As is often the case, I got into Long Neck because other musicians I follow on Twitter talked them up. Their first record was great, and they just finished a crowdfunding campaign to buy their masters back for their new record from their awful old label. It’s one of the things I am most excited for this year.
(2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... Date: Tuesday, October 22.
Batting stars: Dan Gladden was 3-for-6 with a triple. Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two walks. Chili Davis had a pinch-hit two-run homer, his second.
Pitching stars: Steve Bedrosian pitched two perfect innings, striking out one. Carl Willis pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks. Mark Guthrie pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Steve Avery pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits and no walks, striking out five. Mark Lemke was 2-for-5 with a walk. David Justice was 2-for-6 with a home run (his second), two runs, and a stolen base. Lonnie Smith was 1-for-4 with a home run. Greg Olson was 1-for-3 with three walks.
The game: Gladden led off the game with a triple and scored on Chuck Knoblauch's sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. In the second Olson drew a two-out walk, Lemke singled, and Rafael Belliard delivered an RBI single to tie it 1-1.
Justice led off the fourth with a home run to put the Braves up 2-1. Smith homered with one out in the fifth to make it 3-1. Terry Pendleton walked. With two out Justice reached on an error, Sid Bream walked, and Olson drew a bases loaded walk to force in a run and make the score 4-1.
The Twins started the sixth with two singles but did not score. Puckett led off the seventh with a home run to cut the lead to 4-2. In the eighth Brian Harper reached on an error and Davis (who was not in the lineup because there was no DH) hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to tie the score 4-4.
Each team got a man to second base in the ninth and again in the tenth, but neither scored. With one out in the top of the twelfth, Gladden singled and went to third when Knoblauch reached on an error. Knoblauch stole second, but Kent Hrbek struck out. Puckett was then intentionally walked to bring up Guthrie. The Twins had burned through their entire bench by now, so Rick Aguilera was sent up to pinch-hit. He hit a liner to deep center, but it was caught and the inning was over. in the bottom of the twelfth Justice hit a one-out single. He stole second with two out, Olson walked, and Lemke singled home the winning run.
WP: Jim Clancy (1-0). LP: Aguilera (0-1). S: None.
Notes: Scott Erickson started, so Junior Ortiz was behind the plate. There was no DH, so Davis was on the bench.
There were lots of substitutions. Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Terry Leach in the sixth. Harper pinch-hit for Ortiz in the eighth and remained in the game behind the plate. Davis pinch-hit for Bedrosian in the eighth. Jarvis Brown replaced Davis and went to right field, with Willis going to the mound and replacing Shane Mack on a double switch. Mike Pagliarulo pinch-hit for Scott Leius in the ninth and stayed in the game at third base. Randy Bush pinch-hit for Brown in the ninth and stayed in the game in right field. Paul Sorrento pinch-hit for Willis in the tenth. Al Newman pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the eleventh and stayed in the game at third base. Aguilera pinch-hit for Guthrie in the twelfth.
Erickson lasted 4.2 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks and striking out three.
The Twins bullpen was again stellar. Other than Aguilera, they combined for 6.1 scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and five walks and striking out three.
The Twins used twenty-three players. The only Twins not to appear in the game were starters Jack Morris and Kevin Tapani. The Twins had gone with just a nine-man pitching staff, something that would be unheard of today.
The Twins stranded ten men and were 0-for-10 with men in scoring position. Atlanta stranded twelve and was 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.
Record: The Twins still led the best-of-seven series 2-1. The Braves would still have to win at least one more game to send the series back to Minnesota.
Frank Dwyer (1868)
Clyde Milan (1887)
John Fetzer (1901)
Dutch Leonard (1909)
Ryohei Hasegawa (1930)
Woodie Held (1932)
Frank Peters (1944)
Lee Mazzilli (1955)
Jeff Kunkel (1962)
Tom Glavine (1966)
Erik Schullstrom (1969)
Travis Fryman (1969)
Dan Wilson (1969)
Neal Cotts (1980)
John Fetzer was the majority owner of the Detroit Tigers from 1961-1983.
Ryohei Hasegawa was a star in Japan in the 1950s and was also a coach, manager, and broadcaster there.
Frank Peters was a minor league player and manager. On August 31, 1974, while managing the Portland Mavericks, he had each player play each position for one inning. Portland won the game over the Tri-City Ports, 8-7.
There were six major league players born on March 25, 1969. In addition to the three listed above, Eric Helfand, Paul Menhart, and Scott Sanders were born on that date. I don't know whether that's a record, but it seems like it has to be pretty close.
This is a few years old, but I just came across it. Who's your favorite?
I was supposed to go see them with J in two weeks, I’m pretty bummed about this. I really wanted to go see them kick out the booty shaking jamz in person. Their last two records are both in heavy rotation for me.
(3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... Date: Sunday, October 20.
Batting stars: Chili Davis was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer. Scott Leius was 1-for-3 with a home run.
Pitching stars: Kevin Tapani pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out three. Rick Aguilera struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Tom Glavine pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks and striking out six. Terry Pendleton was 2-for-4.
The game: In the first Dan Gladden reached on an error and Chuck Knoblauch walked. Kirby Puckett hit into a double play, but Davis picked him up with a two-run homer, putting the Twins ahead 2-0. The Braves came right back in the second. David Justice led off with a single and Sid Bream followed with a double, putting men on second and third with none out. Brian Hunter hit a sacrifice fly, getting Atlanta on the board, but a ground out and a strikeout kept the Twins ahead 2-1.
Neither team got a hit in the third or fourth. In the fifth, Greg Olson led off with a double, went to third on a ground out, and scored on Rafael Belliard's sacrifice fly to tie it 2-2.
In the eighth, Belliard led off with a bunt single, was sacrificed to second, and went to third on a Pendleton infield single. A foul out and a fly out kept them off the board, though, and it cost them. The Twins entered the inning having gotten only one hit since the first, but Leius led off with a home run, putting them up 3-2. Hunter got a one-out single in the ninth but did not advance past first base, and the Twins came away with their second win of the series.
WP: Tapani (1-1). LP: Glavine (0-3). S: Aguilera (5).
Notes: The Twins went with a standard lineup and did not make any substitutions.
The Twins had just four hits in the game, but two of them went over the fence. The home runs accounted for all the Twins runs.
The Braves were 1-for-6 with men in scoring position. Both of their runs scored on sacrifice flies.
The Twins did not steal any bases in the game.
Leius was another unlikely home run hero, having hit just five during the season. His career high was fourteen in 1994. That was the only season in which he hit more than five home runs.
This was the game with the famous play where Ron Gant overran first base and was tagged out by Hrbek. It happened in the third inning. Lonnie Smith was on first with two out. Gant singled to left, and Smith went to third. Gladden's throw went past third base and was fielded by Tapani. Tapani threw to first and Gant, trying to get back to first after rounding it, went past the base. Atlanta complained that Hrbek had pulled Gant off first base, but we all know that was just sour grapes on the part of the Braves.
The Twins were looking good through two games. Atlanta would have to take at least two at home to send the series back to Minnesota.
Record: The Twins led the best-of-seven series 2-0.
Kip Selbach (1872)
Roy Thomas (1874)
Mike Mowrey (1884)
Fatty Arbuckle (1887)
Ernie Shore (1891)
George Sisler (1893)
Jesus Alou (1942)
Mark Marquess (1947)
Garry Templeton (1956)
Bruce Hurst (1958)
Wilson Alvarez (1970)
Steve Karsay (1972)
Jose Valverde (1978)
Corey Hart (1982)
Dustin McGowan (1982)
Chad Gaudin (1983)
Starlin Castro (1990)
Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle was the owner of the Vernon Tigers of the Pacific Coast League from about 1918-1921.
Mark Marquess was the head baseball coach of Stanford from 1977-2017.
No players with connections to the Twins were born on this day; however, we would like to wish a very happy birthday to Mom SBG.
I hope a certain chain of membership based commerce hubs is still open during this state of state enforced closures...
Given the goings on of the world I find myself in a lot of dark moods these days. the pAper chAse spent their career making albums about the occult, serial killers, and social panic. For whatever reason this kind of music sustains me in these moods. I’m sorry. Welcome to what’s sure to be a fun week!
(4 votes, average: 7.75 out of 10)Loading... Date: Saturday, October 19.
Batting stars: Chuck Knoblauch was 3-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and two RBIs. Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a double. Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer.
Pitching stars: Jack Morris pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks and striking out three. He threw 100 pitches. Rick Aguilera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition star: Ron Gant was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
The game: In the bottom of the third Dan Gladden walked, stole second, and scored on a Knoblauch single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. They took control in the fifth. Hrbek doubled, Leius singled, and Gagne hit a three-run homer to make it 4-0 Twins.
The Braves got on the board in the sixth. Jeff Treadway hit a one-out single and Dave Justice singled with two out, putting men on first and second. Gant then delivered an RBI single to make it 4-1. The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the sixth when Hrbek homered, increasing the lead to 5-1.
In the eighth, leadoff walks to Lonnie Smith and Treadway ended Morris' night. Mark Guthrie came in and got Terry Pendleton to hit into a double play, but then he walked Justice. Aguilera came on and gave up a single to Gant, cutting the margin to 5-2, but Sid Bream flied out to end the inning. Atlanta went down in order in the ninth.
WP: Morris. LP: Charlie Liebrandt. S: Aguilera.
Notes: The lone Twins batting substitution came in the sixth, when Mike Pagliarulo pinch-hit for Leius. He remained in the game at third base.
Liebrandt started for the Braves and lasted just four innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk and struck out three.
The Twins continued to run, going 3-for-4 in stolen bases. Knoblauch was 2-for-2 and Gladden was 1-for-2.
Gagne was one of the least likely Twins to hit a home run, as he had just eight on the season. But that's how baseball works, and it's especially how the World Series works. You never know who the hero will be.
In 1991 home field advantage simply alternated between the divisions and the leagues each year. It worked out that the Twins had home field advantage in both the league championship series and the World Series. What people forget, though, is that had they gone by best record, the Twins would still have had home field advantage. They were 95-67. Toronto was 91-71 and Atlanta was 94-68.
Record: The Twins took the lead in the best-of-seven series, 1-0.
