Happy Birthday–March 28

Jimmy Barrett (1875)
August Busch (1899)
Lon Warneke (1909)
Vic Raschi (1919)
Garland Shifflett (1935)
Glenn Davis (1961)
Shawn Boskie (1967)
Craig Paquette (1969)
Mark Melancon (1985)

August Busch, owner of the Anheuser-Busch Company, bought the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953.

Craig Paquette was drafted by Minnesota in the 36th round in 1987, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 28

FMD 3/27/20 – A New Normal

So my work situation has changed a few times in the last year, and it’s always impacted my music listening habits. I find that where, when, and why have a huge influence on what I dig into.

I was already working from home when this all started. And I’ve found working from home has decreased the amount of music I listen to. I find myself watching a lot more TV and movies while I work, and music is strictly a thing for in the car. Most of my car listening would happen on my trips to Winnipeg and back and with those on hold, it’s going to be a change.

I’ve been going for 30-40 minute drives every day or two to clear my mind and get out of the house. I’ll probably switch to walks once it’s nicer. I have been using these times for music, and I find myself listening to old favorites. The stuff we’d listen to driving around in high school and stuff.

How has this impacted you? Do you find yourself listening to more or less music? Finding new things or revisiting? Do you wanna drop a list?

1991 Rewind: World Series Game Five

ATLANTA 14, MINNESOTA 5 IN ATLANTA

Date:  Thursday, October 24.

Batting stars:  Al Newman was 1-for-1 with a triple.  Scott Leius was 1-for-2 with a walk.  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Ron Gant was 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and three runs.  Greg Olson was 3-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.  Brian Hunter was 2-for-2 with a home run (his second), two runs, and two RBIs.  Mark Lemke was 2-for-4 with two triples, a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.  Terry Pendleton was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Rafael Belliard was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  David Justice was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second), a stolen base (his second), two runs, and five RBIs.  Lonnie Smith was 1-for-5 with a home run, his third.

The game:  It was scoreless for three innings, but that was shattered in the fourth.  Gant led off with a single and Justice hit a two-run homer.  Olson got a one-out single, Lemke tripled him home, and Belliard had an RBI double, making the score 4-0 Braves.  They added a run in the fifth when Pendleton and Gant singled and Justice had an RBI ground out.

The Twins rallied in the sixth.  With one out Knoblauch walked, Kirby Puckett singled, and Chili Davis walked, loading the bases.  Brian Harper and Leius each drew a bases-loaded walk, cutting the margin to 5-2.  A big hit would've gotten the Twins right back into the game, but all they could manage was a pair of ground outs.  One of them did score a run, making the score 5-3.

That was the end of the good news, though.  Atlanta put it out of reach with six in the seventh.  Smith homered, Justice and Hunter had RBI singles, Lemke drove in two with another triple, and Belliard had an RBI double, making the score 11-3.  The Twins got one back in the eighth, when Davis singled and scored on Newman's triple.  In the bottom of the eighth, however, Pendleton doubled, Gant tripled, and Hunter homered, bringing the score to 14-4.  The Twins got the final run of the game in the ninth when Dan Gladden tripled and scored on a ground out.

WP:  Tom Glavine (1-3).  LP:  Kevin Tapani (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  With no DH, Davis was in right field, with Shane Mack on the bench.

The Twins again made substantial use of the bench.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Tapani in the fifth.  Mike Pagliarulo pinch-hit for Terry Leach in the seventh.  Also in the seventh, Al Newman went to second base as part of a double switch that took Knoblauch out of the game.  Jarvis Brown pinch-hit for Puckett in the eighth, as Tom Kelly conceded the game.  Also in the eighth, Randy Bush pinch-hit for Harper and Paul Sorrento pinch-hit for Kent Hrbek.  Junior Ortiz came in to catch in the eighth, as Davis left the game as part of a double switch.  Sorrento went to first base, Brown went to center, and Bush went to right.

Tapani pitched four innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks and striking out four.  Atlanta starter Glavine pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and four walks and striking out two.

The decision to put Davis in the outfield was much debated at the time, and is still a questionable move.  He had played only three innings of outfield all season, and all were in blowout games.  It seems like a desperation move, and the Twins weren't in a position where they needed to make a desperation move.  Did it make a difference in the outcome?  Probably not, although we'll never know for sure.  I seem to remember him misplaying one ball in the outfield, but I can't tell from the printed play-by-play when it happened or whether it would've made any difference.

The Twins bullpen pretty much melted down in this game.  Leach gave up one run in two innings, David West gave up four runs and didn't retire anyone, Steve Bedrosian gave up two runs in one inning, and Carl Willis allowed three runs in one inning.  The Twins were still in the game until the seventh inning, so if the bullpen had come through, the outcome might have been different.  Of course, if either Hrbek or Greg Gagne could have come up with a hit in the sixth, when the Twins were rallying, the outcome might have been different, too.

There were five triples hit in this game.  I wonder what the record is for most triples in a World Series game.  My guess is that it was set back in the dead ball era, but I really have no idea.

Mark Lemke was now 7-for-15 with three triples and a double in the series.

So the Twins would head back to Minnesota, with the Braves needing to win just one of two there to take the Series.  The Twins had lost two tough games, but now had been blown out and pretty much embarrassed.  Could the Twins rally?  Would someone step up and take the burden of leadership?  We'll see.

Record:  The Twins trailed the best-of-seven series two games to three.

March 27, 2020: The Reward For Hard Work Is More Work

Here's a minor dilemma:

I have kind of a dickboss. Won't get into specifics, but one of those types that decides to insert themselves in everything and just makes it all more difficult. Anyway, everyone's WFH right now, but I'm also operating a day care and home school. Work is, well... slow. Slow enough to the point where it probably doesn't look like I'm doing much, though that's because there isn't much to do. There isn't like a communal work pile to draw from, and as I'm basically the only member of my division, I'm kind of compartmentalized from everyone else anyway.

So, the question is this: do I ask said dickboss for more work? Anything I ask/request from them always ends up in some weird place I wasn't expecting at the beginning (and almost always in a negative way). Or, should I just kind of coast/day care/home school for now in the hopes more work will fall down to me and keep my head low otherwise? As the title of this CoC implies, while this is a slow period, I'm not in a rush to ask for more work. Especially with how "much" of it other co-workers manage. That path, however, risks receiving ire from said dickboss.

It's a complicated tapestry...

Withdrawing this very minor complaint.

Happy Birthday–March 27

Miller Huggins (1878)
Effa Manley (1897)
Wes Covington (1932)
Bill Sudakis (1946)
Lynn McGlothen (1950)
Dick Ruthven (1951)
Dave Hostetler (1956)
Jaime Navarro (1967)
Tom Quinlan (1968)
Dee Brown (1978)
Michael Cuddyer (1979)
Brian Slocum (1981)
Buster Posey (1987)
Ryne Harper (1989)
Matt Harvey (1989)
Jake Odorizzi (1990)

Effa Manley was the owner of the Brooklyn Eagles and the Newark Eagles in the Negro Leagues.

Dick Ruthven was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 1972, but did not sign.

Brian Slocum was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 1999, but did not sign.

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to Can of Corn.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Milt on Tilt.  Gone but not forgotten.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 27

1991 Rewind: World Series Game Four

ATLANTA 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN ATLANTA

Date:  Wednesday, October 23.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 3-for-3 with a home run (his second) and two RBIs.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a double.

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

Opposition stars:  John Smoltz struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits no walks.  Mark Lemke was 3-for-4 with a triple and double.  Terry Pendleton was 2-for-4 with a home run and a double.  Lonnie Smith was 2-for-4 with a home run and a stolen base, his second.

The gameChuck Knoblauch hit a one-out double in the first, but nothing came of it.  In the second Harper led off with a double and Pagliarulo had a one-out RBI single to put the Twins up 1-0.

The Braves put two on with two out in the second but did not score.  They tied it in the third when Pendleton hit a two-out homer.  They put men on first and third later in the inning, but the score remained 1-1.  The Twins missed a chance in the fourth when, with men on first and third, Shane Mack was thrown out at the plate on a double steal.  Atlanta missed a chance in the fifth when they got two runners thrown out at the plate (not on the same play).

The Twins took the lead in the seventh when Pagliarulo hit a one-out homer.  It didn't last long, though, as Smith hit a two-out homer in the bottom of the seventh to tie it 2-2.

The Twins did not get a hit after that.  With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Lemke tripled, Jeff Blauser was intentionally walked, and Jerry Willard hit a sacrifice fly to right to end the game.

WP:  Mike Stanton (1-0).  LP:  Mark Guthrie (1-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  With no DH, Chili Davis was again out of the lineup.

Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Morris with two out and none on in the seventh, no doubt much to Morris' consternation.  He had thrown 94 pitches.  Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the ninth and stayed in the game at third base.  Al Newman came in to play third as part of a double switch later in the ninth inning.

The double steal in the fourth becomes more understandable when you realize that the Twins had Greg Gagne up to bat and Morris on deck.  They weren't going to pinch-hit for Morris in the fourth inning, so it really becomes a question of how confident you are that Gagne can drive in the run.  With one out, of course, it didn't necessarily take a hit, but it's also not like Gagne was a big RBI man.  As it happened, Gagne struck out.  It's hard to know, this many years later, whether the double steal was the right move, but it's not an obviously wrong one.

Mark Lemke was 5-for-12 with a triple and a double so far in the series.  For the season he batted .234/.305/.312.  He hadn't even started the first game, as Jeff Treadway played second base.  But, as they say, that's baseball.

The Twins bullpen, which had been so strong, let them down in this game.  Not horribly, but enough.  Carl Willis gave up just one hit, but it was the home run to Smith to tie the game.  Guthrie gave up just one hit as well, but it was the triple to Lemke that ultimately led to the deciding run.

The series was now even and would definitely go back to Minnesota.  Would the Twins return home one game ahead or one game behind?

Record:  The Twins were 2-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Happy Birthday–March 26

Jack McCarthy (1869)
Bill Zuber (1913)
Ben Mondor (1925)
Harry Kalas (1936)
Mel Queen (1942)
Kevin Seitzer (1962)
Jarvis Brown (1967)
Shane Reynolds (1968)
Jose Vizcaino (1968)
Jason Maxwell (1972)
Brendan Ryan (1982)
Eric Hacker (1983)

Ben Mondor was the owner of the Pawtucket Red Sox from 1977-2010.  He is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame and the International League Hall of Fame and won numerous minor league Executive of the Year awards from various organizations.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 26