Monthly Archives: June 2020

The Nation Has An Appetite

Pepper’s Summer Watermelon Cocktail

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I've always been happy to leave the cocktail mixing to the pros, but while sheltering in place, I've been playing around. My younger son is really into watermelon these days, which made me wonder how watermelon might work in a cocktail. I came across this recipe, and after a little experimentation, I might just have found my favorite summer cocktail. It's not to sweet and has a spicy kick that I can't get enough of. Plus, the watermelon "ice cubes" are genius.

Planning note: you'll need to prepare the infused vodka, simple syrup, and watermelon ice cubes ahead of time. This might seem like more work than you want to do for an easy summer cocktail, but it's really not all that much. If you're making cocktails at home, you likely already have a jar of simple syrup in the fridge. And I've found that the extra watermelon juice is a great addition to fruit smoothies, which I've been making regularly for the boys.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 oz. jalapeno-infused vodka
  • 1 small, seedless watermelon (or a package of cubed watermelon), from which you'll make juice and ice cubes
  • 1 lime, juiced to yield 1 tablespoon juice
  • 1 tablespoon simple syrup
  • splash of sparkling water or club soda
  • lime wedge for garnish (if desired)

DIRECTIONS

To make the jalapeno-infused vodka:
Measure your desired amount of vodka into a mason jar. (I've done this with 4 ounces and 8 ounces.) Slice 1 jalapeno pepper into rounds and add to mason jar. Put the lid on and let infuse for 30 minutes. (This gets quite spicy quickly, so you do NOT want to forget about it and let it sit for hours!) Strain out pepper and seeds and return vodka to mason jar. Store at room temperature until ready to use.

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To make the cocktail:
Cut watermelon into cubes approx. 1.5 inches square. For each drink you plan to make, throw four cubes into a ziploc bag and freeze for 2 hours (or longer). These will be your ice cubes. Take about a cup of watermelon cubes and liquefy, using an immersion blender, full-size blender, or food processor. Note: I strained the juice the first time I made it, but I found that by not straining it, I get more watermelon flavor in the drink, which I prefer.

Measure 1/4 cup (2 oz.) watermelon juice, 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon simple syrup, and 2 oz. jalapeno-infused vodka. If you have a cocktail shaker, shake it all up and strain into a glass over your watermelon ice cubes. If you're shaker-less like me, stir vigorously and then pour into a glass over your watermelon ice cubes. Add a splash of sparkling water (I probably use about 1 oz.). Garnish with a lime if desired. And enjoy!

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1995, Game Sixteen

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OAKLAND 13, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 13.

Batting stars:  Marty Cordova was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his third), a double, and a stolen base (his second).  Chuck Knoblauch was 3-for-5 with a double.  Scott Leius was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Jerald Clark was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.

Pitching star:  Mo Sanford pitched 3.1 innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Stan Javier was 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Mark McGwire was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), two walks, three runs, and three RBIs.  Terry Steinbach was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs.  Rickey Henderson was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Geronimo Berroa was 2-for-5 with a walk and three runs.  Ruben Sierra was 2-for-6 with a two-run homer (his third) and two runs.  Jim Corsi pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Mark Acre pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and three walks and striking out one.

The game:  McGwire walked leading off the second and Sierra followed with a two-run homer, giving the Athletics a 2-0 lead.  Henderson led off the third with a home run to make it 3-0.  Later in the third Berroa walked, Sierra singled, and Steinbach hit a two-out two-run double to make the score 5-0 Oakland.

The Twins got back into the game in the bottom of the third.  Knoblauch led off with a double and scored on an Alex Cole triple.  Kirby Puckett followed with an RBI single.  Clark singled, Scott Stahoviak drew a one-out walk to load the bases, and Leius walked to force in a run, making the score 5-3.  The Twins still had the bases loaded with just one out, but Matt Walbeck struck out and Pat Meares flied to left to end the inning.

Javier led off the fourth with a home run to increase the Athletics' lead to 6-3.  Oakland then loaded the bases, but could do no more damage.  The score stayed 6-3 through six.

In the seventh Steinbach doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Javier's single to make it 7-3.  The Twins stayed in it in the bottom of the seventh, though, as Clark hit a one-out double and Cordova followed with a two-run homer to reduce the margin to 7-5.

That was as good as it got, though.  Brent Gates opened the eighth with a walk.  Singles by Berroa and McGwire followed, bringing home a run.  A sacrifice fly scored another, and an RBI double by Scott Brosius made the score 10-5.  The Athletics added three more in the ninth.  Henderson singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Berroa's single.  McGwire then hit a two-run homer, bringing the final score to 13-5.

WP:  Acre (1-0).  LP:  Pat Mahomes (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Cole was in center.  He was the more-or-less regular centerfielder at the start of the season, but was apparently injured at the end of May.  Rich Becker would take over the centerfield job.

Clark was in right.  Kirby Puckett, the regular right fielder was moved to DH.  Pedro Munoz made the most starts at DH with 77.  Puckett was there for 28 games, Chip Hale 27, Matt Merullo 13, and Kevin Maas 12.

Cole may actually have hurt himself in this game.  He came out after grounding out to shortstop in the sixth.  David McCarty replaced him and went to right field, with Clark moving to left and Cordova to center.  There's no apparent reason to do that other than injury or illness.

Hale pinch-hit for Clark in the ninth.

The Twins' leading batter in the young season was Clark at .387.  He would finish at .339 but would play only 36 games due to injuries.  Stahoviak was batting .350--he would finish at .266.  Cole was batting .327--he would finish at 342 but would play only 28 games due to injuries.  The Twins' leading batter would be Knoblauch at .333.  Puckett batted .314 and Munoz batted .301.  The Twins were fourth in batting average at .279.  Cleveland led at .291.

Cordova led the team with 24 homers.  This was the season he won Rookie of the Year, batting .277/.352/.486 to narrowly beat out Garret Anderson.  Anderson had a higher batting average, a higher slugging percentage, and tied Cordova in OBP, but did play 31 fewer games.  Puckett was second on the team with 23 homers, Munoz hit 18, Meares 12, and Knoblauch 11.  The Twins were next-to-last in home runs with 120, beating out Kansas City by one.  Cleveland led with 207.

Mahomes started but lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks and striking out two.  The Twins' rotation left a lot to be desired, to put it mildly.  The only starter with an ERA under five was Kevin Tapani, and he was just barely under at 6-11, 4.92.  Brad Radke made the most starts, 28, but went 11-14, 5.32 in his rookie season.  Mike Trombley was 4-8, 5.62; Frankie Rodriguez was 5-6, 5.38; Scott Erickson was 4-6, 5.95 before being traded to Baltimore in July.  Jose Parra was 1-5, 7.95.  The Twins were, of course, terrible in 1995, but looking at that rotation, it's surprising they weren't even worse.

What a group of forgettable (and sometimes forgotten) Twins were in this game.  Kevin Campbell.  Jerald Clark.  Alex Cole.  Chip Hale.  Vince Horsman.  Mo Sanford.  Scott Stahoviak.  Other Twins that played in 1995 include Steve Dunn, Riccardo Ingram, Kevin Maas, Dan Masteller, Matt Merullo, Oscar Munoz, Brian Raabe, Erik Schullstrom, Dave Stevens, and Scott Watkins.  Good grief.

1995 featured a strike at the beginning of the season, which is why the Twins' sixteenth game was played on May 13.

This was the sixth game of a stretch in which the Twins lost six of seven.

Record:  The Twins were 5-11, in fifth (last) place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 56-88, in fifth place, 44 games behind Cleveland.  Their winning percentage figures out to a record of 63-99 over 162 games.

The Athletics were 8-9, in third place in the American League West, two games behind Seattle.  They would finish 67-77, in fourth (last) place, 11.5 games behind Seattle.

Random record:  The Twins are 38-36 in Random Rewind games.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 14

Charlie Buffinton (1861)
Harvey Watkins (1869)
Charles Barrett (1871)
Don Newcombe (1926)
Jim Constable (1933)
Bill Fahey (1950)
Greg Brock (1957)
Mike Laga (1960)
George Tsamis (1967)
Peter Munro (1975)
Michael Hollimon (1982)

I wonder if Charlie Buffinton had a similar problem to Ty Wigginton, with people constantly calling him "Buffington".

 Harvey Watkins managed the New York Giants for 35 games in 1895.  Most of his career was spent managing the Barnum & Bailey Circus and the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.

Charles Barrett was a long-time scout, mostly working for whatever team was employing Branch Rickey.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 14 →

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1973, Game One Hundred Twenty-eight

MILWAUKEE 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

DateL  Sunday, August 26.

Batting star:  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven struck out eleven in 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks.  Bill Hands retired all four men he faced, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jim Slaton pitched 8.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out none.  Bob Coluccio was 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, his tenth.  Pedro Garcia was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.

The game:  The Brewers put men on second and third with none out in the first, but Blyleven came back to strike out Johnny Briggs and George Scott before retiring Don Money on a liner to left.  In the second, however, Tim Johnson hit a two-out single and Garcia followed with a two-run homer, putting Milwaukee ahead 2-0.

Holt had a leadoff double in the third but did nothing came of it.  That was the only time either team got a man past first base until the sixth, when Coluccio doubled and Money delivered a two-out single to make it 3-0.

Brewers starter Slaton appeared to be in complete control.  In the ninth, however, Larry Hisle led off with a triple and Tony Oliva singled him home, making the score 3-1 and bringing the tying run up to bat.  Mike Adams came in to run for Oliva and got as far as second with two out.  Chris Short came in to face Steve Braun, but when Bobby Darwin pinch-hit he was intentionally walked.  That was the only man Short would face, as Carlos Velazquez came in to face pinch-hitter Eric Soderholm.  Soderholm delivered an RBI single, cutting the margin to 3-2 and putting the tying run on third.  Jerry Terrell fouled out to third, however, and the game was over.

WP:  Slaton (9-11).  LP:  Blyleven (15-14).  S:  Velazquez (2).

Notes:  Phil Roof caught in place of George Mitterwald, presumably because it was a day game after a night game.

Rich Reese was at first base, one of only four games he started for the Twins.  He was at the end of his career, having been released by Detroit a couple of weeks earlier, and was apparently brought back to the Twins out of sentiment.  Harmon Killebrew was still the primary first baseman, but he missed a couple of months due to injury.  Joe Lis played the most games at first in 1973, with 96.

Terrell shared the shortstop position with Danny Thompson.  Both were pretty much dead weight offensively.  Terrell was a little better, at .265/.297/.315.  Thompson batted .225/.259/.282.  Thompson played more games at short, 95 to 81.

Darwin was the regular right fielder, but was given the day off.  Holt, who played the most games in left (80), was in right, with Hisle in left.  Hisle also played quite a bit of center field, but Steve Brye played the most games there and was there in this game.

All the substitutions came in the ninth inning and are mentioned above.

Carew, not surprisingly, was leading the team in batting at .347.  He would finish at .350 and be the team's only .300 hitter.  The Twins would actually lead the league in batting at .270.  Carew was obviously a big part of that, but Holt batted .297, Oliva .291, and Braun .283.  Soderholm also batting .297 in 111 at-bats.

Darwin led the team in home runs with 18.  Mitterwald and Oliva each had 16, Hisle 15, and Holt 11.  The Twins were seventh in home runs with 120.

Blyleven, of course, was the ace of the pitching staff, going 20-17, 2.52.  Dick Woodson was 10-8, 3.95; Jim Kaat was 11-12, 4.41; Joe Decker was 10-10, 4.18.  Others to make double digit starts were Hands (7-10, 3.49) and Dave Goltz (6-4, 5.25).  Hands' record is deceiving.  In his fifteen starts he went 5-7, 4.55.  Moved to the bullpen, he was excellent, going 2-3, 1.34, 1.09 WHIP, and two saves in 47 relief innings.

The Twins didn't really have a closer.  Ken Sanders started the year as the closest thing to one, but he often was used for two or three innings.  He had eight saves, but also had an ERA of over six when he was waived in early August.  Ray Corbin took over the closer role and actually was fairly good, getting 14 saves.  The Twins preferred to have him in a longer role, so Bill Campbell was eventually made the closer near the season's end.

This was Bob Coluccio's rookie year.  He was a regular for Milwaukee for two seasons but couldn't get his batting average out of the .220s.  Presumably he was considered a fine fielder.

This was also Pedro Garcia's rookie year.  He batted .245/.296/.395, which was good enough to place him second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Al Bumbry.  That was as good as it would get for him, though.  He slumped to .199 the next year and was never a regular again.  His was a second baseman, and presumably was not all that good in the field, because while he spent a few seasons as a reserve he was never used at another position.

This was the end of a stretch in which the Twins lost eight out of nine.  They would win seven of the next nine.

Record:  The Twins were 60-68, in third place in the American League West, 16.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 81-81, in third place, 13 games behind Oakland.

The Brewers were 62-65, in fifth place in the American League East, 12.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 74-88, in fifth place, 23 games behind Baltimore.

Random record:  The Twins are 38-35 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 13

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Jim Mutrie (1851)
Bill Bergen (1878)
Gene Desautels (1907)
Mel Parnell (1922)
Dave Rosenfield (1931)
Tom Cheek (1939)
Marcel Lachemann (1941)
Antonio Pulido (1951)
Ernie Whitt (1952)
Darrell May (1972)
Pedro Strop (1985)
Jonathan Lucroy (1986)

Jim Mutrie managed teams in New York for nine years.  He has been called the founding father of baseball in New York City.  He is the one who gave the Giants their nickname.  The story is that whenever he was credit for the team's success, he would say, "It was my boys--my giants!--who did it."

Catcher Bill Bergen spent eleven seasons in the majors.  He appeared in 947 games and had 3,028 at-bats.  His lifetime stats are .170/.194/.201.  Everything you read about him says he was a tremendous defensive catcher, and one assumes he must have been.

Dave Rosenfield was the general manager of the Tidewater/Norfolk Tides for over forty-five years.

Tom Cheek was the voice of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1977-2004.

Antonio Pulido was a closer in the Mexican League for many years, getting 197 saves.  He also had 70 saves in the Mexican Pacific League.

We would like to wish a happy birthday to rpz.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 13 →

Friday Music Day

FMD 6/12/2020 – Spotify vs. Pandora vs. ???

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We've discussed this before, I'm sure, but what music services do you use? I was finding myself getting into a bit of a rut with Pandora - it seems to have stopped rotating in new songs unless and until I make a conscious addition to the playlist, and then it really gloms onto that artist. I'd never been much into Spotify - it just seemed silly to rotate through multiple services - but given the Pandora problem, I decided to give it more of a try. The weekly curated lists have been excellent - a handful of songs I know, but many more I don't, including some news stuff, deep cuts and covers, many of which I have genuinely enjoyed.

I'm trying not to like or dislike too many songs on the service though, for fear it will become another Pandora, and only cater to my identified likes, when, in fact, the thing I like most is variety and finding new songs.

What services do you use? How do you use them? Drop your lists. Nominate your summer songs. Especially that. Nominate your summer songs!