Monthly Archives: October 2020

Keeping Track

Mazatlan Recap: Game Fifteen

MEXICALI 3, MAZATLAN 1 IN MAZATLAN

Batting stars:  Edson Garcia was 2-for-3 with a double.  Carlos Munoz was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Marco Antonio Duarte pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out four.  Ivan Zavala struck out two in a perfect inning.  Alejandro Soto pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Miguel Pena pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out none.  Luis Juarez was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Eric Aguilera was 2-for-4 with a double.  Fabricio Macias was 2-for-4.  Edgar Gomez pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.  Greg Mahle pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Jake Sanchez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

The game:  It was scoreless until the fourth.  Ricardo Valenzuela walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Chris Roberson's single to put Mazatlan up 1-0.

That was as good as it got, though.  Mexicali tied it in the next half-inning.  Macias singled, stole second, and scored on a pair of wild pitches to make it 1-1.  In the seventh, Javier Salazar walked and Juarez hit a two-run homer to make it 3-1 Mexicali.

And that was it.  Mazatlan got a man on in each of the last two innings, bringing the tying run to the plate, but each time a double play ended the inning.

WP:  Pena (1-0).  LP:  Roman Pena (0-2).  S:  Sanchez (2).

Notes:  Munoz raised his average to .333.

Duarte's ERA is 1.17.  Zavala's ERA is 2.57.

Mazatlan has now lost four consecutive games.

Record:  Mazatlan is 5-10, tied for seventh with Guasave.

Next game:  Mazatlan again hosts Mexicali (4-11) tonight.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty

MINNESOTA 9, BOSTON 4 IN BOSTON

Date:  Sunday, May 4.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.  Todd Sears was 2-for-4.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.

Pitching stars:  J. C. Romero struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Manny Ramirez was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Bill Mueller was 2-for-5 with a double.

The game:  It did not look good early.  With two out in the first inning Nomar Garciaparra doubled, Ramirez hit an RBI single, and David Ortiz had a run-scoring double, putting the Red Sox up 2-0.  In the third Mueller hit a one-out double, Garciaparra walked, Ramirez hit an RBI double, and Kevin Millar had a run-scoring single, making it 4-0 Red Sox.

The Twins, meanwhile, were doing very little on offense, managing just three hits in the first five innings.  It was a different story in the sixth, however.  Mohr led off with a double and went to third on a Guzman single.  Koskie got the Twins on the board with an RBI double.  LeCroy singled to make it 4-2.  With one out Sears hit a sacrifice fly to cut the margin to one, and Michael Cuddyer delivered a two-out triple to tie the score 4-4.

The Twins had another big inning in the seventh.  Mohr singled, Guzman reached on an error, and Koskie singled, loading the bases.  LeCroy came through with a two-run single to put the Twins ahead.  An error produced another run, Cuddyer walked to load the bases, and Tom Prince hit a two-urn double to make the score 9-4 Minnesota.

Boston could come up with only a couple of harmless singles after that, and the Twins had the victory.

WP:  Kenny Rogers (4-1).  LP:  Mike Timlin (3-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Prince was again behind the plate and Sears was again at first base.  Mohr was in left field, with Jacque Jones given the day off.  Cuddyer was in right.

Doug Mientkiewicz pinch-ran for LeCroy in the seventh.  I suspect that was one of a very few pinch-running appearances for Mientkiewicz in his career.  Bobby Kielty pinch-hit for Mientkiewicz when his spot came up in the eighth.

Sears raised his average to .333.  Kielty was 0-for-1 and was batting .300.

Luis Rivas was 0-for-3 and dropped back below the Mendoza line at .198.

Rogers pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.

Guardado lowered his ERA to 0.71.

Tim Wakefield started for the Red Sox.  He pitched well for five innings, but his line was 5.2 innings, four runs, eight hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.  Wakefield was thirty-six in 2003, and so would only play another eight years.  In only four of his nineteen seasons would he have an ERA under four, and he only made one all-star team, but he pitched for a very long time.  Of course, throwing the knuckleball helped with that.  For his career he was 200-180, 4.41, 1.35 WHIP.  He appeared in 627 games, 463 of them starts, and pitched 3226.1 innings.  A pretty solid career.

The Twins took the series and had now won five out of six to get back to .500 and to climb up to second place in the division.

Record:  The Twins were 15-15, in second place in the American League Central, five games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 31

Harry Smith (1874)
Cal Hubbard (1900)
Ken Keltner (1916)
Jim Donohue (1938)
Ed Stroud (1939)
Ed Spiezio (1941)
Dave McNally (1942)
Dave Trembley (1951)
Mike Gallego (1960)
Matt Nokes (1963)
Fred McGriff (1963)
Eddie Taubensee (1968)
Steve Trachsel (1970)
Tim Byrdak (1973)
David Dellucci (1973)
Mike Napoli (1981)

Cal Hubbard was an American League umpire from 1936-1951.  He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Dave Trembley was the manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 2007-2010.

David Dellucci was drafted by Minnesota in the eleventh round in 1994, but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

Mazatlan Recap: Game Fourteen

OBREGON 2, MAZATLAN 1 IN MAZATLAN (11 INNINGS)

Batting stars:  Jose Augusto Figueroa was 3-for-5.  Anthony Giansanti was 2-for-4 with a double.  Edson Garcia was 2-for-5 with a double and a walk.  Ricardo Valenzuela was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Irwin Delgado struck out five in five innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks.  Ivan Zavala retired all four men he faced, striking out one.  Roberto Espinosa pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.  Ryan Newell pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Dallas Martinez pitched six innings, giving up one run on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.  Paulo Orlando was 2-for-4.  Sebastian Valle was 1-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two RBIs.  Fernando Sanchez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Felipe Gonzalez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up three hits.  Miguel Aguilar pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

The game:  Alonso Gaitan led off the game with a double, went to third on a ground out, and scored on an error to put Obregon up 1-0.  Mazatlan tied it in the fourth on singles by Valenzuela, Carlos Munoz, and Figueroa.

And that's where it stayed until the eleventh inning.  Valle led off the inning with a home run, and that was that.  Obregon got men to first and second with two out in the bottom of the eleventh, but Garcia struck out to end the game.

WP:  Gonzalez (1-0).  LP:  Adolfo Ramirez (0-1).  S:  Aguilar (6).

Notes:  Figueroa is batting .571.  He also has all the vowels in his last name.  Italo Mota is batting .385.  Despite that, he was pinch-hit for by Jose Luna, who is batting .357.  Munoz is batting .320.  Giansanti is batting .300.

Delgado's ERA is 2.57.  Marco Antonio Rivas pitched two-thirds of an inning without giving up a run and has an ERA of 2.84.  Gabino Avalos hit the only batter he faced, but the man did not score, so his ERA remains zero.  Zavala's ERA is 3.00.  Espinosa has an ERA of 1.35.

Mazatlan stranded thirteen men and was 2-for-14 with men in scoring position.  Obregon stranded ten and was 1-for-13 with men in scoring position.

The plate umpire's name was Socrates Marin.  It seems like Socrates is a good name for an umpire to have.

Obregon has swept the series.

Record:  Mazatlan is 5-9, in seventh place, seven games behind Obregon.

Next game:  Mazatlan hosts tenth-place Mexicali (3-11).

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Twenty-nine

BOSTON 9, MINNESOTA 1 IN BOSTON

Batting star:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched 3.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Pedro Martinez struck out twelve in a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and no walks.  He threw 108 pitches.  David Ortiz was 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, and three RBIs.  Trot Nixon was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.  Todd Walker was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Kevin Millar was 2-for-4.  Nomar Garciaparra was 2-for-5.

The game:  It was close for a while.  The Red Sox started the scoring in the second when Manny Ramirez singled, went to third on an Ortiz double, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  They threatened in the third, but the threat came up empty when Johnny Damon was thrown out trying to score from second on a single.

The Twins tied it in the fourth when Cristian Guzman led off with a ground-rule double and scored on Koskie's single.  Boston went back in front in the fifth when Jason Varitek led off with a single, stole second, and scored on Walker's single.

The Red Sox blew it open in the sixth.  Ortiz walked, Millar singled, and Nixon had an RBI single.  An error loaded the bases.  A ground out brought home one run and a sacrifice fly scored another, making it 5-1.  Walker singled to put men on first and third, an error brought home a run, and Ramirez walked to load the bases again.  Ortiz then delivered a three-run double to make the score 9-1.

The Twins did not threaten to get back into the game, and 9-1 was the final score.

WP:  Martinez (3-1).  LP:  Tony Fiore (1-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was again behind the plate.  A. J. Pierzynski missed a few games, presumably with a minor injury.  Todd Sears was again at first base--Doug Mientkiewicz was also presumably dealing with a minor injury.  Kielty was again the DH.

Michael Cuddyer went to right field in the eighth inning.  Dustan Mohr went from right to center and Torii Hunter came out of the game.

Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .306.  Kielty was 0-for-3 and was batting .304.

Mohr was 1-for-3 and raised his average to .188.

Reed also presumably was dealing with an injury--he came out of the game after just 3.1 innings.  He would not pitch again until May 14.  His ERA was 5.87.  Fiore came in and pitched well until the sixth, but his line is 2.1 innings, six runs (three earned), six hits, one walk, and one strikeout.  His ERA was 6.50.

Juan Rincon pitched the final 2.1 innings, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and a walk, making his ERA 1.46.

Jason Varitek stole two bases, his first two stolen bases of the season.  He would steal only one more base the rest of the season.  He had just 25 stolen bases in his career.  Oddly, ten of them came in one season, 2004, when he was 10-for-13 in steals.  He would steal only four more bases the rest of his career.  For his career he was 25-for-43.

The loss snapped the Twins' four-game winning streak.  It also thwarted their attempt to get back over .500.

Record:  The Twins were 14-15, in third place in the American League Central, five games behind Kansas City.  They remained a half game behind second-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 30

Ed Delahanty (1867)
Buck Freeman (1871)
Charlie Deal (1891)
Clyde Manion (1896)
Bill Terry (1898)
Dave Barnhill (1914)
Leon Day (1916)
Bobby Bragan (1917)
Joe Adcock (1927)
Jim Perry (1935)
Bruce Gardner (1938)
Jim Ray Hart (1941)
Mickey Rivers (1948)
Houston Jimenez (1957)
Dave Leeper (1959)
Gerald Perry (1960)
Lee Tunnell (1960)
Dave Valle (1960)
Scott Garrelts (1961)
Mark Portugal (1962)
Danny Tartabull (1962)
Marco Scutaro (1975)
Jason Bartlett (1979)
Laynce Nix (1980)
Shane Robinson (1984)

Pitcher Dave Barnhill was a four-time all-star in the Negro Leagues.

Pitcher Leon Day was a star in the Negro Leagues, primarily with the Newark Eagles.

Dave Leeper was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1978, but did not sign.

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