Monthly Archives: February 2018

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-three

MINNESOTA 5, SEATTLE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 27.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-fifth.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-fourth.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and three walks with one strikeout.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Desi Relaford was 2-for-3 with a double.  Carlos Guillen was 2-for-4.  Dan Wilson was 2-for-4.

The game:  Wilson singled home a run in the first inning to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.  The Twins started the third with a single, a double, and a single, but only scored once, as Pierzynski singled home a run to tie it 1-1.  Seattle went ahead 2-1 in the top of the fourth, as Desi Relaford doubled home a run.  The Twins took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth.  Hunter tied it with a home run, Doug Mientkiwicz singled, and Pierzynski delivered a two-out run-scoring triple to give the Twins a 3-2 advantage.  Jones led off the fifth with a homer to make it 4-2.  Hunter drove in the game's final run with an infield single in the seventh.  The Mariners missed on a lot of promising starts to innings.  They had men on first and second with one out in the second, started the third with two singles, left a man on second in the fourth, had men on first and second starting off the fifth, and got a pair of one-out singles in the sixth.  They hit into three double plays and were 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.

WP:  Mays (3-5).  LP:  Ismael Valdez (7-10).  S:  Guardado (37).

Notes:  Hunter got his average back over .300 at .301.

Pierzynski was batting .303.  The triple was his fifth of the season.  He would hit six in 2002, a quarter of his career total.

Hawkins' ERA went to 2.22.

J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  His ERA fell to 1.53.

Guardado's ERA dropped to 2.67.

We will not have a player profile today, and may not have one for the remainder of this series.  I enjoy doing them, but they take a lot of time.  It's Ash Wednesday, which means the start of Lent coming on, which means mid-week worship services to prepare.  Unfortunately, I only get the same number of hours in the day that everyone else does.  Such is life.

Record:  The Twins were 79-54, in first place, leading Chicago by sixteen and a half games.

Cup of Coffee

February 14, 2018: XOXO

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Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,

And I’ll not look for wine.

The thirst that from the soul doth rise

Doth ask a drink divine;

But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,

I would not change for thine.

 
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,

Not so much honouring thee

As giving it a hope, that there

It could not withered be.

But thou thereon didst only breathe,

And sent’st it back to me;

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

Not of itself, but thee.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 14

Joe Gerhardt (1855)
Arthur Irwin (1858)
Pretzels Getzien (1864)
Morgan Murphy (1867)
Candy LaChance (1870)
Bob Quinn (1870)
Earl Smith (1897)
Mel Allen (1913)
Red Barrett (1915)
Len Gabrielson (1940)
Ken Levine (1950)
Larry Milbourne (1951)
Will McEnaney (1952)
Dave Dravecky (1956)
Alejandro Sanchez (1959)
John Marzano (1963)
Kelly Stinnett (1970)
Damaso Marte (1975)
Tyler Clippard (1985)

Bob Quinn was a long-time executive for the St. Louis Browns, the Boston Red Sox, and the Boston Braves.  He was later the director of the Hall of Fame.

Ken Levine has been a broadcaster for Baltimore, San Diego, and Seattle.  He has also worked on a number of television programs, notably including "Cheers" and "Frazier".

John Marzano was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1981, but he did not sign.

There have been seven major league players with the last name "Valentine".  The most recent was Joe Valentine, a reliever for Cincinnati from 2003-05.  The best was Ellis Valentine, who played from 1975-83 and 1985, mostly for Montreal.  One was a manager, Bobby Valentine.

There has been one major league player with the last name "Ash":  Ken Ash, who played in 1925 and from 1928-1930, mostly with Cincinnati.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Mother 6.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 14 →

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-two

KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, August 25.

Batting stars:  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his tenth.

Pitching star:  Tony Fiore pitched two shutout innings, giving up four hits and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Miguel Ascencio pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Neifi Perez was 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, his eighth.  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-2 with two walks and a home run, his twenty-second.

The game:  Chuck Knoblauch homered leading off the bottom of the first to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.  Michael Tucker homered leading off the bottom of the second to make it 2-0.  Ibanez homered in the bottom of the third to make it 3-0.  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the fourth, but a double play took them out of the inning.  In the sixth, doubles by Tucker and Perez made it 4-0 Kansas City.  The Twins cut the lead in half in the seventh, as Mohr hit a two-run homer to make it 4-2.  The Twins did not get a man past first base after that.

WP:  Ascencio (3-4).  LP:  Kyle Lohse (11-8).  S:  Roberto Hernandez (24).

Notes:  Torii Hunter was given the day off, with Kielty playing center field.

A. J. Pierzynski was also given the day off, with Tom Prince catching.  He was 0-for-2 with a walk.

This was the last of Cristian Guzman's twenty-three game hitting streak.  He was 35-for-97, for an average of .361.  His season average went up from .259 to .278 during the streak.

Lohse pitched five innings, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks and striking out three.

Fiore lowered his ERA to 2.85.

Knoblauch's home run was his fourth of the season.  He was 1-for-5 in the game and was batting .215.

Tucker's home run was his twelfth.

This was Miguel Ascencio's rookie season, and his only full season in the major leagues.  He was signed as a free agent by Philadelphia in 1998.  He had a strong year in high A in 2001 and was taken by Kansas City in the Rule 5 draft.  The Royals kept him in the majors all season, giving him 21 starts and using him in relief 10 times.  He did about as well as you could expect from a twenty-one-year-old who'd never pitched above Class A, going 4-7, 5.11, 1.62 WHIP.  He started 2003 in the Royals' rotation and did a little better in eight starts, going 2-1, 5.21, 1.55 WHIP.  Then, however, he hurt his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery.  He not only missed the rest of the season but also missed all of 2004 and does not look as if he ever truly came back from it.  He signed with San Diego for 2005 but clearly still wasn't healthy, making just three poor starts in AAA before being released.  The Rockies signed him for 2006 and he made three major league appearances in April, but that was the end of his major league career.  He was in AAA the rest of 2006, in AA and AAA with Houston in 2007, and was mostly in AA with Boston in 2008.  His major league record was 7-8, 5.12, 1.61 WHIP.  We'll never know if he'd have developed into a good pitcher had he stayed healthy.  No information about what Miguel Ascencio is doing now was readily available.

Record:  The Twins were 78-54, in first place, leading Chicago by sixteen games.

Keeping Track

Off-Season’s Greetings: The Wrap-up

A listing of how our Twins lads fared in winter leagues.  I'm listing batters with at least thirty at-bats and pitchers with at least ten innings.  Batters are listed in order of OPS and pitchers are listed in order of ERA.

BATTERS

Kennys Vargas (Aguilas, Dominican and Mayaguez, Puerto RIcan):  .245/.394/.480 in 102 at-bats.
Logan Wade (Brisbane, Australian):  .282/.333/.523  in 149 at-bats.
Willians Astudillo (Anzoategui, Venezuelan):  .329/.371/.477 in 222 at-bats.
Gregorio Petit (Caracas, Venezuelan):  .299/.359/.449 in 107 at-bats.
Aaron Whitefield (Brisbane, Australian):  .292/.364/.425 in 106 at-bats.
Brock Stassi (Jalisco, Mexican):  .234/.387/.364 in 107 at-bats.
Leonardo Reginatto (Margarita, Venezuelan):  .285/.326/.331 in 172 at-bats.
Jermaine Curtis (Hermosillo, Mexican):  .161/.278/.226 in 31 at-bats.

PITCHERS

Tyler Kinley (Licey, Dominican):  2-1, 0.47, 0.84 WHIP in 19 innings.
Adalberto Mejia (Gigantes, Dominican):  2-0, 3.43, 1.33 WHIP in 21 innings.
Anderson Munoz (Zulia, Venezuelan):  1-0, 3.45, 1.34 WHIP in 15.2 innings.
Anthony Marzi (Margarita, Venezuelan):  0-2, 4.32, 1.41 WHIP in 33.2 innings.
Omar Bencomo (Margarita, Venezuelan):  5-7, 4.42, 1.51 WHIP in 75.1 innings.

This concludes our winter league coverage for this year.  Hope you enjoyed it.  It looks like minor league seasons begin April 5.  God willing, we'll be there to cover them.

MLB

VORS: Value Over Replacement Scribe

26 Comments

With the reporting date for pitchers & catchers only a week away nearly upon us, now is as good a time as any to discuss where we go to read high-quality baseball writing. Since this place first opened in the Old Basement, the abundance & variety of the baseball blogosphere baseball content online has proliferated, to our considerable benefit. No longer must we endure The Poultry Man and his legion of Stribbies.

Here’s a list of who I’m reading these days, based on the sites in my trusty RSS reader & a couple bespoke apps for my pocket-dwelling supercomputer:

The Athletic

This is the new one for me this year. I’ve listed the Twins, Padres, & Rockies as my favorite teams. (I don’t understand why a Big 4 market like Colorado/Denver does not have Athletic presence, yet.) Twins coverage has been...disappointing, even after The Athletic hired a new beat writer. I’m hoping for marked improvement now that Spring Training is here. In addition to following Ken Rosenthal’s national baseball coverage, I’m also subscribed to Eno Sarris’ writing here, but I think Eno’s leaving baseball writing entirely to do the beer thing. (At least, that’s my underinformed impression.)

Michael Baumann & Ben Lindbergh (The Ringer)

Writing for The Ringer means you’ll get columns on more than just baseball from these two guys, but the baseball writing’s pretty good, and occasionally the other stuff interests me, too. Moreover, I find Baumann’s perspective on labor refreshing.

Fangraphs

My primary filter for Fangraphs flags all posts by Jeff Sullivan, who writes at least two posts a day and has a gift for interesting observations and engaging analysis. Beyond that, I flag posts about the Twins, Padres, & Rockies (and filter out those about the Yankmes & Red Sox).

The Hardball Times

I mentioned earlier that it amazes me that The Hardball Times turns fourteen this year. It’s survived longer than the combined existences of Grantland and Sports on Earth. My primary filters these days are for teams (Twins, Padres, & Rockies) and a couple pet topics (ballparks, expansion, & history). I flagged posts for a bunch of authors there at one time (including Dirk Hayhurst, Chris Jaffe, Brad Johnson, Dave Studeman, & Steve Treder), but most of my favorite regulars have moved on. I still miss John Brattain.

Jay Jaffe (Sports Illustrated Fangraphs)

I was never a Sports Illustrated guy until Joe Posnanski. I stuck around after JoePos left, mainly because of Jay Jaffe. Jaffe’s most notable for JAWS and his work on the Hall of Fame, but those are by no means the limits of his baseball writing. In the last year or so there was some pretty substantial turnover at SI, and some of the other writers I found there were laid off or moved on. The new folks haven’t registered much yet, and I have no interest in anything Tom Verducci has to say. Edited to add: And now I may never have a reason to visit SI again, since Jaffe has moved to Fangraphs.

Jonah Keri (CBS Sports)

I hope MLB returns to Montréal someday soon and Keri is there to document it. His love for the Twins’ erstwhile contraction-mates and all-in advocacy for Tim Raines’ Hall of Fame case put him on my radar, but he’s a gifted writer of all things baseball.

MLB Trade Rumors

I installed the MLBTR app on my phone primarily for the push notifications. I’m not a completionist with this site; there’s simply too much to read. So I’ll dip in on players & teams that interest me.

Joe Posnanski (MLB.com)

Stating this purely for the record. Now that JoePos is employed by MLB, I don’t have to filter through columns about scandal-tarnished NCAA football coaches, the Browns, golf, and whatever. He can keep writing about Springsteen, though.

Ed Thoma (Baseball Outsider, his personal blog)

Someone (AMR?) turned me onto Ed Thoma several years ago, and I’ve been reading ever since. Thoma’s based in Mankato and, while a sportswriter, is not a member of the BBWAA. His perspective is a bit more old-school than mine, but I like his features and find his perspective nuanced, even if I don’t agree with it occasionally.

UniWatch

I’ve been reading this since it was still a Village Voice column, and while Paul Lukas’ hobbyhorses get eyeroll-worthy on occasion, the quality of the sartorial anaylsis he & Phil Hecken provide is what keeps me coming back. They’re willing to take deep dives on minutiae that wouldn’t get that treatment anywhere else

Anyone’s bandwidth for writing on a particular subject is limited, which makes the answer to who you enjoy reading all the more meaningful. We only have so much time to keep abreast of the latest analysis, and probably even fewer moments to spend on longform articles. So, who do you consider worthy of that time in your day? What do you value most in the baseball writing you make a point of reading regularly?