of the lineup...I seem to remember Dan Pasqua as a better player than he was, although he was decent at his peak.  He came up to the Yankees in 1985 and was never more than a part-time player there, playing mostly as a corner outfielder.  He was traded to the White Sox after the 1987 season and that's where he had his best years.  He posted an OPS of .842 in 1990 and .823 in 1991, hitting a total of thirty-one homers in those two seasons.  He fell off sharply after the 1991 season, never topping .220 in batting average or reaching double-digit homers again.  A left-handed batter, he could not hit left-handed pitching even in his best years.  In fact, it appears that one reason they were his best years is that the White Sox stopped playing him against portsiders.  His career ended after the 1994 season.  b-r.com notes that in his first season in the minors, 1982, he was a teammate of John Elway and in his last, 1994, he was a teammate of Michael Jordan.  It appears he stayed in the Chicago area after his playing days ended.