Monthly Archives: May 2020

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1976, Game One Hundred Forty-one

MINNESOTA 3, TEXAS 1 IN TEXAS (7 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Lyman Bostock was 4-for-4 with a triple, a double, and two runs.  Larry Hisle was 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base, his twenty-ninth.

Pitching star:  Steve Luebber pitched a seven inning complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and no walks and striking out none.

Opposition stars:  Tommy Boggs pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out none.

The game:  The Twins put men on first and third in the second inning but did not score.  The Rangers did score in the second, on a home run by Tom Grieve, but they also had the bases loaded with one out and were turned aside by a 1-2-3 double play, leaving the score 1-0.

The Twins tied it in the fourth.  Bostock singled, Hisle walked, and Butch Wynegar had an RBI single.  They still had men on first and second with none out, but could do more damage, leaving the score 1-1.  In the fifth, however, Steve Braun led off with a single, moved to third on a pair of outs, and scored on Bostock's triple.  Hisle delivered a run-scoring single to make it 3-1 Twins.

That was pretty much it.  Texas got a single in the fifth and another in the seventh, but did nothing with them.  The eighth started well for the Twins:  Bostock doubled and Hisle singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  But the game was called at that point.

WP:  Luebber (4-4).  LP:  Boggs (1-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Braun was the designated hitter and batted leadoff.  He and Craig Kusick mostly shared the DH job, with Kusick playing a few more games there (79 to 71).  Tony Oliva, in his last season, played 32 games at DH.

The Twins made no substitutions.  You could say that neither team did, really.  Reliever Craig Skok was apparently announced into the game two batters into the eighth inning, but the game was called before he could pitch to a batter.  Apparently he got credit for a game played, as he shows up in the box score and it's in his game log.

Bostock led the team in batting at this point at .331.  Carew was right behind him at .328.  Carew would overtake Bostock by season's end, winning the team batting championship .331 to .323.  This snapped a string of four consecutive league batting crowns by Carew, as George Brett took the crown at .333 and Hal McRae was right behind him at .332.  You may recall that there was kerfuffle at the end of the season, with McRae alleging that Twins outfielder Steve Brye had purposely allowed a Brett fly ball to fall for a hit so that Brett would win the batting title rather than McRae, and alleging that Gene Mauch had purposely made that happen for racial reasons.  Nothing ever came of the allegations.

The Twins home run leader was Disco Dan Ford with 20.  Hisle had 14, Kusick 11, and Wynegar 10.  A Bomba Squad they were not.  Surprisingly, they hit more homers than four other American League teams.

This was one of two complete games Luebber had in his career, and both were in 1976.  The other came on August 2, when he shut out Oakland.  Bert Blyleven was the ace of the staff until he was traded; then it was probably Dave Goltz (14-14, 3.36).  Pete Redfern had his one good year as a starter, going 8-8, 3.51.  Bill Singer pitched well after the trade, going 9-9, 3.77.  Other starters included Luebber (4-5, 4.00), Jim Hughes (9-14, 4.98), and Eddie Bane (4-7, 5.11).  The leader in wins, however, was reliever Bill Campbell, who went 17-5, 3.01 with 20 saves.  He pitched 167.2 innings of relief over 78 games.

There were no strikeouts in the game for either team.  Even granting that it was a seven-inning game, that's pretty unusual.

I assume the game was rained out in the top of the eighth, but the game log does not actually say that.

Record:  The Twins were 71-70, in third place in the American League West, 9.5 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 85-77, in third place, 5 games behind Kansas City.

The Rangers were 63-75, in fourth place in the American League West, 16 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 76-86, tied for fourth with California, 14 games behind Kansas City.

Random Record:  The Twins are 33-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 31

Socks Seibold (1896)
Edward Bennett Williams (1920)
Russ Goetz (1930)
Ray Washburn (1938)
Tippy Martinez (1950)
Joe Orsulak (1962)
Kenny Lofton (1967)
Bill Miller (1967)
Dave Roberts (1972)
Ray Olmedo (1981)
Jake Peavy (1981)

Edward Bennett Williams was the owner of the Baltimore Orioles from 1979-1988.

Russ Goetz was an American League umpire from 1968-1983.

Bill Miller has been a major league umpire since 2000.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 31 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1972, Game Eleven

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MINNESOTA 5, NEW YORK 4 IN NEW YORK (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Sunday, April 30.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Bobby Darwin was 2-for-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch.  Danny Thompson was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Dick Woodson pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out five.  Dave LaRoche struck out two in two innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits.

Opposition stars:  Mike Kekich pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on ten hits and two walks and striking out four.  John Ellis was 2-for-4 with a home run.  Roy White was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  The Twins loaded the bases in the first inning but did not score.  In the second, Ellis hit a one-out homer to get the Yankees on the board.  Later in the inning Jerry Kenney walked and Kekich hit a two-out triple to make the score 2-0 New York.

The Twins tied it in the fourth.  Darwin and Steve Brye led off the inning with singles.  With one out Mitterwald hit a ground-rule double to put the Twins on the board.  With two out, Cesar Tovar was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Thompson walked to force in a run.  With the bases still loaded the Twins had a chance to take the lead, but Carew struck out to end the inning.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth, however, when Tovar singled and scored on a double-plus-error by Thompson.  The lead lasted until the bottom of the sixth, when White homered to tie it 3-3.

In the eighth, Mitterwald singled, Danny Monzon reached on an error, and Tovar was hit by a pitch to load the bases with none out.  Thompson struck out, but Carew delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 5-3 lead.  The Twins had a chance for a bigger lead, loading the bases with two out, but a ground out ended the inning.

The lead held up, but it wasn't easy.  With one out in the ninth Felipe Alou doubled and scored on Ellis' single-plus-error, cutting the margin to 5-4.  The tying run was on second, but Thurman Munson fouled out and Ron Swoboda was caught looking to end the game.

WP:  Woodson (2-0).  LP:  Fred Beene (0-1).  S:  LaRoche (4).

Notes:  Mitterwald shared time behind the plate with Phil Roof and Glenn Borgmann, with Rick Dempsey playing a handful of games.  Borgmann did not come up until mid-season (it was his rookie year), and he took over the starting job at that point.

Rich Reese pinch-ran for Harmon Killebrew in the eighth and remained in the game at first base.

Darwin was batting .439 in the young season.  He would finish at .267.  Mitterwald was batting .375.  He would finish at .234.  Thompson was batting .311.  He would finish at .276.  Carew, who was batting just .227, would end up leading the team in batting at .318.  The Twins finished fourth in the league in batting average at just .244.

Killebrew would lead the team in home runs with 26.  Darwin would hit 22 and Eric Soderholm, who would become the starting third baseman, had 13.

1968 was The Year of the Pitcher, but 1972 was a pretty good year for pitchers, too.  Here are the Twins' starters:  Bert Blyleven:  17-17, 2.73; Woodson, 14-14, 2.72; Jim Perry, 13-16, 3.35; Ray Corbin, 8-9, 2.62; Jim Kaat, 10-2, 2.06; Dave Goltz, 3-3, 2.67.  The designated hitter would come in the next year to try to generate more offense in the American League.

LaRoche was pretty much the co-closer with Wayne Granger.  Granger had 19 saves and LaRoche 10.

Despite Kekich's RBI triple, he was not a good batter.  He was not even a good batter for a pitcher.  His career numbers are .120/.140/.134.  This was the only triple of his major league career.  He also had just one double, in 1969, and no home runs.

The Twins lost the first game of the doubleheader, snapping a six-game winning streak.  The win in the second game would start a five-game winning streak.  The Twins were 23-12 at the end of May, but would not have another month in which they were over .500.

This was a strike/lockout year, so the season did not begin until April 15.  That's why, on April 26, the Twins were only playing their eleventh game.

Record:  The Twins were 8-3, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.  They would finish 77-77, in third place, 15.5 games behind Oakland.

The Yankees were 4-8, in fifth place in the American League East, 3.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 79-76, in fourth place, 6.5 games behind Detroit.

Random record:  The Twins are 32-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 30

Amos Rusie (1871)
Turkey Mike Donlin (1878)
Rube Oldring (1884)
Al Mamaux (1894)
Twink Twining (1894)
Turk Lown (1924)
Mel Nelson (1936)
Mike Sadek (1946)
Dana DeMuth (1956)
Mike LaCoss (1956)
Mike Oquist (1968)
John Courtright (1970)
Scott Eyre (1972)
Manny Ramirez (1972)
Mark Kiger (1980)
Fernando Salas (1985)

Dana DeMuth was a major league umpire from 1983 to 2019.

Mark Kiger is the only player to have played in the major leagues in the post-season but never have played in a regular season game.  An infielder, he was added to the Oakland roster when Mark Ellis fractured a finger.  He appeared in two games in the 2006 ALCS but did not bat.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 30 →

Twins Top Moments

Twins Top Moments: Final

3 Comments

Well, thank you for entertaining me over the past month.  I would guess the results of this poll are a forgone conclusion, but let's put it out there anyway.

Best Moment of All Time

  • Touch Em All Kirby Puckett! (75%, 9 Votes)
  • Chris Pittaro and the 87 Twins Win It All (25%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 12

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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1999, Game Twenty

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MINNESOTA 6, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 26.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a grand slam (his third homer), a walk, and five RBIs.  Ron Coomer was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Terry Steinbach was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched six innings, giving up one run on eight hits and one walk and striking out four.  Mike Trombley struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Damon Buford was 2-for-4.  Reggie Jefferson was 2-for-5 with a home run.  Nomar Garciaparra was 2-for-5 with a double.  Kip Gross pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  With Radke pitching, the Red Sox naturally scored in the first inning.  Jose Offerman led off the game with a single and John Valentin followed with an RBI double, putting Boston ahead 1-0 two batters into the game.  That was all they could do, though, and it stayed 1-0 until the fourth.

Matt Lawton led off the fourth inning with a walk and Coomer singled.  A wild pitch moved men to second and third with none out, but the next two batters fanned.  Chad Allen walked to load the bases and Hunter unloaded them with a grand slam, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but Jason Varitek was retired on a short fly to right and Trot Nixon struck out to end the threat.  The Twins extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth.  Coomer led off the inning with a double and went to third on a passed ball.  Steinbach walked, and with two out Hunter and Denny Hocking had RBI singles to put the Twins up 6-1.

Boston again loaded the bases in the seventh, this time with two out, but Troy O'Leary grounded out.  They added a run with two out in the ninth when Jefferson homered, but that was all they could do.

WP:  Radke (2-2).  LP:  Tim Wakefield (1-3).  S:  Trombley (1).

Notes:  Hocking was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  One assumes Tom Kelly thought that, with Wakefield pitching, it would be a good time to give the rookie a day off.

Coomer was at third base.  Corey Koskie would eventually become the regular third baseman in 1999, but early in the season Coomer saw a lot of time there, with Koskie either on the bench, at DH, or in right field.

The Twins did not make any substitutions in their lineup in this game.

Lawton was leading the team in batting at .329 after this game.  He would finish at .259.  Marty Cordova was batting .317.  He would finish at .285.  Koskie would end up leading the team in batting at .310.

Coomer would lead the team in home runs with 16.  Others in double figures were Cordova (14), Koskie (11), and Allen (10).  The Twins pretty much missed out on the home-run happy late 90s.  They were dead last in the league at 105 home runs, forty behind the next lowest team (Tampa Bay).

Radke was easily the best starter on the team, going 12-14, 3.75.  The only others who were even competent were Eric Milton (7-11, 4.49) and Joe Mays (6-11, 4.37).  Others who made double-digit starts were LaTroy Hawkins (10-14, 6.66), Mike Lincoln (3-10, 6.84), and Dan Perkins (1-7, 6.54).  When Radke did not win, there was a good chance the Twins were headed for a losing streak.

Rick Aguilera was still the closer at this point, but rather than use him in a non-save situation Kelly opted to give Trombley the three-inning save.  Aguilera would be traded on May 21 and Trombley would become the closer for the only time in his career.  He did very well in the role, but he did not have classic closer stuff, so he never got another chance to do it.

The Red Sox stranded 12 runners and went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position.  They had to feel like this was one they let get away.

The Twins victory snapped a five-game losing streak.

Record:  The Twins were 8-12, in fourth place in the American League Central, six games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 63-97, in fifth (last) place, 33 games behind Cleveland.

The Red Sox were 10-9, in fourth place in the American League East, three games behind New York.  They would finish 94-68, in second place, four games behind New York.  They would, however, win the wild card by seven games and go to the playoffs.

Random Record:  The Twins are 31-27 in Random Rewind games.