Monthly Archives: December 2019

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-four

MINNESOTA 7, BOSTON 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-3 with a home run (his fourth), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Paul Sorrento was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit three-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Mark Guthrie pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Mike Greenwell was 3-for-4 with a triple.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Pena was 2-for-4 with a double.  Wade Boggs was 2-for-5 with two doubles.

The game:  The Red Sox got a pair of one-out singles in the second, but did not score.  They broke through in the third, though.  Boggs hit a one-out double.  With two down, Mo Vaughn hit an RBI single.  Jack Clark singled, and Greenwell hit an RBI single, putting Boston up 2-0.

The Twins got even in the fourth.  Greg Gagne led off with a single and went to third on a Kirby Puckett single.  Hrbek singled home the Twins' first run and a force out brought home a second, making it 2-2.  Pagliarulo homered in the fifth to give the Twins a 3-2 lead, but the Red Sox got the run back in the sixth when Greenwell tripled and scored on Brunansky's single, making it 3-3.

The Twins took control in the seventh.  Chili Davis led off with a walk and was replaced on a force out by Randy Bush.  Jarvis Brown pinch-ran and stole second.  Shane Mack walked, Pagliarulo hit an RBI double, and pinch-hitter Sorrento hit a three-run homer, giving the Twins a 7-3 lead and the game.  Boston never got more than one man on base at a time after that.

WP:  Willis (4-2).  LP:  Greg Harris (5-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mack was in left field in place of Dan Gladden.  Gagne batted in the leadoff spot.  Bush was in right field.  Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.

Brown stayed in the game in right field after his pinch-running appearance.  Sorrento batted for Ortiz, with Harper going behind the plate.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .314.  Since his four-hit game on July 1, he was 3-for-27.  His average had dropped from .332.  Willis had his ERA drop to 2.72.  Starter Kevin Tapani pitched 5.1 innings and gave up three runs, making his ERA 3.22.

The three-run homer was Sorrento's second hit in twelve at-bats since joining the Twins.

This was the Twins' first game after the all-star break.  Back then the all-star break was just three days, the way God intended it to be.

Boston starter Greg Harris pitched six innings, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks and striking out two.

Greenwell had six triples in 1991.  For his career, he had thirty-eight triples, with a high of eight in 1988.

Texas lost to Toronto 2-0, so the Twins moved back into first place.

Record:  The Twins were 48-36, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Texas.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 31

King Kelly (1857)
Tom Connolly (1870)
Bobby Byrne (1884)
Syl Johnson (1900)
Tommy Byrne (1919)
Guy LaValliere (1931)
Alfredo Meli (1944)
Joe Simpson (1951)
Jim Tracy (1955)
Rick Aguilera (1961)
Esteban Loaiza (1971)
Brian Moehler (1971)
Julio DePaula (1982)
Adam McCreery (1992)

Tom Connolly was a major league umpire for many years.  He umpired the first World Series game in 1903.  He once went ten years without ejecting a player.

It does not appear that Bobby Byrne and Tommy Byrne are related.

Minor league catcher Guy LaValliere is the father of major league catcher Mike LaValliere.

Alfredo Meli is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame.  He was the first man to win Italian championships as a player, a manager, and a general manager.  He also founded the Italian Baseball Federation for the Blind.

Adam McCreery was drafted by the Twins in the fourteenth round in 2011 but did not sign.

Four players born on this day made their major league debuts in 2018:  Kevin Kaczmarski, Dawel Lugo, Adam McCreery, and Ryan Yarbrough.  No players born on this day made their major league debut in 2019.

Nobody ever makes a fuss about the last baby of the old year.

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Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-three

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CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Sunday, July 7.

Batting star:  Mike Pagliarulo was 1-for-3 with a double.

Pitching star:  Mark Guthrie pitched 2.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Dan Pasqua was 2-for-3 with a home run (his eighth), a walk, and two runs.  Robin Ventura was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh) and a walk.

The game:  The White Sox put men on first and third in the first inning and did not score.  They got on the board in the third, however, when Tim Raines hit a one-out double and Ventura followed with a two-run homer.  It did not kill the rally, as with two out Pasqua walked, Matt Merullo singled, and Warren Newson delivered an RBI single to make the score 3-0.

The Twins, meanwhile, had managed only one single in the first five innings.  That changed in the sixth.  Junior Ortiz was hit by a pitch and Pagliarulo doubled, putting men on second and third.  With one out, Greg Gagne got the Twins on the board with a sacrifice fly.  Randy Bush walked and Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek followed with RBI singles, tying the score 3-3.

The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the seventh, but it stayed 3-3 until the eighth, when Pasqua led off the inning with a home run to put Chicago back in front.  The Twins got a leadoff single from Chuck Knoblauch in the ninth but could not move him past first base.

WP:  Ken Patterson (3-0).  LP:  Guthrie (5-5).  S:  Bobby Thigpen (18).

Notes:  With Dan Gladden still out, Pedro Munoz was in left and Bush was in right.  Gagne was the leadoff batter with Bush batting second.  Paul Sorrento was the DH in place of Chili Davis.  Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Al Newman was at second base in place of Knoblauch.

Munoz was apparently injured fielding the Raines double in the third, as Shane Mack came in to replace him after that play.  Munoz would not play again until July 14, and after that game would not play again until September.  Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Bush in the eighth and stayed in the game in right field.  Knoblauch pinch-hit for Mack in the ninth.  Davis pinch-hit for Ortiz in the ninth.

Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .315.  Kevin Tapani started and gave up three runs in five innings, making his ERA 3.14.

Sorrento was 0-for-4 and was batting .091.  Brown was 0-for-1 and was batting .143.

I have no memory of Ken Patterson, but he was a pretty good reliever for the White Sox.  He came up as a September call-up in 1988 and from then through 1991 went 11-4, 3.70, 1.38 WHIP with four saves.  He got better every season, and from 1990-1991 he was 5-1, 3.12, 1.35 WHIP with three saves.  After 1991, however, the White Sox traded him and Sammy Sosa to the Cubs for George Bell.  He struggled with the Cubs, had a poor year with California in 1993, and made just one appearance with the Angels in 1994.  He kept pitching through 1997, but did not make the majors again.  His career numbers were 14-8, 3.88, 1.44 WHIP in 224 games (317.2 innings).  Not a great career, but for a couple of seasons he was a very good reliever.

Texas defeated California 7-0, knocking the Twins out of first place.

Record;  The Twins were 47-36, in second place in the American League West, five percentage points behind Texas.  The Rangers had played six fewer games than the Twins.  Minnesota led third-place California by two games.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Eighty-two

MINNESOTA 5, CHICAGO 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 6.

Batting stars:  Brian Harper was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fourth.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his eighth) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Rick Aguilera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Frank Thomas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth) and a double.  Robin Ventura was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his sixth) and a walk.  Ramon Garcia pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks and striking out two hits.

The game:  There was really no threat to score (well, technically, every time someone comes to bat there's the threat of a score, but you know what I mean) until the fourth, when Thomas led off the inning with a home run.  In the fifth, Craig Grebeck drew a one-out walk and Tim Raines drew a two-out walk, followed by Ventura's three-run homer, putting the White Sox up 4-0.

The Twins came back in the seventh.  Randy Bush led off with a single, but was still on first with two out.  Chili Davis then walked and Harper delivered a three-run homer, cutting the margin to 4-3.  The homer was followed by a couple of two-out singles, but the Twins could not get even.

Not to worry.  With two out in the eighth Kirby Puckett singled and Hrbek hit a two-run homer, putting the Twins ahead 5-4.  Chicago did not go quietly, however.  Dan Pasqua hit a two-out double in the eighth but was stranded at second.  In the ninth Warren Newson hit a one-out single and stole second.  A ground out and a fly out followed, and the Twins held on to win.

WP:  Willis (3-2).  LP:  Scott Radinsky (2-3).  S:  Aguilera (22).

Notes:  Pedro Munoz was in left, replacing Dan Gladden.  Bush was in right, replacing Shane Mack.  Chuck Knoblauch led off, with Bush batting second.

Tom Kelly again used a lot of his bench.  Mack pinch-hit for Bush in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field, with Munoz moving to right.  Al Newman pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the ninth and stayed in the game at third base.  Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Harper in the ninth, with Junior Ortiz coming in to catch.

Harper raised his average to .332.  Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .315.  Willis dropped his ERA to 2.95.  Aguilera's ERA fell to 2.75.

Paul Abbott's second start did not go nearly as well as the first.  He pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four runs on three hits and five walks and struck out two.  Of course, two of the hits were home runs.  I suppose you could argue that he did well other than the home runs, but that doesn't help a whole lot.  He would go back to the bullpen after this start, making just one more start in 1991, on August 1.

Given how the Twins were flailing around to try to fill the back end of the rotation, it's a little surprising that they never gave Willis a start.  He had started only two games in his major league career, both in 1984, so you can understand why they didn't.  But he made thirteen relief appearances of three innings or more, seven of four innings or more, and one of five innings.  He generally did quite well in those long relief appearances, although I suppose that's skewed because if he hadn't done well he wouldn't have been left in the game that long.  I'm not saying he'd have been the solution to their starting pitching problems.  I'm not even saying it was a mistake not to use him as a starter.  I'm just saying that it might have been an option, and for whatever reason Kelly did not use it.

Texas defeated California 4-3, so the Twins did not increase their lead.

Record:  The Twins were 47-35, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Texas.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 29

Hank DeBerry (1894)
Bill Knickerbocker (1911)
Ted Del Guercio (1927)
Ken Rudolph (1946)
Jim Wilson (1960)
Devon White (1962)
Craig Grebeck (1964)
James Mouton (1968)
Tomas Perez (1973)
Emil Brown (1974)
Richie Sexson (1974)
Jaret Wright (1975)
Jack Wilson (1977)
Chase De Jong (1993)

Ted Del Guercio was part of the largest trade in baseball history. He was traded by the New York Yankees along with Don Larsen, Billy Hunter, Bob Turley, Kal Segrist, Bill Miller and Don Leppert to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Woodling, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Willy Miranda, Mike Blyzka, Darrell Johnson, Jim Fridley and Dick Kryhoski in the off-season following the 1953 campaign. Del Guercio was the only person involved in the trade not to play in the majors.

James Mouton was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1990, but did not sign.

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