Monthly Archives: May 2020

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 25

Al Reach (1840)
Lip Pike (1845)
Tip O’Neill (1858)
Joe Judge (1894)
Martin Dihigo (1905)
Lindsey Nelson (1919)
Bill Sharman (1926)
Jim Marshall (1931)
W. P. Kinsella (1935)
Glenn Borgmann (1950)
John Montefusco (1950)
Bob Knepper (1954)
Kerwin Danley (1961)
Bill Haselman (1966)
Dave Hollins (1966)
Joey Eischen (1970)
Todd Walker (1973)
Miguel Tejada (1974)
Chris Young (1979)
Scott Hairston (1980)
Jason Kubel (1982)
Eric Young (1985)
Pat Dean (1989)
Neil Ramirez (1989)

Al Reach played major league baseball from 1871-1875.  He later founded the A. J. Reach Company, which was the largest sporting goods company in the United States at one time (it eventually merged with Spalding).  This company also published the Reach Guide, an influential baseball publication, from 1883-1927.

Martin Dihigo was a star in the Negro Leagues, winning 250 games as a pitcher and also winning two batting titles.

Lindsey Nelson was one of the most famous broadcasters in the country at one time.  He broadcast New York Mets games from 1962-1978 and San Francisco Giants games from 1979-1981.

Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Sharman was a minor league outfielder from 1950-1953 and in 1955, reaching AAA with St. Paul.

W. P. Kinsella has written several books on baseball, most notably "Shoeless Joe" the book on which the movie "Field of Dreams" was based.

Kerwin Danley has been a major league umpire since 1998.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 25 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1996, Game One Hundred Forty-four

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OAKLAND 7, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 10.

Batting star:  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base, his thirty-ninth.

Pitching star:  Scott Klingenbeck struck out two in two shutout innings.

Opposition stars:  Dave Telgheder pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and three walks and striking out seven.  Mike Bordick was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his fifth.  Brian Lesher was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Tony Batista was 2-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base, his sixth.  Jason Giambi was 2-for-5.  Ernie Young was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his seventeenth.

The game:  The Twins put two on in the first, but a double play took them out of the inning.  The Athletics started the scoring in the second when Lesher singled, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a Bordick double.  Oakland increased its lead in the fourth.  Singles by Giambi, Bordick, and Tony Batista plated one run, Scott Brosius walked to load the bases, and a sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

Todd Walker doubled leading off the fourth but did not advance. The Athletics put the game away in the fifth.  They opened the inning with walks to Terry Steinbach and Lesher, and with one out Young hit a three-run homer to give Oakland a 6-0 lead.  They added one more in the sixth when Steinbach walked and Lesher and Giambi singled.

The Twins had only three hits.  Their last came in the sixth, when Rich Becker singled.  He got as far as third base, but that was it.

WP:  Telgheder (3-6).  LP:  Rich Robertson (7-14).  S:  None.

Notes:  Matt Walbeck was the catcher.  He shared catching duties with Greg Myers in 1996, with Myers playing in the majority of games.

Walker was the third baseman.  Dave Hollins was the regular third baseman most of the season, but he was traded at the August deadline.  Walker came up and was immediately given the third base job for the rest of the season.  He would, of course, play second base for most of his major league career.

Brent Brede went to right field in the eighth in place of Matt Lawton.  Mike Durant went behind the plate in the eighth in place of Walbeck.  Chip Hale pinch-hit for Pat Meares in the eighth.  Denny Hocking then went in to play short in the ninth.

Walker, in limited at-bats, was batting .343.  He would finish at .256.  Paul Molitor, at age thirty-nine, was batting .340.  He would finish at .341.  Knoblauch was batting .339.  He would also finish at .341.  Marty Cordova was batting .306.  He would finish at .309.  Part-time outfielder Roberto Kelly would bat .323 in 322 at-bats.

So with all those .300 hitters, did the Twins have an exceptional offense in 1996?  Not really.  They were tied for second in team batting average at .288, but only eighth in runs scored with 877.  The biggest reason, as you may have guessed, was a lack of power.  They finished dead last in the league in home runs with 118.  The team leader was Cordova with 16.  They had five others in double figures:  Scott Stahoviak (13), Knoblauch (13), Hollins (13), Becker (12), and Ron Coomer (12).

Robertson lasted 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and six walks and striking out two.  He would finish 7-17, 5.12.  Of their five most used starters, only one, Brad Radke, had an ERA under five.  The others were Frankie Rodriguez (5.05), Scott Aldred (5.09), and Rick Aguilera (5.42).  Aguilera had re-signed with the Twins on the condition that they give him the chance to start.  Dave Stevens was the closer at the start of the year.  When he couldn't do the job, they went closer by committee for a while and finally gave the job to Mike Trombley at the end of the season.

This was the only shutout of Dave Telgheder's career.  It was also the only complete game of his career.  As a starter for his career, he was 14-18, 5.39, 1.58 WHIP.  That's the pitcher who shut down the Twins in this game.  Yes, it's baseball, and it happens, but it happens to you a lot more when you're not very good.

Record:  The Twins were 72-72, in third place in the American League Central, 13.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 78-84, in fourth place, 21.5 games behind Cleveland.

The Athletics were 71-75, in third place in the American League West, 13 games behind Texas.  They would finish 78-84, in third place, 12 games behind Texas.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 24

Fred Jacklitsch (1876)
Jack Pfiester (1878)
Joe Oeschger (1892)
Willy Miranda (1926)
Ellie Rodriguez (1946)
Rob Ducey (1965)
Carlos Hernandez (1967)
Todd Rizzo (1971)
Danny Bautista (1972)
Bartolo Colon (1973)
Brad Penny (1978)
Adam Conley (1990)

Adam Conley was drafted by Minnesota in the thirty-second round in 2008 but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 24 →

Twins Top Moments

Twins Top Moments: Elite Eight

Alright, let's end this thing this week if we can.  All the #1 seeds survived and we have one #6 seed left.

Found Vin Scully's full call of Puckett's homer.

Also, got Gordon/Carneal audio for Larkin's walk off and the 3-6-3 Double Play.

#1. Kirby Puckett Walks-Off Game 6 (Def.  Erickson No-No 16-0)

#3. Kirby Puckett Robs Ron Gant (Def. Twins Win 2002 ALDS 12-2)

#1. Gene Larkin Walks-Off Game 7 (Def. Hrbek Tags Out Gant 14-2)

#3. Hrbek/Laudner Turn 3-6-3 Double Play (Def. Hrbek Grand Slam 11-5)

#1. Twins Win 1987 World Series (Def. Span Triples Down The Line 13-3)

#6. Twins Clinch Division in 2006 (Def. Santana Strikes Out 17 10-7)

#1. Joe Mauer's Final Game (Def. Thome Walks Off Sox 12-4)

#2.  Alexi Casilla Walks-Off Game 163 (Def. Baker's Near-Perfecto 12-5)

The Better Moment

  • Puckett Walk-Offs Game 6 (94%, 16 Votes)
  • Puckett Robs Ron Gant (6%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 17

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The Better Moment

  • Larkin Walks Off Game 7 (94%, 16 Votes)
  • Hrbek/Laudner 3-6-3 Double Play (6%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 17

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The Better Moment

  • Twins Win 87 Series (82%, 14 Votes)
  • Twins Clinch Division in '06 (18%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 17

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The Better Moment

  • Mauer's Final Game (59%, 10 Votes)
  • Casilla Drives Home Gomez (41%, 7 Votes)

Total Voters: 17

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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2011, Game Thirty-two

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BOSTON 9, MINNESOTA 5 IN BOSTON

Date:  Sunday, May 8.

Batting stars:  Jason Kubel was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Danny Valencia was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third), a stolen base (his second), and three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Alex Burnett pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Joe Nathan struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Adrian Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fourth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Jacoby Ellsbury was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his tenth).  Kevin Youkilis was 2-for-4 with a double and four runs.  David Ortiz was 2-for-4.

The game:  It started well.  Denard Span led off with a single and Trevor Plouffe walked.  With one out Kubel had an RBI single.  A ground out moved men to second and third, and Valencia delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 3-0.

It wouldn't stay that way for long.  The Red Sox got on the board in the second when Youkilis led off with a double and scored on a pair of ground outs.  They took the lead in the third.  Carl Crawford led off with a triple and scored on a ground out, making it 3-2.  Ellsbury singled, Dustin Pedroia walked, and Gonzalez singled in a run to tie it.  An RBI ground out put Boston ahead, Ortiz singled, and J. D. Drew had a run-scoring single to give the Red Sox a 5-3 lead.

The Twins got a run back in the fourth when Valencia led off with a home run.  In the fifth, however, Gonzalez homered to make it 6-4, Youkilis and Ortiz singled, and another RBI ground out increased the Red Sox lead to 7-4.

Boston put the game away with two in the seventh.  Gonzalez singled, Youkilis reached on an error, and Jed Lowrie hit a two-run double.  The Twins scored one more in the eighth when Plouffe doubled and scored on a Kubel single, but the Twins did not threaten to get back into the game.

WP:  Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-3).  LP:  Carl Pavano (2-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Joe Mauer was injured much of the season, so Drew Butera was the regular catcher.

The Twins used a variety of players at shortstop, none of whom really got the job done.  Tsuyoshi Nishioka played the most games there (66), as he held the job for most of the second half of the season.  Plouffe, who was the shortstop in this game, played 45 games there.  Others to see time there were Alexi Casilla (36 games) and Matt Tolbert (31).

Span was the centerfielder when healthy, but he also missed a lot of the season due to injury, so Ben Revere played the most games there.  In this game Span was in center, with Revere in left.  Delmon Young played the most games in left.  Michael Cuddyer was in right.

Kubel was the DH.  Jim Thome played the most games at DH with 59--Kubel was second at 37.  The Twins used a total of 18 different players at DH for at least one game.

Tolbert came in to play shortstop in place of Plouffe in the ninth.  Rene Tosoni pinch-hit for Butera in the ninth.

Kubel was batting .351.  He would finish at .273.  Plouffe was batting .300--he would finish at .238.  Among players with a significant number of at-bats, Mauer led the team at .287.  Cuddyer led the team in home runs with twenty.

Pavano started and pitched five innings.  He allowed seven runs on ten hits and a walk and struck out none.  Pavano was very up-and-down in 2011, and this was obviously one of his down stretches.  His ERA at this point of the season was 6.44, but it would end up at 4.30.

This was the second of a nine-game losing streak for the Twins.  They would go 8-19 in May.

Record:  The Twins were 12-20, in fourth place in the American League Central, 9.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 63-99, fifth (last) in the American League Central, 32 games behind Detroit.

The Red Sox were 16-18, in third place in the American League East, four games behind New York.  They would finish 90-72, in third place, seven games behind New York.