Monthly Archives: November 2017

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Fifty-three

TEXAS 9, MINNESOTA 8 IN TEXAS

Date:  Wednesday, May 29.

Batting stars:  Denny Hocking was 3-for-5.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with two walks.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  LaTroy Hawkins  retired all seven batters he faced, striking out one.  Mike Jackson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Mike Lamb was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third) and scored three runs.  Gabe Kapler was 3-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his fifth.  Todd Greene was 3-for-5.

The game:  With two out and none on in the second, Pierzynski doubled, Hocking singled, Jacque Jones walked, and Cristian Guzman and Mientkiewicz each singled, producing four runs and a 4-1 Twins lead.  The Rangers came back with three in the bottom of the second to tie it up, with two of them scoring on Lamb's two-run homer.  Juan Gonzalez led off the third with a home run and Kapler had an RBI single, putting Texas up 6-4 after three.  A sacrifice fly made it 6-5 after four.  In the fifth, a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit batsman, put the Twins up 7-6.  They lost a good chance to take control of the game, though, as they still had the bases loaded with none out.  Anthony Telford came in to strike out Hocking and Jones and retire Guzman on a ground out.  The missed opportunity would come back to haunt the Twins, as the Rangers scored two in the bottom of the fifth to re-take the lead at 8-7.  The Twins tied it in the eighth when Mientkiewicz scored from first on Hunter's double.  The Twins brought in J. C. Romero, who had been incredible so far in the season, to pitch the ninth.  He was not incredible in this game.  He failed to retire a batter, giving up singles to Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez, giving an intentional walk to Carl Everett, and surrendering a single to Greene that ended the game.

WP:  Hidecki Irabu (2-3).  LP:  Romero (3-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Hocking was again at second base.  This game gave him a seven-game hitting streak in which he went 12-for-27 and raised his average from .210 to .260...Neither starting pitcher got much accomplished.  Rick Reed lasted just 1.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits.  It seems like an awfully quick hook--one wonders if he wasn't feeling well.  Texas starter Rob Bell pitched four innings, surrendering seven runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out two...Jackson lowered his ERA to 0.84...Romero's ERA nearly doubled, going from 0.31 to 0.61...I don't know if Gardy was criticized for leaving his closer in the bullpen, but as well as Romero had pitched up to this point it's hard to argue that he made a mistake by going to him...This was the second appearance of the season for Anthony Telford, who was in his last year in the majors.  He was drafted by Baltimore in the third round in 1987 but made just twenty appearances for them spread out over three seasons.  He didn't get to the majors to stay until he was thirty-one, with Montreal in 1997.  He had four solid seasons for them out of the bullpen, pitching 78-96 innings and posting ERAs in the threes.  He struggled in early 2001, however, was sent to the minors, and went to Texas for 2002.  He got off to a good start for them, going unscored upon in his first three appearances, but by mid-June his ERA was over four and by mid-July he was in AAA, never to return to the majors.  He pitched one more season, in 2007 in the independent South Coast League, and then was done.  At last report, he was living in Odessa, Florida.

Record:  The Twins were 30-23, in first place by two games over Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 26

Hugh Duffy (1866)
Fred Tenney (1871)
Bob Johnson (1905)
Lefty Gomez (1908)
Howard Easterling (1911)
Bob Elliott (1916)
Eddie Miller (1916)
Jeff Torborg (1941)
Larry Gura (1947)
Richie Hebner (1947)
Jorge Orta (1950)
Jay Howell (1955)
Bob Walk (1956)
Mike Moore (1959)
Harold Reynolds (1960)
Chuck Finley (1962)
Brian Schneider (1976)
Matt Garza (1983)

Infielder Howard Easterling was a star in the Negro Leagues in the 1930s and 1940s.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 26 →

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Fifty-two

MINNESOTA 11, TEXAS 4 IN TEXAS

Date:  Tuesday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a grand slam (his tenth homer), a double, and a walk.  He had five RBIs.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double.  David Ortiz was 1-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Jack Cressend struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Rusty Greer was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-1 with a home run (his fifteenth) and a walk.  Juan Gonzalez was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

The game:  In the second, the Twins loaded the bases on a hit batsman, a double and a walk.  Jones then hit a two-out grand slam to give them a 4-0 lead.  In the fourth, Pierzynski hit an RBI triple and scored on a Jones double to make it 6-0.  Tony Fiore, making a rare start for the Twins, did not give up a hit through three innings, but gave up a home run to Rodriguez leading off the fourth.  He gave up three more hits and two more runs in the inning as the Rangers cut the lead to 6-3.  Bobby Kielty had an RBI single in the fifth to make it 7-3.  It stayed there until the eighth, when the Twins put together a two- out rally.  A pair of walks started it, Cristian Guzman singled home a run, another walk loaded the bases, and Ortiz lined a three-run double to put the game out of reach.

WP:  Fiore (3-1).  SP:  Chan Ho Park (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Denny Hocking played second base, going 1-for-2 with two walks...Pierzynski's triple was one of six he had in 2002, his career high.  He had 24 for his career...Chan Ho Park had been a fine pitcher for the Dodgers from 1996-2001, making the all-star team in his last year there.  He became a free agent, signed with Texas, and was awful for them.  With the Dodgers he had an ERA of 3.77 and a WHIP of 1.32.  With the Rangers it was 5.79 and 1.60.  He was with Texas through July of 2005, then went to San Diego and the Mets before coming back to the Dodgers in 2008.  He again had a good year, the last one of his career, going 4-4, 3.40 mostly out of the bullpen.  He was a free agent again after that season and finished up his career with Philadelphia, the Yankees, and Pittsburgh.  He played in Japan in 2011 and Korea in 2012 before retiring.  It's odd that he could pitch well for the Dodgers and no one else, but that's how it looks...This was Fiore's second start of the season, as he also started May 18 in New York.  He had thrown 98 pitches in the earlier start and threw 88 in this one.  The most pitches he had thrown in a game prior to these two was 49.  It seems very unlikely that, in 2017, a team would allow a pitcher coming out of the bullpen to throw that many pitches.  It also seems unlikely that, after he had given up three runs in the fourth, a team would allow him to not only pitch the fifth but to start the sixth.  I'm not making a judgment on which way is correct, merely observing that the game has changed.

Record:  The Twins were 30-22, in first place by two games over Chicago.