MINNESOTA 8, CLEVELAND 5 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, July 17.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4 with a walk and a home run, his eighth.  Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a double.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-3 with a walk and a home run.

Pitching stars:  J. C. Romero retired all four men he faced, striking out two.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Omar Vizquel was 3-for-5.  Milton Bradley was 2-for-4.  Jim Thome was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-eighth.

The game:  Thome hit a two-run homer in the first to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.  The Twins got the runs back in the second.  Their first two men were retired, but Mohr singled, A. J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, and Rivas and Jones delivered RBI singles to tie it 2-2.  David Ortiz hit a two-run homer in the third to give the Twins a 4-2 lead.  It stayed 4-2 until the sixth, when the Twins again put together a two-out rally.  Consecutive singles by Jones, Cristian Guzman, and Corey Koskie gave the Twins a 5-2 lead.  Bill Selby hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to cut the margin to 5-4.  The Twins built the lead back up in the seventh, as Mohr hit a two-run homer and Rivas followed later in the inning with a solo shot to give them an 8-4 lead.  Ben Broussard led off the seventh with a home run, but that was as good as it got for Cleveland.  They threatened in the eighth, getting a pair of two-out singles, but their last four batters were retired.

WP:  Rick Reed (7-5).  LP:  Danys Baez (7-7).  S:  Guardado (30).

Notes:  Ortiz' home run was his seventh.

Torii Hunter was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning and was replaced by Bobby Kielty.  He would be back in the lineup the next day.  Hunter went 0-for-2, making his average .311.

Mohr raised his average to .303.

Pierzynski was 0-for-4 and his average fell to .302.

Denny Hocking was a defensive replacement for Mohr in the ninth inning.  I don't remember Hocking as being anything special in the outfield, although he had a good arm.  Was Mohr not a good defensive outfielder?  I don't remember.

Reed pitched six innings, giving up four runs on six hits and no walks and striking out three.

Baez started for Cleveland and struck out six in 5.2 innings, but he allowed five runs on ten hits and two walks.  He also hit two batters.

I remember Bill Selby better than I should, given his career.  A utility player, he was with Boston for the first half of 1996, playing in 40 games but getting just 95 at-bats.  He took advantage of those at-bats, batting .274/.337/.411.  Despite that, he was sent back to AAA Pawtucket at mid-season and would not get back to the majors until 2000, when he was thirty.  He went to Japan in 1997, was in AAA for Cleveland in 1998 and 1999, and finally got back to the big leagues with the Indians in late July of 2000.  He again didn't get much of a chance, playing in 30 games but getting only 46 at-bats.  He never did get a full season in the majors, although he played until 2005.  He was with Cincinnati in 2001, and came back to Cleveland for 2002-2003.  2002 was the year he got the most playing time, and then it was just 159 at-bats.  He was in the St. Louis organization for part of 2003, in AAA with the Cubs in 2004, and played in Mexico in 2005 before hanging it up.  His debut year of 1996 was by far his best--his career numbers are .223/.279/.360 in 431 at-bats (198 games).  In his defense, he never got anything remotely resembling regular playing time.  On the other hand, his AAA numbers are .272/.337/.485 in 2625 at-bats.  That indicates to me that he could've done somewhat better if he'd been given regular playing time, but maybe not enough better to justify giving it to him.  Had he been a superior defender at a primary position he might have done more, but his primary position was third base and his second best position was second base.  He never played short and his limited outfield play was at corner positions.  Given what I see, I can't say baseball was unfair to him.  He has been an assistant coach at Northwest Mississippi Community College since his playing days ended.

Record:  The Twins were 55-41, in first place, leading Chicago by ten games.

ANAHEIM 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 16.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5 with a double and a home run, his sixth.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tom Prince was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton pitched six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk and striking out three.  Michael Jackson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jarrod Washburn pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.  Troy Glaus was 2-for-4.  Garret Anderson was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventeenth.

The game:  The Twins got two singles and a walk in the first inning but did not score.  They got on the board in the third when Guzman hit a one-out homer to give them a 1-0 lead.  It didn't last long, as Anderson hit a two-run homer in the fourth to put the Angels up 2-1.  Guzman struck again in the fifth, tying the game with an RBI double.  Again, Anaheim struck right back in the sixth, as Glaus delivered an RBI single to give the Angels a 3-2 lead.  They got an insurance run in the ninth as Bengie Molina singled home a run.  The Twins got the tying run up to bat in the ninth, as Corey Koskie led off with a walk.  David Ortiz drew a two-out walk to put the tying run on base and bring Guzman up to bat.  Unfortunately, he could not come through again, as he grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Jarrod Washburn (11-2).  LP:  Eric Milton (11-7).  S:  Ben Weber (2).

Notes:  Jacque Jones was held out of the lineup, with Guzman in the leadoff spot.

Michael Cuddyer was at first base, with Doug Mientkiewicz out of the lineup.  Cuddyer was 0-for-3.

Prince got the start at catcher, with A. J. Pierzynski out of the lineup.

Matthew LeCroy was the DH, with Ortiz out of the lineup.  LeCroy went 0-for-3.

Denny Hocking started at third base, with Koskie out of the lineup.  Hocking went 1-for-4 with a double.

Jones, Mientkiewicz, Pierzynski, Ortiz, and Koskie all were used as pinch-hitters.  They were 0-for-3 with two walks.

2002 was the best year Jarrod Washburn had.  He came up to the majors in 1998, but each year between 1998 and 2000 was split between AAA and Anaheim.  He finally stayed in 2001 and did well, going 11-10, 3.77.  In 2002 he was one of the best pitchers in baseball, going 18-6, 3.15, 1.18 WHIP.  He finished fourth in Cy Young balloting.  He wasn't able to match that, but remained a solid rotation starter for the Angels through 2005.  A free agent after the season, he signed with Seattle.  He was adequate there for two years, but in 2008 he went 5-14, 4.69, 1.46 WHIP.  He bounced back in 2009, going 8-6, 2.64, 1.07 WHIP through the end of July, when he was traded to Detroit.  He then collapsed, posting a 7.33 ERA in eight starts for the Tigers.  Unfortunately, that was the end of his career.  He became a free agent, did not sign with anyone, and announced his retirement in May of 2010.  At last report, he was a high school baseball coach at his alma mater of Webster High School in Webster, Wisconsin.

Record:  The Twins were 54-41, in first place, leading Chicago by nine games.