...for Brady. I always cheer for him because I like to hear his sputtering detractors try to come up with new ways to say he's overrated.
Monthly Archives: February 2017
1987 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-six
BOSTON 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN BOSTON
Date: Sunday, August 23.
Batting stars: Roy Smalley was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk. Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirty-first. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with two doubles.
Pitching star: Juan Berenguer pitched 3.1 innings, giving up one run on one hit and two walks with two strikeouts.
Opposition stars: Don Baylor was 2-for-3 with a grand slam (his sixteenth homer) and a hit-by-pitch. Dwight Evans was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-ninth. Wade Boggs was 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs.
The game: It looked good early. Gary Gaetti and Roy Smalley led off the second with back-to-back home runs to put the Twins up 2-0. Hrbek hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 4-0. Twins starter Steve Carlton walked in a run in the fourth, but a double play got him out of the inning and the Twins still led 4-1. In the fifth, however, Boston loaded the bases again and this time Baylor unloaded them with a grand slam, putting the Red Sox in front 5-4. Dwight Evans also homered in the inning to make it 6-4. The Twins got only one hit after the fourth inning, a two-out double by Puckett in the eighth.
Of note: Puckett raised his average to .315...Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-seventh...Carlton pitched 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts...Boston starter Jeff Sellers struck out ten in 7.1 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk.
Record: The Twins were 66-60, in first place by two games over Oakland. This was their sixth consecutive loss.
Player profile: His win in this game was one of thirteen career wins for Jeff Sellers. He was born in Compton, California, went to high school in Paramount, California, and was drafted by Boston in the eighth round in 1982. He had an excellent year in AA in 1985 and got a September call-up that season, going 2-0, 3.63 in four starts. He spent the next three seasons going back and forth between Pawtucket and Boston, sometimes doing well in AAA but never showing much in the big leagues. In 1986 he made 14 appearances (13 starts) for the Red Sox, going 3-7, 4.94. In 1987 he made 25 appearances (22 starts), going 7-8, 5.28. In 1988 he made 18 appearances (12 starts), going 1-7, 4.83. He was still only twenty-four at that point, but the Red Sox gave up on him and traded him to Cincinnati. He pitched in AAA for the Reds, the Yankees, and the Rangers through 1992, but never got back to the big leagues. His strikeout numbers got better as his big-league career went along--in 1988 he struck out 7.4 batters per nine innings. One wonders if he might have done well in the bullpen, but he never really got a chance there. His son, Justin Sellers, was an infielder for the Dodgers and Indians from 2011-14.
Winter Wonderland: Australian League Preliminary Final, Game Three
BRISBANE 18, ADELAIDE 2 IN BRISBANE
Leading 4-1 after six, Brisbane scored six in the seventh and eight in the eighth to win the game and the series. Aaron Whitefield was 2-for-5 with a walk and a run for Brisbane. Logan Wade was 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs for Brisbane. Rick Teasley struck out nine in seven innings for Brisbane, giving up one run on three hits and no walks. Mitch Nilsson was 4-for-6 with two home runs for Brisbane, scoring three times and driving in four. David Rodriguez was 3-for-6 with a home run and a double for Brisbane, scoring three times. Thomas Milone was 3-for-5 with a run for Brisbane. Trent Oeltjen hit a home run for Brisbane. Ryan Battaglia hit two home runs for Brisbane.
Brisbane wins the best-of-three Preliminary Final Series 2-1. They will play Melbourne in the best-of-three Championship Series beginning Friday.
FMBD – February 2017
I got in some interesting reading over the holidays:
Flashman – George MacDonald Fraser
A wild romp of a book features Flashman, a swashbuckling, womanizing, scoundrel in Victorian England’s Army, on assignment to a cantonment in Kabul. A raunchy coward, he bumbles his way miraculously through thick and thin. This is the first of a series. I just started another book in the series (Flashman in the Great Game) where Flashman gets caught up in the middle of the Sepoy Revolt.
The Last Moriarty - Charles Veley
We were at my next-door neighbor’s house for a pre-Holiday soiree and got to talking with this couple who live across the street. The conversation somehow got to Benedict Cumberbatch and the BBC’s Sherlock series.
I’m a big fan of the canon, and recalled a recent A.C. Doyle story I had just downloaded from Project Gutenberg and read on my newly purchased Kindle. The main jist of my observation was about what an a**hole Holmes could be to Watson.
So this couple both start to smile broadly, and it turns out he is a UTC engineer by day, but a fiction writer by night, and a big Doyle fan. He had also recently written (and had published) a Sherlock Holmes ‘continuation’ story which fits into the canon with historical precision.
The Last Moriarty picks up after Reichenbach Falls, when Holmes finally comes out of hiding, and gets involved in an intrigue involving several industrial magnates from America, some Connecticut connections, and even a reference to Farmington’s Miss Porter’s school.
The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes
I’d read Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending after a positive review in the Economist (+ Man Booker Prize winner) and really enjoyed it. I’m also a Dimitri Shostokovich fan, so when I saw this book reviewed, I immediately ordered it and devoured it.
The book starts with Shostakovich in a panic as he has just had his first opera performed (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District) and the three figures in Stalin’s box seats walk out after the first act (including Stalin). Shostakovich' music is soon after denounced in Pravda.
He proceeds to dress up every night and sit in a chair next to the elevator with his kit and toothbrush, because he expects to be taken away by the secret police at night, and doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his wife. A lot of Soviet history mixed in with the musician's life and music.
A Whole Life - R. Seethaler
A tender read about a simple man who lives a simple life in the Austrian Alps, overcoming adversity, and yet persevering. Well written - a sad story but not a bummer.
So Nation - what have you been reading?
Happy Birthday–February 6
Frank LaPorte (1880)
Babe Ruth (1895)
Jake Levy (1900)
Glenn Wright (1901)
Dale Long (1926)
Smoky Burgess (1927)
Augie Garrido (1939)
Richie Zisk (1949)
Larry Young (1954)
Bob Wickman (1969)
Chad Allen (1975)
Pitcher Jake Levy had a minor league career that started in 1921 and lasted until 1945. He played under a variety of names, making it difficult to determine his true record, but he won at least two hundred games. He was also a good hitter, and early in his career played in the field when he was not pitching.
Augie Garrido is the baseball coach at the University of Texas and has the most coaching wins of anyone in Division I.
Larry Young was a major league umpire from 1983-2007.
You may have heard of that "Babe Ruth" fellow.
Anderson .Paak – Silicon Valley/Carry Me
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Winter Wonderland: Caribbean Series, Day Four
PUERTO RICO 10, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 2 IN MEXICO
Already leading 3-2, Puerto Rico scored three in the fifth and three in the sixth to put the game out of reach. Ivan DeJesus, Jr. was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk for Puerto Rico, scoring three times and driving in two. David Vidal was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk for Puerto Rico, scoring once. Rusney Castillo hit a two-run homer for Puerto Rico.
VENEZUELA 8, CUBA 3 IN MEXICO
Ronny Cedeno's RBI single in the fourth put Venezuela up 4-3 and a three-run fifth gave Venezuela control of the game. Freddy Galvis was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk for Venezuela, scoring twice and driving in two. Cedeno was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI.
STANDINGS
Mexico, 3-0
Cuba, 2-1
Venezuela, 2-1
Puerto Rico, 1-3
Dominican Republic, 0-3
TODAY'S TILTS
Dominican Republic v. Venezuela
Mexico v. Cuba
Ozomatli “Super Bowl Sundae”
Later with Jools Holland, 1998
Most of the original lineup, with Chali 2Na (but not DJ Cut Chemist).
The one cussword in the original has been elided.
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1987 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-five
BOSTON 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN BOSTON
Date: Saturday, August 22.
Batting stars: Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his twenty-sixth. Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a stolen base (his twenty-second) and two runs. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run.
Pitching star: George Frazier pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Mike Greenwell was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a triple, driving in two. Dave Henderson was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and two RBIs. Wade Boggs was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a walk.
The game: The Red Sox built a 5-1 lead through five innings. The Twins battled back, scoring without a hit in the sixth and then getting a three-run homer from Gaetti in the seventh to tie it 5-5. With two out and none on in the seventh, starter Les Straker gave up a home run to Boggs to put the Bostons back in front. The Twins did not threaten after that.
Of note: Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with an RBI to raise his average to .313...Al Newman was again at shortstop, although Greg Gagne came in late in the game when Newman was removed for a pinch-hitter...Straker pitched 6.2 innings, allowing six runs on eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts. It seems strange that he was still in the game in the seventh. On the other hand, the Twins were coming off some short starts, they didn't exactly have a shutdown bullpen, and Straker had retired five in a row before the Boggs homer, and Boggs hadn't hit the ball out of the infield prior to his home run. It's hard to say, thirty years later, that it was the wrong decision. It does seem unusual, though.
Record: The Twins were 66-59, in first place by two games over Oakland, and had lost five in a row. I don't specifically remember, but it seems like Twins fans were probably starting to get pretty nervous at this point.
We hope to resume player profiles later this week.
Happy Birthday–February 5
Bill Rariden (1888)
Max Flack (1890)
Roger Peckinpaugh (1891)
Joan Payson (1903)
Jack Murphy (1923)
Don Hoak (1928)
Al Worthington (1929)
Hank Aaron (1934)
Norm Miller (1946)
Mike Heath (1955)
Roberto Alomar (1968)
Eric O'Flaherty (1985)
Mark Hamburger (1987)
Joan Payson was the original owner of the New York Mets.
Jack Murphy was a longtime sportswriter in San Diego who helped bring the Padres to the city. The baseball stadium was named in his honor for many years until the naming rights were sold.