Monthly Archives: February 2020

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-one

TEXAS 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN TEXAS

Date:  Thursday, September 12.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-eighth.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up four runs on five hits and two walks and striking out six.  He threw 113 pitches.  He clearly did not do a good job of pitching to the score.

Opposition stars:  Nolan Ryan struck out nine in seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk.  Kevin Reimer was 1-for-2 with a three-run homer (his seventeenth) and a walk.

The game:  The Rangers got all the runs they needed in the first inning.  They opened the inning with singles by Brian Downing and Julio Franco, and a sacrifice fly scored the first run.  Ruben Sierra singled and Reimer hit a three-run homer to make the score 4-0 Texas.

That was all the Rangers got, but again it was all they needed.  The Twins got on the board in the fourth when Dan Gladden and Chuck Knoblauch singled and Kirby Puckett hit an RBI ground out, but that was it for the inning.  Those were the only hits the Twins got against Ryan.  They scored two in the ninth when Hrbek hit a two-out single and Davis hit a two-run homer, cutting the margin to 4-3.  That was it, though as pinch-hitter Randy Bush grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Ryan (10-6).  LP:  Morris (16-11).  S:  Jeff Russell (27).

Notes:  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the eighth, with Scott Leius then coming in to play shortstop.  Bush pinch-hit for Brian Harper in the ninth.

Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .327.  Mack was 1-for-3 and was batting .314.  Harper was 0-for-3 and was batting .311.

Nolan Ryan was forty-four in 1991.  If this wasn't the best season a forty-four year old pitcher ever had, it's pretty darn close.  He made 27 starts, pitching 173 innings.  He went 12-6, 2.91, 1.01 WHIP.  He led the majors in WHIP, in fewest hits per nine innings, and in most strikeouts per nine inning.

Russell gave up two runs in one inning, taking the score from 4-1 to 4-3, and was credited with the save.

The White Sox lost to California 7-4, so another day came off the schedule without them gaining any ground.

Record:  The Twins were 85-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Chicago.

In the East, Boston won and Toronto did not play, so the Blue Jays' margin fell to 3.5 games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 25

Bob Bescher (1884)
Al Hollingsworth (1908)
Roy Weatherly (1915)
Monte Irvin (1919)
Andy Pafko (1921)
Syd Thrift (1929)
Johnny Schaive (1934)
Jerry Reinsdorf (1936)
Denny Lemaster (1939)
Danny Cater (1940)
Ron Santo (1940)
Stump Merrill (1944)
Ken Szotkeiwicz (1947)
Cesar Cedeno (1951)
Bob Brenly (1954)
Ken Dayley (1959)
Paul O'Neill (1963)
Shannon Stewart (1974)

Syd Thrift was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986-88 and of the Baltimore Orioles from 2000-02.  He also held a variety of other front office positions, generally having to do with overseeing minor league player development.

Infielder Johnny Schaive was in the Washington organization from 1955-1960, reaching the majors for parts of the 1958-1960 seasons.  He was selected by the new Washington franchise as the 36th pick in the 1960 expansion draft.

Jerry Reinsdorf became part-owner of the Chicago White Sox in 1981.

Stump Merrill was the manager of the New York Yankees from 1990-91.  A catcher, he was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-third round in 1965, but did not sign.

Shortstop Ken Szotkiewicz was chosen by Minnesota with the third pick of the 1967 June Secondary draft, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 25 →

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty

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KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Wednesday, September 11.

Batting star:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched a scoreless inning, walking one.  Denny Neagle pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Davis pitched five innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out three.  Joel Johnston struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  With one out in the second, Jim Eisenreich singled and Bill Pecota followed with a two-run homer, making it 2-0 Royals.  The Twins did very little on offense in the first four innings, only once getting a man to second (Puckett's two-out double in the fourth).  They got on the board in the fifth when Shane Mack hit a one-out double and scored on a Greg Gagne single.  They got the tying run to third base but did not score him, so it remained 2-1 Kansas City.

In the sixth, Brian McRae led off with a single, George Brett walked, Todd Benzinger reached on a sacrifice/fielder's choice, and Eisenreich delivered a two-run single, making it 4-1 Royals.  That's where it stayed, as the Twins got only one hit after that.

WP:  Davis (5-1).  LP:  Kevin Tapani (14-8).  S:  Jeff Montgomery (28).

Notes:  Paul Sorrento was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Hrbek would be back in the lineup the next day.  Al Newman pinch-hit for Scott Leius in the seventh and stayed in the game at third base.

Puckett raised his average to .330.  Mack was 1-for-4 and was batting .314.  Brian Harper was 0-for-4 and was also batting .314.

Tapani pitched just five innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk.  He struck out five.  His ERA was 2.29.  Willis lowered his ERA to 2.44.

Joel Johnston was a September call-up for the Royals.  He would allow just one run on nine hits and nine walks in 22.1 innings, giving him an ERA of 0.40.  There was nothing in his minor league record that suggested he could sustain that, and in fact there was nothing in his minor league record that suggested he deserved a September call-up.  As it turned out, he had a poor year both in AAA and in the majors in 1992, then went to the Pirates.  He pitched poorly in AAA in 1993 but got called up in early July anyway, and surprisingly did very well--2-4, 3.38, 2 saves, 1.07 WHIP.  He started 1994 in the majors, but made just four appearances, the last one a disastrous eight runs in 1.1 innings, before being sent down.  He got a cup of coffee with Boston in 1995 and played in independent ball in 1996.  He really didn't pitch very well in A, in AA, or in AAA, so there was no reason to think he'd pitch well in the majors.  But he had four good months, even if they were spread out over two years.  That's baseball, I guess.

The White Sox lost to Oakland 6-5 in ten innings, so they missed a chance to gain ground on the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 85-55, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Chicago.

In the East, Toronto led Boston by four games.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 24

Honus Wagner (1874)
Wilbur Cooper (1892)
Del Wilber (1919)
Bubba Phillips (1928)
Jim Rantz (1938)
Wayne Hattaway (1940)
Dave Edwards (1954)
Eddie Murray (1956)
Nick Esasky (1960)
Mike Lowell (1974)
Randy Keisler (1976)
Bronson Arroyo (1977)
Dewayne Wise (1978)
Rob Bowen (1981)
Nick Blackburn (1982)
J. D. Durbin (1982)
Chris Parmelee (1988)

Jim Rantz was in the Twins' organization in some capacity from the birth of the team until his retirement in 2012, serving as farm director from 1986-2012.  He was also the winning pitcher in the deciding game of the 1960 College World Series.

Wayne Hattaway joined the Twins organization in 1963 and has been employed by the team as an equipment manager, trainer, or clubhouse attendant, either in the majors or the minors, ever since.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 24 →

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-nine

MINNESOTA 7, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Tuesday, September 10.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his tenth.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Randy Bush was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Pedro Munoz was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.

Pitching stars:  Allan Anderson pitched five shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.  Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Gubicza struck out five in five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks.  Todd Benzinger was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brian McRae was 2-for-5.

The game:  Chuck Knoblauch reached third with one out in the first inning but did not score.  The Twins got the scoring underway in the third when Gladden hit a two-out double and Knoblauch singled him home.  In the fourth Chili Davis doubled and Mack singled him home, making it 2-0.

In the fifth Jorge Pedre led off with a double but nothing came of it.  In the bottom of the fifth Mack hit a two-out single and Munoz followed with a two-run homer to give the Twins a 4-0 lead.  In the sixth, a single and two walks loaded the bases for the Royals, but Jim Eisenreich struck out to end the inning.  In the seventh, Gagne and Gladden led off with singles and Bush hit a one-out double to put the Twins up 6-0.

Kansas City scored both of their runs in the eighth.  McRae led off with a single, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a George Brett double.  Brett went to third on Benzinger's double and scored on a ground out to cut the margin to 6-2.  That was as much as the Royals would do.  The Twins added a run in the ninth when, with two out, Bush singled, Davis walked, and Brian Harper had an RBI single.

Kansas City did threaten in the bottom of the ninth.  Two walks and a single loaded the bases with none out.  But Aguilera came on to get a short fly ball, a strikeout, and another fly ball to end the game.

WP:  Anderson (5-8).  LP:  Gubicza (8-9).  S:  Aguilera (39).

Notes:  Bush was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Kirby Puckett was also given a day off, with Mack moving to center and Munoz playing right.

Scott Leius pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the eighth, staying in the game to play third base.  Al Newman came in to play second base in the eighth, replacing Knoblauch.

Harper was 1-for-5 and was batting. 317.  Mack raised his average to .315.

Terry Leach allowed two runs in 1.2 innings to make his ERA 3.10.  Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.19.

I don't know why Anderson was pulled after five innings.  He made his next start, so injury is probably not a factor (although it's always possible he felt a slight twinge or something).  TK may have started looking at these games as tune-ups for the playoffs, since the Twins already had a big lead, or it could be that he felt like getting five shutout innings out of Anderson was a good thing that shouldn't be pushed.  He had thrown just sixty-six pitches, so it seems unlikely that was an issue.

I'm always a little intrigued when I run across a player I've never heard of.  This was the second career major league game for Jorge Pedre.  His fifth-inning double was the only double of his career.  A catcher, he played in ten games in 1991 and in four for the Cubs in 1992.  For his career he was 5-for-23, batting.217/.308/.348.  He was an eleventh-round draft choice for the Braves in 1986.  He hit well in Class A, but not much after that--.249/.303/.373 in AA, .228/.275/.351 in AAA.  He looks like your stereotypical good defensive catcher--I don't know how good his defense actually was, but you figure he must've done something to justify his presence on rosters.  Wikipedia indicates that he is now working at a refinery on their emergency response team.

The Royals used six pinch-hitters in this game.  Sadly, with expanded bullpens and the severe restrictions on September call-ups, this will probably never happen again.

The White Sox defeated Oakland 3-1 to avoid falling farther behind, but time was running out on them.

Record:  The Twins were 85-54, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Chicago.

In the East, Toronto led Boston by four games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 23

Barney Dreyfuss (1865)
Paul Cobb (1888)
Roy Johnson (1903)
Ray Brown (1908)
Mike Tresh (1914)
Elston Howard (1929)
Ron Hunt (1941)
Ken Boswell (1946)
Juan Agosto (1958)
John Shelby (1958)
Bobby Bonilla (1963)
Rondell White (1972)
Scott Elarton (1976)
Edgar Gonzalez (1983)

Barney Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900-1932.

The brother of Ty Cobb, John Paul Cobb (known by his middle name), played in over a thousand minor league games over ten years, batting .283.

Ray Brown was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues from 1931-1945.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 23 →