1987 Rewind: Game Eighty-eight

MINNESOTA 2, BALTIMORE 1 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Saturday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Randy Bush was 1-for-3 with a home run (his sixth) and a walk.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixteenth.  Al Newman was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola pitched a complete game, giving up one run on eight hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Mike Griffin pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

The game:  It was a sharp contrast to yesterday's game.  Ron Washington singled in a run in the third to put Baltimore up 1-0.  Bush got the run back in the fourth, leading off the inning with a solo homer.  Gaetti put the Twins ahead in the sixth with another solo homer.  Ray Knight singled leading off the bottom of the ninth and got as far as third base with two out, but pinch-hitter Mike Young grounded out to end the game.

Of note:  Roy Smalley was 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping his average to .314...Viola's ERA fell to 2.96...This was Ron Washington's second game with the Orioles.  He was 4-for-9 in the two games.

Record:  The Twins were 49-39, in first place by two games over Kansas City and Oakland.

Notes:  It was somewhat of a B lineup.  Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne and led off.  Bush was in right field and batted second.  Brunansky shifted to left, with Dan Gladden out of the lineup, although Gladden came into the game for defense in the seventh.  Mark Davidson started in center field in place of Kirby Puckett.

Player profile:  This was the only complete game of Mike Griffin's career, a career that was most notable for the trades that he was involved in.  He was drafted by Texas in the third round in 1976 but was traded to the Yankees before reaching the majors in a deal that sent Greg Jemison, Juan Beniquez, Paul Mirabella, and Dave Righetti to New York for Mike Heath, Sparky Lyle, Larry McCall, Dave Rajsich, Domingo Ramos, and cash (sadly, you don't seem to see big multi-player deals like that any more).  He got a September call-up with New York in 1979, was with them for about half of 1980, and made two appearances for them in 1981 before being traded to the Cubs as a player to be named later in a deal that also sent Doug Bird and $400,000 to the Cubs for Rick Reuschel.  He was with the Cubs that season, then was sent to Montreal as the player to be named later in exchange for Dan Briggs.  Before the year was up, he was once again a player to be named later, sent to San Diego for Jerry Manuel.  That was the last time he was traded, but he bounced around the minors for quite a while after that.  He made it back to the majors twice:  with Baltimore for half of the 1987 season and with Cincinnati for three appearances in 1989.  Through it all, he appears to have been a thoroughly mediocre major league pitcher--not the worst pitcher in the league, but not someone you'd consider good, either.  Over 203.2 major league innings, he was 7-15, 4.60, 1.51 WHIP.  He looks like pretty much a replacement level player, which is perhaps why he was a player to be named later so often--after all, a replacement level player is not without value, and sometimes having or not having one can make the difference between making the playoffs and not making them.  He has stayed in baseball as a minor league pitching coach, and has been the pitching coach of the Norfolk Tides since 2009.