Monthly Archives: October 2017

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Nineteen

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MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, April 21.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases, his fourth and fifth.  Tom Prince was 2-for-3 with a double.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-3 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Russell Branyan was 2-for-3.  Jim Thome was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Travis Fryman was 2-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  It was scoreless until the fourth, when an error preceded Thome's two-run homer.  The Twins got the run back and then some in the bottom of the fourth.  A walk, a single, and a bunt put men on second and third with one out.  Hocking delivered a two-run double to tie it and Jacque Jones followed with an RBI double to put Minnesota ahead 3-2.  Brian Buchanan hit a two-out homer in the fifth (his second) to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.  The Indians threatened in the ninth, getting a pair of singles to put men on first and second with two out, but Eddie Perez flied to right to end the game.

WP:  Reed (2-1).  LP:  Chuck Finley (1-2).  S:  Guardado (8).

Notes:  Buchanan was the DH for this game, going 1-for-3 with a walk and a home run...Prince was again used in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  It again paid off, and he was now batting .375 on the season...Hocking got the start at second base and raised his average to .172...Romero remained unscored upon in twelve appearances (13 innings)...Guardado made his tenth appearance in nineteen team games.  Everyday Eddie, indeed...Jones was 2-for-5 with a double and was batting .351...Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .300...Hunter raised his average to .405...Buchanan was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk and was batting .357...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 and was batting .333...Ex-Twin Matt Lawton was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .265...Thome was only batting .183...Finley started for Cleveland and struck out seven in six innings, but allowed four runs on ten hits and two walks.  A five-time all-star, he was in the last year of his career.  He didn't do a lot for the Indians in 2002, but he was traded to St. Louis in mid-July and pitched quite well in fourteen starts that helped the Cardinals reach the league championship series to give a nice ending to his playing career.

Record:  The Twins were 13-6, in first place, a half game ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 23

William Hulbert (1832)
Mike Sullivan (1866)
Lena Blackburne (1886)
Rube Bressler (1894)
Billy Sullivan (1910)
Vern Stephens (1920)
Ewell Blackwell (1922)
Jim Bunning (1931)
Greg Thayer (1949)
John Castino (1954)
Dwight Lowry (1957)
Al Leiter (1965)
Todd Sears (1975)
David Riske (1976)
John Lackey (1978)
Bud Smith (1979)
Kyle Gibson (1987)

William Hulbert was one of the founders of the National League and was its president from 1877 until his death in 1882.

Infielder Lena Blackburne discovered and marketed the mud from the driver beds near the Delaware River in New Jersey that has been rubbed on every major league baseball used since the 1950s.

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Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Eighteen

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MINNESOTA 6, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, April 20.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, and a stolen base (his third).  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Matt Kinney pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks with four strikeouts.  J. C. Romero and Eddie Guardado each pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Ricky Gutierrez was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Milton Bradley was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Ricardo Rincon pitched two perfect innings.

The game:  Jay Canizaro delivered an RBI double in the second and Jacque Jones followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  Hunter led off the fourth with a home run and Dustan Mohr doubled and scored later in the inning to make it 4-0.  Mientkiewicz homered in the fifth to push the lead to 5-0.  Bradley got the Indians on the board in the seventh with a home run and they got another run in the eighth on Gutierrez' run-scoring single.  Cleveland had the tying run up to bat with none out at that point, but Romero got a strikeout and two ground outs to end the inning.  Pierzynski singled home a run in the eighth and Guardado closed it out with a perfect ninth.

WP:  Kinney (1-0).  LP:  Ryan Drese (2-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bobby Kielty was again the DH in place of David Ortiz, who was apparently injured.  He would not play again until May 13...Canizaro was 1-for-3 to raise his average to .154...This was Kinney's first start of the season.  He would be in the rotation until the end of June, then miss the rest of the season due to injury.  Three of his first four starts were quite good, but he struggled after that, ending the year with an ERA of 4.64 and a WHIP of 1.68...Drese started for Cleveland and pitched 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  Drese had done well in nine appearances for the Indians in 2001, but he would have only one good season in the majors (with Texas in 2004) and even that one wasn't that great...Mark Wohlers finished the game for Cleveland, giving up a run in a third of an inning.  Wohlers had been a fine relief pitcher for Atlanta from 1995-97, but this was his last year in the majors.  His strikeouts per nine innings, which had been as high as 12.5 in his heyday, were down to 5.8.  He wasn't terrible in 2002, but he certainly wasn't anywhere close to what he had been...The Indians had some interesting names in their bullpen, but they could've used more good pitchers.  In addition to Nagy, who we talked about yesterday, and Wohlers, they also had Dave Burba and Bob Wickman.  They appear to have been really just trying to piece things together.

Record:  The Twins were 12-6, in first place, a half game ahead of Chicago and Cleveland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 22

Kid Carsey (1870)
Bill Carrigan (1883)
Johnny Morrison (1895)
Jumbo Elliott (1900)
Jimmie Foxx (1907)
Wilbur Wood (1941)
Jamie Quirk (1954)
Frank DiPino (1956)
Keith Osik (1968)
Hector Carrasco (1969)
Ichiro Suzuki (1973)
Michael Barrett (1976)
Brad Thomas (1977)
Eli Whiteside (1979)
Robinson Cano (1982)
Darren O'Day (1982)

We would also like to wish very happy anniversary to Daneeka's Ghost and Mrs. Ghost.

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