Monthly Archives: March 2018

Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: ALDS Game Two

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OAKLAND 9, MINNESOTA 1 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, October 2.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-1 with a double.  Cristian Guzman was 1-for-3 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Mark Mulder pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out three.  Mark Ellis was 3-for-4 with a double.  Eric Chavez was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and a walk.

The game:  In the bottom of the first, Ray Durham walked, Scott Hatteberg doubled, and Chavez hit a three-run homer to give the Athletics a 3-0 lead.  Oakland loaded the bases in the third but did not score.  The Twins were not so lucky in the fourth.  The Athletics had a man on first and two out when Miguel Tejada hit an RBI double to make it 4-0.  An intentional walk and an accidental walk loaded the bases.  David Justice unloaded them with a triple, making it 7-0.  An Ellis double increased the lead to 8-0.  Hatteberg's RBI single in the sixth boosted the lead to 9-0.  Guzman got the Twins on the board with a home run leading off the sixth, but that was as good as it got.  Oakland cruised to the victory and evened the series 1-1.

WP:  Mulder.  LP:  Joe Mays.  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was the DH rather than David Ortiz.

Cuddyer was again in right field, going 0-for-1 with a walk.  He was replaced by pinch-hitter Bobby Kielty in the seventh inning.

Mays lasted 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out one.

I don't remember what people thought at the time, but Mays seems like a really odd choice to start Game Two.  Of the seven pitchers to start more than three games for the Twins in 2002, he had the worst ERA and was only better than Matt Kinney in FIP and WHIP.  He had pitched better in September than he had the rest of the season, but it's not like he was on a roll.  It's obviously easy to criticize a choice after the fact, but still.  You had weeks to get your rotation set up, you have Rick Reed and Johan Santana available, and you go with Joe Mays?  It seems strange.

Record:  The best-of-five series was tied 1-1.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 16

Bud Fowler (1847)
Blondie Purcell (1854)
Jerry Denny (1859)
Patsy Donovan (1865)
Jake Flowers (1902)
Buddy Myer (1904)
Lloyd Waner (1906)
Ken O'Dea (1913)
Tom Gorman (1919)
Clint Courtney (1927)
Hobie Landrith (1930)
Don Blasingame (1932)
Rick Reichardt (1943)
Rick Renick (1944)
Charles Hudson (1959)
Fieldin Culbreth (1963)
Abraham Nunez (1976)
Curtis Granderson (1981)
Stephen Drew (1983)
Brandon League (1983)
Mickey Storey (1986)

Bud Fowler was the first African-American to play professional baseball, playing in the minors in 1878 and from 1884-1894.

Tom Gorman was a National League umpire from 1951-1977.  His son Brian is currently a major league umpire.

Fieldin Culbreth has been a major league umpire since 1993.  His full name is Fieldin Henry Culbreth III.

Mickey Storey was drafted by Minnesota in the 22nd round in 2007, but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

2002 Rewind: ALDS Game One

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MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 5 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Tuesday, October 1.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 4-for-4 with a triple.  Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ray Durham was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Eric Chavez was 2-for-5.  David Justice was 2-for-5.

The game:  A walk and an error put men on first and second with one out in the first for the Athletics.  Chavez then hit a single-plus-error that scored two runs, giving Oakland a 2-0 lead.  Justice delivered an RBI single that made it 3-0.  The Twins got on the board in the second on doubles by Torii Hunter and Cuddyer, but the Athletics scored two in the the bottom of the second to make it 5-1.  Their first two batters went out in that inning, but Durham doubled, Hatteberg singled him in, and error put men on first and third, and Chavez singled in a run.  So, through two innings, the Twins had made three errors and allowed four unearned runs.  Koskie hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 5-3.  The Twins opened the fourth with a walk and a single, but did not score.  Doug Mientkiewicz opened the sixth with a home run to cut the lead to 5-4.  With one out, Pierzynski and Luis Rivas singled and Jones doubled to tie it 5-5.  A walk loaded the bases and Koskie's grounder to first put the Twins ahead 6-5.  Oakland put men on first and second with one out in the sixth, but did not score.  With two out in the seventh, Cuddyer singled and scored on a Pierzynski triple to bring home an insurance run at 7-5.  With two out in the ninth, a single and a walk put two Athletics on with two out, but Guardado retired pinch-hitter Adam Piatt on a fly to left to end the game.

WP:  Brad Radke  LP:  Ted Lilly.  S:  Guardado.

Notes:  Ron Gardenhire made kind of a daring move by playing the rookie Cuddyer in right field, rather than Bobby Kielty or Dustan Mohr.  As you can see, it paid off.

It was also kind of a daring move to use Radke as the game one starter.  He'd had an injury plagued season and did not appear to be the best starter on the team that year.  He gave up five runs in five innings, but only one of the runs was earned.  He allowed eight hits and a walk and struck out three.  It's a matter of opinion whether it "paid off" or if they just got away with it, but either way, it worked out.

Oakland starter Tim Hudson did have a fine season, going 15-9, 2.98, 1.26 WHIP.  He was not really the best starter on his staff either, though--Barry Zito went 23-5, 2.75, 1.13.  Mark Mulder was just about as good, too.  The Athletics definitely appeared to have stronger starting pitchers than the Twins.  Still, in this game, Hudson pitched just 5.1 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits and two hits, striking out four.

Ted Lilly was primarily a starting pitcher throughout his career.  He did, however, make six relief appearances in 2002, including one for Oakland after his trade from the Yankees.  He pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk and struck out one.  Coincidentally, he was traded from Oakland to Toronto after the 2003 season for Bobby Kielty,

Record:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 15

Arlie "The Freshest Man on Earth" Latham (1860)
Doc Casey (1870)
Ralph Miller (1873)
Fred Lieb (1888)
Rosy Ryan (1898)
Jimmie Crutchfield (1910)
Sid Hartman (1920)
Bob Locker (1938)
Wayne Granger (1944)
Bobby Bonds (1946)
Jim Kern (1949)
Steve Stroughter (1952)
Mickey Hatcher (1955)
Harold Baines (1959)
Mike Pagliarulo (1960)
Kim Batiste (1968)
Robert Fick (1974)
Vladimir Nunez (1975)
Dan Perkins (1975)
Kevin Youkilis (1979)

Ralph Miller was the first major league player to live to be a hundred years old.

Fred Lieb was a sportswriter who covered baseball for seventy years.

Jimmie Crutchfield was a star outfielder in the Negro Leagues.

Sid Hartman is a sportswriter/broadcaster who has been covering sports in Minnesota since the earth cooled.

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