MINNESOTA 2, NEW YORK 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 21.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, his fifth.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and four walks with eight strikeouts and zero pitches left up.

Opposition stars:  Ron Guidry pitched eight innings, giving up one run on six hits and no walks with four strikeouts.  Mark Salas was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Claudell Washington was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.

The game:  Dave Winfield singled Washington home in the first to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  Brunansky homered in the fourth to tie it 1-1.  There was no more scoring until the ninth, when Gaetti led off with double off Tim Stoddard.  Brunansky was intentionally walked and Pat Clements came in to face Hrbek, who singled to center to bring Gaetti home with the winning run.  Apparently, saving your closer for a save situation was a thing back then, too, because Dave Righetti had not pitched since July 17 and would seem to have been available, but was not used.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .325...TK used a rather strange top of the order.  Al Newman led off and was the DH, one of two times that season and in his career that he was a starting DH.  Puckett batted second, with Dan Gladden third.  If someone had the time to look it up, it would be interesting to know if the papers at the time said anything about the reasons for that arrangement.

Record:  The Twins were 52-43, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  Tim Stoddard had a pretty long career for being no better than he was.  He was drafted by the White Sox in the second round of the January Secondary draft in 1975.  He pitched one inning for the White Sox in 1975, but didn't really start his major league career until 1978.  He was with Baltimore by then, having been released by the White Sox after the 1977 season.  and started the season with the Orioles, but was sent down in early May.  In the next two years, 1979-80, he was excellent.  He posted a 1.71 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 58 innings in 1979, became the closer in 1980, and did a fine job, going 5-3, 26 saves, 2.51, 1.28 WHIP.  In the next two years, however, he was not nearly as good--his ERAs were around 4.00, but his WHIPs were around 1.5.  He was even worse in 1983 and the Orioles traded him to Oakland.  He never played for them, as they included him in a deal with the Cubs before the 1984 season started.  He was 10-6, 3.82 in relief for them, but with a WHIP of 1.46.  He became a free agent, signed with San Diego, was not very good for them, and was traded to the Yankees in in July of 1986 for Ed Whitson.  The Yankees probably thought it was a good trade just because they were rid of Whitson, but Stoddard was actually a useful reliever for them for the rest of 1986 and 1987, posting ERAs in the threes and WHIPs in the 1.2s.  He imploded the next year, however, was released in mid-August, played about half a season for Cleveland in 1989, and then was done.  For his career, he was 41-35, 3.95, 76 saves, 1.42 WHIP in 485 games (729.2 innings, all in relief).  Not awful numbers, I suppose, but not as good as could be expected from someone who played thirteen years in the big leagues.  A random fact about Tim Stoddard:  he is the only man to play on an NCAA basketball champion (NC State, 1974) and a World Series champion (Baltimore, 1983).  The only other man to play in the Final Four and the World Series is Kenny Lofton.  The two men went to the same high school, Washington High School in East Chicago, Indiana.