Monthly Archives: December 2016

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Seventy

MINNESOTA 14, CLEVELAND 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 24.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring three times and driving in two.  Al Newman was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks, scoring four times and driving in two.  Sal Butera was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring twice and driving in two.

Pitching star:  Juan Berenguer pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Tony Bernazard was 3-for-6 with a two-run homer (his eleventh) and a stolen base (his fifth), scoring twice.  Julio Franco was 3-for-5 with a triple and walk, scoring once.  Mel Hall was 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.

The game:  Kent Hrbek hit a three-run homer in a four-run fourth that put the Twins ahead 4-1.  Hall's two-run triple in the fifth made it 4-3, but Puckett had an RBI triple and later scored in the bottom of the fifth to put the Twins back up by three at 6-3.  Gary Gaetti had a two-run double in a three-run seventh that put the game out of reach at 9-3.  A five-run eighth made it 14-5 before the Indians scored three in the ninth to make the final score look better.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and a run...Puckett raised his average to .339...Gene Larkin was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run, making his average .324...Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a run...Les Straker started and struck out six in five innings, but gave up three runs on nine hits and a walk...Berenguer lowered his ERA to 2.93...Cleveland starter (and future Twin) Greg Swindell pitched five innings, allowing six runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts.  Swindell had not yet pitched a full season in the majors, and he would not this year, either.  In fact, he would make only one more start before going to AAA for the rest of the season.  In 1988, though, he would become a star, going 18-14, 3.20, 1.15 WHIP in 242 innings.

Record:  The Twins were 41-29, in first place, four games ahead of Oakland.

Notes:  Newman started at second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi.  He batted second...Gaetti was back in the starting lineup and batted fourth...Larkin was the DH in place of Roy Smalley.

WGOM Videos

Beyoncé-Freedom

Video 16 Comments

I love this whole album, guys. Along with being an easy pick for "best of 2016," when I look back, I think Lemonade will be particularly evocative of this sometimes bizarre and painful year.

That said, don't let the previous sentence scare you off--this performance is all kinds of awesome.

https://youtu.be/ElJhoGzTnXU

3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Sixty-nine

MINNESOTA 9, CLEVELAND 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 22.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a double, driving in four.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixteenth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs.

Pitching star:  George Frazier pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and three walks while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Tony Bernazard was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his ninth and tenth) and three runs.  Brett Butler was 1-for-3 with two walks.  Julio Franco was 1-for-5 with a triple and an RBI.

The game:  With a man on first and two out in the third, Al Newman tripled, Kirby Puckett doubled, Hrbek walked, and Gaetti doubled to make the score 4-1 Twins.  The Indians cut the lead to 5-3, but Gaetti hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to put the Twins up 7-3.  Bernazard homered in the seventh to make it 7-4, but Brunansky hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to round out the scoring.

Of note:  Puckett was 1-for-4 to make his average .333...Roy Smalley was 1-for-4 and was batting .315...Mike Smithson pitched 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts...Cleveland starter Tom Candiotti lasted only 3.1 innings, allowing five runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks while striking out two...Greg Gagne hit a home run, his eleventh.

Record:  The Twins were 40-29, in first place, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Notes:  Newman played second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi and batted second...Ex-Twin Rich Yett was the mop-up man for Cleveland in this one, going four innings.  Yett, who made his major league debut with the Twins in 1985, spent most of 1986-89 in the big leagues with Cleveland.  He came back to the Twins in 1990, appearing in four games in April before finishing the season and his playing career in AAA Portland.  He was never all that good, even in AAA, but he kept getting chances.  For his career he was 22-24, 4.95, 1.53 WHIP.  He appeared in 136 games, starting 49 of them, and pitched 414.1 innings.  He was a high school coach in the Phoenix area at last report.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 11

Old Hoss Radbourn (1854)
Art Wilson (1885)
Fred Toney (1888)
Swish Nicholson (1914)
Hal Brown (1924)
Lee Maye (1934)
Mike Henneman (1961)
Thomas Howard (1964)
Jay Bell (1965)
Derek Bell (1968)
Frankie Rodriguez (1972)
Joe Blanton (1980)
Dalton Pompey (1992)

In 2014, Dalton Pompey became the first big leaguer ever to have the given first name "Dalton".  In case anyone remember Dalton Jones (whose birthday was yesterday), his given first name was James.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 11 →

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Sixty-eight

MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, June 21.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a double, scoring twice and driving in three.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and three runs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth).

Pitching star:  Juan Berenguer retired all five men he faced, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Ivan Calderon was 3-for-5 with three doubles, scoring once and driving in two.  Gary Redus was 3-for-5 with a home run (his sixth) and a stolen base (his twenty-first), scoring three times.  Tim Hulett was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins led 3-1, 4-2, and 5-4, but Chicago kept coming back.  It was tied 5-5 after seven, but the Twins finally took the lead to stay in the eighth.  Brunansky had an RBI double, Roy Smalley drove in a run with a single, and Greg Gagne doubled home one more.  Jeff Reardon gave up a two-out pinch-hit homer to Harold Baines in the ninth but otherwise escaped unscathed.

Of note:  Dan Gladden hit a home run, his third.  Puckett raised his average to .335.  Gene Larkin walked in a pinch-hit plate appearance, so he was still batting .324.  Smalley entered the game as a pinch-hitter and was 1-for-2 with an RBI, making his average to .317.  Frank Viola started and pitched six innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and no walks with two strikeouts.  Chicago starter Floyd Bannister pitched 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and two walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 39-29, in first place, three games ahead of Kansas City.

Notes:  Al Newman started at third base, with Gaetti at DH and Smalley out of the lineup to start the game.  Newman batted second...Future Twin Fred Manrique hit a home run for the White Sox, one of four he would hit for the season and one of twenty for his career.  He came to the Twins in 1990 and started sixty games at second base.  The story goes that, while playing for the Twins, he was asked what the team needed.  He responded, "A second baseman."

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 10

Jimmy Johnston (1889)
Rudy Hernandez (1931)
Jaime Jarrin (1935)
Doc Edwards (1936)
Bob Priddy (1939)
Dalton Jones (1943)
Steve Renko (1944)
Paul Assenmacher (1960)
Doug Henry (1963)
Luis Polonia (1963)
Mel Rojas (1966)
Joe Mays (1975)
Dan Wheeler (1977)
Pedro Florimon (1986)

Pitcher Rudy Hernandez was a member of the old Washington franchise in 1960, but was chosen by the new Washington franchise in the expansion draft in December of 1960.

Jaime Jarrin has been the Dodgers' Spanish-language broadcaster since 1959.  For all the accolades Vin Scully has gotten (and they're deserved), it would be nice if Jarrin got a little more attention.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Moss' son.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 10 →