Monthly Archives: December 2017

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Seventy-seven

CHICAGO 15, MINNESOTA 7 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 25.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 with three RBIs.

Pitching star:  Mike Jackson pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Magglio Ordonez was 4-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his sixth), scoring three times and driving in five.  Paul Konerko was 3-for-4 with a home run (his seventeenth), scoring three times and driving in three.  Ray Durham was 3-for-5 and scored three times.

The game:  The Twins led a couple of times early.  They loaded the bases with one out in the first, but only scored one on a fielder's choice to take a 1-0 lead.  In the second the White Sox got five singles to score three runs and take a 3-1 lead.  The Twins came back in the third.  With two out and none on, Matthew LeCroy singled, Corey Koskie was hit by a pitch, Mohr hit a two-run double, and Mientkiewicz had an RBI single to give the Twins a 4-3 lead.  It was downhill from there, though.  Josh Paul hit a two-run double in a three-run fifth to put the White Sox up 6-4.  They scored three more in the sixth to make it 9-4.  In the sixth, the Twins put men on second and third with one out, but could only score one on a ground out to cut the lead to 9-5.  Ordonez hit a two-run single in the seventh to make it 11-5.  Guzman homered leading off the bottom of the seventh to bring the Twins within five at 11-6, but in the ninth Ordonez hit a two-run double followed by Konerko's two-run homer.  The Twins again put men on second and third in the bottom of the ninth, but a sacrifice fly scored the only run of the inning.

WP:  Mark Buehrle (11-5).  LP:  Eric Milton (8-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was the DH, going 1-for-4 with a walk.  His average was now .337...Tom Prince was behind the plate, going 1-for-4...Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .304...Mohr's average was now .303...Jackson's ERA fell to 1.95...Milton lasted just 4.2 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one...Buehrle pitched six innings, giving up six runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one...Sorry, there's no player profile today.  I don't really have the time, and I don't see anyone who played in this game in whom I'm particularly interested at the moment.  Maybe tomorrow I'll feel differently.

Record:  The Twins were 43-34, in first place by six games over Chicago.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 20

Jack Manning (1853)
Harry Stovey (1856)
Jimmy Williams (1876)
Branch Rickey (1881)
Fred Merkle (1888)
Butch Henline (1894)
George Pipgras (1899)
Gabby Hartnett (1900)
Spud Davis (1904)
Eddie Leishman (1910)
Julio Becquer (1931)
Oscar Gamble (1949)
Cecil Cooper (1949)
Jose DeLeon (1960)
Augie Ojeda (1974)
Aubrey Huff (1976)
David De Jesus (1979)
James Shields (1981)
David Wright (1982)

Eddie Leishman was twice the Minor League Executive of the Year.

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to spookymilk and mrs. milk.

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Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game Seventy-six

MINNESOTA 5, CHICAGO 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, June 24.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-3 with a double.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base, his third.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Matt Kinney pitched six innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks with no strikeouts.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jose Valentin was 2-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.  Royce Clayton was 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, his second and third.  Magglio Ordonez was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirteenth.

The game:  The Twins made two errors in the third, leading to three unearned runs.  Two of them scored on a home run by Ordonez.  Three Twins singles in the bottom of the third got one of the runs back, as Doug Mientkiewicz got a run-scoring hit.  It stayed 3-1 until the sixth, when Valentin led off the inning with a home run to make it 4-1.  Rivas singled in a run in the bottom of the sixth to cut the margin to 4-2.  In the seventh, Torii Hunter delivered a two-out two-run homer to tie the game.  In the eighth, the first two Twins were retired.  Rivas then drew a one-out walk, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Jones' double to put the Twins ahead.  The White Sox went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hawkins (3-0).  LP:  Bob Howry (0-1).  S:  Guardado (22).

Notes:  Hunter's home run was his eighteenth...Jones raised his average to .308...Dustan Mohr was 0-for-4, making his average .305...A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping his average to .321...Hawkins' ERA fell to 1.70...Guardado's ERA was now 2.21...Royce Clayton was another favorite of mine for reasons I don't remember any more.  He was certainly not a great ballplayer, but he played for a very long time.  He got a September call-up with San Francisco in 1991 and became the Giants' starting shortstop in 1992.  He remained the starter there through 1995.  He appears to have been an adequate but not exceptional defender.  On offense, he had very little power, drew some but not a large number of walks, and so even when he hit for a decent average he did not make that much of an offensive contribution.  He was traded to St. Louis after the 1995 season and was the Cardinals' starting shortstop through the end of July in 1998.  He made his only all-star team in 1997, a year in which he really was no better or worse than any other year in his career.  He was traded to Texas at the 1998 July trade deadline and had his best year for the Rangers in 1999, batting .288/.346/.445 with fourteen home runs.  He matched that home run total in 2000, but his other numbers dropped to .242/.301/.384, numbers which are much closer to his career totals.  He was the White Sox from 2001-2002, Milwaukee in 2003, Colorado in 2004, Arizona in 2005, Washington and Cincinnati in 2006, and Toronto and Boston in 2007.  He was a starting shortstop all of those years except the last one, and he began the year as a starter then.  For his career he batted .258/.312/.367.  He played in 2108 major league games over seventeen seasons.  He never had an OPS over .800 and most years was below .700.  But he almost never got hurt, and while he never had a great year he never had an awful one, either.  He was someone whose name you could write down on the lineup card every day and know what you were going to get, enabling you to focus on other areas.  While that doesn't qualify him for the Hall of Fame, there is value in it, and there are a lot of managers who would be happy to have a shortstop like that.

Record:  The Twins were 43-33, in first place, seven games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 19

Ford Frick (1894)
Al Kaline (1934)
Tony Taylor (1935)
Walt Williams (1943)
Rob Gardner (1944)
Geoff Zahn (1945)
Kevin Stanfield (1955)
Stu Cliburn (1956)
Stan Cliburn (1956)
Tom Lawless (1956)
Clay Parker (1962)
Bill Wegman (1962)
Mike Fetters (1964)
Chito Martinez (1965)
Russell Branyan (1975)
Rafael Soriano (1979)
Ian Kennedy (1984)

Ford Frick was the president of the National League from 1934-1951 and commissioner of baseball from 1951-1965.

Clay Parker was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-first round in 1984, but did not sign.

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