CHICAGO 8, MINNESOTA 7 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Tuesday, July 23.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and a stolen base, his seventh.  Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-5 with a double.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Bob Wells retired all seven men he faced.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Magglio Ordonez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his twentieth.  Aaron Rowand was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Bob Howry struck out three in two perfect innings.

The game:  Corey Koskie singled in a run in the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead but it was quickly erased, as Ordonez hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to give the White Sox a 3-1 lead.  It went to 8-1 in the fourth, as Frank Thomas and Rowand each hit two-run homers and Royce Clayton had an RBI single.  The Twins fought back.  They scored two in the fifth to make it 8-3 and Doug Mientkiewicz hit a three-run homer in the sixth to cut the lead to 8-6.  The Twins opened the seventh with two walks but could not score.  In the ninth, a single, a walk, and a double steal put men on second and third with one out.  David Ortiz grounded out, scoring one but making the second out, and Torii Hunter grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Mark Buehrle (13-7).  LP:  Johan Santana (4-2).  S:  Antonio Osuna (7).

Notes:  Hunter was 0-for-5 to drop his average to .306.

Cuddyer raised his average to .320.

Matthew LeCroy was the catcher in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  He was 1-for-4.

Hocking was again the second baseman, replacing Luis Rivas.  Rivas would return to the lineup the next day.

This was easily the worst start Santana had all season.  He lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed eight runs on seven hits and two walks.  He did strike out four.  His ERA went up by over a run, from 2.62 to 3.83.  He would make one more start, be skipped once in the rotation, make five more starts, and then be sent to the bullpen for September.

Wells had not pitched since June 11.  He would make ten consecutive scoreless appearances, dropping his ERA from 7.36 to 5.28, before giving up three on August 22.

The White Sox never did settle on a closer in 2002.  They had started the season with Damaso Marte.  At this juncture, it was Osuna.  Keith Foulke would eventually lead the team in saves with eleven.  Three other pitchers had one each.

Bob Howry pitched a lot longer than I remembered.  He came up with the White Sox in 1998 and was a mainstay in their bullpen, appearing in over sixty games each season from 1999-2002, when he was traded to Boston at the July deadline.  He was their closer in 1999, getting 28 saves, and was a set-up man thereafter.  He was injured much of 2003, appearing in only four games with the Red Sox, and was released after the season.  He went to Cleveland in 2004 and had two outstanding seasons there, going 11-6, 2.57, 0.99 WHIP.  He then signed with the Cubs and was solid for them in 2006-2007, but had a bad 2008.  He signed with San Francisco for 2009 and had a very good year with the Giants.  It was his last good year, though.  He had a bad 2010 split between Arizona and the Cubs and then his playing career ended.  It was a pretty good career, though:  45-52, 3.84, 66 saves, 1.25 WHIP.  For a set-up man, he was very consistent, having only two down years from 1998-2009.  At last report, Bob Howry was living in the Phoenix area and was helping coach high school baseball there.

Record:  The Twins were 60-42, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen games.

MINNESOTA 11, CHICAGO 6 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Monday, July 22.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 5-for-6 with a home run (his fifteenth) and two doubles.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his ninth.  David Ortiz was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base.

Pitching star:  Tony Fiore pitched three innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ray Durham was 3-for-5 with three doubles.  Carlos Lee was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixteenth), a double, and a walk, driving in four.  Frank Thomas was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.

The game:  The Twins took an early lead, as Bobby Kielty singled home a run in the first and Jones hit a two-run homer in the second to make it 3-0.  Three singles and a walk failed to produce a Twins run in the third, as they lost two men on the bases.  Ray Durham got the White Sox on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI double, but the Twins got two in the fifth on a run-scoring double by Doug Mientkiewicz and an RBI single by Denny Hocking.  Chicago closed to 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth, as Lee hit a two-run homer.  The Twins took control of the game with a six-run sixth.  Ortiz brought home two with a double, one scored on a fielder's choice, and Mohr hit a three-run homer.  Thomas hit a solo homer in the sixth and Lee doubled home two in the ninth, but the White Sox did not get back into the game.

WP:  Rick Reed (8-5).  LP:  Todd Ritchie (5-14).  S:  None.

Notes:  Kielty again played center field, withi Torii Hunter out of the lineup.  Hunter would return the next day.  Kielty went 2-for-5 to make his average .328.

Hocking was again at second base, replacing Luis Rivas.  Rivas would miss one more game and then be back in the lineup.  Hocking went 1-for-4 with a walk.

Reed pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk, striking out one.

This was Ortiz' first stolen base of the season.  It was also his last stolen base of the season.  It came in the third inning with two out and no one else on.  He had seventeen stolen bases in his career, with a high of four in 2013, when he was thirty-seven.  He was caught stealing nine times.

I chose Rocky Biddle for today's profile for no reason other than his name is Rocky Biddle.  His given name is Lee Francis Biddle--I don't know why he was called Rocky, but Rocky Biddle sounds like a lot better ballplayer than Lee Biddle.   A right-handed pitcher, the White Sox drafted him in the first round in 1997.  He did not pitch very well in the low minors from 1997-98, then had Tommy John surgery and missed all of 1999.  He came back strong in 2000, having an excellent year in AA and getting four starts in August with Chicago.  He had his first full season in the majors in 2001, but was not very good--7-8, 5.39.  He moved to the bullpen in 2002 and did somewhat better, though nothing to get too excited about.  He was traded to Montreal for the 2003 season and took up space in their bullpen for a couple of years, posting a combined ERA of 5.83 and a combined WHIP of 1.60.  For some reason, the Expos made him their closer in 2003, and he picked up 34 saves despite an ERA of 4.65, a WHIP of 1.55, and an ERA plus of 97.  That's worse than Ron Davis.  He was in the majors for four full seasons and part of a fifth despite never posting an ERA under four and never posting a WHIP under 1.40.  His career numbers are 20-30, 5.47, 46 saves, 1.53 WHIP.  Some guys tear up the minors for years and never get a chance, other guys do nothing in the majors and get chance after chance and even get put in positions of prominence.  Nobody ever said baseball was fair.

Record:  The Twins were 60-41, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen games.