I first heard this one back in the day when the guys putting our HS wrestling banquet video together used it for my montage of highlights, but I’d never actually seen this video. Looks about like I should have imagined.
Work today, class tonight. I really like going to school again, but sometimes it feels a bit like this.
(2 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)
Loading... Date: Friday, May 24.
Batting stars: Chili Davis was 4-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Greg Gagne was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Jack Morris pitched 8.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks and striking out four.
Opposition stars: Kurt Stillwell was 1-for-3 with a walk. George Brett was 1-for-4 with a home run.
The game: The Royals got on the board in the second when Mike Macfarlane doubled and scored on a Stillwell single. Each team had a failed threat before the Twins took the lead in the fourth. Gagne led off with a single and Kent Hrbek drew a one-out walk. Davis then hit a two-run double-plus-error to give the Twins the lead. Brian Harper's sacrifice fly brough Davis home and gave the Twins a 3-1 advantage.
That was it for the Twins, but it was enough. Brett homered leading off the sixth to cut the margin to 3-2. The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the sixth and did not score. After the fourth, Kansas City only once got a man as far as second base. That was in the ninth, when Carmelo Martinez drew a one-out walk and pinch-runner Gary Thurman stole second with two out. Jim Eisenreich struck out to end the game.
WP: Morris (4-5). LP: Storm Davis (2-5). S: Rick Aguilera (9).
Notes: Pedro Munoz was again in right field. Chuck Knoblauch was back at second base but batted ninth, with Gagne moved up to number two.
Harper was 1-for-3 and was batting .368. After his big day yesterday, Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and dropped his average to .331. Munoz was 1-for-3 and was batting .314. With his big day, Davis raised his average to .310. Gagne went up to .301.
Aguilera struck out both batters he faced to lower his ERA to 1.77.
Morris' ERA was 4.93. It was the first time all season it had been under 5.00. He got started on a roll with this game, though, as he would not have a game score lower than 60 until July 5.
You probably know the story of Jim Eisenreich, so there's no need for me to repeat it. It's pretty amazing, though, the career he had when he never got over 214 at-bats in a season until he was thirty. He was a part-time player for most of the next ten seasons, playing with Kansas City, Philadelphia, Florida, and the Dodgers. In those ten seasons, he batted .300 or better five times and had an OPS of over .800 three times. He ended his career with nearly 4000 at-bats and 1160 hits. His career line is .290/.341/.404. On the one hand, you can think of what might have been, but on the other hand, what actually was, was pretty darn good.
Record: The Twins were 20-21, in sixth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Texas. The trailed fifth-place Chicago by a half game.
Deacon McGuire (1863)
Jack Coombs (1882)
Les Mann (1892)
Gene Mauch (1925)
Roy Sievers (1926)
Danny McDevitt (1932)
Cal Koonce (1940)
Jim Shellenback (1943)
Steve Henderson (1952)
Luis Pujols (1955)
Mike Felder (1961)
Jamie Moyer (1962)
Dante Bichette (1963)
Ron Coomer (1966)
Tom Gordon (1967)
Gary Sheffield (1968)
Shawn Camp (1975)
David Ortiz (1975)
Steve Bechler (1979)
C. J. Wilson (1980)
Roy Sievers was a star for the franchise when it was in Washington in the 1950s.
There are seventy-six current and former major league players born on this day. I'm pretty sure that's the most on any day.
On trip for work and went to a very nice restaurant. Even though I only got an 8oz filet, I could just barely finish the thing (and only did because I wasn’t paying for it). I’m just not used to hot beef injections of that purity.
Date: Thursday, May 23.
Batting stars: Kirby Puckett was 6-for-7 with a triple and two runs. Kent Hrbek was 3-for-5. Chili Davis was 2-for-6 with two doubles and a walk. Shane Mack was 2-for-7 with two doubles.
Pitching star: Terry Leach pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and no walks and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Ruben Sierra was 4-for-6 with a home run (his eighth), a double, two runs, and five RBIs. Kevin Reimer was 2-for-4 with a double. Jack Daugherty was 2-for-5. Juan Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and four RBIs. Mike Jeffcoat struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up four hits.
The game: Each team threatened in the first only to have a caught stealing help take them out of the inning. In the second, Reimer led off with a single and Gonzalez followed with a home run to put the Rangers up 2-0. The Twins got one back in the bottom of the inning with four consecutive walks, but a double play kept them from adding more. They tied it 2-2 in the third, however, when Puckett singled, Chili Davis walked, and Pedro Munoz delivered an RBI single.
Texas took the lead in the fifth when Jeff Huson reached on an error, went to third on Daugherty's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly. The Twins tied it again in the bottom of the fifth on singles by Scott Leius and Junior Ortiz and an RBI double by Al Newman.
The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the sixth but did not score. The Rangers made them pay for it in the seventh. With two out, Rafael Palmeiro singled and Sierra hit a two-run homer to give Texas a 5-3 advantage. But the Twins again tied it in the bottom of the seventh. Greg Gagne was hit by a pitch with one out. With two down, Puckett got a single-plus-error, with Gagne scoring and Puckett going to second. Davis then doubled him home to make the score 5-5.
Puckett tripled with two out in the bottom of the ninth but did not score. Davis led off the tenth with a double but did not score.
Texas broke it open in the eleventh. Geno Petralli led off with a double and Huson walked. Daugherty bunted them to second and third, Palmeiro was intentionally walked, and Sierra delivered a bases-clearing double. With two out, Gary Pettis walked and Gonzalez hit a two-run double to make the score 10-5. The Twins got one back in the bottom of the eleventh but never got the tying run farther than the on-deck circle.
WP: Jeff Russell (1-0). LP: Steve Bedrosian (2-2). S: None.
Notes: Shane Mack was in left field, replacing Dan Gladden (day game). Gladden was used as a pinch-hitter in the tenth inning and remained in the game in left, with Mack moving to right. He pinch-hit for Munoz, who started the game in right field.
Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch. Knoblauch entered the game in the seventh when Randy Bush pinch-hit for Scott Leius, who had pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the fifth. Knoblauch went to second, with Newman moving to third.
Scott Erickson was the Twins' starter, which meant that Junior Ortiz was behind the plate.
With his big day, Puckett raised his average from .316 to .340. He missed joining a very small number of players to go 7-for-7 when he flied out to center in the fourth inning.
Munoz was 1-for-4 with a walk and was batting .313.
Erickson pitched seven innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on ten hits and a walk and striking out four. His ERA was 1.82. Leach lowered his ERA to 2.08.
Bush went 0-for-1 and was batting .176. Leius was 1-for-1 to go up to .184.
By game scores, this was Erickson's worst game of the season up to this point. He would not have a worse one until the end of June. After that, however, he had several worse, especially as he struggled through a miserable August. He was able to right the ship in September, though.
Record: The Twins were 19-21, in sixth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Texas. They were 1.5 games behind fifth-place Chicago. They had lost four in a row (the last two in extra innings) and six of their last eight.
George Stallings (1867)
Mike Garcia (1923)
Orlando Pena (1933)
Gary Bell (1936)
Tom Seaver (1944)
Brad Havens (1959)
Mitch Williams (1964)
Paul Sorrento (1965)
Jeff Nelson (1966)
Eli Marrero (1973)
Darnell McDonald (1978)
Ryan Braun (1983)
Nick Markakis (1983)
George Stallings managed in the major leagues for thirteen years. He is best remembered as the manager of the 1914 Miracle Braves.
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)Loading... D2 does... not hold up as well. To be fair, I don't think it did at the time.
Date: Wednesday, May 22.
Batting stars: Kirby Puckett was 3-for-6. Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with two walks. Brian Harper was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Allan Anderson pitched seven innings, giving up one run on seven hit and no walks and striking out two. Steve Bedrosian pitched a perfect inning. Rick Aguilera pitched three innings, giving up one run on one hit and three walks and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mario Diaz was 2-for-2 with a double. Steve Buechele was 2-for-4 with a walk. Brian Downing was 2-for-6. Kevin Brown pitched six innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out none.
The game: Each team put men on first and second with two out in the first, and each team failed to score. It stayed scoreless until the fifth, when Buechele singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Downing's two-out single.
The Twins had two on with none out in the fifth and did not score. They got on the board in the seventh, but missed a chance for more. They started the inning with singles by Chili Davis, Harper, Pedro Munoz, and Shane Mack, tying the score and leaving the bases loaded with none out. The Twins could only get one more out of it, though. Randy Bush hit a short fly ball, Gladden walked to force in a run. Chuck Knoblauch hit into a force at home, and Puckett fanned, giving the Twins just a 2-1 lead.
It looked like it might be enough, as the score stayed 2-1 going to the ninth and Aguilera came in to pitch. He walked Ruben Sierra and struck out Juan Gonzalez. Sierra then stole second, leading to an intentional walk to Kevin Reimer. Buechele drew an accidental walk to load the bases and Jack Daugherty hit a sacrifice fly to tie it up.
It stated tied until the twelfth. Daugherty singled and was bunted to second. Downing singled to put men on first and third. Rafael Palmeiro doubled home the go-ahead run. Later in the inning, Gonzalez delivered a two-run single to make it 5-2. The Twins got one man on in the bottom of the twelfth, on catcher's interference, but that was it.
WP: Gerald Alexander (2-0). LP: Carl Willis (1-1). S: Jeff Russell (10).
Notes: Munoz started in right field in this game. Mack and Bush were used as pinch-hitters for Mike Pagliarulo and Greg Gagne, respectively, in the seventh. Neither stayed in the game, as Al Newman went to short and Scott Leius to third.
Harper raised his average to .369. Munoz was 1-for-4 and was batting .321. Puckett raised his average to .316. Gagne was 0-for-2 and was batting .302. Knoblauch was 0-for-5 and was batting .300. Bedrosian lowered his ERA to 2.96. Aguilera's ERA went up to 1.83. Terry Leach gave up no runs in two-thirds of an inning to make his ERA 2.40.
Leius went 0-for-2 and was batting .162. Bush was 0-for-1 and was batting .180.
This was "the" Kevin Brown, the one who was a six-time all-star and finished in the top six in Cy Young voting five times. 1991 was actually one of his worst years. He went 9-12, 4.40, 1.53 WHIP. He was a fine pitcher for Texas, leading the league in wins in 1992 with 21, but really became a star when he went to Florida in 1996 and led the league in ERA (1.89) and WHIP (0.94). He finished second in Cy Young voting to John Smoltz that year, even though Smoltz' ERA was more than a full run higher--one suspects the fact that Smoltz had 27 wins to Brown's 17 was a major factor. He had some fine years with the Dodgers, too. For his career he was 211-144, 3.28, 1.22 WHIP. An excellent pitcher in a career that spanned nineteen seasons (1986, 1988-2005).
This was one of six career wins for Gerald Alexander. He appeared in 36 major league games, thirty of them in 1991. He also appeared in three games in 1990 and three in 1992. He went 5-3, 5.24, 1.58 WHIP in 1991, For his career he was 6-3, 5.79, 1.69 WHIP. But he pitched three shutout innings in this game, giving up no hits and two walks. It had to be one of the best performances of his career.
Since April 26 the Twins had not been more than three games above or below .500. Since May 4, they had not been more than two games above or below .500.
Record: The Twins were 19-20, sixth in the American League West, four games behind Oakland. They were a half game behind fifth-place Chicago.
I realized I now officially have strong feelings about the thermostat.
