Monthly Archives: November 2016

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Fifty-four

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MINNESOTA 3, TEXAS 2 IN MINNESOTA (13 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, June 6.

Batting stars:  Mark Salas was 2-for-3 with a home run, his third.  Gene Larkin was 3-for-5 with a walk.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with two walks and a run.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola struck out nine in seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on ten hits and three walks.  George Frazier struck out five in three shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks.  Jeff Reardon struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Charlie Hough pitched nine innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and five walks with three strikeouts.  Oddibe McDowell was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), three walks, and two stolen bases (his seventh and eighth).   Scott Fletcher was 3-for-5 with two walks.

The game:  Pete Incaviglia singled home a run in the fifth to put Texas ahead 2-1.  It stayed 2-1 until the bottom of the ninth, when Salas led off with a home run to tie it 2-2.  Each team had threats--the Twins even loaded the bases with one out in the twelfth--but there was no more scoring until the thirteenth.  Tom Brunansky walked with one out.  Salas struck out, but Steve Lombardozzi singled to the left-center field gap and Brunansky scored from first to win the game for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 28-26, in second place, two games behind Kansas City.

Notes:   Kirby Puckett was 0-for-5, dropping his average to .320...Larkin raised his average to .366...Salas raised his average to .378...Roy Smalley was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter, dropping his average to .309...Dan Gladden batted second in this game, with Al Newman taking the leadoff spot.  Newman batted second in place of Lombardozzi, who entered the game in the ninth after Smalley pinch-hit for Tim Laudner...Larkin was the DH...This was the last game Salas would play as a Twin.  He was traded to the Yankees the next day for Joe Niekro.  I guess a game-tying homer isn't a bad way to go out.

Player profile:  Charlie Hough had an incredibly long career. He first came up with the Dodgers at the end of 1970, got cups of coffee in 1971 and 1972, came up to stay in 1973, and didn't leave until 1994. He was with the Dodgers through mid-1980, almost entirely as a reliever, and did a really good job for them for several years. He had a poor year in 1979, however, and when he was no better in 1980 he was sold to Texas. They moved him into the rotation in 1982 and he was a consistently good rotation starter through 1990. He twice led the league in starts and batters faced and once led the league in innings. He pitched over 200 innings each year from 1982-88 and over 250 innings in five of those seasons.  He made one all-star team, in 1986.  He became a free agent after 1990 and signed with the White Sox, pitched fairly well for them for two seasons.  Again a free agent after 1992, he signed with the Florida Marlins and was the starting pitcher in their first game ever.  He was fairly good in 1993 but finally slipped in 1994, at age forty-six, and retired.  He is the only pitcher to make over 400 starts and over 400 relief appearances.  He's also the last pitcher to pitch thirteen innings in a game.  He was a pitching coach in both the majors and the minors for several years before retiring.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 26

Hugh Duffy (1866)
Fred Tenney (1871)
Bob Johnson (1905)
Lefty Gomez (1908)
Howard Easterling (1911)
Eddie Miller (1916)
Bob Elliott (1916)
Jeff Torborg (1941)
Larry Gura (1947)
Richie Hebner (1947)
Jorge Orta (1950)
Jay Howell (1955)
Bob Walk (1956)
Mike Moore (1959)
Harold Reynolds (1960)
Chuck Finley (1962)
Brian Schneider (1976)
Matt Garza (1983)

Infielder Howard Easterling was a star in the Negro Leagues in the 1930s and 1940s.

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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Fifty-three

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TEXAS 15, MINNESOTA 9 IN MINNESOTA

Batting stars:  Roy Smalley was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his third) and a walk.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-3 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in one.  Al Newman was 1-for-3 with a run and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Randy Niemann made his Twins debut by striking out four in 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Pete O'Brien was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his twelfth and thirteenth), driving in seven.  Ruben Sierra was 2-for-4 with a double, two walks, and a stolen base (his fifth), scoring twice and driving in two.  Steve Buechele was 3-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and two doubles, scoring three times.

The game:  It wasn't as close as it sounds.  Texas scored three in the first, led 7-0 after four and a half, led 11-1 after five and a half, and led by 15-3 after six and a half.  A five-run seventh for the Twins made it look a little better, but the game was gone by that point.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI...Gene Larkin was 2-for-2 with a run...Gary Gaetti was 2-for-3 with a double...Bert Blyleven lasted only three innings, surrendering five runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout...Boston starter Greg Harris pitched five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out three.

Record:  The Twins were 27-26, in third place, two games behind Kansas City.

Notes:  Blyleven left a pitch up to O'Brien, who hit a two-run homer in the first, and to Oddibe McDowell, who hit a solo shot in the third...Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a run and was batting .327...Larkin raised his average to .333...Smalley's average was .311...Mark Salas was used as a pinch-hitter and went 0-for-1, making his average .357...Greg Gagne batted second in this game, with Steve Lombardozzi in the eighth spot.

Player profile:  Oddibe McDowell had more power than I remembered, hitting double digit homers in four of his seven seasons.  He was a first-round draft choice of the Rangers in 1984, started his pro career in AAA in 1985, and was in the majors by mid-May of that year.  He batted .239/.304/.431 with 18 homers and 25 stolen bases, good enough for fourth in Rookie of the Year balloting that season behind Ozzie Guillen, Teddy Higuera, and Ernie Riles.  His best year was the next one, 1986, when he batted .266/.341/.427 with 18 homers and 33 stolen bases.  He was still a productive player in 1987 but slumped in 1988 and was traded to Cleveland as part of a deal for Julio Franco.  He didn't do much for the Indians in 1989 and was traded to Atlanta in early July.  He did well for the Braves, batting .304, but faded the next year and was released in spring training of 1991.  He signed with Baltimore, and went to AAA, but was released at mid-season.  He signed with California for 1992, was released from AAA in mid-May, sat out for a while, and signed with Texas in July of 1993, again going to AAA.  He was still there in 1994 but by late April was back in the big leagues as a reserve outfielder.  He did okay in that role, but no more.  He was in AAA with the Yankees for fourteen games in 1995, then his playing career was over.  His career numbers are .253/.323/.395 with 74 homers and 169 stolen bases, not terrible numbers but not what one expects from a first round draft choice, either.  At last report, Oddibe McDowell was the head baseball coach at McArthur High School in Broward County, Florida.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 25

Bert Cunningham (1865)
Jakie May (1895)
Charles Baron (1913)
Joe DiMaggio (1914)
Mike Ryan (1941)
Bucky Dent (1951)
Dave Baker (1956)
Chico Walker (1958)
Mark Whiten (1966)
Octavio Dotel (1973)
Nick Swisher (1980)

First baseman Charles Baron played in the minors from 1931-1951, batting .306 with 2,319 hits.  He was a player-manager for the last five of those seasons.

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Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 24

George Burns (1889)
Billy Rogell (1904)
Joe Medwick (1911)
Danny Ozark (1923)
Bob Friend (1930)
Jim Northrup (1939)
Steve Yeager (1948)
Randy Velarde (1962)
Ben McDonald (1967)
Al Martin (1967)
Cal Eldred (1967)
Dave Hansen (1968)
Chris Herrmann (1987)

Danny Ozark was the manager of Philadelphia from 1973-1979.

The staff of Happy Birthday wishes everyone a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.

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