MINNESOTA 1, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, August 24.

Batting star:  Rick Renick was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall pitched a complete game shutout, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out eight.

Opposition star:  Al Downing pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up an unearned run on four hits and five walks (three intentional) and striking out five.

The game:  This was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel.  Each team had just four hits.  Neither team got a man past first base until the fifth, and then no hits were involved--Leo Cardenas drew a one-out walk and Frank Quilici reached on an error with two out.  Hall grounded out to end the inning.

Each team put two on in the sixth.  For the Yankees, Horace Clarke and Gene Michael got consecutive one-out singles.  For the Twins, Renick got an infield single and was bunted to second.  That led to Harmon Killebrew getting an intentional walk and that strategy worked, as a fly out and a line out ended the inning.

The Yankees got a man to second in the eighth, as Len Boehmer got a bunt single and was bunted to second by Downing.  That was the last man who would get as far as second base for New York.

The Twins finally scored in the ninth.  Oliva reached on a three-base error by New York left fielder Bill Robinson.  Bob Allison and Cardenas were intentionally walked to fill the bases.  George Mitterwald then singled to bring home Oliva with the deciding run.

WP:  Hall (6-4).  LP:  Al Downing (4-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins kind of used a B lineup on this Sunday.  Renick was at third and batted leadoff.  Cesar Tovar batted second and was in centerfield.  Allison was in left and Frank Quilici was at second base.  Mitterwald was behind the plate.  Killebrew played first.  That left mostly-regulars Ted Uhlaender, Rich Reese, Graig Nettles, and Johnny Roseboro on the bench.

That would be a good bench, but it was never used.  Each team used exactly nine players, no more.  There were no relief pitchers, no pinch-hitters, no pinch-runners, no defensive replacements.  I suspect that's pretty rare.

Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .320.

By game scores, this was tied for Hall's best game of the season.  On April 18, he had thrown a two-hit shutout (with four walks) against the California Angels.

Downing had been in the Yankee bullpen most of the season, not moving into the rotation until August 2.  My first thought was "how could the Yankees have had four starters better than Al Downing?"  I really don't think they did, but their four starters weren't bad:  Mel Stottlemyre, Fritz Peterson, Stan Bahnsen, and Bill Burbach.  Burbach is the least known of the four, but he posted a 3.65 ERA in 1969.  Downing had an ERA of 3.16 as a starter, with a WHIP of 1.26, so he was probably better, but the point is that there was no obvious hole in the rotation that Downing should have been filling.

I miss the days when the Twins could sweep a three-game series against the Yankees.  I have to admit, though, that this was a tough way for Downing to lose--a leadoff three-base error in the ninth.  It's hard to say if the two intentional walks were good strategy or not--there really aren't any good strategies for a situation where the other team has the winning run on third with none out.  Filling the bases to set up a force play at the plate is probably as good a strategy as any.  Had Downing been able to get Mitterwald out, the next two batters were Quilici and Hall, which might well have provided an escape hatch, although the Twins certainly might have used a pinch-hitter or two.  Fortunately for the Twins, Mitterwald delivered.

Record:  The Twins were 75-50, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 8, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 23.

Batting stars:  Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his eighth.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirty-sixth), a stolen base (his seventh), and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Roy White was 2-for-4 with a double.  Lindy McDaniel pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.  Steve Hamilton pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

The game:  The Twins took care of business in the first inning.  Uhlaender led off with an infield single and was bunted to second.  Oliva had an RBI double and Killebrew hit a two-run homer.  The Twins weren't done,  though, as Rich Reese and Nettles followed with back-to-back doubles and Leo Cardenas delivered a two-out single.  The Twins batted around to take a 5-0 lead.

In the second, the Twins loaded the bases with one out on singles by Cesar Tovar and Oliva and a walk to Killebrew.  Reese fouled out, but the Twins then pulled off a triple steal, with Killebrew stealing second, Oliva third, and Tovar home, making the score 6-0.  They added two more in the third on walks to Johnny Roseboro and Cardenas, a bunt by Perry, and a two-run single by Uhlaender, leaving the Twins with an 8-0 lead.

The Yankees got two on for the first time in the fourth, when White led off with a single and Bobby Murcer drew a one-out walk, but it came to nothing.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the fourth, getting singles from Nettles and Roseboro and a walk to Cardenas, but Perry struck out to end the inning.

New York finally broke through in the sixth.  With two out, Joe Pepitone and Murcer singled and ex-Twin Jimmie Hall hit a two-run triple.  Jerry Kenney then singled him home to cut the lead to 8-3.  That was as good as it would get for the Yankees, though, as they got only one hit the rest of the game.

WP:  Perry (15-5).  LP:  Mel Stottlemyre (16-11).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was again Uhlaender in center, Tovar at second, and Nettles in left.

Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .335.  Oliva's average was .322.  Perry's ERA was 2.96.

The Twins were 5-for-9 with men in scoring position.

Stottlemyre lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs on six hits and no walks with no strikeouts.  He was a star pitcher and had an excellent season in 1969, but the Twins wore him out.  In four games, he was 1-3, 5.11, 1.46 WHIP.  The Twins batted .340/.373/.511 against him, for an .883 OPS.  The best any other team could do was .709 (Boston).  The Twins obviously didn't do that well against him for his entire career, but they did have the second best OPS against him (second, surprisingly enough, to Kansas City).

Record:  The Twins were 74-50, in first place, 2.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

MINNESOTA 6, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 22.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his sixteenth and seventeenth) and five RBIs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched eight shutout innings, giving up seven hits and one walk and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition star:  Mike Kekich pitched a scoreless inning.

The game:  The Twins opened the bottom of the first with singles by Uhlaender and Cesar Tovar but Oliva lined into a double play, leaving just a man on first with two out.  Tovar then went to third on a stolen base-plus-error, Harmon Killebrew then walked and Rich Reese singled, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees got a pair of singles in the third but could do nothing with them.  In the bottom of the third, Uhlaender singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer, making the score 3-0.

New York missed a chance to get back into the game in the sixth.  Tom Shopay led off with a single and Gene Michael hit a one-out double, putting men on second and third.  Roy White then hit back to the pitcher, who threw Shopay out at the plate.  Joe Pepitone flied out and the inning was over.  They had another chance in the seventh.  Ron Woods and Jerry Kenney singled with one out.  Jake Gibbs struck out, but a wild pitch put men on second and third and ex-Twin Jimmie Hall walked, loading the bases.  Horace Clarke then grounded out to end the inning.

The Twins put it out of reach in the seventh.  Cardenas led off with a single, Tovar drew a two-out walk, and Oliva hit a three-run homer to make the score 6-0.  The Yankees did not get a man on base in either of the last two innings.

WP:  Boswell (13-9).  LP:  Stan Bahnsen (7-12).  S:  Perranoski (23).

Notes:  Uhlaender remained in center and Tovar at second base.  Graig Nettles was the left fielder in this game.

Reese was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .336.  Oliva raised his average to .321.

Boswell was allowed to bat for himself in the bottom of the eighth.  He was hit by a pitch and then was removed for a pinch-runner.  He did not miss a start, so one assumes the removal was simply precautionary.  The pinch-runner, by the way, was Tom Hall.  It used to be common for pitchers to be used as pinch-runners.  It seems like, with today's short benches, that wouldn't be a bad strategy to use.  Yes, pitchers aren't particularly used to running the bases, but one would think they could learn.  The downside of it, I suppose, is that all it would take is one pitcher getting hurt running the bases for every second-guesser in the world to say, "Why did you have a pitcher pinch-running, you idiot!"  So it probably won't happen.  I still think it would be a good idea, though.

I remember Tom Shopay more as a Baltimore Oriole, which is understandable--he played for them from 1971-1972 and again from 1975-1977.  What's not understandable, really, is why I remember Tom Shopay at all.  He played in parts of seven seasons, but he never had more than 79 plate appearances in any of them.  He was an outfielder, although he was frequently used as a pinch-hitter.  Of his 341 career plate appearances, 116 of them were as a pinch-hitter.  He wasn't particularly good at it, batting .210/.307/.230 as a pinch-hitter.  Those numbers aren't far off his career numbers--.201/.262/.259.  It's hard to say why he kept getting chances in the majors.  His AAA numbers are okay, but nothing to shout about--.284/.348/.408 in 3182 plate appearances.  He really didn't even take advantage of the vagaries of small sample sizes in the majors--other than his first year 1967, he never even approached an OPS of .600.  He was probably a really nice guy--he wouldn't have kept getting chances if he wasn't.  It sounds like he had a successful career in business after baseball.  At last report, he was living in Miami.

Record:  The Twins were 73-50, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.