Monthly Archives: December 2018

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Sixty-eight

MINNESOTA 3, CALIFORNIA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Wednesday, June 25.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a double.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double.  Charlie Manuel was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and four walks and striking out one.  Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jim Spencer was 2-for-2.  Andy Messersmith pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out five.  Ken Tatum struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  the Twins got two in the first inning.  Ted Uhlaender walked and went to third on a Cesar Tovar single.  Oliva doubled home the first run.  Harmon Killebrew was intentionally walked, and Rich Reese hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.  Manuel singled to load the bases, but Roseboro hit into a fly out/double play.

It stayed 2-0 until the fifth.  The Angels loaded the bases with none out on singles by Sandy Alomar and Bill Voss and a walk to Jim Fregosi.  Rick Reichardt hit a sacrifice fly to bring home one, but a popup and a ground out limited the damage.  The Twins still led 2-1.

California tied it in the seventh.  Aurelio Rodriguez hit a two-out single and scored on Spencer's single-plus-error.  An intentional walk to Joe Azcue and an accidental walk to Messersmith loaded the bases and brought Perranoski in to replace Perry.  He got Alomar to fly out to leave the score tied.

The Twins took the lead for good in the eighth.  Again the damage came with two out and none on.  Oliva singled and went to second on a wild pitch.  Killebrew was again intentionally walked, and Reese again came through, delivering a single that put Minnesota up 3-2.  The Angels threatened in the ninth, getting a leadoff double from Winston Llenas, but he did not advance past second.

WP:  Perranoski (4-2).  LP:  Messersmith (3-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Rod Carew was held out of the lineup, with Tovar at second.  Frank Quilici came in to play second in the ninth inning, with Tovar moving to left to replace Manuel.

Oliva raised his average to .303.   Over his last five games, he was 13-for-24 with eight doubles and two home runs.

This was Perranoski's fifth consecutive appearance in which he'd pitched two innings or more.

Winston Llenas spent his entire career in the Angels' organization, other than when he played in Mexico.  He had only two full seasons in the majors, 1972 and 1974, but he played in parts of four others.  He was a reserve throughout his career, and was often used as a pinch-hitter:  197 of his 592 plate appearances came in a pinch-hitting role.  He was fairly good at it, batting .259/.294/.339 as a pinch-hitter.  When he did play in the field he played all over:  49 games at second base, 48 in the outfield, 44 at third base, 6 at first base.  His career high in games was 78 in 1973, but his career high in at-bats was 138 in 1974.  In his six major league seasons, he had 531 at-bats and batted .230/.277/.279, so he actually batted better as a pinch-hitter than he did when he was actually playing.  He finished with the Angels in 1975, but played in Mexico through 1982.  He managed in the Mexican League from 1978-1982 and managed in the minors for the Angels from 1983-1986.  A native of the Dominican Republic, he ran the Cleveland Indians Dominican Baseball Academy for several years.

Record:  The Twins were 38-30, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 8

Jack Rowe (1856)
Jimmy Austin (1879)
Sam Zoldak (1918)
Jim Pagliaroni (1937)
Brant Alyea (1940)
Ed Brinkman (1941)
Ken Roy (1941)
Masahiro Doi (1943)
Alan Foster (1946)
Jeff Grotewold (1965)
Mike Mussina (1968)
Garvin Alston (1971)
Reed Johnson (1976)
Vernon Wells (1978)

Ken Roy was a minor league umpire for two years before becoming a Catholic priest.  He said that his umpiring career helped him in ministry because it gave him more patience with people and made him a better listener.

Masahiro Doi was a fifteen-time all-star in the Japanese Pacific League, playing from 1962-1981.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to AMR’s son, HPR.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 8 →

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Sixty-seven

MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 3 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Tuesday, June 24.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 4-for-4 with a double.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a triple.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer, his ninth.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Eddie Fisher struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up three hits.  Bob Priddy pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  The Twins started the scoring in the second on Reese's RBI double.  They made it 3-0 in the third when Uhlaender singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer.

The Angels tied it with a three-run fourth.  Jim Fregosi led off with a triple and scored on a Rick Reichardt single.  Roger Repoz walked, and with one out Jim Spencer and Joe Azcue each hit an RBI single to make the score 3-3.

The Twins went into the lead to stay in the fifth.  Uhlaender doubled, went to third on Tovar's single, and scored on an infield hit by Killebrew.  They got an insurance run in the sixth when Reese led off with a single, went from first to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Cardenas, making the score 5-3.

Aurelio Rodriguez hit a one-out double in the sixth, but he was erased on a line drive double play.  California did not get a hit after that.

WP:  Boswell (9-7).  LP:  Tom Murphy (4-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Rod Carew was again not in the starting lineup, but he came in to play defense in the sixth inning.  Tovar had started the game at second and moved to center field, with Uhlaender coming out of the game.  Carew went 1-for-2 and was batting .379.

Oliva dropped his average to an even .300.  Boswell's ERA dropped to 2.88.

Charlie Manuel was the starting left fielder in this game, going 0-for-4.

Reese raised his average to .307.  It was the second consecutive game in which a Twin went 4-for-4.

Over his last three starts, Boswell had pitched 26.1 innings.  He had two complete games and went 8.1 innings in the middle game of the three.

Murphy was the California starter.  He pitched 5.1 innings and allowed all five runs on ten hits.  He did not walk anyone and struck out one.  He had faced the Twins on June 16 and had only lasted four innings.  In between, he made a start against the White Sox and allowed just one run in ten innings.

Record:  The Twins were 37-30, in first place in the American League West, leading Oakland by a half game.

Keeping Track

1969 Rewind: Game Sixty-six

CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Monday, June 23.

Batting star:  Tony Oliva was 4-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and two doubles.

Pitching stars:  Jerry Crider pitched three shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk.  Al Worthington pitched a perfect inning, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Rick Reichardt was 3-for-4.  Joe Azcue was 3-for-4.  Jim Spencer was 3-for-4.  Aurelio Rodriguez was 2-for-4.  Sandy Alomar was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  George Brunet pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out six.  Ken Tatum pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins opened the game with a Cesar Tovar single and a Tony Oliva double, putting men on second and third with none out.  The Twins could only score once, however, on a Harmon Killebrew sacrifice fly.  The Angels made them pay, scoring twice in the bottom of the first.  Alomar led off the first with an inside-the-park home run, tying the score, and Rodriguez delivered a two-out RBI single to put the Angels up 2-1.

They went up 3-1 in the second.  Azcue led off with a single, was bunted to second, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on Alomar's single.  The Twins cut the margin to 3-2 in the third as Oliva hit a two-out solo home run.

In the bottom of the third the Angels got consecutive one-out singles by Rodriguez, Spencer, and Azcue to go up 4-2.  They got one more in the fourth as Bill Voss singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Reichardt single.

And that was it for the scoring.  The Twins did not even mount much in the way of a threat after that.  The best they could do was get a man to second base in the eighth and the ninth, both times with two out.

WP:  Brunet (3-6).  LP:  Dick Woodson (4-3).  S:  Tatum (2).

Notes:  The Twins had six hits.  Oliva had four of them.  Over his last three games he was 10-for-14 with six doubles and a home run.  He raised his average from .279 to .302, his slugging average from .402 to .453, and his OPS from .757 to .826.

Rod Carew, who had been removed early from the second game of yesterday's doubleheader, did not start in this game, although he did pinch-hit.  Frank Quilici started at second base.  Tovar was in center field, replacing Ted Uhlaender.  Bob Allison started in left, Rick Renick at third, and George Mitterwald behind the plate.

Bob Miller, who had started the second game of the previous day's doubleheader and pitched 3.1 innings, threw 2.2 innings of relief in this game.  Crider, who had pitched 2.2 innings in the first game of the previous day's doubleheader, threw three innings in this game.

Ken Tatum was in his rookie year, which was by far the best year of his career.  He came up in late May and by this point had just become their closer.  He went 7-2, 1.36, 1.04 WHIP with 22 saves, finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting (behind Lou Piniella, Mike Nagy, and Carlos May).  He had another solid season in 1970, going 7-4, 2.94, 1.06 WHIP with 17 saves, but he also had seven blown saves and lost the closer job in late July.  He was traded to Boston after that season in a deal involving Tony Conigliaro.  He was not their closer, and was a pretty marginal pitcher in two seasons with the Red Sox, going 2-6, 4.03, 1.51 WHIP with 13 saves.  He was in AAA almost all of 1972, was not very good there, and was traded to St. Louis with Reggie Smith for Bernie Carbo and Rick Wise.  He did not play in the majors for the Cardinals, and was dealt to the White Sox in late April.  He again had a poor season and his playing career was over.

Some say the turning point in Tatum's career was when he hit Paul Blair in the face with a pitch on May 31, 1970.  The story, which he himself confirms, is that he was afraid to pitch over the inner half of the plate after that.  His career marks are 16-12, 2.93, 1.23 WHIP, 52 saves.  For about a year, though, he was as good a relief pitcher as any in the league.

Record:  The Twins were 36-30, in second place in the American League West, a half-game behind Oakland.