Happy Juneteenth, everyone.
Monthly Archives: June 2020
Happy Birthday–June 19
Eddie Cicotte (1884)
Lou Gehrig (1903)
Bill Swift (1908)
Don Gutteridge (1912)
Archie Ware (1918)
Mom A (1925)
Chet Boak (1935)
Bob Aspromonte (1938)
Isao Harimoto (1940)
Jerry Reuss (1949)
Duane Kuiper (1950)
Jim Slaton (1950)
Johnnie LeMaster (1954)
Doug Mientkiewicz (1974)
Alex Prieto (1976)
Dustan Mohr (1976)
Bruce Chen (1977)
Blake Parker (1985)
Archie Ware was a star first baseman in the Negro Leagues.
Infielder Chet Boak played for the Twins’ AAA affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs, in 1961, but does not appear to have actually been a part of the Twins’ organization, as records show him belonging to the expansion Washington Senators. One assumes he was loaned to the Twins’ for part of that season.
Isao Harimoto is the only person to have 3,000 hits in Japanese baseball.
I would like to wish a very happy birthday to Mom A. She is not a big baseball fan (she felt I'd had a good game if she didn't have to wash my uniform, which unfortunately happened quite a bit because I sat on the bench a lot), but she came to every game and often worked in the cramped little concession stand even on the hottest days. Happy birthday, Mom.
Random Rewind: 2005, Game Ninety-eight
DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN DETROIT
Date: Sunday, July 24.
Batting stars: Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4. Joe Mauer was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.
Pitching star: Matt Guerrier pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.
Opposition stars: Jeremy Bonderman pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out six. Magglio Ordonez was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk. Chris Shelton was 3-for-5 with two doubles. Curtis Granderson was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second), a triple, a walk, and two RBIs. Ivan Rodriguez was 2-for-4. Carlos Guillen was 2-for-5 with a home run, his third.
The game: With two out in the first, Shelton singled and scored from first on Ordonez' double, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. The Twins tied it in the third when Michael Cuddyer tripled and scored on a Stewart single.
Detroit went back in the front in the fourth when Rodriguez singled and Granderson delivered a two-out RBI triple. The Tigers extended their lead in the fifth. Guillen led off the inning with a home run, Shelton followed with a double, and Ordonez had a run-scoring single, making the score 4-1. Granderson homered leading off the sixth, increasing the lead to 5-1.
The Twins did very little offensively from the fourth through the seventh. They put two men on with one out in the eighth, but a pair of strikeouts ended the threat. Mauer led off the ninth with a home run. Torii Hunter then singled and Jacque Jones walked, bringing the tying run to the plate. But Matthew LeCroy hit into a double play and Justin Morneau grounded out, and the game was over.
WP: Bonderman (13-6). LP: Kyle Lohse (7-9). S: Kyle Farnsworth (5).
Notes: Bret Boone was at second base in one of the fourteen games he played for the Twins. Luis Rivas started the season at second, but the Twins had lost patience with him by this point and he lost the job. Nick Punto played the most games at second, with 73. Rivas had 53, Luis Rodriguez 40, Brent Abernathy 17, Boone 14, and Michael Cuddyer 11.
Juan Castro was at shortstop. He was the regular there for the first half of the season, but at this point he was just about to lose the job to Jason Bartlett. Castro played a few more games at short, 73 to 68. Punto played 34 games there and Rodriguez 10. One of those ten is this game, as will be seen below.
Lew Ford pinch-hit for Castro in the eighth. Rodriguez then entered the game at shorstop.
Mauer was batting .311. He would finish at .294. The Twins did not have a .300 hitter unless you count players with fewer than 150 at-bats. The Twins batted .259, which was next-to-last in the league. Boston led at .281.
Jones led in home runs with 23, with Morneau right behind at 22. LeCory hit 17, Hunter 14, Cuddyer 12, and Stewart 10. The Twins were 12th in the league in home runs with 134. Texas led with 260.
Lohse pitched 5.2 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on eleven hits and three walks. He struck out two. Johan Santana was clearly the staff ace, going 16-7, 2.87, 0.97 WHIP. Along with Brad Radke (9-12, 4.04, 1.18) and Carlos Silva (9-8, 3.34, 1.17), the Twins had three pretty good starters. Lohse wasn't awful as a fourth, going 9-13, 4.18, 1.43. Joe Mays was the fifth starter pretty much all season even though he was awful, going 6-10, 5.65, 1.56 WHIP. There were only three other pitchers who started games for the Twins, Scott Baker with nine, Francisco Liriano with four, and Dave Gassner with two. The Twins were fifth in the league in ERA at 3.71; Cleveland led at 3.61. They were second in WHIP at 1.23; Cleveland led at 1.22.
The Twins had a very good bullpen, with three relievers with ERAs under three, Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain, and Juan Rincon. Two more were under four, Guerrier and J. C. Romero. I know ERA isn't all that in evaluating relivers, but still, that's pretty good.
Chris Shelton had a couple of pretty good years as a part-time first baseman, batting .299/.360/.510 in 388 at-bats in 2005 and .273/.340/.466 in 373 at-bats in 2006. Despite that, the Tigers chose to go with Sean Casey (.296/.353/.393) at first base in 2007. Shelton spent the entire 2007 season in Toledo and never did get another real chance in the majors.
This game started a stretch in which the Twins would lose eight of nine.
Record: The Twins were 53-45, in second place in the American League Central, 11.5 games behind Chicago. They would finish 83-79, in third place, 16 games behind Chicago.
The Tigers were 49-49, in fourth place in the American League Central, 15.5 games behind Chicago. They would finish 71-91, in fourth place, 28 games behind Chicago.
Rewind Record: The Twins are 39-39 in Random Rewind games.
Happy Birthday–June 18
Charlie Ganzel (1862)
Russ Hodges (1910)
Ron Necciai (1932)
Lou Brock (1939)
Bill James (1949)
Andres Galarraga (1961)
Sandy Alomar (1966)
Felix Heredia (1975)
Tommy Watkins (1980)
Steve Cishek (1986)
Jason Castro (1987)
J. B. Shuck (1987)
Russ Hodges was a baseball broadcaster from 1929-1970, most notably with the Giants. He is most famous for his home run call on Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" in 1951.
Ron Necciai struck out 27 batters in a nine inning game while playing for Bristol in the Appalachian League in 1952.
It may never happen, but Bill James belongs in the Hall of Fame.
Nina Simone – I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free
Composed by jazz pianist Billy Taylor, this song was originally an instrumental called “I Wish I Knew”. Taylor recorded it in November 1963 with Grady Tate on drums, Ben Tucker on bass, and a horn section. He also wrote the first verse of lyrics, then collaborated with Dick Dallas on the rest. Ms. Simone recorded the song, now retitled as “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free,” for her 1967 album Silk & Soul. She performs it here at Montreux ‘76.
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June 18, 2020: Will They Or Won’t They?
Now I don't know what to believe about (MLB) baseball this year.
Random Rewind: 2010, Game Seventy-six
DETROIT 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Monday, June 28.
Batting stars: Jim Thome was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh), a triple, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs. Justin Morneau was 2-for-3 with a walk. Delmon Young was 2-for-4. Orlando Hudson was 2-for-5 with a double.
Pitching star: Jesse Crain struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition stars: Ramon Santiago was 2-for-3 with a walk. Miguel Cabrera was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two RBIs. Austin Jackson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and three runs. Danny Worth was 2-for-4. Gerald Laird was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.
The game: The Tigers jumped out early, scoring four runs in the first before a man was retired and never trailing after that. Jackson was hit by a pitch. Singles by Santiago and Ryan Raburn loaded the bases, and Cabrera and Brandon Boesch each hit a two-run double, giving Detroit a 4-0 lead.
The Twins got one back in the bottom of the first when Denard Span was hit by a pitch, went to third on Hudson's double, and scored on a sacrifice fly. One was all they got, though, and the Tigers moved their lead back to four in the second when Jackson singled, stole second, went to third on Santiago's single, and scored on a ground out.
The Twins started getting back into it in the fourth. Michael Cuddyer led off with a single, Thome tripled, and Young singled, cutting the lead to 5-3. In the sixth Thome homered, narrowing the margin to 5-4.
In the seventh Jackson singled, was bunted to second and scored on a Raburn single. The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Hudson singled, went to second on a pickoff error, and scored on Jason Kubel's single, bringing the margin again down to one at 6-5.
But that was as good as it got for the Twins. Laird homered in the eighth to make it 7-5. The Twins went down in order in both the eighth and the ninth and went down to defeat.
WP: Jeremy Bonderman (4-5). LP: Francisco Liriano (6-6). S: Jose Valverde (18).
Notes: Justin Morneau was at first base. As you probably recall, he was having an awesome year until he was injured in early July, bringing his season to a premature end and affecting his entire career. Cuddyer actually played the most games at first base that season, 84 to 77.
Nick Punto was at shortstop in place of J. J. Hardy, who was out due to injury. Cuddyer was at third base in place of Danny Valencia, who was out for a few games.
The Twins did not make any position player substitutions.
Morneau was batting .350. He would end the season at .345. Mauer was batting .300. He would finish at .327. Valencia batted .311. The Twins were third in batting at .273. Texas led the league at .276.
Thome led the team with 25 home runs. Kubel and Young were tied for second with 21. Others in double figures were Morneau (18) and Cuddyer (14). The Twins were ninth in home runs with 142. Toronto led the league with 257, which was 46 more than the second place team (Boston).
Liriano pitched six innings and allowed six runs on nine hits and two walks. He struck out six. He had a fine year in 2010, even if you couldn't tell it from this game: 14-10, 3.62, 1.26 WHIP. He and Carl Pavano (17-11, 3.75) were clearly a step above the others in the rotation: Scott Baker (12-9, 4.49), Kevin Slowey (13-6, 4.45), and Nick Blackburn (10-12, 5.42). Brian Duensing joined the rotation in late July and did very well--as a starter he was 7-2, 3.05. The Twins were fifth in the league in ERA at 3.95--Oakland led at 3.56. They were fourth in WHIP at 1.29--Tampa Bay led there, at 1.26.
Detroit used two pitchers with connections to the Twins, Brad Thomas and Joel Zumaya. Thomas was in his second act in MLB. He had last pitched in the majors with the Twins in 2004. He then went to Japan and to Korea before making it back to the big leagues with Detroit in 2010. He made the most of the opportunity, going 6-2, 3.89 in 49 apperaances (69.1) innings. It was the only good year he would have. He kept pitching, though, going to his native Australia and to Taiwan before ending his playing career in 2014. He has going back to Australia and appears to have a number of successful business interests there, some related to baseball and some not.
This was the middle of a three-game losing streak for the Twins. They were in a stretch where they would win just two of eight. This game was a battle for first place in the division at the time, as you'll see below.
Record: The Twins were 41-35, in second place in the American League Central, a half game behind Detroit. They would finish 94-68, in first place, six games ahead of Chicago.
The Tigers were 41-34, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Minnesota. They would finish 81-81, in third place, 13 games behind Minnesota.
Rewind Record: The Twins are 39-38 in Random Rewind games.
Sons of Kemet – My Queen is Angela Davis
A WGOM debut. Mrs. Hayes & I saw the Sons of Kemet in the People’s Republic in October 2018. They were touring in support of their album, Your Queen is a Reptile, which was one of my favorite albums of 2018. Shabaka talks about the idea behind the name of the album & each track in a brief commentary at the end of the video.
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June 17, 2020: As It Looks
Will there be baseball in 2020?
- No (72%, 13 Votes)
- Yes (28%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 18
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Happy Birthday–June 17
Pete Browning (1861)
Joe Bowman (1910)
Ray Scott (1919)
Dave Concepcion (1948)
Joe Charboneau (1955)
Tom Drees (1963)
Manny Lee (1965)
Mike Magnante (1965)
Ray Scott broadcast Minnesota Twins games from 1961-1966 and 1973-1975.
Outfielder Joe Charboneau was drafted by Minnesota in the sixth round of the January draft in 1976, but did not sign.
We would like to wish a very happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. socaltwinsfan, a very happy birthday to Mrs. MagUidhir, and a very happy birthday to nibbish's newbish.