Old Hoss Radbourn (1854)
Art Wilson (1885)
Fred Toney (1888)
Swish Nicholson (1914)
Hal Brown (1924)
Lee Maye (1934)
Mike Henneman (1961)
Thomas Howard (1964)
Jay Bell (1965)
Derek Bell (1968)
Frankie Rodriguez (1972)
Joe Blanton (1980)
Dalton Pompey (1992)
In 2014, Dalton Pompey became the first big leaguer ever to have the given first name "Dalton". In case anyone remembers Dalton Jones (whose birthday was yesterday), his given first name was James.
My many friends that have said “but he should be in for that game alone!” Should be happy. They never could see the slippery slope in that thinking.
Twin Citians, take note: I took the boys to Holidazzle at Loring Park yesterday, and we had a wonderful time. There's plenty to do for kids and adults (free skating w/free skate rental, a play area, interactive sculptures) as well as a nice selection of food and drink (including both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cider from Sociable Cider Werks and a heated Fulton beer tent) and craft vendors. We were there during the afternoon and it wasn't too crowded. I'm pretty sure we'll be making another visit before the season's end.
Date: Friday, June 14.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a double. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5 with a triple. Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Pitching star: LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Tyler Houston was 3-for-4 with a double. Matt Stairs was 2-for-3. Jeffrey Hammonds was 2-for-5 with a double.
The game: Hunter doubled home a run in the top of the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. The Brewers came right back with three in the bottom of the first, getting an RBI double by Hammonds, a run-scoring single by Stairs, and a ground out that scored the third run. The Twins got three of their own in the top of the second, as Luis Rivas delivered a run-scoring double, Jones singled home a run, and Guzman had an RBI triple, putting the Twins up 4-3. A. J. Pierzynski homered leading off the fourth to make it 5-3. The lead held until the sixth, when Stairs came through with another run-scoring single and another productive ground out tied the score. It remained tied until the eighth. Singles by Houston and Jose Hernandez were followed by a sacrifice bunt that moved men to second and third. Ronnie Belliard then produced a two-run single that made the difference in the game. The Twins put men on first and third with two out in the ninth, but Doug Mientkiewicz struck out to end the game.
WP: Ray King (2-2). LP: Mike Jackson (2-2). S: Mike DeJean (13).
Notes: There was no DH, so starter Rick Reed batted. He went 1-for-3. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out one...MIlwaukee starter Glendon Rusch struck out seven in five innings, also giving up five runs on eight hits. He walked two...Jones raised his average to .317...Hunter was hitting .300...Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 to make his average .308...Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .330. The home run was his third...The Twins were now 3-4 in interleague play...Memory says that Matt Stairs used to wear out the Twins, but in fact he didn't. In 362 at-bats against them, he batted .262/.332/.478. Not bad numbers, certainly, but right around his career averages of .262/.356/.477. He did hit twenty-two home runs against the Twins, the highest total he had against any team. On the other hand, he had more at-bats against the Twins than he had against any other team, too. Stairs got an awfully late start to his career, not getting a full year in the majors until 1997, when he was twenty-nine. He came to stay, though, sticking around until 2011, when he was forty-three. In nine of those seasons he had an OPS of over .800 and in four of them he had an OPS of over .900. He is in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame (born in St. John, New Brunswick), being elected in 2015 in a class that included Corey Koskie. He will be the batting coach for the San Diego Padres in 2018.
Record: The Twins were 37-30, in first place by four games over Chicago and Cleveland.
Jimmy Johnston (1889)
Rudy Hernandez (1931)
Jaime Jarrin (1935)
Doc Edwards (1936)
Bob Priddy (1939)
Dalton Jones (1943)
Steve Renko (1944)
Paul Assenmacher (1960)
Doug Henry (1963)
Luis Polonia (1963)
Mel Rojas (1966)
Joe Mays (1975)
Dan Wheeler (1977)
Gregorio Petit (1984)
Pedro Florimon (1986)
Pitcher Rudy Hernandez was a member of the old Washington franchise in 1960, but was chosen by the new Washington franchise in the expansion draft in December of 1960.
Jaime Jarrin has been the Dodgers' Spanish-language broadcaster since 1959. For all the accolades Vin Scully has gotten (and they're deserved), it would be nice if Jarrin got a little more attention.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Moss' son.
https://youtu.be/0vUc17A0SNY
Live at the Monterey International Pop Festival
17 June 1967
filmed by D.A. Pennebaker
Fifty years ago today, Otis Redding & the Bar-Kays boarded a plane heading to a one-night-only gig in Madison. It had been a tumultuous autumn at the University of Wisconsin as generations clashed over the Vietnam War, and one can well imagine students & music lovers anticipating the ascendant King of Soul’s visit as a brief moment of respite. The venue, The Factory, was just off State Street, midway between the university & the Capitol. Big O was the headliner with his backing band; opening for them was a Rockford-based group called The Grim Reapers fronted by Rick Nielsen.
Redding had played two shows in Cleveland & appeared on WEWS-TV’s Upbeat the day before, so he & most of the Bar-Kays flew in on his private plane. It was drizzling, foggy, & hovering around freezing in Madison, and Redding’s pilot, just ten months removed from earning his multi-engine license, was from Georgia. A few miles from Truax Field at 3:25 p.m., over Lake Monona, everything went wrong.
Otis was 26. Jimmy King (guitar) was 18, Ronnie Caldwell (organ) would’ve turned 19 in seventeen days, Phalon Jones (sax) was 19, and Carl Cunningham (drums) was 19. Ben Cauley (trumpet) was the only survivor. Also killed were the pilot & Otis’ valet (Matthew Kelly, 17).
Otis Redding & the Bar-Kays (with a special guest) on 09 December 1967:
So much music was left in that voice, those lungs, & those hands.
(8 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
Loading... Some Twins had good days in the Venezuelan League.
Continue reading Off-Season’s Greetings: Games of December 8
I was explaining the "Topsy" episode of Bob's Burgers to someone (which I first kept referring to as "Stampy"; wrong series), and that song has been in my head ever since.
Date: Wednesday, June 12.
Batting stars: Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a double. Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-4 with a triple. Denny Hocking was 0-for-1 with two walks.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out eight in 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks. J. C. Romero retired all four men he faced. Mike Jackson and Eddie Guardado each pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Damian Moss struck out eight in seven shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks. Rafael Furcal was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a stolen base, his fifteenth. Gary Sheffield was 2-for-3 with a home run (his tenth) and a walk.
The game: Furcal led off the game with a double and scored on Sheffield's single to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. It stayed 1-0 until the fifth, when Furcal again doubled and scored on a pair of wild pitches. Sheffield hit a home run in the seventh to make it 3-0. Meanwhile, the Twins had only three hits through eight innings and only once advanced a man as far as second base. In the ninth, however, Guzman doubled and scored on a Mientkiewicz triple. Mientkiewicz came home on a ground out to cut the lead to 3-2, but there were now two out and no one on base. Torii Hunter grounded out to end the game.
WP: Moss (3-2). LP: Santana (1-1). S: John Smoltz (19).
Notes: Jacque Jones was given the day off, with Dustan Mohr in left. Luis Rivas was moved up to the leadoff spot, going 0-for-3...Matthew LeCroy was again the DH in place of David Ortiz, going 1-for-3...Hocking was at third base, replacing Corey Koskie...LeCroy's average was now .338...Hunter went 0-for-4 and was batting .300...Kielty was 0-for-2 to make his average .333...Mohr was 0-for-3 and was batting .310...A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .332...Santana threw 107 pitches in his 4.2 innings...Romero's ERA went down to 0.70...Jackson's ERA was 0.95...To be honest, I don't remember anything about Damian Moss. He had a good year in 2002, though, going 12-6, 3.42, 1.28 WHIP, and finishing fifth in Rookie of the Year voting. He had a FIP of 4.77, however, which would've been a warning sign if anyone had known what FIP was in 2002. He's a native of Australia and signed with the Braves as a free agent. He did well in the low minors, didn't do much in AAA, then missed all of 1998, presumably due to injury. He struggled when he came back in 1999, did better in 2000, and had a fine season in AAA in 2001, although he made only sixteen starts. He made five appearances for the Braves that season and was with them all of 2002, his first full season in the majors. He tended to walk too many batters, walking 4.5 per nine innings that season (he had a seven-inning no hitter against St. Louis, but was pulled because he had given up seven walks), which was another warning sign. The Braves may have picked up on some of these warning signs, because after the season they traded him to San Francisco for Russ Ortiz. He struggled with the Giants in 2003 and was sent to Baltimore at the July trade deadline in a deal that involved Sir Sidney Ponson. He became a free agent after the season, signed with Tampa Bay, and spent most of the year in the minors, making only five appearances with the big club. Those would be his last five appearances in the majors. He kept trying, however, and teams kept giving him chances, hoping he could repeat that 2002 season. The Devil Rays released him in August of 20034and he signed with Cincinnati. He was in the minors with Seattle in 2005, was back in the minors with Atlanta briefly in 2006, was in independent ball for most of 2006 and all of 2007, was back in the minors with Atlanta in 2008, and was in AAA with Colorado for 2009 and 2010. He never really accomplished much in any of those places, but I guess you have to give him credit for persistence. It appears that he has become an agent, working for Integrity Sports Agency in Dublin, Georgia.
Record: The Twins were 37-29, in first place by four games over Chicago.
Maybe it would make more sense to play this at the end of the month.
(4 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)Loading... 
