Monthly Archives: November 2018

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Thirty-four

BALTIMORE 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Wednesday, May 21.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5 and scored twice.

Pitching stars:  Dick Woodson struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Bob Miller pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Frank Robinson was 3-for-4 with a double.  Boog Powell was 2-for-4.  Don Buford was 1-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs.  Pete Richert struck out three in two perfect innings.

The game:  An error, a single, and a force out plated a run for the Twins in the top of the first.  The Twins had the bases loaded with one out in the second, but Cesar Tovar fouled out and Tony Oliva flied to left.  The Orioles also had the bases loaded with one out in the second, but after a Tom Phoebus strikeout, Buford delivered a two-run single to put the Orioles up 2-1.

The Twins wasted a leadoff double by Harmon Killebrew in the third.  It cost them again, because Baltimore added to its lead in the bottom of the third.  With one out Robinson doubled and scored on a Powell single to make the score 3-1.

The Twins cut into the lead in the fifth, but again missed a chance for more.  They had men on second and third with one out, but a Charlie Manuel sacrifice fly was all the damage they could do, making the score 3-2.  In the bottom of the fifth, Paul Blair doubled and scored on Robinson's single to put the Orioles up 4-2.

Ted Uhlaender had an RBI single in the sixth to cut the margin to 4-3, but they again missed a chance for more.  They had the bases loaded with one out again, but Oliva hit into a forceout at home and Killebrew struck out.

The Twins again threatened in the eighth, but again came up empty.  Johnny Roseboro walked and Rich Reese delivered a pinch-hit single, putting men on first and second with none out.  Uhlaender struck out, however, and Tovar hit into a double play to end the inning.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Phoebus (5-0).  LP:  Dave Boswell (4-5).  S:  Richert (4).

Notes:  Tovar was at second base, replacing Rod Carew.  Carew was out of the lineup for the second straight game but again entered the game as a substitute, this time as a pinch-hitter.  He would be back in the lineup the next day.

Manuel was in left field, with Graig Nettles at third base and Harmon Killebrew at first.  Reese was used as a pinch-hitter, his first appearance since May 14.  He would pinch-hit again in the next game, but then would be out until May 30 and would not start again until June 9.

Boswell pitched just 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and three walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski faced just one man, Powell, and got him to hit into a double play, dropping his ERA to 0.59.  Miller had his ERA fall to 2.25.

Jerry Crider made his major league debut in this game.  He came in with the Twins trailing 4-2, men on first and second, and one out.  He struck out Andy Etchebarren and got Brooks Robinson out on a liner to left.  This would be his only season with the Twins.  He would go 1-0, 4.71 with one save in 21 games.  He would appear in 32 games for the White Sox in 1970, but that would be it for his major league career.  He was born and raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  As a youth, he pitched on three South Dakota state champion American Legion teams and also pitched Humboldt, South Dakota to its only state amateur baseball championship before signing with the Twins.

Tom Phoebus wasn't in the McNally/McLain/Lolich class, but he was still a fine pitcher for four seasons, 1967-1970.  Over those seasons, he was 48-36, 3.10 in 123 starts.  It looks like he must have been injured in 1970, however, as he made only 21 starts despite posting a 3.07 ERA.  I could not quickly find what the injury was, but it looks like a turning point in his career.  He never had a good year again.  He was traded to San Diego before the 1971 campaign and went 3-11, 4.46.  He was sold to the Cubs in early 1972 and had a good year out of the bullpen for them, but that was the end of his career.  For four years, though, he was a fine pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 20-14, in second place, in the American League West, a half game behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 4

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Bobby Wallace (1873)
Tommy Leach (1877)
Skeeter Webb (1909)
Carl Sawatski (1927)
Dick Groat (1930)
Tito Francona (1933)
Dick Selma (1943)
Doug Corbett (1952)
Jon Shave (1967)
Eric Karros (1967)
Carlos Baerga (1968)
Kevin Frederick (1976)
Carmen Cali (1978)
Chih-Wei Hu (1993)

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to davidwatts, yickit, and kalarson.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 4 →

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Thirty-three

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MINNESOTA 3, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE (13 INNINGS)

Date:  Tuesday, May 20.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-5 with a home run, his ninth.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched twelve innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on eight hits and four walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Dave McNally pitched seven innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks and striking out four.  Dave Johnson was 2-for-5.  Paul Blair was 1-for-6 with a home run, his ninth.

The game:  The Orioles put men on first and third with two out, but did not score.  The Twins got the scoring started in the fourth inning when Killebrew hit a two-out home run to put them up 1-0.

After Frank Robinson's two-out single in the third, Kaat retired eleven men in a row.  It would've been twelve, but Brooks Robinson reached on an error charged to third baseman Rick Renick.  It would prove costly.  Johnson singled and was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double, but Robinson went to third.  Andy Etchebarren was intentionally walked, but Curt Motton delivered a pinch-hit single to tie the score.

The teams combined to get zero hits from Motton's single until the bottom of the twelfth, when pitcher Marcelino Lopez got a two-out bunt single.  In the thirteenth the Twins put together consecutive one-out singles by Frank Quilici, Graig Nettles, and Ted Uhlaender to go ahead 2-1.  Kaat was allowed to bat for himself and came through with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

Baltimore wasn't done, as Blair led off the bottom of the thirteenth with a home run to cut the margin to 3-2.  That brought in Perranoski, who retired the side on three consecutive ground outs to end the game.

WP:  Kaat (3-2).  LP:  Lopez (0-1).  S:  Perranoski (8).

Notes:  It was an interesting lineup that Billy Martin used.  Oliva was apparently not ready to play yet, so Cesar Tovar led off and played right field.  Rich Reese was still out, so Killebrew was at first base and Renick at third.  George Mitterwald caught in place of Johnny Roseboro.  Frank Quicili was at second base in place of Rod Carew.

Another interesting move is that Graig Nettles entered the game in the eighth as a pinch-hitter for Renick and took over at third base.  That's not the interesting part--the interesting part is that when the Twins got the lead in the thirteenth, Carew entered the game at second base and Quilici moved over to third in place of Nettles.  Now, Nettles is remembered as a great defensive third baseman.  Perhaps in 1969 he wasn't that great, or perhaps Quilici was better than I realize.

As we've discussed before, b-r.com doesn't give pitch counts for games in 1969, so I have no idea how many Kaat threw.  I wonder, though, when the last time is a pitcher went twelve innings in a game.  It has to be a day or two ago.

Kaat lowered his ERA from 3.42 to 2.88.  Perranoski dropped his ERA to 0.61.

The Twins really had a run in which they faced great pitchers.  McNally, Denny McLain, Mickey Lolich, and now McNally again.  Those guys would put anybody in a batting slump.

One of the things we've lost with today's deep bullpens and short benches is professional pinch-hitters.  We've already talked about Gates Brown--Curt Motton was another one.  In 1969 he was used as a pinch-hitter 33 times, going 8-for-28 with five walks.  He hit two pinch-hit home runs and had an OPS as a pinch-hitter of .930.  Oddly, and I guess showing the vagaries of small sample size, this was the only good year he had as a pinch-hitter.  He never topped a .200 batting average as a pinch-hitter in any other season, and his career numbers are .168/.276/.305 in 153 pinch-hitting appearances.  When he did play the field he was an outfielder, usually in left, but he appeared in only 144 games in the outfield in an eight-year major league career.

Record:  The Twins were 20-13, in second place in the American League West, a half game behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 3

Jim McCormick (1856)
Larry Kopf (1890)
Homer Summa (1898)
Johnny Keane (1911)
Bob Feller (1918)
Ken Holtzman (1945)
Dwight Evans (1951)
Larry Herndon (1953)
Bob Welch (1956)
Paul Quantrill (1968)
Armando Benitez (1972)

Johnny Keane managed the St. Louis Cardinals from 1961-1964 and the New York Yankees from 1965-1966.

There do not appear to be any players with connections to the Twins born on this day. It should be noted that Homer Summa is a great name for a ballplayer.

We also want to wish a happy anniversary to the Dread Pirate and Mrs. Pirate.