It's practically criminal that Doves weren't bigger in the States. This is a great song.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 10)
Loading... Date: Sunday, July 21.
Batting stars: Shane Mack was 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs. Chili Davis was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his third. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Scott Leius was 2-for-5 with a double, a walk, and three runs. Brian Harper was 2-for-6 with two runs. Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-3 with three walks and three runs.
Pitching stars: Kevin Tapani pitched six innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and no walks and striking out none. Paul Abbott struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up two hits. Allan Anderson pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.
Opposition star: Steve Lyons was 2-for-3 with a double.
The game: Leius led off the game with a single, followed by singles by Knoblauch and Puckett to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. An RBI ground out made it 2-0. In the third Knoblauch walked and went to third on Davis' two-out single. Davis then stole second. A passed ball scored one run, a Harper single scored another, and a Mack double made it 5-0. in the fourth, Greg Gagne hit a one-out double, walks to Leius and Knoblauch filled the bases, and Puckett's two-run single made it 7-0.
The Red Sox got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Jody Reed reached on an error and scored on a Jack Clark double. That was the end of their good news, though. The Twins scored five in the sixth and two more in the seventh to get the 14-1 victory.
WP: Tapani (6-7). LP: Tom Bolton (7-7). S: None.
Notes: Mack was again in left field in the absence of Dan Gladden. Gene Larkin was in right. Leius was the leadoff batter.
Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Puckett in the fifth and stayed in the game in center field. Al Newman went into the game at shortstop in the fifth, replacing Gagne. Randy Bush went into the game in the sixth inning at first base, replacing Kent Hrbek. Davis went to left field in the eighth inning, with Abbott entering the lineup in Mack's spot.
Puckett raised his average to .328. Harper went up to .325. Tapani lowered his ERA to 3.03. Abbott went down to 3.31.
Tapani hadn't gotten much run support up to this point in the season, but that turned around in this game. Including this game, he won five starts in a row and went 9-0 over ten starts. In those games, the Twins scored 71 runs. Tapani was still pitching well--he did not give up more than four runs in any of those starts, and six times gave up fewer than three.
This was Davis' first appearance in the field all season. He would make just one more, about a month later. He would, of course, play one game in the field in the World Series. He had been a regular outfielder from 1982-1989 and had played a substantial number of games in the outfield in 1990, but would make only token appearances there after that and none from 1995-1999, when his career ended.
Boston starter Bolton pitched just 2.2 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks and striking out one. He had pitched five innings of relief just three days earlier. He really couldn't be expected to pitch well after that, and he didn't.
Tapani pitched six innings and neither struck out nor walked anyone. I don't know how rare that is, but it is at least unusual. I suspect it might have been more common years ago than it is now, but I don't think it was all that common in the old days, either.
The White Sox lost and Texas won, so the Twins gained a game in the standings while the Rangers tied Chicago for second place. The Twins had won four in a row, five of six, and eight of ten.
Record: The Twins were 55-38, in first place in the American League West, 5.5 games ahead of Texas and Chicago.
I was a bit sad I’d have to wait until I got home to catch up on new Good Place episodes. However, I found out when I’m connected to Netflix here, they’re released as they come out. Because it’s apparently a Netflix Original. Who knew?
Bill Thomas (1905)
Johnny Washington (1916)
John Kibler (1928)
Julio Navarro (1936)
Ralph Terry (1936)
Masaaki Mori (1937)
Al Clark (1948)
Joe Wallis (1952)
Ivan DeJesus (1953)
Otis Nixon (1959)
Stan Javier (1964)
Jay Powell (1972)
Gabriel Moya (1995)
Bill Thomas pitched in the minors from 1924-1952. He set records for games pitched (1,016), wins (383), losses (347), innings (5,995), hits allowed (6,721), and runs allowed (3,098).
Outfielder/first baseman Johnny Washington played in the Negro Leagues for nearly twenty years.
John Kibler was a National League umpire from 1963-1989.
Masaaki Mori was involved with twenty-seven pennant winners in Japan, sixteen as a player, three as a coach, and eight as a manager.
Al Clark was a long-time American League umpire.
Date: Saturday, July 20.
Batting stars: Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his twelfth) and a walk. Junior Ortiz was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: Scott Erickson pitched seven shutout innings, giving up seven hits and a walk and striking out one. Mark Guthrie struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Mike Gardiner pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and four walks and striking out two. Mo Vaughn was 2-for-3 with a walk. Wade Boggs was 2-for-4 with a double.
The game: With one out in the first, Chuck Knoblauch reached on an error and Puckett followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 2-0. The Twins started the second with two walks, but a caught stealing helped take them out of the inning. The Red Sox got a pair of singles in the third, but a double play helped take them out of the inning.
The Twins missed a chance to break the game open in the fourth. With one out, Ortiz and Greg Gagne singled and Randy Bush walked, loading the bases. The Twins got one run on a ground out, but that was it, so the lead was only 3-0.
Boston missed a chance in the sixth. Boggs led off with a double, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Jody Reed then singled and Vaughn walked, but a pair of ground outs ended the inning. They never really threatened again. The Twins added two runs in the ninth when Shane Mack doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a fielder's choice. Singles by Jarvis Brown and Knoblauch produced another run, making it 5-0.
WP: Erickson (13-3). LP: Gardiner (3-4). S: Guthrie (1).
Notes: Bush started in left field in place of Dan Gladden, with Mack in right. Again, Tom Kelly usually did that the other way, but the configuration of Fenway Park apparently changed his mind. With Erickson pitching, Ortiz was again behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.
Brown came in for defense in the seventh in place of Bush. Brown went to right, with Mack moving to left. Al Newman pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the eighth and stayed in the game at third base.
Puckett raised his average to .326. Erickson lowered his ERA to 2.02.
Erickson was incredibly efficient, throwing just sixty-five pitches in seven innings. That was obviously much easier on his arm. Had he been able to do that all season, he might not have had the struggles he had later in the year, but of course, something like that is not really sustainable.
Puckett had an eleven game hitting streak. He was 18-for-46 in that span. His average had only gone from .316 to .326, and in fact his average went down a little in the first three games of the streak, when he went 3-for-12.
This was the first save of Guthrie's career. He would have two for the season and fourteen for his career. He would make only two more starts in his career, both in 1994.
Mike Gardiner is one of those guys who kept getting chances in the majors despite the fact that he never did anything there. He appeared in five games in 1990 and went 0-2, 10.66. Despite that, he got 22 starts in 1991, going 9-10, 4.85. in 1992 he went 4-10, 4.75 in 28 games, 18 of them starts. He moved to the bullpen in 1993 and appeared in 34 games combined for Montreal and Detroit, going 2-3, 4.93. 1994 was his best season, as he was 2-2, 3.97. In 1995 he went 0-0, 14.59 and then he was done as a big-leaguer. For his career, he was 17-27, 5.21, 1.48 WHIP in 393.2 innings (136 games, 46 starts). His AAA numbers were 34-22, 4.07, so it's not like he was blowing people away there, either. I'm sure he's a nice guy--he wouldn't have gotten all those chances if he wasn't. But it always bugs me to see a guy like this, who's never done anything in the majors, get chance after chance after chance, while other guys do well in AAA year after year and can't get the call.
The Twins had won three in a row and four of five. The White Sox beat Milwaukee 7-6 in ten innings, so the Twins lead remained the same.
Record: The Twins were 54-38, in first place in the American League West, 4.5 games ahead of Chicago.
Hey, let’s see what else can happen today...
Walker Cooper (1915)
Jim Busby (1927)
Gene Freese (1934)
Reno Bertoia (1935)
Bruce Sutter (1953)
Ramon Romero (1959)
Randy Ready (1960)
Brian Boehringer (1969)
Jason Giambi (1971)
Mike Cameron (1973)
Carl Pavano (1976)
Jeff Francis (1981)
Jeff Francoeur (1984)
Three players named Jeff were born on this day. In addition to the two listed above, this is also the birthday of Jeff Hoffman of the Colorado Rockies.
(2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... What's that? I couldn't hear you over BEARD CROONING
(I'll do something different next time. Promise.)
(4 votes, average: 5.75 out of 10)Loading... Date: Friday, July 19.
Batting stars: Kent Hrbek was 3-for-3 with a walk. Scott Leius was 3-for-4 with a triple and a double. Shane Mack was 2-for-4. Randy Bush was 1-for-1 with a home run, his fourth.
Pitching stars: David West pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out none. Carl Willis pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk. Steve Bedrosian pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two. Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Joe Hesketh pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on nine hits and two walks and striking out five. Wade Boggs was 4-for-4 with a triple. Tony Pena was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.
The game: The Twins opened the game with two singles, but never advanced either runner. The Red Sox got a single and two walks in the bottom of the first but also did not score. The Twins got a single, a walk, and a double in the second, but due to a caught stealing again did not score. Boston got three singles in the third, but a runner was thrown out at the plate and the game still remained scoreless.
The theme continues. In the fourth the Twins got a walk and a single and could not score. In the fifth Leius led off with a triple and still did not score.
In the bottom of the fifth the Red Sox finally broke through. Pena led off with a home run. With one out, Boggs tripled and Reed singled to make it 2-0 Boston.
The Twins got a pair of singles in the sixth, but a double play took them out of the inning. Finally, in the seventh, Leius hit a one-out double and scored on Kirby Puckett's two-out double to get the Twins on the board. It was still 2-1 through eight, but Bush came through with a pinch-hit homer in the ninth to tie the score 2-2. Boston got a leadoff double from Ellis Burks in the bottom of the ninth, but again did not score, so we went to extra innings.
Neither team threatened in the tenth. With two out in the eleventh, Chuck Knoblauch singled and scored all the way from first on a Mike Pagliarulo single to put the Twins ahead. Mike Greenwell got a one-out single in the bottom of the eleventh, but he did not move past first base and the Twins came away with the win.
WP: Bedrosian (3-2). LP: Greg Harris (6-9). S: Aguilera (25).
Notes: Mack was again in left field in place of Dan Gladden. Gene Larkin was in right. Al Newman was at second base in place of Knoblauch. Leius was again in the leadoff spot, with Newman batting second.
Jarvis Brown pinch-ran for Kent Hrbek in the eighth and stayed in the game in right field, with Larkin moving to first base. Knoblauch pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the ninth and stayed in the game at second base, with Newman moving to shortstop. Bush pinch-hit for Leius in the ninth, with Mike Pagliarulo coming in to play third base.
Harper was 0-for-5 and was batting .325. Puckett was 1-for-5 and was batting .324. West lowered his ERA to 3.18. Willis' ERA was 2.59. Bedrosian went down to 3.35. Aguilera went down to 2.95.
Brown was 0-for-1 and was batting .154.
The Twins stranded eleven runners and were 1-for-14 with men in scoring position. The Red Sox stranded eight runners and were 2-for-10 with men in scoring position.
Pagliarulo extended his hitting streak to eight games, despite only getting one at-bat. He was 16-for-25 over that stretch and raised his average to .294.
This was the lowest West's ERA would be for the rest of the season. He would end up at 4.54.
Oakland and California both lost, but Chicago won to take over second place.
Record: The Twins were 53-38, in first place in the American League West, 4.5 games ahead of Chicago.
