Monthly Archives: November 2017

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Thirty-seven

NEW YORK 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 11.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a double.  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Bernie Williams was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Robin Ventura was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and three RBIs.  Ted Lilly pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks with one strikeout.

The game:  The Yankees scored the first run of the game in the fourth inning on a double play.  The Twins tied it in the fifth, with LeCroy hitting a two-out double and scoring on a single by Kielty.  The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on Brian Buchanan's RBI single, but the Yankees tied it in the seventh when Williams tripled and scored on a Ventura single.  In the ninth that combination struck again, as Williams doubled and Ventura hit a two-run homer.  The Twins got a man on in the ninth on an error, but did not advance him past first base.

WP:  Mike Stanton (2-0).  LP:  Eddie Guardado (0-1).  S:  Mariano Rivera (12).

Notes:  Dustan Mohr led off and played left field in place of Jacque Jones.  He went 1-for-4 and was batting .309...Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 and was batting .345...LeCroy raised his average to .309...Casey Blake was again at third base, going 0-for-3 with a walk...Buchanan was at DH, with Kielty in right field...Tom Prince caught, replacing A. J. Pierzynski.  He went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .323...Denny Hocking was at second base...Guardado entered in the ninth inning and took the loss.  He still did not have a blown save...Ted Lilly had a fine major league career, playing from 1999-2013.  He made two all-star teams, in 2004 with Toronto and 2009 with the Cubs.  He was never a real star--the only time he led the league in anything was 2008, when he led the league in starts--but he was a dependable starting pitcher for most of his career.  He pitched between 177-207 innings ever season but one from 2003 through 2011.  He had double-digit wins in every season from 2003 through 2011 and had a solid ERA in each of those years except 2005, when he missed part of the season due to injury.  His career numbers are 130-113, 4.14 ERA, 1.26 WHIP in almost 2000 innings.  He's not going to get into the Hall of Fame or anything, but for about nine years he was a pitcher that you were quite happy to have on your team.

Record:  The Twins were 22-15, in first place, a game ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 10

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Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)

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Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Thirty-six

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NEW YORK 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 10.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-3 with a walk.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5.  Brian Buchanan was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.

Pitching star:  Tony Fiore struck out five in three shutout innings, giving up no hits and one walk.

Opposition stars:  Bernie Williams was 3-for-5.  Derek Jeter was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  David Wells pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on nine hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

The game:  A throwing error on Jeter allowed the Twins to score a run in the first inning and take a 1-0 lead.  The Yankees tied it in the top of the third on Williams' RBI single, but Buchanan hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to put Minnesota ahead 3-1.  That was as good as it would get for the Twins, though.  Jeter hit a two-run homer in the fifth to tie the score.  Later in the fifth, Jorge Posada put New York ahead with a run-scoring double and a run was walked in still later in the inning, making the score 5-3.  Minnesota did not advance a man past first base after that.

WP:  Wells (5-1).  LP:  Eric Milton (4-3).  S:  Mariano Rivera (11).

Notes:  Buchanan was again in right field...Dustan Mohr got the call at DH, going 0-for-4 to make his average .311...Maybe Buchanan was a better outfielder than I remember, and I confess that I don't understand defensive stats very well, but I don't know why you wouldn't do that the other way, with Mohr in right and Buchanan as the DH...Corey Koskie was apparently injured, as Casey Blake was called up and made the start at third base, going 1-for-4.  He would stay with the Twins through May 22, then go back to AAA...Jay Canizaro started at second base, going 0-for-3...Jones raised his average to .310...Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 to make his average .348...Milton pitched just four innings-plus, giving up five runs on ten hits and two walks with two strikeouts...Tony Fiore was awesome through this point in the season.  Seven appearances, 17.1 innings, 1 run, 6 hits, 5 walks, 11 strikeouts, 0.49 ERA, 0.63 WHIP.  Prior to this, he had thrown 24.2 innings in the big leagues with an ERA of 7.30.  He wouldn't keep it up, obviously--in fact, he would give up runs in his next four appearances--but 2002 was easily his best year in the majors, and in fact the only good year he had.

Record:  The Twins were 22-14, in first place, a game ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 9

George Wood (1858)
Harvey Hendrick (1897)
Johnny Gooch (1897)
Jerry Priddy (1919)
Bob Wren (1920)
Bill Bruton (1925)
Whitey Herzog (1931)
Bob Gibson (1935)
Jim Riggleman (1952)
Teddy Higuera (1958)
Dion James (1962)
Chad Ogea (1970)
Adam Dunn (1979)
Chuck James (1981)
Joel Zumaya (1984)

Bob Wren was the head coach of Ohio University from 1949-1972.

Jim Riggleman has managed San Diego, the Cubs, Seattle, and Washington.

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