Order:
Philosofer
Algonad
Mike
SoCalTwinsFan
Freealonzo
sean
bhiggum
Nibbish
brianS
CarterHayes
Beau
TheDreadPirate
cheaptoy
hungryjoe
rowsdower
Order:
Philosofer
Algonad
Mike
SoCalTwinsFan
Freealonzo
sean
bhiggum
Nibbish
brianS
CarterHayes
Beau
TheDreadPirate
cheaptoy
hungryjoe
rowsdower
Date: Friday, July 28.
Batting stars: Johnny Moses was 3-for-5 with two doubles, a stolen base (his ninth), and two runs. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth), two walks, two runs, and three RBIs. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a walk. Vic Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a double.
Pitching stars: Mike Dyer pitched six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and five walks and striking out two. Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Edwin Nunez struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks. Dave Bergman was 2-for-3 with a walk. Chet Lemon was 2-for-4 with a double. Lou Whitaker was 1-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-first), two walks, and two runs.
The game: With one out in the first, Bergman singled followed by three consecutive walks, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Lemon's RBI single made it 2-0 after one. Detroit got a pair of two-out walks in the second, but could not add to their lead.
Hrbek got the Twins on the board in the fourth with a home run. In the fifth, Brian Harper reached on an error to start the inning and went to third on a one-out single by Rodriguez. Al Newman's sacrifice fly tied the score. Moses doubled and Puckett had an RBI single. A wild pitch plated another run and the Twins had a 4-2 lead.
The Twins put men on second and third in the fifth but did not score. They scored in the sixth, though. Moses led off with a double and Puckett walked. Hrbek hit a two-run double to make it 6-2. Carmelo Castillo was hit by a pitch. A productive out put men on second and third, Harper was intentionally walked, and another wild pitch gave the Twins a 7-2 lead.
Lou Whitaker homered leading off the seventh to make it 7-3. The Tigers had only one hit after that, however, and the game went to the Twins.
WP: Dyer (1-2). LP: Jeff Robinson (1-2). S: None.
Notes: Newman was at second base in place of Wally Backman, who was out with an injury. Moses was in left field in place of Dan Gladden, who was out with an injury. It looks like Castillo and Randy Bush platooned in right field, but both played in this game, with Castillo in right field and Bush at DH. The main DHs that year were Jim Dwyer and Gene Larkin. Rodriguez was at third base in place of Gary Gaetti, who was given the second game of the doubleheader off.
Puckett was the leading Twins batter at .345. He would finish leading the league in batting at .339. Harper was batting .310 in his first season as a regular (at age twenty-nine). He would finish at .325. Doug Baker, who came in to play second base in place of Newman in the eighth, had only thirty-three at-bats, but was batting .333. He would finish at .295 in seventy-eight at-bats. It was the only decent batting season he had, and nothing in his record suggests he could have sustained it had he been given more of an opportunity.
Dyer was twenty-two years old at this time, and while he got by in this game he was clearly not ready for the majors, going 4-7, 4.82, 1.56 WHIP. Unfortunately for him, he never would be. He was able to get two full seasons in the majors as a reliever, 1995 with Pittsburgh and 1996 with Montreal. In those years, he went 9-10, 4.37, 1.49 WHIP.
He's on the birthday list and I've done his bio, but it still came as a surprise to me that the Twins once had a player named Vic Rodriguez.
Record: The Twins were 50-52, in fifth place in the American League West, 12.5 games behind California. They would finish 80-82, in fifth place, nineteen games behind Oakland.
The Tigers were 35-66, in seventh (last) place in the American League East, 19.5 games behind Baltimore. They would finish 59-103, in seventh place, thirty games behind Baltimore.
I'm guessing a few citizens would be interested in knowing that Parks & Recreation will have a special reunion episode tonight.
Was gonna play something off the record from last year, but I fell down a Hot Chip video hole and came up with this instead
Dave Eggler (1849)
Charley Jones (1850)
Jack Sheridan (1862)
Jumbo Brown (1907)
Chet Laabs (1912)
Ernie Tyler (1924)
Ken Retzer (1934)
Ray Miller (1945)
Phil Garner (1949)
Tracy Ringolsby (1951)
Jeff Reboulet (1964)
Ryan O'Rourke (1988)
Jack Sheridan was the first home plate umpire to crouch behind the catcher in the style that umpires do today.
Ernie Tyler was the umpires’ assistant for Baltimore Orioles home games from 1960 through 2010. He went from opening day of 1960 through July 27, 2007 without missing a game, a streak of 3,769 games. He missed two games that weekend to go to Cooperstown for the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. into the Hall of Fame.
Ray Miller was the manager of the Twins in 1985 and 1986, replacing Billy Gardner and being replaced by Tom Kelly.
Tracy Ringolsby has been a baseball writer since 1976 and was given the Spink Award in 2005.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Rhubarb_Runner's brother.
Okay, time to vote on all the added moments you put forth. You can vote for UP TO EIGHT.
I'll close this poll on Friday night I think.
Choose Up to EIGHT
Total Voters: 19
Date: Tuesday, June 10.
Batting stars: None.
Pitching stars: Scott Baker pitched seven innings, giving up one run on eight hits and one walk and striking out one. Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: C. C. Sabathia pitched a complete game shutout, giving up five hits and no walks and striking out five. David Dellucci was 2-for-3. Ryan Garko was 2-for-4.
The game: The Twins opened the game with two singles, but the rally fizzled when Carlos Gomez was doubled off second base when a long fly by Justin Morneau was caught. The Indians took advantage of it, scoring in the bottom of the first when Ben Francisco hit a one-out double and Garko delivered a two-out single.
And that was it for the scoring. The Twins never really got a threat going after that. They got three more singles, but no runner got past first base. They had no extra-base hits and did not draw any walks. It was 1-0 after one inning, and it was 1-0 at the end of the game.
WP: Sabathia (4-8). LP: Baker (2-1). S: None.
Notes: Michael Cuddyer was in right field. Denard Span, who was a rookie that year, is listed as the regular right fielder, but he didn't really take over the job until Cuddyer was injured in late June. The injury essentially ended Cuddyer's season, although he made a handful of appearances in September.
Mike Redmond was the DH in this game. Craig Monroe started the season as the DH, but he was found wanting Jason Kubel became the more-or-less full time designated hitter.
Brendan Harris was at shortstop. Adam Everett was supposed to be the regular shortstop, but he missed much of the season due to injuries. Harris and Nick Punto pretty much shared the position after that.
Matt Macri was at third base. This was another instance of a failed plan. Mike Lamb was supposed to be the third baseman. When that didn't work, Brian Buscher became the more-or-less regular at the position.
This was Macri's only season in the majors, and he got only thirty-four at bats. He made the most of them, batting .324/.361/.441. There's nothing in his record that suggests he could've sustained anything near that, but he still has a lifetime average of .324, and that's pretty good.
Other than Macri, Alexi Casilla was the leading batter on the team at .330. He would finish at .281. It was an empty .281, as his OPS was .707. That was the second-highest OPS of his career--he was at .726 in 2010.
Joe Mauer was batting .327. His average was sustainable, as he finished the season at .328 and led the league in batting.
Mike Redmond was batting .311. He would finish at .287.
This was the year the Twins lost game 163 to Chicago. When you look at the names listed above, it's remarkable that they came that close to winning the division, although it may be more due to the weakness of the division than anything else. Still, it's rather frustrating to think that, if they'd just made one or two moves to acquire some good players, rather than shopping in the bargain basement, they probably could've won the division easily.
Record: The Twins were 31-34, in second place in the American League Central, six games behind Chicago. They would finish 88-75, in second place, one game behind Chicago.
The Indians were 30-35, in third place in the American League Central, seven games behind Chicago. They would finish 81-81, in third place, 7.5 games behind Chicago.
Unabashedly stealing this from E-6.
Frank Hankinson (1856)
Ernie Johnson (1888)
Mickey McDermott (1929)
Steve Ridzik (1929)
Ed Charles (1933)
Luis Aparicio (1934)
Akira Ohgi (1935)
Tom House (1947)
Rick Burleson (1951)
Bob McClure (1952)
Ron Washington (1952)
Steve Crawford (1958)
John Vander Wal (1966)
Sterling Hitchcock (1971)
Rafael Betancourt (1975)
Tony Armas (1978)
Akiri Ohgi was a long-time manager in Japan, winning nearly a thousand games.
Rick Burleson was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1969, but did not sign.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Papa MagUidhir.
Gotta admit, I didn't know the padre tickled the ivories...