George Wood (1858)
Harvey Hendrick (1897)
Johnny Gooch (1897)
Jerry Priddy (1919)
Bob Wren (1920)
Bill Bruton (1925)
Whitey Herzog (1931)
Bob Gibson (1935)
Jim Riggleman (1952)
Teddy Higuera (1958)
Dion James (1962)
Chad Ogea (1970)
Adam Dunn (1979)
Chuck James (1981)
Joel Zumaya (1984)
Bob Wren was the head coach of Ohio University from 1949-1972.
Jim Riggleman has managed San Diego, the Cubs, Seattle, and Washington.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGR0StlDe14
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
Loading... Let's try something a little different today... I'm curious about people's musical wishes. That could be anything from "I'd love to see [deceased performer] in concert" to "I wish someone would make a Mama Mia-style musical featuring the songs of Limp Bizkit" to "I'd love to be able to play Classical Gas on the guitar."
I think we've all got these types of musical desires, right? And most of us are not musicians in our own right, such that we could make these things come true. But let's indulge those wishes for a day. What are your musical wishes?
Date: Sunday, May 12.
Batting stars: Chuck Knoblauch was 4-for-5. Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with two runs. Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a double. Chili Davis was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his sixth and seventh) and four RBIs. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.
Pitching star: Scott Erickson pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out three.
Opposition stars: Milt Cuyler was 2-for-3. Mickey Tettleton was 2-for-4. Cecil Fielder was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth. Travis Fryman was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.
The game: The Twins got the lead early. Mack led off the first inning with a single and stole second. Knoblauch singled to put men on first and third, Puckett singled home a run, and Davis hit a three-run homer to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. Davis again homered in the third to make it 5-0.
The Tigers threatened in the fifth, putting men on first and third on a couple of errors, but they could not score. The Twins added single runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth. In the sixth it was consecutive two-out singles by Al Newman, Mack, and Knoblauch. In the seventh, walks to Gene Larkin and Scott Leius were followed by a Junior Ortiz single. In the eighth, consecutive singles by Mack, Knoblauch, and Puckett produced another run, making it 8-0.
Detroit finally got on the board in the ninth. Fielder led off the inning with a home run. With two out, Pete Incaviglia singled and Fryman hit a two-run homer. Luis de los Santos then grounded out to end the game.
WP: Erickson (5-2). LP: Bill Gullickson (4-1). S: None.
Notes: Mack, who had started only three games since April 19, not only started this game, but was put in left field and in the leadoff spot, taking the place of Dan Gladden (day game). Randy Bush was at first base with Kent Hrbek still out. Ortiz was behind the plate. Newman was at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne.
Knoblauch raised his average to .336. Davis went up to .317. Puckett was up to .314. Erickson dropped his ERA to 1.45. Terry Leach did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 3.18.
Tiger starter Gullickson pitched six innings, allowing six runs on twelve hits and no walks and striking out one. He came into the game with a record of 4-0 despite an ERA of 4.08. The Tigers had averaged nearly six runs a game in his prior starts. His luck ran out on him in this game.
1991 was the first full season of Milt Cuyler's career, and the only season in which he was a regular. He wasn't awful, but he wasn't really good, either: .257/.335/.337. He stole 41 bases and was presumably a good defender, which is probably why he finished third in Rookie of the Year voting that season (behind Knoblauch and Juan Guzman). He'd have probably won the award if he could've played the Twins more: he batted .353/.450/.471 against them and also hit one of his three home runs. The rules said he had to face other teams, too, though, and as time went on his playing time diminished. He was with the Tigers through 1995, but spent time in the minors his last two seasons there. He played for Boston and Texas and also in the Atlantic League before hanging it up after the 2002 season. For his career he batted .237/.305/.326 in 1567 plate appearances, over a third of which came in 1991. As they say, you can talk all you want about the five tools, but none of the others mean much if you can't hit. He was a coach for the GCL Twins from 2003-2012.
The Twins had finally climbed back over .500 at 16-15. Could they stay there? We'll find out!
Record: The Twins were 16-15, in fourth place in the American League West, three games behind Oakland. They were a mere three percentage points behind the White Sox for third place.
I haven't given Jamila's sophomore album the attention it deserves. I need to fix that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbMly7-XBY
(3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... Both of the winter teams (the ones that go deep into the heart of crappy MN winters) are... less than good.
Who Will Have A Better Season?
Total Voters: 11
Loading ...Bucky Harris (1896)
Tony Cuccinello (1907)
Wally Westlake (1920)
Joe Nossek (1940)
Ed Kranepool (1944)
John Denny (1952)
Jerry Remy (1952)
Jeff Blauser (1965)
Eric Anthony (1967)
Henry Rodriguez (1967)
Jose Offerman (1968)
Edgardo Alfonzo (1973)
Nick Punto (1977)
Giancarlo Stanton (1989)
Bucky Harris was a star for the franchise when it was in Washington in the 1920s.
The Wild are on the road again! Because of course they are. After this road trip, the Wild will have played 13 of their first 18 games on the road. But relief is coming? They have to play 7 of their next 12 away from home, which feels at least a little bit more even.
As always, we need to point out how terrible the Wild have been on the road (Tuesday's game in Anaheim notwithstanding).
Before this road trip:
So, naturally, they got behind against Anaheim and then calmly ripped off three third period goals to come from behind and win 4-2.
The story of this season so far is just how true both of those statements can be at the same time.
The remainder of this road trip includes the only two teams in the conference with worse records than Minnesota (San Jose and Los Angeles). Minnesota's record against teams currently below them in the standings sits at 2-0 (wins over Ottawa and Los Angeles).
Will this translate into wins? See the two bulleted points above and remember that they are both true and we'll never know which will be more true on any given night with this team.
I would very much like Jane to come back from her business trip tonight please...
Date: Saturday, May 11.
Batting stars: Brian Harper was 4-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Chili Davis was 2-for-2 with a home run (his fifth) and two walks. Dan Gladden was 2-for-3 with a triple and two walks. Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Pitching stars: Carl Willis pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and striking out two. Steve Bedrosian pitched a perfect inning. Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Milt Cuyler was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases, his eighth and ninth. Travis Fryman was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fourth) and a stolen base (his fourth). Jerry Don Gleaton pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks and striking out one.
The game: The Tigers jumped on Twins starter Allan Anderson in the first inning. Singles by Tony Phillips and Alan Trammell and a walk to Rob Deer loaded the bases with none out. Cecil Fielder popped up, but Pete Incaviglia hit a sacrifice fly and Fryman delivered a three-run homer to give Detroit a 4-0 lead.
That was all they would get, though, and the Twins came back. They got on the board in the bottom of the first on singles by Knoblauch and Davis and an RBI double by Harper. The Tigers failed to score in the second despite having men on first and third with one out, and the Twins made them pay for it. Greg Gagne drew a one-out walk, and with two down Gladden tripled and Knoblauch doubled to cut the margin to 4-3 after two. The Twins struck again in the third, as Davis led off with a home run to tie it at four.
The Twins had three walks and a single in the fourth, but did not score due to a double play and Kirby Puckett being thrown out trying to score from second on a Harper hit. There was not much else in the middle innings, but in the seventh Puckett led off with a double. Davis was intentionally walked. Harper then got a bunt single which somehow led to Puckett scoring from second and Davis reaching third. There obviously must be more to the story, but in any event, the Twins took a 5-4 lead.
They lost a chance for more when Davis was thrown out at the plate on the back end of an attempted second-and-home double steal. It didn't matter, though, as Detroit could manage just one single in the last two innings.
WP: Willis (1-0). LP: Mike Henneman (3-1). S: Aguilera (6).
Notes: Pedro Munoz was again in right field. Gene Larkin was again at first base with Kent Hrbek out.
Harper raised his average to .377. Knoblauch went up to .315. Davis raised his average to .313. Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .310. Gagne was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .301. Bedrosian dropped his ERA to 3.38. Aguilera went down to 1.98.
Munoz was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .143. Scott Leius was 0-for-3 and was batting .161.
The double steal in the seventh came with Harper on first and Davis on third. I can't think of two players on the Twins at that time that I'd be less likely to try a double steal with. Junior Ortiz, maybe, but that's about it. They had the element of surprise going for them, but not much else. The Twins actually lost three men on the bases: in addition to Davis on the double steal and Puckett thrown out at the plate, Gladden was caught stealing in the eighth. If you include the two double plays they hit into, it's five men lost on the bases. They did not have a successful stolen base in the game.
Puckett was in somewhat of a slump, going 8-for-40 over his last ten games. His average dropped from .355 to .310 over that period.
The Twins got back to .500 in this game. I suspect most Twins fans were happy about that at the time. They'd finished last the year before, and had gotten off to the 2-9 start. A .500 record probably sounded pretty good.
Record: The Twins were 15-15, in fifth place in the American League West, four games behind Oakland. They were a half game behind California for fourth place.
