Monthly Archives: February 2017

Friday Music Day

FMD: Proposed Covers

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There's something about cover songs that really appeals to me. Probably the obvious: someone putting a new spin on a classic makes it fresh again. Or maybe it's the less obvious: like a Star Trek alternate universe, it lets you reimagine the world with things changed, but somehow still familiar?

Anyway, this week I thought it might be fun to talk about cover songs that you'd like to see happen.

To kick it off, I'd say Marilyn Manson covering The Police's "Every Step You Take" could be interesting. I'll see if I can think of others.

Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Australian League Championship Series

BRISBANE 6, MELBOURNE 2 IN MELBOURNE

Trent Oeltjen hit a two-run homer in the first and Brisbane led all the way.  The lead was only 3-2 through two innings, though, and after a David Rodriguez homer in the third made it 4-2 there was no more scoring until the eighth.  In that inning, back-to-back homers by Logan Wade and Kevin Padlo put the game out of reach.  Five relievers combined to shut out Melbourne over the last 6.2 innings of the game.  Aaron Whitefield was 1-for-5 with a run for Brisbane.  Wade was 3-for-4.

Brisbane leads the best-of-three series 1-0.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty

MILWAUKEE 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN MILWAUKEE

Date: August 28, 1987.

Batting star:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts.  Juan Berenguer struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Chris Bosio pitched a complete game shutout, giving up two hits and three walks with eight strikeouts.  Robin Yount was 2-for-4 with a run and a stolen base, his thirteenth.  Greg Brock was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  The familiar refrain is "We finally get some pitching and we can't hit."  Straker pitched very well, but the Twins managed only two hits off Bosio, a one-out single by Greg Gagne in the first and a one-out single by Hrbek in the seventh.  Both times the runner was erased by a double play.  The Twins' biggest threat, if you want to call it that, came in the second inning, when Gene Larkin was hit by a pitch and stole second with two out.  It was the only time the Twins advanced a man into scoring position.  The game's only run came in the sixth, when Yount singled, stole second, and scored on Brock's double.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup, with Randy Bush in right field and leading off.  Tom Brunansky played left...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .315...This was Bosio's rookie season.  This was his first complete game, and obviously his first shutout.  He would have 39 complete games and 9 shutouts in his career...The Twins had lost nine of their last ten games.

Record:  The Twins were 67-63, tied for first place with Oakland.  Oakland actually had a slightly higher winning percentage, .516 to .515.  That winning percentage would have merited fifth place in the American League East.

We won't get back to player profiles this week after all.  We'll try again next week.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 10

Horace Wilson (1845)
Jim Keenan (1858)
Curt Welch (1862)
Billy Evans (1884)
Herb Pennock (1894)
Bill Adair (1913)
Allie Reynolds (1917)
George Sobek (1920)
Randy Jackson (1926)
Billy O'Dell (1933)
Dick Bogard (1937)
Jim Barr (1948)
Larry McWilliams (1954)
Lenny Dykstra (1963)
Lenny Webster (1965)
Jayhawk Owens (1969)
Alberto Castillo (1970)
Bobby Jones (1970)
Kevin Sefcik (1971)
Lance Berkman (1976)
Cesar Izturis (1980)
Alex Gordon (1984)
Duke Welker (1986)
Liam Hendriks (1989)
Max Kepler (1993)

Horace Wilson was an American professor English at Tokyo University.  He is credited with introducing baseball to Japan in either 1872 or 1873.

Billy Evans was the youngest umpire in major league history, starting his career at age 22.  He was an American League umpire from 1906-1027.  He would later become general manager of the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers, and was president of the Southern Association from 1942-1946.

Bill Adair was a long-time minor league player (1935-1956) and manager (1949-1973).  He also was the scout credited with signing Andre Dawson and Tim Raines.

George Sobek was a long-time scout for the White Sox, credited with signing Denny McLain, Steve Trout, and Mike Squires.  He also played in the NBA and was a long-time college basketball referee.

Another long-time scout, Dick Bogard played in the minors for six years, managed for three, and was a scout for nearly thirty years, mostly for Houston and Oakland.  He is credited with signing Walt Weiss, Jason Giambi, and Ben Grieve.

Jim Barr was drafted six different times before finally signing.  Minnesota drafted him in the sixth round of the January Secondary draft in 1970, but he did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 10 →

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-nine

DETROIT 10, MINNESOTA 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 26.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring three times and driving in one.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth) and three RBIs.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-seventh.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Chet Lemon was 3-for-5 with two home runs, scoring three times and driving in four.  Jim Morrison was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his thirteenth).  Dan Petry struck out four in four innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits and no walks.

The game:  I don't specifically remember this game, but it must have felt like a devastating loss at the time.  Sacrifice flies in each of the first two innings put the Twins ahead 2-0.  Morrison hit a three-run homer in the fourth to give Detroit a 3-2 advantage.  Brunansky homered in the bottom of the fourth to tie it and Gagne delivered an RBI single later in the inning to put the Twins up 4-3.  Kirby Puckett drove in a run with a single in the fifth to make it 5-3.  Lemon homered in the sixth and Alan Trammell had a run-scoring single in the seventh to tie it 5-5.  Gagne then homered in the eighth to again put the Twins up 6-5 and Jeff Reardon, who hadn't given up a run since August 9, came in to pitch the ninth.  A walk, a strikeout, a walk, a fly out, and an infield single loaded the bases with two down.  Matt Nokes then lined a single to bring home two runs and Lemon hit a three-run homer, and Detroit was ahead 10-6.  To the Twins credit, they came back to score twice (despite having a runner thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on a single) and had the bases loaded with two out before Willie Hernandez came in to get Al Newman to pop up and end the game.

Of note:  Newman led off and played second in place of Steve Lombardozzi.  He was 3-for-6 with a run and two stolen bases (his fifteenth and sixteenth)...Mark Davidson batted second and played left in place of Dan Gladden...Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, batting .318...Frank Viola started and pitched seven innings, giving up five runs on eleven hits and no walks with six strikeouts...Detroit starter Frank Tanana lasted only four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 67-62, in first place by a half game over Oakland.  They had now lost eight out of their last nine games and five of their last six to the Tigers.

We hope to get back to player profiles yet this week.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 9

Harry Pulliam (1864)
Heinie Zimmerman (1887)
Specs Toporcer (1899)
Bill Veeck (1914)
Jodie Phipps (1918)
Vic Wertz (1925)
Erv Palica (1928)
Clete Boyer (1937)
Eddie Solomon (1951)
Mookie Wilson (1956)
Pete O'Brien (1958)
John Kruk (1961)
Doug Linton (1965)
Todd Pratt (1967)
Vladimir Guerrero (1975)
Dioner Navarro (1984)

Harry Pulliam was president of the National League from 1903-1909.

Bill Veeck was the owner of the Cleveland Indians (1946-49), St. Louis Browns (1951-53), and Chicago White Sox (1958-61, 1975-81).

Pitcher Jodie Phipps played in the minors from 1939-1957, winning 275 games.  He also managed in the minors for seven seasons.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to LBR.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 9 →