Monthly Archives: December 2019

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Seventy-nine

TORONTO 4, MINNESOTA 0 IN TORONTO

Date:  Wednesday, July 3.

Batting star:  Brian Harper was 3-for-4 with two doubles.

Pitching star:  Mark Guthrie pitched five shutout innings of relief, giving up four hits and no walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Tom Candiotti struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up six hits and three walks.  Roberto Alomar was 2-for-3 with a double and a hit-by-pitch.  Joe Carter was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his eighteenth and nineteenth) and three RBIs.  Pat Tabler was 2-for-4.  Ed Sprague was 2-for-4.  Devon White was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.

The game:  The Twins got a single and two walks in the first inning but did not score, thanks in part to a pickoff.  The Blue Jays took the lead in the bottom of the first when Alomar hit a one-out double and Carter followed with a two-run homer.  Toronto loaded the bases with two out in the second and didn't score, but got on the board again in the third on another Carter homer, making it 3-0.  The Blue Jays again loaded the bases after the home run, but again did not score.

Paul Sorrento led off the fourth with a walk and Harper followed with a double, but Sorrento was thrown out trying to score from first (Gardy'd?) and the Twins were kept off the board.  White homered leading off the fourth to increase the lead to 4-0.

And that was it.  The Twins had a few threats--Al Newman singled and stole second in the fifth, Harper had a two-out double in the sixth, Scott Leius reached on a strikeout/passed ball in the seventh and got as far as third on a couple of ground outs--but they could not tally and the game ended with a 4-0 score.

WP:  Candiotti (8-7).  LP:  Allan Anderson (4-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jarvis Brown led off and played left field in place of Dan Gladden.  Randy Bush batted second and was in right field.  Paul Sorrento was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Al Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch.

Harper raised his average to .326.  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and fell to .325.

Sorrento was 0-for-3 and was batting .143.  Brown was 1-for-4 and was batting .167.

Twins starter Allan Anderson lasted just three innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one.  He would make one more start, on July 12, then be removed from the rotation.

This was Guthrie's first appearance since being removed from the rotation.  I may have mentioned this before, but he did much better as a reliever than as a starter.  In 1991 he was 5-4, 5.73, 1.82 WHIP as a starter and 2-1, 2.51, 1.37 WHIP with two saves as a reliever.  For his career he was 13-18, 4.95, 1.52 WHIP as a starter and 38-36, 3.75, 1.36 WHIP with fourteen saves as a reliever.  It could reasonably said that the move to the bullpen saved his career.

This was the Twins' seventh loss in eight games.  Looking at that lineup, one has to say that TK wasn't panicking and going all-out to win every game.  The losing streak was largely a failure of the bats.  In the seven losses, the Twins scored just fifteen runs and were shutout twice.  How low would they go?  We'll see.

Record:  The Twins were 45-34, in second place in the American League West, one percentage point behind California (.571 to .570--the Angels had played two fewer games).  They were two games ahead of third-place Texas.

WGOM Videos

Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets – “Love Starvation”

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We live in an online world that's controlled by algorithms. There's not much I can do to stop it, I mostly just roll my eyes at what these algorithms think I like. A flying vacuum? Sign me up for 5! 26 hour a day all Christmas music station? Hook it straight into my veins!

But, every once in a while these algorithms get it right. "Love Starvation" popped into my YouTube recommended videos and since it was Nick Low I gave it a click. I loved this song five seconds into it. Instantly bought the Love Starvation/Trombone EP and played it about 500 times. Here is a live performance of that song. I hope you enjoy!

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Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Seventy-eight

TORONTO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN TORONTO

Date:  Tuesday, July 2.

Batting star:  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Kevin Tapani pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on eleven hits and one walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mike Timlin pitched five innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits and a walk and striking out two.  Greg Myers was 3-for-4 with a double.  Devon White was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his nineteenth.  Manny Lee was 2-for-4 with a double.  Roberto Alomar was 2-for-4 with a walk.  John Olerud was 2-for-4.  Rene Gonzales was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second when Shane Mack scored from first on Pagliarulo's single-plus-error.  It went to 2-0 in the third when Chuck Knoblauch walked, went to second when Pedro Munoz was hit by a pitch, went to third on a fly out, and scored on a Chili Davis sacrifice fly.  The Blue Jays got on the board in the fourth when Gonzales hit a home run, but the Twins got the run back on singles by Mack and Pagliarulo and a run-scoring ground out by Greg Gagne, making the score 3-1.

Each team had threats, but it stayed 3-1 until the seventh.  Singles by Lee, White, and Alomar loaded the bases with one out.  Terry Leach came in and allowed one run to score on a ground out, but no more, so the Twins still led 3-2.  In the eighth, however, Derek Bell singled, stole second, and scored on Lee's double to tie it 3-3.

Leach remained in the game to start the tenth.  He gave up singles to White and Alomar, putting men on first and third.  Joe Carter was intentionally walked, filling the bases.  Leach was finally replaced by Steve Bedrosian, who gave up a single to Rance Mulliniks to end the game.

WP:  Duane Ward (2-3).  LP:  Leach (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mack was again in left, replacing Dan Gladden.  Munoz was in right.  With Gladden out, Knoblauch batted first, with Munoz second.  Sorrento was at first base, replacing Kent Hrbek.  Hrbek would miss the next game as well and would not start again until July 5.

Jarvis Brown entered the game in right field in the fifth inning, replacing Munoz.  This was Brown's major league debut, and he went 0-for-2.  Munoz would miss the next game, play each game from July 4-7, play again on July 14, and then not come back until September.

Puckett was 0-for-3, making his average .329.  Harper was 0-for-4 to drop to .318.  Tapani's ERA was at 3.04.

Leach was pretty clearly left in the game too long.  He got out of the jam in the seventh, but gave up the tying run in the eighth and was still left in to load the bases in the ninth.  Tom Kelly apparently thought it was worth risking this game in order to preserve his bullpen.  That may sound critical--I don't mean it to be.  My memory isn't good enough, and I don't have time to go back through the games, to know what the state of the bullpen was at this point.  TK may well have made the right decision.  This is simply an observation, not a criticism.  If this was a post-season game, or even a game in a September pennant race, Kelly would almost certainly have gotten Leach out of there sooner.  In a game in early July, it may well have been prudent to leave him in as long as he did.

The Twins had now lost six of seven.  Their division lead was shrinking.  Could they pull out of the tailspin?

Record:  The Twins were 45-33, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 25

Pud Galvin (1856)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Ned Garver (1925)
Nellie Fox (1927)
Gene Lamont (1946)
Manny Trillo (1950)
Luis Quintana (1951)
Jeff Little (1954)
Wallace Johnson (1956)
Charlie Lea (1956)
Rickey Henderson (1958)
Rich Renteria (1961)
Marty Pevey (1962)

There have been 27 major league players with the first name “Jesus”, including ex-Twins Jesus Vega and Jesus “Bombo” Rivera and one whose birthday is today, Manny Trillo.  There have been no major league players with the last name “Christ", although there have been two minor leaguers with that last name:  John Christ, who was in the Cleveland organization from 1999-2001, and Mike Christ, who was in the Seattle organization from 1984-1988.  There have been 21 players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), 19 players whose middle name was “Christian” (including ex-Twins Marcus Jensen, David Lamb, and Kevin Maas), and two players whose last name was “Christian”.  We would be remiss if we did not also mention 1980s journeyman catcher Steve Christmas, as well as Matt Holliday.

The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 25 →

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Seventy-seven

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CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Monday, July 1.

Batting star:  Kirby Puckett was 4-for-5 with a home run (his eleventh) and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Paul Abbott pitched six innings, giving up one run on three hits and four walks and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Carlton Fisk was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a double, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Lance Johnson was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.  Bobby Thigpen pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  The White Sox got a man to second in each of the first two innings, but there was no score until the fourth.  Dan Pasqua led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Johnson's single.  The Twins tied it in the bottom of the fourth when Puckett homered to  make it 1-1.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth.  Greg Gagne walked, went to third on Knoblauch's single, and scored on a Pedro Munoz sacrifice fly.  A wild pitch moved Knoblauch to second and he scored on Puckett's single, making the score 3-1 Twins.

Chicago came back in the eighth.  With two out, Frank Thomas and Dan Pasqua walked.  Rick Aguilera came in and gave up back-to-back doubles to Fisk and Johnson, giving the White Sox a 4-3 lead.  The Twins tied it in the bottom of the eighth when Pedro Munoz drew a one-out walk, Puckett had a bunt single, and Kent Hrbek singled.

The Twins came close in the ninth.  Brian Harper reached on an error, was bunted to second, and went to third on a ground out.  Randy Bush was intentionally walked, but Knoblauch grounded out to end the inning.

Fisk hit a two-out homer in the tenth to give Chicago a 5-4 lead.  The Twins threatened in the bottom of the tenth.  Puckett and Paul Sorrento had one-out singles, putting men on first and third.  But Puckett was thrown out trying to score on a grounder to the pitcher (presumably the contact play) and Scott Leius flied out to end the game.

WP:  Bobby Thigpen (5-2).  LP:  Carl Willis (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Shane Mack was again in left field in place of Dan Gladden.  Gene Larkin was in right.

Tom Kelly again made liberal use of his bench.  Munoz replaced Larkin in right field after the first inning, presumably due to injury.  Larkin would not play again until July 18.  Al Newman pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the seventh and stayed in the game at third base.  Pitcher Mark Guthrie pinch-ran for Kent Hrbek in the eighth, with Sorrento coming into the game to play first.  Leius pinch-ran for Harper in the ninth and stayed in the game at third base, with Newman moving to shortstop and Junior Ortiz going behind the plate.  Bush pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the ninth.

Puckett raised his average to .332.  Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .324.  Abbott lowered his ERA to 2.88.  Aguilera gave up a run in 1.1 innings, making his ERA 2.92.  Willis gave up a run in one inning, making his ERA 3.21.

This was Sorrento's first game with the Twins this season.  He would be with the Twins for about two weeks, then come back as a September call-up.  He'd had two really good years in AAA Portland and was clearly ready to play in the majors, but with Hrbek at first and Chili Davis at DH there was just no spot for him.  The Twins would trade him to Cleveland at the end of 1992 spring training for Curtis Leskanic and Oscar Munoz, and Sorrento would go on to have a solid career for the Indians and Seattle.

If I ran a ball club, especially with thirteen-man pitching staffs, I would put a couple of my pitchers through baserunning drills on a regular basis, so I could use them as pinch-runners when needed.

The Twins had now lost five out of six.  Would they be able to hold on to first place?

Record:  The Twins were 45-32, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of California.