Monthly Archives: December 2019

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 17

Cy Falkenberg (1879)
Ray Jablonski (1926)
Cal Ripken (1935)
Jerry Adair (1936)
Leo Cardenas (1938)
Bob Ojeda (1957)
Marvell Wynne (1959)
Curtis Pride (1968)
Alex Cintron (1978)
Chase Utley (1978)
Fernando Abad (1985)
Taylor Rogers (1990)

Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988.  He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.

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Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Sixty-nine

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NEW YORK 11, MINNESOTA 2 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Sunday, June 23.

Batting stars:  Randy Bush was 2-for-4 with two home runs.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his seventh.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Scott Kamieniecki pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three.  Roberto Kelly was 5-for-5 with a home run (his eighth), three stolen bases (his thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth), two runs, and three RBIs.  Hensley Meulens was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Steve Sax was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Bob Geren was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

The game:  The Yankees took control early, scoring six runs in the second.  Consecutive one-out singles by Meulens, Alvaro Espinoza, and Geren plated the first run.  Pat Kelly was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  A ground out scored the second run, an error plated the third, and Roberto Kelly hit a three-run homer, putting the Yankees up 6-0.

The Twins got on the board in the third when Bush hit a home run.  Brian Harper hit a leadoff double in the fourth, but nothing came of it.  New York added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Pat Kelly singled, stole second, and scored on a Roberto Kelly single to make the score 7-1.  The Yankees added three more in the seventh on a two-run double by Meulens and an RBI double by Geren, increasing their lead to 10-1.

Bush hit his second home run in the eighth to cut the lead to 10-2.  New York got the run back in the bottom of the inning on Carlos Rodriguez' RBI single.

WP:  Kamieniecki (2-0).  LP:  Allan Anderson (4-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Surprisingly, Gladden was in the lineup for a day game.  He did well, although it obviously didn't help the Twins much.  Bush was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek, who apparently was dealing with a minor injury, as he would not play again until June 28.  Gene Larkin was in right field, with Shane Mack moving to center and Kirby Puckett out of the lineup.  Junior Ortiz come in to catch in the eighth inning, replacing Harper.

Harper was 1-for-3 and was batting .340.

Allan Anderson was the Twins starter.  He lasted just 1.2 innings, his shortest start of the season.  He allowed six runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and struck out none.  His next start would actually be pretty good, but he would make only two more after that before being pulled from the rotation.

Paul Abbott pitched 5.1 innings of relief.  He did quite well until his fifth inning, when he allowed the three-run seventh.  Still, he saved the bullpen, as the only other pitcher used was Terry Leach in the eighth.

Tom Kelly did have a point about Gladden and day games, at least in 1991.  He batted .263/.321/.387 in night games, .192/.257/.250 during the day.  For his career, however, there's not much difference.  He batted .272/.319/.386 in night games, .266/.335/.375 during the day.

This was Kamieniecki's rookie year and just his second major league start.  He made nine starts for the Yankees in 1991 and did pretty well, really:  4-4, 3.90, 1.37.  He was already twenty-seven, but still managed to pitch in the majors for nine seasons.  He was with the Yankees through 1996, with Baltimore from 1997-1999, and with Cleveland and Atlanta in 2000.  For his career he was 53-59, 4.52, 1.49 WHIP in 975.2 innings.  He was never anything great, but he was a fairly solid rotation starter through 1997.

Record:  The Twins were 42-27, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 16

Sammy Strang (1876)
Tony Kaufmann (1900)
Neil Chrisley (1931)
Adolfo Phillips (1941)
Mike Flanagan (1951)
Rick Sofield (1956)
Tom Gorman (1957)
Billy Ripken (1964)
Jeff Granger (1971)
Charles Gipson (1972)
Matt Kinney (1976)
Alcides Escobar (1986)
Hector Santiago (1987)

The reason Neil Chrisley is listed is because his given name is Barbra O’Neil Chrisley. No explanation for this name is given, but it seems reasonable to assume that he’s the only man to play major league baseball whose first name was Barbra.

Jeff Granger was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 1990, but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Sixty-eight

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MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 3 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Saturday, June 22.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 2-for-4.  Gene Larkin was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Kevin Tapani pitched 8.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and no walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Matt Nokes was 2-for-4 with a double.  Mel Hall was 2-for-4 with a double.  Wade Taylor pitched 7.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks and striking out six.

The game:  The Twins again scored in the first inning.  Dan Gladden walked and Chuck Knoblauch was hit by a pitch.  A force out put men on first and third, and Davis delivered an RBI single that put the Twins ahead 1-0.

There was not even another baserunner until the top of the fourth, when Larkin got a two-out single.  In the bottom of the fourth Don Mattingly singled and Hall doubled, putting men on second and third with two out, but Nokes grounded out to end the inning.  The Twins increased their lead in the fifth.  Mike Pagliarulo reached on an error, was bunted to second, and scored on a Knoblauch single, making the score 2-0.  They got a couple more in the eighth.  With one out, Kirby Puckett and Davis singled and Brian Harper followed with a two-run double, giving the Twins a 4-0 lead.

The Yankees got on the board in the eighth on an Alvaro Espinoza home run.  With two out in the ninth Hall singled, Nokes doubled home a run, and Jesse Barfield doubled home another run, cutting the lead to 4-3 with the tying run on second.  Roberto Kelly was intentionally walked, putting the potential winning run on base, but Espinoza struck out to end the game.

WP:  Tapani (5-6).  LP:  Taylor (2-2).  S:  Rick Aguilera (19).

Notes:  Larkin was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Al Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the ninth and stayed in the game at third base.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .340.  Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Tapani's ERA was 3.33.  Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.86.

Newman was 0-for-3 and was batting .196.

Aguilera entered the game with the score 4-2.  He gave up the double to Barfield and the intentional walk to Kelly.  "The book" used to say that you never put the potential winning run on base.  Tom Kelly went against the book and it worked.

This was the only major league season of Wade Taylor's career.  He came up to the majors at the start of June and stayed in the Yankees rotation the rest of the season.  He had pitched quite well in AAA, but could not repeat that success in the majors.  In twenty-two starts, he went 7-12, 6.27, 1.69 WHIP.  He apparently had injury problems after that, as he appeared in just five minor league games in 1992, seven in 1993, and then was done.  He was a scout for many years, working for the Yankees, Washington, the Dodgers, and Arizona.  It appears that he has now become a real estate agent in Oviedo, Florida.

The Twins had now won four in a row, nineteen of twenty, and twenty-two of twenty-four.  That's pretty good.

Record:  The Twins were 42-26, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of Oakland.