Monthly Archives: May 2020

Twins Top Moments

Johan Santana Region: 2nd Round

#1. Twins Win 87 World Series (Def. Rincon's Triple Play 20-0)

#8.  AJ Goes Yard (Def. Crede Walk-Off Grand Slam 12-6)

#5. Santana Outduels Mussina in ALDS (Def. Jacque Jones Breaks Up No-Hitter 13-5)

#4. Span Triples Down the Line (Def. Carlos Silva 74 Pitch CG 13-6)

#6. Twins Clinch Division in '06 (Def. Liriano Outduels Clemens 15-3)

#3.  Liriano's No-Hitter (Def. Delmon Homers Off Rivera 17-2)

#10. Sano Homers Off Britton (Def. Hunter Homers In ALDS Game 2 10-8)

#2. Santana Strikes Out 17 (Def. Rosario Walk-Off Assist 17-2)

The Better Moment

  • Twins Win 87 World Series (100%, 13 Votes)
  • AJ Goes Yard (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 13

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The Better Moment

  • Span Triples Down The Line (58%, 7 Votes)
  • Santana Outduels Mussina in ALDS (42%, 5 Votes)

Total Voters: 12

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The Better Moment

  • Twins Clinch Division On Final Day (2006) (85%, 11 Votes)
  • Liriano's No-Hitter (15%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 13

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The Better Moment

  • Santana Strikes Out 17 (92%, 11 Votes)
  • Sano Homers Off Britton (8%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 12

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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1989, Game Eighty-four

SEATTLE 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Thursday, July 6.

Batting stars:  Wally Backman was 3-for-5.  Jim Dwyer was 2-for-3.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his eighth) and two runs.  Randy Bush was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Randy St. Claire pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jerry Reed pitched four shutout innings, giving up four hits and striking out one.  I guess when you're hot, you're hot.  Edgar Martinez was 2-for-3.  Darnell Coles was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Dave Valle was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jeffrey Leonard was 2-for-4.  Harold Reynolds was 2-for-5.

The game:  It looked good early.  The Twins got on the board in the second when Hrbek and Dwyer singled, a ground out advanced both runners, and Tim Laudner delivered a two-out two-run double.  The Mariners got one of the runs back in the bottom of the inning when Coles doubled and scored on a Martinez single.  The Twins took what appeared to be a commanding lead in the third.  Backman and Bush singled and Hrbek hit a three-run homer, putting the Twins up 5-1.

But that was as good as it would get.  The Twins had men on first and second with one out in the fifth, but were taken out of the inning when Gary Gaetti was caught stealing third.  In the bottom of the inning, Omar Vizquel and Reynolds started the inning with singles, Henry Cotto hit an RBI double, a run scored on a ground out, Leonard drove in a run with a single, cutting the margin to 5-4.

The Twins held the lead until the eighth.  Leonard led off the inning with a single and Ken Griffey reached on an error, putting men on second and third.  Jeff Reardon came in and gave up a two-run single to Coles.  A bunt again put men on second and third, and Valle singled home a run to make the scored 7-5 Seattle.

The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Mike Jackson (3-2).  LP:  Gary Wayne (3-1).  S:  Mike Schooler (20).

Notes:  Laudner was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Both caught a significant number of games, Harper 101 and Laudner 68.

Al Newman was in left field in place of Dan Gladden, who was out with an injury.  It was one of four times that Newman played left field in 1989.

Johnny Moses was in center field in place of Kirby Puckett.

Harper pinch-hit for Dwyer in the eighth.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the eighth.  Puckett came in for defense, with Moses moving to left, Newman to shortstop, and Larkin leaving the game.

Puckett was leading the team in batting at .333.  He would finish at .339.  Dwyer was batting .331.  He would finish at .316.  Harper was batting .289, but would finish at .325.

Shane Rawley started for the Twins and pitched five innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out one.  This was the last year of his career and he was, to put it simply, not very good.  He went 5-12, 5.21, 1.57 WHIP in 25 starts.

This was Reardon's seventh blown save of the season, although admittedly this was a tough save situation.  He would finish with 31 saves and eight blown saves, with the last one coming July 16.  This would be his last season with the Twins.  He became a free agent after the season and signed with Boston.

Mike Schooler had 63 saves for the Mariners from 1989-1990.  He was injured in August of 1990, however, and while he did all right in limited action in 1991 he never really got back to being the pitcher he had been.  By 1993 he was done.

We again caught the Twins in the middle of a losing streak.  This was the third of eight consecutive defeats for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 41-43, in fifth place in the American League West, 9.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 80-82, in fifth place, 19 games behind Oakland.

The Mariners were 40-43, in sixth place in the American League West, 10 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 73-89, in sixth place, 26 games behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 13

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)
David Hernandez (1985)
John Ryan Murphy (1991)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

Bill McKinley was an American League umpire from 1946-65.

Bill Kinnamon was an American League umpire from 1960-69.

Sean McDonough has been a baseball broadcaster since 1988.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 13 →

Twins Top Moments

Kent Hrbek Region: #6 vs. #3 , #10 vs. #2

#6. Don Baylor Ties Things Up in Game 6 (Def. 5-4-2 Double Play 13-3)

#3. Hrbek Turns 3-6-3 Double Play (Def. Winfield's 3000th hit 15-4)

#10. Radke Wins 20 (Def. Jack Morris Escapes 5th Inning Jam 14-5)

#2. Hrbek's Grand Slam (Def. Aaron Hicks' Cannon 16-2)

The Better Moment

  • Hrbek Turns 3-2-3 Double Play (79%, 11 Votes)
  • Baylor Ties It Up In Game 6 (21%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 14

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The Better Moment

  • Hrbek Grand Slam (86%, 12 Votes)
  • Brad Radke Wins #20 (14%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 14

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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1985, Game Forty

MILWAUKEE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MILWAUKEE

Date:  Friday, May 24.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a home run (his sixth) and a walk.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twelfth) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Curt Wardle struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Ray Burris pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out five.  Rick Manning was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Cecil Cooper was 2-for-4.  Ernie Riles was 2-for-4.  Paul Molitor was 1-for-4 with a home run (his second) and a stolen base (his seventh).

The game:  Gaetti opened the scoring with a home run in the second.  In the fourth, however, Robin Yount singled, stole second, and scored on a Ted Simmons single to tie it.  Singles by Ben Oglivie and Manning brought Simmons home to give the Brewers a 2-1 lead.  In the fifth, Charlie Moore walked, Cooper singled, Yount had an RBI single, and Simmons hit a sacrifice fly, making it 4-1 Milwaukee.

The Twins' best chance to come back came in the seventh.   Brunansky and Randy Bush drew one-out walks and Gaetti walked with two out.  But pinch-hitter Mike Stenhouse flied to center and the inning was over.  Molitor hit a home run leading off the seventh and Brunansky homered leading off the ninth to complete the scoring.

WP:  Burris (2-4).  LP:  Mike Smithson (4-4).  S:  Rollie Fingers (5).

Notes:  Roy Smalley was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Gagne had some injury problems in May--he was on the disabled list for a couple of weeks, and while he was back on the active roster at this point he was not yet at full speed.  Smalley was a mostly-regular, but he had more time at DH than at shortstop.  Randy Bush was the DH in this game.

As noted above, Stenhouse pinch-hit for Tim Teufel in the seventh inning, with Ron Washington then going to second base.  Stenhouse was with the Twins for all of 1985 but was mostly used as a pinch-hitter and part-time DH.  He had just 209 plate appearances, batting .223 with an OPS of .665.

Brunansky was batting .345.  He would finish at .242.  Mark Salas was batting .327.  He would finish at .300.  Mickey Hatcher was batting .303.  He would finish at .282.  Kirby Puckett was batting .300.  He would finish at .288.

Smithson started and pitched six innings, allowing five runs on ten hits and three walks and striking out one.  He had pitched well in 1984 but slipped in 1985.  He wasn't terrible--15-14, 4.34--but it was the start of a downhill slide that never really stopped for him.  He pitched over 250 innings in 1984 and 1985, which may have contributed to his slide.  He led the league in starts in both of those seasons.

This was one of the few good games of Wardle's career.  As a Twin, he was 1-3, 5.43 in 53 innings.  For his career, he was 8-9, 6.13 in 119 innings.

This was the third of a ten-game losing streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 21-19, in third place in the American League West, two games behind California.  They would finish 77-85, tied for fourth, 14 games behind Kansas City.

The Brewers were 16-21, in sixth place in the American League East, 8.5 games behind Toronto.  They would finish 71-90, in sixth place, 28 games behind Toronto.

It's remarkable how many times a team stays in more-or-less the same place they were early in the season.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 12

Chicken Wolf (1862)
Lave Cross (1866)
Jumping Joe Dugan (1897)
Hank Borowy (1916)
Ed Runge (1918)
Yogi Berra (1925)
Felipe Alou (1935)
Ted Kubiak (1942)
Vic Albury (1947)
Bob Heise (1947)
Joe Nolan (1951)
Lou Whitaker (1957)
Kevin Bass (1959)
Willie Lozado (1959)
Mark Clark (1968)
Wes Helms (1976)
Felipe Lopez (1980)
Evan Meek (1983)
Lance Lynn (1987)

Ed Runge was an American League umpire from 1954-1970.  His son Paul and his grandson Brian have also been major league umpires.

Infielder Willie Lozado was drafted by Minnesota in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1978, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to MagUidhir’s sister.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 12 →

WGOM Videos

Duel of the Fates

Video 5 Comments

Newbish has decided that Star Wars music is the best music (he's also a big fan of Klendathu Drop and Basil Poledouris' music, but the live renditions of that on YouTube left something to be desired). After a few months of this, John Williams is my most played artist on Spotify -- ever.

I don't mind listening to cinematic orchestra music, though -- it beats Imagine Dragons. I've always enjoyed my fair share of soundtrack music, and having him get into it is fun.

As a bonus, the conductor here is VERY entertaining to watch.

2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 102 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
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Twins Top Moments

Kent Hrbek Region: #1 vs #8 and #4 vs #5

2 Comments

1. The Twins Are Gonna Win the World Series! (Def. Sweeney Hit in the Back 23-1)

8. Pedro Munoz Walks It Off in the 22nd Inning (Def.  Twins Win 15th in a Row in 10th Inning 13-7)

5. Eric Milton Tosses No-Hitter (Def. Berenguer Saves ALCS Game 2 12-10)

4. Hrbek Tags Out Gant (Def. Bobby Korecky, 1st hit, 1st win 16-5)

The Better Moment

  • Larkin Walks It Off (93%, 14 Votes)
  • Pedro Munoz Walks Off in 22nd Inning (7%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 15

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The Better Moment

  • Hrbek Tags Out Gant (80%, 12 Votes)
  • Eric Milton No-Hitter (20%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 15

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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2007, Game One Hundred Forty-eight

DETROIT 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 15.

Batting star:  Nick Punto was 2-for-3 with a stolen base (his sixteenth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched eight innings, giving up four runs on six hits and two walks and striking out seven.  Matt Guerrier struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Ivan Rodriguez was 1-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Joel Zumaya pitched 1.2 perfect innings.

The game:  The Tigers scored all of their runs in the first inning.  Ryan Raburn and Placido Polanco led off with singles.  With one out Magglio Ordonez walked to load the bases.  Carlos Guillen singled home a run and Rodriguez hit a three-run double.  It was 4-0 Detroit before the Twins came to bat.

The Twins spent the rest of the game trying to come back and could not get there.  In the third Punto singled, went to third on a Jason Bartlett single, and scored on a wild pitch.  In the fifth Luis Rodriguez led off with a double, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on a ground out, cutting the lead to 4-2.

The Twins had their best chance to tie it in the seventh.  Punto singled and Bartlett walked.  With one out Jason Kubel reached on an error, making the score 4-3 and leaving men on first and second.  But Joe Mauer hit into a double play, ending the inning.  The Twins had only one baserunner, a two-out walk to Brian Buscher in the ninth, after that.

WP:  Zumaya (2-3).  LP:  Santana (15-12).  S:  Todd Jones (36).

Notes:  Rodriguez was at second base.  Luis Castillo had been the regular second baseman, but he was traded at the July deadline.  Alexi Casilla became the regular second baseman after that.

Garrett Jones was the DH, one of the 31 games he played as a Twin.  He would go on to have a few fairly good years for Pittsburgh.  The Twins did not have a regular DH in 2007.  Players used there included Kubel (36 games), Jason Tyner (26), Jeff Cirillo (24), Mauer (19), Rondell White (19), Mike Redmond (18), Justin Morneau (14), and Jones (13).

Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Jones in the sixth.  Tyner pinch-hit for LeCroy in the ninth.  Buscher pinch-hit for Punto in the ninth.  Casilla pinch-ran for Buscher in the ninth.

LeCroy was at the end of his career.  He had spent the season in Rochester and hadn't done very well, but was given a September call up anyway, probably for sentimental reasons.  He was 1-for-3 at this point, and so was the only Twin over .300 at .333, but ended up 3-for-20.  They had four players in the .290s.  Buscher was at .294--he would finish at .244.  Tyner was at .292--he would finish at ,286.  Mauer was at .291--he would finish at .293.  Torii Hunter was at .290--he would finish at .287.

Santana's ERA was 3.14.  He would finish at 3.33.  Guerrier's ERA was 2.29.  He would finish at 2.35.

Detroit's starter was Yorman Bazardo.  He pitched 4.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks and striking out two.

This was the third of a four-game losing streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 72-76, in third place in the American League Central, 15 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 79-83, in third place, 17 games behind Cleveland.

The Tigers were 82-67, in second place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 88-74, in second place, 8 games behind Cleveland.