MINNESOTA 14, SEATTLE 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 15.

Batting stars:  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), a double, and a walk, scoring twice.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his twentieth), scoring three times and driving in two.  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-fifth), scoring twice and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Roy Smith pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts.  Dan Schatzeder pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits.

Opposition stars:  Alvin Davis was 2-for-3 with a home run (his nineteenth) and a walk, driving in three.  Mike Kingery was 2-for-3 with a double.  Ken Phelps was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

The game:  Davis singled in a run in the top of the first, but the Twins responded in the bottom half with an eight-run inning, putting this one to bed early.  The Twins had three singles, three doubles, a triple, a walk, and two errors in the inning, with Greg Gagne circling the bases on a three-run triple-plus-error.  The Twins added three in the second on a home run by Brunansky and a two-run homer by Kent Hrbek.

Of note:  Hrbek's homer was his thirtieth of the season...Steve Lombardozzi batted second in this game...Gene Larkin was the DH...Mark Davidson played center field, with Kirby Puckett out of the lineup...This was Smith's only start of the season, filling in for Joe Niekro...Lee Guetterman started for Seattle but lasted only two-thirds of an inning, allowing six runs (none earned) on four hits and a walk with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 64-54, in first place by four games over Oakland.

Player profile:  No one would consider Lee Guetterman an all-star, but he actually had a number of seasons in which he was an effective pitcher.  He was born in Chattanooga, went to high school in Oceanside, California, attended Liberty University, and was drafted by Seattle in 1981.  He made his major league debut as a September call-up in 1984, but spent all of 1985 in AAA before coming back to the Mariners in 1986.  He was with Seattle for almost all of the season despite the fact that, frankly, he was pretty awful:  0-4, 7.34, 1.82 WHIP.  He started 1987 back in AAA, did very well, and came back to the Mariners in late May.  He was primarily a starter, the only year in his career in which that was the case, and did okay:  11-4, 3.81, 1.34 WHIP.  He was traded to the Yankees after that season.  He didn't do much for them in 1988, but pitched well after that:  from 1989-91 he was 19-16, 3.14, 1.22 WHIP in 284 innings (198 games).  He also picked up 21 saves on a team that had Dave Righetti as its closer.  He got off to a bad start in 1992, was traded to the Mets, and continued to pitch poorly.  He signed with the Dodgers for 1993, was released in spring training, signed with St. Louis in early May, and again pitched well, going 3-3, 2.93, 1.24 WHIP.  Surprisingly, though, nobody wanted him after that:  he signed with California, got released in spring training, signed with San Diego, was sent to AAA and was released again despite the fact that he pitched well, and signed back with Seattle.  Maybe people knew something, though, because despite the fact that he made it back to the majors for parts of 1995-96 he was never any good there again.  For his career he was 38-36, 4.33, 1.43 WHIP, numbers which wouldn't impress anybody.  In his best five seasons, though, he was 33-23, 3.29, 1.22 WHIP, which are good numbers in anybody's book.  The point is not to cherry-pick good years out of his career and make him look better than he was.  The point is simply that there were five years out of his career in which he was, indeed, a very good major league pitcher.

MINNESOTA 6, SEATTLE 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 14.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in two.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-ninth) and two runs.  Tim Laudner was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Ken Phelps was 2-for-4 with a home run (his nineteenth) and a double, scoring twice.  Mickey Brantley was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one.  Harold Reynolds was 1-for-4 with a double and a run.

The game:  Tom Brunansky singled in a run in the second and Randy Bush did the same in the third to put the Twins ahead 2-0.  Each team scored once in the fifth and once in the sixth, leaving the Twins up 4-2.  Gaetti delivered a two-run double in the eighth (with Hrbek scoring from first) to put the Twins in control.  Seattle scored one in the ninth but did not threaten to tie the game.

Of note:  Greg Gagne was again in the leadoff spot...Randy Bush was again in right field and batting second, with Brunansky in left and Dan Gladden on the bench, although Gladden played in the ninth inning...Gene Larkin was the DH...Blyleven left a pitch up to Phelps but pitched well otherwise...Seattle starter Mike Morgan pitched seven innings, giving up five runs on ten hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 63-54, in first place, 3.5 games ahead of California.

Player profile:  I don't know how many people remember Alvin Davis, but he was a pretty good player for the Mariners for several years.  Born and raised in Riverside, California, he went to Arizona State and was drafted by Seattle in the sixth round in 1982.  He played only two seasons in the minors before becoming the Mariners' starting first baseman in 1984 at age twenty-three.  He batted .284/.391/.497 with twenty-seven homers, made the all-star team that season, won the Rookie of the Year award, and had greatness predicted.  He never quite achieved greatness, but he achieved pretty good-ness for seven seasons (1984-90).  His OPS was over .800 for all of those seven seasons except 1986, when it was .799.  He batted .300 only once (.305 in 1989), but hit in the .280s and .290s consistently.  His OBP was generally between .370-.390, topping .400 twice (1988 and 1989).  His high for home runs was 29, in 1987, but he hit 18 or more six years in a row (breaking the streak with 17 in 1990).  He fell off very quickly--in 1991 he batted just .221 with an OPS of .635.  He signed with California as a free agent for 1992 but was released in late June.  He played in Japan for the rest of 1992 and his playing career was suddenly over.  For his career, he batted .280/.380/.450 with 160 home runs in nine seasons.  Not hall of fame numbers or anything, but he was a fine player for seven years, and that's a long way from nothing.