Monthly Archives: October 2019

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Twenty-three

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MILWAUKEE 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN MILWAUKEE

Date:  Friday, May 3.

Batting stars:  Chuck Knoblauch was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5.  Brian Harper was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Paul Molitor was 4-for-4 with a triple and three runs.  Jim Gantner was 2-for-4.  Franklin Stubbs was 1-for-2 with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

The game:  Molitor led off the first with a single, went to second on a ground out, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on another ground out to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead.  The Twins responded with five in the second.  Chili Davis led off with a single and Harper hit a two-run homer.  It did not kill the rally, as the Twins strung together four consecutive one-out singles.  The hits came from Mike Pagliarulo, Al Newman, Gladden, and Knoblauch and made the score 4-1.  A ground out brought home the fifth run of the inning and left the Twins with a 5-1 lead.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for the Twins.  After wasting a leadoff double by Greg Vaughn in the second, Milwaukee got back into the game in the third.  Molitor and Gantner led off with singles and Robin Yount walked to load the bases with none out.  Stubbs hit a sacrifice fly and Vaughn had an RBI ground out to cut the Twins' lead to 5-3.  Molitor struck again in the fifth, leading off with a triple and scoring on Gantner's single to make the score 5-4.

The Twins clung to that lead until the eighth.  Stubbs got a one-out single, driving Jack Morris from the game and bringing in Rick Aguilera.  He walked Vaughn, a passed ball moved the runners to second and third, and Dante Bichette tripled to bring them both home and give the Brewers a 6-5 advantage.  The Twins had just two hits after the second inning and they did not get one in the ninth, and so the game ended.

WP:  Jaime Navarro (2-0).  LP:  Aguilera (0-2).  S:  Edwin Nunez (3).

Notes:  Gene Larkin was once again in right, with Kirby Puckett in center.  Shane Mack came in for defense in the eighth, playing center with Puckett moving to right.  Newman was at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne.

Knoblauch raised his average to .330.  Harper was batting .321.  Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .311.  Larkin was 0-for-4 and was 1-for his last-11.  He was batting .310.  Aguilera gave up a run on a hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning, but still had an ERA of 2.16.

Newman was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .174.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 and was batting .176.  Pagliarulo was 1-for-4 and was batting .192.  Gladden raised his average to .210 and left the Mendoza line behind permanently.  Morris pitched 7.1 innings, but was charged with five runs on eight hits and three walks.  He struck out five.  His ERA was 5.49.

Milwaukee starter Navarro pitched eight innings and allowed five runs on ten hits and no walks and struck out two.

Four runs in the game scored on productive outs.  Three of them scored on ground outs and one on a sacrifice fly.  The Brewers scored three runs on productive outs and the Twins scored one.  Thus, the teams were able to score eleven runs despite going 4-for-18 with men in scoring position.

Because batting average was considered so much more important back then, I didn't realize what a truly awful batter Al Newman was.  I knew he was bad in 1991, when he batted .191, but even his good years were bad.  He never had an OPS above .650, with his highest being .643 in 1989.  He did have an OBP of .341 that year, but that was the only year he had a positive OBP.  He only had one other year when his OPS was over .600 (.601 in 1987).  Yes, he could play a lot of positions, and he had a reputation as a good glove man all over the infield (although someone who understands defensive stats better than I do will have to say whether that reputation was justified).  He was also popular in the clubhouse.  But when he was up to bat, there was not much good that was likely to happen.

Edwin Nunez was pretty much the Brewers' closer at the start of the season, but he got hurt shortly after this game and missed much of the campaign.  Doug Henry, who made his big league debut in mid-July, led the team in saves with 15.  Nunez and Dan Plesac each had eight.  Plesac had been the team's closer from 1986-1990, but lost the job in 1990.  He regained it temporarily when Nunez got hurt, but then lost it to Henry.  The other ten Milwaukee saves were spread around four pitchers.

Record:  The Twins were 10-13, tied for fifth with Seattle in the American League West, 5.5 games behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 31

Harry Smith (1874)
Cal Hubbard (1900)
Ken Keltner (1916)
Jim Donohue (1938)
Ed Stroud (1939)
Ed Spiezio (1941)
Dave McNally (1942)
Dave Trembley (1951)
Mike Gallego (1960)
Matt Nokes (1963)
Fred McGriff (1963)
Eddie Taubensee (1968)
Steve Trachsel (1970)
Tim Byrdak (1973)
David Dellucci (1973)
Mike Napoli (1981)

Cal Hubbard was an American League umpire from 1936-1951.  He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dave Trembley was the manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 2007-2010.

David Dellucci was drafted by Minnesota in the eleventh round in 1994, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 31 →

NHL

Game 13 – Wild vs. Blues

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Game 12 Recap:

Assuming the Wild only quit playing hockey for that 1 period last night and not forever... Their road trip continues tonight as they face the defending Cup champion Blues.

The Blues (6-3-3) are winning half their games and losing half of their losses in overtime or the shootout, so they've racked up some points.

It's kind of odd that the Wild haven't had an overtime game yet. I'm calling it to happen tonight.

Here's a fun game -- look at the NHL leaderboard and calculate how many Wild players you'd have to add together to lead the league in offensive categories....

Points Leader Points Wild Players
Pastrnak 24 Staal (8)
Zucker (7)
Hunt (7)
Zuccarello (2)
Goals Leader Goals Wild Players
Pastrnak 12 Staal (4)
Zucker (4)
Hunt (4)
Zuccarello (0)
Assists Leader Assists Wild Players
McDavid 16 Dumba (5)
Greenway (5)
Staal (4)
Zuccarello (2)

 

Yeah - offense is not a strong point.

This game is on NBCSN, if you don't have anything else to watch tonight...

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Twenty-two

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MILWAUKEE 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN MILWAUKEE

Date:  Thursday, May 2.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk.  Brian Harper was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Kevin Tapani pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out five.

Opposition stars:  Kevin Brown pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and five walks and striking out four.  Chuck Crim pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Willie Randolph was 2-for-4 with a stolen base and two RBIs.  Paul Molitor was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Twins drew two walks in the first inning but did nothing with them.  In the bottom of the second, Franklin Stubbs led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Randolph.  The Twins got another man to second base in the fifth when Scott Leius walked and stole second with two out, but there he stayed.  The Twins tied it in the sixth, however, when Puckett hit a one-out triple and scored on Harper's single.

It didn't stay tied long.  In the bottom of the sixth, Robin Yount led off with a single and Stubbs walked.  Greg Vaughn bunted the runners over, Dante Bichette hit a sacrifice fly, and Randolph had an RBI single to give the Brewers a 3-1 lead.

The Twins got singles from Carmelo Castillo and Greg Gagne in the seventh, but they were stranded.  It was the last threat the Twins had.  Milwaukee added two insurance runs in the eighth.  Vaughn walked and scored on Bichette's double.  Bichette then stole third and scored when Randolph's fly ball was missed by right fielder Gene Larkin.

WP: Brown (2-0).  LP:  Tapani (2-1).  S:  Crim (3).

Notes:  Castillo was the DH, with Chili Davis out of the lineup.  Kent Hrbek was dropped down to the sixth spot in the order, with Harper batting fourth and Larkin fifth.  With Larkin in right, Puckett was again in center.

Al Newman pinch-hit for Castillo in the ninth.  It was one of twenty-four times he was used as a pinch-hitter in 1991.  I don't know the circumstances of all of them--he may have been batting in a blowout to give a regular a rest sometimes.  But still, it says something about your bench, or your manager, or both, that you use a player like him as a pinch-hitter that many times.

Larkin was 0-for-4 and was batting .342.  Harper was batting .327.  Puckett was at .326.  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-4 and was batting .313.  Gagne was 1-for-3 and was at .305.  Tapani's ERA went to 2.43.

Newman was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter and was batting .150.  Randy Bush was 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter and was batting .160.  Hrbek was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .171.  Gladden was 0-for-3 with a walk and fell back below the Mendoza line at .197.  Terry Leach pitched one inning, giving up two runs (one earned) on a hit and a walk and had an ERA of 5.14.

Look at this lineup the Brewers used:  Molitor, Jim Gantner, Yount, Stubbs, Vaughn, Bichette, Randolph, B. J. Surhoff, Dale Sveum.  Those are some pretty big names.  Granted, a few of them (Vaughn, Bichette, Surhoff) were still near the beginning of their careers and were not yet what they would become.  Still, that sounds like a pretty formidable lineup.  What Franklin Stubbs was doing in the middle of it is another question, but I guess you can't have everything.

The Kevin Brown who pitched is not "the" Kevin Brown.  This Kevin Brown appeared in 24 games over 3 seasons.  By game scores, this was his second-best game of the season and third-best of his career.  For his career, he was 3-5, 4.82, 1.46 WHIP.  He made thirteen career starts and pitched a total of 89.2 major league innings.

I had completely forgotten that Willie Randolph had played for Milwaukee.  The Yankees had decided he was done after a 1988 season in which he batted .230.  He went to the Dodgers in 1989 and made the all-star team.  He split 1990 between the Dodgers and Oakland, then went to the Brewers for 1991.  At age thirty-six, he had one of the best years of his career, batting .327/.424/.374.  He went to the Mets in 1992, then was done.  He managed the Mets from 2005-2008.  He has coached for a couple of teams, and is currently a coach for the United States National Team at the WSBC Premier12, an international baseball championship.

Record:  The Twins were 10-12, tied for fifth with Seattle in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 30

Ed Delahanty (1867)
Buck Freeman (1871)
Charlie Deal (1891)
Clyde Manion (1896)
Bill Terry (1898)
Dave Barnhill (1914)
Leon Day (1916)
Bobby Bragan (1917)
Joe Adcock (1927)
Jim Perry (1935)
Bruce Gardner (1938)
Jim Ray Hart (1941)
Mickey Rivers (1948)
Houston Jimenez (1957)
Dave Leeper (1959)
Gerald Perry (1960)
Lee Tunnell (1960)
Dave Valle (1960)
Scott Garrelts (1961)
Mark Portugal (1962)
Danny Tartabull (1962)
Marco Scutaro (1975)
Jason Bartlett (1979)
Laynce Nix (1980)
Shane Robinson (1984)

Pitcher Dave Barnhill was a four-time all-star in the Negro Leagues.

Pitcher Leon Day was a star in the Negro Leagues, primarily with the Newark Eagles.

Dave Leeper was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1978, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 30 →

WGOM Videos

David Gray – One with the Birds

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The original is one of my favorite Bonnie "Prince" Billy songs. Start 49 seconds in to avoid a few f-bombs in his banter.
Sounds like he bowdlerized these lyrics:
"Looks like Like so many seagulls / Like so many hawks
Like so many thrushes / And so many cocks
Well a swallow will tell you ..."
Replacing "cocks" with "storks". Which is a bummer, because that's highlight of Oldham's songwriting right there.
And if your stage banter is in cursive, why bother cleaning up the lyrics?

2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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