Monthly Archives: September 2017

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 26

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Gus Schmelz (1850)
Bob Coleman (1890)
Bobby Shantz (1925)
Mel McGaha (1926)
Dave Duncan (1945)
Jim Gideon (1953)
Rich Gedman (1959)
Steve Buechele (1961)
Dave Martinez (1964)
Brian Shouse (1968)
Brian Looney (1969)

Gus Schmelz managed several teams in the late 19th century.  He is one of the few who became a manager without having played professionally.

Bob Coleman managed in the minor leagues for thirty-five years.  He had the most wins as a minor league manager when he retired, 2,496, a mark since passed by Stan Wasiak.

Former Knicks player Mel McGaha was the manager of the Kansas City Athletics from 1964-1965.

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2017 Twins Game Logs

Game 156: Twins at Tigers (Morning Game Alert!)

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Jose Berrios vs. Buck Farmer, 11:10 a.m.

It's still difficult to fathom what a turnaround this has been. The Twins haven't been a great team (although they are 31-21 since the new regime traded away Jaime Garcia and Brandon Kintzler at the trade deadline), but they were so historically bad last year and did so little to improve the team this year and yet they already have 22 more victories than last year with 7 games left, including 4 remaining with the sleepwalking Tigers.

A win today would not only finish off a 4-game sweep of the Tigers, it would drop the Magic Number down to 3 with a chance going down to 2, which would mean the Twins could clinch as early as Tuesday. In fact, the Twins could even clinch a tie (and a guarantee of more than 162 games) on Monday if both the Angels and Rangers lose.

Regardless, the Twins have made sure this season will be remembered for an epic turnaround from the previous season or an epic collapse that was set up by an epic turnaround.

A win today would also clinch a winning record. Remember, the Twins were 44 games under .500 last season.

For today's game, it would seem the Twins have a starting pitcher advantage based on their season results thus far. However, Berrios has really struggled against the Tigers in his short career, which is 3 starts. In all 3 starts, he's allowed 6 runs or more. Of course, the last (and only) time Farmer faced the Twins, he allowed 7 runs in just 1 1/3 innings. Let's try a different tactic today and get a big lead in the first inning and save us all some anxiety.