CALIFORNIA 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Saturday, April 12.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-3 with a home run, his second.  Bob Allison was 1-for-3 with a home run (his second) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bob Miller retired all five men he faced.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jay Johnstone was 2-for-4.  Eddie Fisher pitched two shutout innings, giving up on hit.

The game:  The Twins again scored first, as Mitterwald led off the second inning with a home run to give them a 1-0 lead.  It went to 2-0 in the third, as Allison had a two-out walk, was balked to second, and scored on a Tony Oliva single.  The Angels tied it in the bottom of the third on a two-run triple by Bill Voss.

California took the lead in the fifth, as Jim Fregosi doubled and scored on a two-out single by Roger Repoz.  Allison led off the sixth with a home run to tie it 3-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Angels went into the lead to stay.  They led off the inning with a pair of walks, which led to the removal of starter Dave Boswell.  A bunt moved the runners to second and third, and a fielder's choice brought home the lead run.  The Twins did not get a man past first base after Allison's home run.

WP:  Rudy May (1-0).  LP:  Dave Boswell (1-0).  S:  Hoyt Wilhelm.

Notes:  Neither starting pitcher had a stellar game, although neither was awful, either.  May pitched six innings, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks and striking out four.  Boswell pitched five innings, giving up four runs on six hits and six walks and striking out five.

The Twins scored exactly three runs for their fourth consecutive game.  They lost all four, and lost them by a total of five runs.

I don't know if Billy Martin pulled the lineup out of a hat or what, but it was a strange one.  Here it is:

1.  Allison, LF
2. Oliva, RF
3. Killebrew, 1B
4. Mitterwald, C
5. Cardenas, SS
6. Clark 3B
7. Tovar, CF
8. Quilici, 2B
9. Boswell, P

You have Killebrew, Oliva, and Allison in the lineup, and you bat Mitterwald cleanup?  You have Cesar Tovar in the lineup, and you lead off with Allison?

Tovar was in center in place of Ted Uhlaender.  Frank Quilici was at second in place of Rod Carew, who was out for his second consecutive game.  Carew may have had a minor injury, as he did not play again until April 15.

Perranoski, the closer, had pitched eight innings in the first four games.  He did not give up a run.

The Twins again got a runner caught stealing, as Oliva was thrown out trying to steal second in the third inning with two out and Harmon Killebrew up to bat.  They were 2-for-7 in stolen base attempts.

I wonder, given the Twins record and some of the questionable managerial decisions, if anyone was saying that the Twins' first-year manager was just not up to the job?  Maybe not--the world was different in 1969, of course--but I'm curious.  I'm pretty sure, in this situation, that people would be saying it now.

The Twins had hit six home runs, five in the last two games.  All were solo home runs.

Record:  The Twins were 0-for-4, sixth in the AL West, three games behind California, Kansas City, and Seattle.

CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, April 11.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 with a home run.  Bob Allison was 1-for-4 with a home run.  George Mitterwald was 1-for-4 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Joe Grzenda pitched a perfect inning.  Tom Hall struck out two in two shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits.  Charlie Walters pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Jay Johnstone was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and a stolen base.  Aurelio Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tom Satriano was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer.  George Brunet pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk and striking out six.

The game:  Mitterwald hit a one-out homer in the second to start the scoring.  The Angels took the lead in the bottom of the second on Satriano's two-run homer.  Johnston hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 4-1.

In the fourth came the only run of the game not brought in with a homer.  Roger Repoz walked, took third on a Rodriguez single, and scored on a wild pitch.

The Twins had men on first and second with one out in the fifth, but a ground out and a popup ended the threat.  They did not threaten again until the ninth, when Oliva and Allison led off with back-to-back homers.  That was the end of the day for Brunet.  Hoyt Wilhelm came on to retire the next three batters and end the game.

WP:  Brunet (1-0).  LP:  Jim Perry (0-1).  S:  Wilhelm (2).

Notes:  The Twins do win the division this year, don't they?  You'd never know it from their start.  Oddly, the scored exactly three runs in each of their first three games, all losses.

Allison made his first appearance of the year in this game, playing left field.  To the extent the Twins had a regular left fielder this year, he was it, but he started only fifty-two games there and was a part-time player.  Frank Quilici played third base, with Harmon Killebrew on first.  Rod Carew was given the day off, with Cesar Tovar at second.

Jim Perry made his first start of the season.  One could argue that it went all right except for the home runs, but the home runs made the difference.  He pitched just three innings, giving up five runs on five hits and a walk and striking out two.  Hall was used for two innings of relief just three days after making the opening day start, which makes his selection for that honor all the more puzzling.

Tom Tischinski made his major league debut in this game, pinch-hitting in the seventh and flying out to right field.  One assumes he was considered an excellent defensive catcher, because he never hit, even in the minors.  His AAA numbers are .235/.313/.356 and his major league numbers are .181/.296/.224.  Oddly, his best season was his last one, when he batted .286/.355/.481 in AAA Albuquerque at age twenty-nine.

Hoyt Wilhelm was forty-six years old at this point in his career.  He would play three more seasons before finally retiring.  Just looking at his numbers, it looks like he was still a somewhat effective pitcher, but his body just wouldn't hold up any more, as he threw only 45.1 innings in his last two seasons combined.

Record:  The Twins were 0-3, in sixth place in the AL West, two games behind California, Kansas City, Oakland, and Seattle.