Just after midnight on January 1st, I missed a Facetime call from one of my managers. She explained it later as an accident, though my wife raised her eyebrow. Yesterday the same manager mentioned that she dreamed about me a few nights ago. Okay then.
Monthly Archives: February 2018
February 6, 2018: Red Eye
Plane was multiple hours late coming in. Good thing I have a standing desk, otherwise I'd likely fall asleep at it today.
2002 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-five
MINNESOTA 6, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Sunday, August 18.
Batting stars: Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, his ninth. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4. Corey Koskie was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Rick Reed struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks. J. C. Romero struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk. Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit.
Opposition stars: Shea Hillenbrand was 2-for-4 with a double. Manny Ramirez was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Cliff Floyd was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-fourth.
The game: Singles by Jacque Jones and Koskie and a David Ortiz sacrifice fly put the Twins ahead 1-0 in the first inning. The Red Sox tied it in the second, as Ramirez doubled and scored on a Brian Daubach single. Mientkiewicz led off the bottom of the second with a home run to put the Twins back on top 2-1. The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, getting singles from Hunter and Mientkiewicz and a walk to Dustan Mohr, but could only score one on an A. J. Pierzynski fielder's choice. That made the score 3-1, where it stayed until the seventh, when Floyd led off with a home run to cut the margin to 3-2. The Twins finally took control in the eighth. Singles by Cristian Guzman and Ortiz put men on first and second with one out. Hunter singled home one run, Mientkiewicz doubled home another, and a sacrifice fly made the score 6-2. Boston could manage only a Carlos Baerga single in the ninth.
WP: Reed (11-6). LP: John Burkett (10-7). S: None.
Notes: As we get later in the season, the Twins seem to be going more and more with a set lineup.
Hunter raised his average to .305.
Pierzynski was 0-for-3 to make his average .302.
Reed was in the second of a streak of eight starts in which he would give up two or fewer runs. He would lower his ERA from 4.63 to 3.71 over that stretch.
Romero lowered his ERA to 1.61.
First baseman/outfielder Brian Daubach had a few years in which he was a pretty good player and probably should've had more. He was drafted out of high school by the Mets in the 17th round in 1990 and took quite a while to get to the majors. He spent two years in rookie ball and three in Class A, not reaching AA until 1995. He repeated AA in 1996 and had his first really good year, batting .296/.403/.507 with 22 home runs. He was still just twenty-four, but the Mets gave up on him and allowed him to become a free agent. He signed with Florida and spent all of 1997 at AAA, hitting 40 doubles and 21 home runs and posting an OPS of .877. You'd think that would've at least gotten him a September call-up, but the Marlins stuck with Jeff Conine, who batted .242/.337/.405. Back in AAA in 1998, he had a monster year, batting .316/.421/.634 with 45 doubles and 35 home runs. He finally did get a September call-up that year, playing in all of ten games and getting fifteen at-bats as this time the Marlins chose to play Derrek Lee (.233/.318/.414) at first base. After two years in which Daubach showed he was clearly too good to be in AAA, and with the team in need of a first baseman, the Marlins chose to release him after the 1998 season. He signed with Boston and showed why he should've been in the majors earlier, batting .294 with an OPS of .921 with 33 doubles and 21 home runs. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting behind Carlos Beltran (the runaway winner), Freddy Garcia, and Jeff Zimmerman. He was twenty-seven by this time, though, so his future was somewhat limited. He stayed with the Red Sox for four seasons, over which he batted .266 with a slugging average of .493 and hit 84 home runs. That was as good as it would get for him, though. He was a free agent after the 2002 season and never played regularly again. He signed with the White Sox, where he was stuck behind Paul Konerko, went back to Boston in 2004, was with the Mets in 2005, spent 2006 in AAA with the Cardinals and then was done. He had four fine years, though, and almost certainly would've had one or two more if he'd been given the chance. One wonders if Daubach got crosswise with someone in the organization or if the Marlins just couldn't recognize a good thing when it was staring them in the face. He has stayed in baseball as a minor league manager and coach, and was the batting coach for the AAA Syracuse Chiefs last season.
Record: The Twins were 73-52, in first place, leading Chicago by fourteen and a half games.
Off-Season’s Greetings: Games of February 5
CARIBBEAN SERIES
Twins: None.
PUERTO RICO 12, VENEZUELA 7 (VENEZUELA HOME TEAM)
Puerto Rico scored four runs in each of the first two innings and led all the way. Anthony Garcia was 3-for-4 with a home run and three runs. Jonathan Morales was 3-for-5. David Vidal was 2-for-2 with a home run, three walks, and four RBIs. For Venezuela, Luis Domoromo was 3-for-5 and scored three times.
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 7, CUBA 1 (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HOME TEAM)
Already leading 3-1, the Dominican Republic scored four in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Junior Lake hit a two-run homer. Bryan Evans struck out eight in seven innings, giving up one run on five hits. For Cuba, Roel Santos was 3-for-4 with a home run for the only Cuba run. Bladimir Banos struck out four in three innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks.
Cuba, 2-1
Dominican Republic, 2-1
Puerto Rico, 2-1
Venezuela, 2-2
Mexico, 0-3
AUSTRALIAN LEAGUE
No games scheduled.
Esperanza Spalding – I Know You Know
Portland native, and the all around awesome, Esperanza Spalding:
2009
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Happy Birthday–February 6
Frank LaPorte (1880)
Babe Ruth (1895)
Jake Levy (1900)
Glenn Wright (1901)
Dale Long (1926)
Smoky Burgess (1927)
Augie Garrido (1939)
Richie Zisk (1949)
Larry Young (1954)
Bob Wickman (1969)
Chad Allen (1975)
Pitcher Jake Levy had a minor league career that started in 1921 and lasted until 1945. He played under a variety of names, making it difficult to determine his true record, but he won at least two hundred games. He was also a good hitter, and early in his career played in the field when he was not pitching.
Augie Garrido was the baseball coach at the University of Texas from 1997-2016. He has the most coaching wins of anyone in Division I.
Larry Young was a major league umpire from 1983-2007.
You may have heard of that "Babe Ruth" fellow.
February 5, 2018: Aftermath
It's a Maureen McGovern morning. I'm going to work, how 'bout you?
Off-Season’s Greetings: Games of February 4
Another big day for Willians Astudillo!
Continue reading Off-Season’s Greetings: Games of February 4
2002 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-four
BOSTON 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Saturday, August 17.
Batting stars: A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double. David Ortiz was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Dustan Mohr was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out six in five innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks. Juan Rincon pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Rickey Henderson was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and a walk. Tim Wakefield pitched six innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out four. Alan Embree retired all six men he faced, striking out five.
The game: Henderson led off the game with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch, giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. Three singles and a ground out made it 2-0 in the second. Another run scored on an error in the fifth to make it 3-0. The Twins got on the board in the seventh, but missed a chance for a big inning. Ortiz led off with a double and went to third on a Torii Hunter single. Hunter stole second and Doug Mientkiewicz walked, loading the bases with none out. Mohr walked to cut the lead to 3-1 and the bases were still loaded with none out. But Alan Embree came in to strike out Pierzynski, Luis Rivas, and Bobby Kielty to strand all three runners. Boston scored one in the eighth on a sacrifice fly and Henderson homered in the ninth to make the score 5-1. The Twins got one more in the ninth when Mohr doubled with two out and scored on a Pierzynski single, but Rivas struck out to end the game.
WP: Wakefield (7-4). LP: Santana (6-5). S: None.
Notes: Hunter was 1-for-4 and was batting .304.
Pierzynski raised his average to .304.
This was Rincon's first appearance with the Twins since July 18.
Henderson was near the end of his Hall of Fame career. He played in just 72 games for the Red Sox in 2002, getting 179 at-bats. He batted just .226, but still drew a ton of walks--his OBP was .369. He was forty-three in 2002. The next year, 2003, would be his last. With the Dodgers he batted just .208, but still had an OBP of .321.
This was the only appearance Alan Embree made against the Twins in 2002. Yet, he only struck out more than five batters against three teams. He struck out six of thirteen Mariners, six of nineteen Blue Jays, and eleven of twenty-four Yankees. For the season, he struck out 81 batters in 62 innings, a rate of 11.8 per nine innings. His next highest strikeout rate was 9.8 in 2001, when he struck out 59 in 54 innings.
There will be no player profile today. Nobody really piqued my interest, and there's nothing I could tell you about somebody like Rickey Henderson that you don't already know anyway.
Record: The Twins were 72-52, in first place, leading Chicago by thirteen and a half games.
Happy Birthday–February 5
Bill Rariden (1888)
Max Flack (1890)
Roger Peckinpaugh (1891)
Joan Payson (1903)
Jack Murphy (1923)
Don Hoak (1928)
Al Worthington (1929)
Hank Aaron (1934)
Norm Miller (1946)
Mike Heath (1955)
Roberto Alomar (1968)
Eric O'Flaherty (1985)
Mark Hamburger (1987)
Joan Payson was the original owner of the New York Mets.
Jack Murphy was a longtime sportswriter in San Diego who helped bring the Padres to the city. The baseball stadium was named in his honor for many years until the naming rights were sold.