Monthly Archives: October 2020

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 13

Charles Somers (1868)
Wild Bill Donovan (1876)
Rube Waddell (1876)
Pickles Dillhoefer (1893)
Frankie Hayes (1914)
Lou Saban (1921)
Charlie Silvera (1924)
Eddie Yost (1926)
Eddie Mathews (1931)
Bob Bailey (1942)
Randy Moffitt (1948)
Dick Pole (1950)
Frank LaCorte (1951)
George Frazier (1954)
Bryan Hickerson (1963)
Chris Gwynn (1964)
Trevor Hoffman (1967)
Damian Miller (1969)

Charles Somers was one of the founders of the American League and was its principal financier.

Better known as a football coach, Lou Saban was the president of the New York Yankees in 1981 and 1982.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 13 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eleven

MINNESOTA 9, TORONTO 6 IN TORONTO

Date:  Saturday, April 12.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 3-for-4 with two runs.  Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second), a double, and three RBIs.  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and five walks and striking out three.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Pete Walker pitched six innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out three.  Vernon Wells was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Eric Hinske was 1-for-3 with a home run.  Frank Catalanotto was 1-for-5 with a home run, his second.

The game:  Hinske hit a one-out home run in the second to put the Blue Jays up 1-0.  The Twins tied it in the third when Rivas hit a two-out single and scored from first on Jones' double.  Toronto put two on in the third, but the score remained 1-1 until the fifth, when Catalanotto homered to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 advantage.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the sixth but did not score.  Toronto put men on first and second with two out, also in the sixth, but did not score.  In the seventh, Mientkiewicz and Kielty led off with back-to-back home runs to give Minnesota  3-2 lead.  That lead lasted until the bottom of the seventh.  Wells walked, Carlos Delgado singled, and with two out Tom Wilson delivered a two-run double to make it 4-3 Blue Jays.

The Twins tied it back up in the eighth.  Corey Koskie led off with a double, but was still on second with two out.  But Kielty came through with an RBI single, and it was 4-4 going to the ninth.

In the ninth, Rivas and Jones led off with singles and Denny Hocking walked, loading the bases.  Koskie hit into a fielder's choice with no out recorded, giving the Twins a 5-4 lead.  Torii Hunter then hit a two-run single and Mientkiewicz followed with a two-run double, putting the Twins up 9-4.

Toronto did not go away quietly.  Stewart led off with a double and scored on Wells' one-out single.  Walks to Delgado and Josh Phelps loaded the bases.  That brought Eddie Guardado into the game.  A force out brought home one run, but Dave Berg then struck out to end the game.

WP:  Hawkins (1-0).  LP:  Kelvim Escobar (0-1).  S:  Guardado (4).

Notes:  Hocking was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  Michael Cuddyer was again the right fielder.  Kielty was the DH.  There were no lineup substitutions during the game.

Kielty raised his average to .375.  Jones raised his average to .366.

Hocking was 0-for-3 and was batting .091.  Hunter was 1-for-4 to raise his average to .125.  Cuddyer was 1-for-4 to raise his average to .179.

This was the second consecutive game in which Rivas had three hits.  He had five three-hit games in 2003.  Two of the others would also come in succession, in late June.

The score was 2-1 after six and ended up 9-6.  That's baseball.

So far, each series the Twins had been involved in was a three-game sweep.  They swept Detroit, were swept by Toronto, and were swept by New York.  They now had a chance to sweep Toronto.  Would they be able to?  We shall see.

Record:  The Twins were 5-6, in third place in the American League Central, six games behind Kansas City.  The Royals still had not lost a game and were 9-0.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 12

Sam Field (1846)
Pop Smith (1856)
Malachi Kittridge (1869)
Pete Hill (1882)
Dixie Davis (1890)
Rick Ferrell (1905)
Joe Cronin (1906)
Al Smith (1907)
Bob Sheppard (1910)
Tony Kubek (1935)
Glenn Beckert (1940)
Herman Hill (1945)
Garth Iorg (1954)
Jim Lewis (1955)
Sid Fernandez (1962)
Jose Valentin (1969)
Derrick White (1969)
Tanyon Sturtze (1970)
Tony Fiore (1971)
Nick Tepesch (1988)

B-r.com says "Sam Field played only 12 games in the majors, but managed to do so with three teams in two leagues. He played mostly catcher.  His career may have been doomed by his .712 fielding percentage."  It may also have been doomed by his .146 batting average.

Pete Hill is considered one of the greatest outfielders of the Negro Leagues.  Incomplete statistics list his average as .326.

Hall of Famer Joe Cronin, of course, played for the Washington franchise from 1928-1934, managing the team in the latter two years. He married Clark Griffith’s niece, which did not keep Griffith from trading him to Boston after the 1934 season.

If there was a Hall of Fame for public address announcers, Bob Sheppard would be the first one in.

Jose Valentin is the brother of ex-Twin Javier Valentin.

First baseman/outfielder Derrick White was drafted by Minnesota in the 23rd round in 1989, but did not sign. He played in the major leagues for Montreal, Detroit, the Cubs, and Colorado, playing in three seasons and totaling 116 at-bats.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Dr. Chop.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 12 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ten

MINNESOTA 6, TORONTO 4 IN TORONTO

Date:  Friday, April 11.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 3-for-4 with a triple, a stolen base, and two runs.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  J. C. Romero struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition star:  Shannon Stewart was 3-for-5 with a triple, two doubles, and two RBIs.

The game:  It was scoreless until the third.  Tom Wilson led off with a double and Mike Bordick drew a one-out walk.  Stewart then delivered an RBI double and Frank Catalanotto added a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Blue Jays.  The lead lasted just a half inning.  Jacque Jones and Guzman started the inning with singles.  Corey Koskie then hit a two-run double to tie it up.  The next two batters went out, but LeCroy hit a two-out run-scoring double to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.

Toronto came back in the fifth.  Bordick singled and Stewart hit an RBI triple to tie the score.  Catalanotto then singled to put the Blue Jays back in front at 4-3.

The Twins went into the lead to stay in the seventh.  Michael Cuddyer drew a one-out walk and scored on a Rivas triple to tie it 4-4.  Jones then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 Minnesota.  They added a run in the ninth.  Singles by Cuddyer and Rivas put men on the corners with none out, but Cuddyer was thrown out at the plate when Jones hit a grounder to second.  A Guzman infield single loaded the bases, and Koskie hit an RBI ground out.  Toronto got only one hit after the sixth, a one-out seventh inning double by Stewart.

WP:  Kenny Rogers (1-0).  LP:  Cory Lidle (1-2).  S:  Guardado (3).

Notes:  Cuddyer remained in right field.  He was replaced by Dustan Mohr in the ninth inning.  That was the only positional substitution the Twins made.

Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .333.  He was the only regular over .300.

On the negative side, the Twins still had four regulars below .200.  Torii Hunter went 0-for-5 and was batting .111.  Cuddyer was 1-for-3 to raise his average to .167.  LeCroy went up to .179.  Rivas was up to .192.

Rogers pitched six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five.  It was really a fairly typical performance for him in 2003.  He wasn't awful, but he wasn't really good, either.  He was generally good enough to keep the team in the game if they scored a decent number of runs.

Lidle pitched 6.1 innings for Toronto, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk.  He struck out nine.  2003 was the worst year of his career, as he finished 12-15, 5.75, 1.43 WHIP.  It was his only year as a Blue Jay.  He never really had a good year after leaving Oakland, although he had a couple of not-terrible ones and pitched well for Philadelphia down the stretch in 2004.

The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for the Twins.  Could they get a winning streak going?  We shall see.  They did, at least, move up one spot in the standings.

Record:  The Twins were 4-6, in third place in the American League Central, five games behind Kansas City, which had started the season 8-0.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 11

Will White (1854)
Buttercup Dickerson (1858)
Eddie Dyer (1899)
Bob Chipman (1918)
Joe Ginsberg (1926)
Bill Fischer (1930)
Bob Stinson (1945)
Orlando Hernandez (1965)
Gregg Olson (1966)
Joe Roa (1971)
Dmitri Young (1973)
Mike Duvall (1974)
Ty Wigginton (1977)

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. CarterHayes.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 11 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Nine

NEW YORK 2, MINNESOTA 0 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Thursday, April 10.

Batting stars:  Chris Gomez was 2-for-4.  A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-1 with two hit-by-pitches.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched four innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out two.  Johan Santana struck out eight in four shutout innings of relief, giving up four hits.

Opposition stars:  David Wells pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and striking out six.  Hideki Matsui was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Bernie Williams was 3-for-4.  John Flaherty was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Yankees had men on first and second with two out in the first and second and third with one out in the second, but did not score either time.  That changed in the third.  With one out, Jason Giambi walked and went to third on Williams' single-plus-error.  Matsui then delivered a two-run double to give New York a 2-0 lead.

And that was it for the scoring.  The Twins got a one-out double from Gomez in the fourth, but he was stranded on second.  They put two on with two out in the fifth and did nothing with them.  They did not get a man past first after that, managing only a pair of singles over the next four innings.

WP:  Wells (2-0).  LP:  Reed (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes;  Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Dustan Mohr was in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Michael Cuddyer was in right.

Gomez was batting .364.

The Twins had five starters in this game with batting averages below .200.  At the bottom was Rivas at .091.  Matthew LeCroy was batting .125.  Torii Hunter was batting .129.  Cuddyer was batting .143.  Mohr was batting .158.

The Twins made no lineup substitutions.

I don't know why Reed came out after just four innings.  He had thrown seventy pitches, which is a lot for four innings but doesn't seem like a lot for a game.  He would not miss his next start.  Santana obviously did an excellent job, which didn't help in this game but did save the rest of the bullpen for the next one.

You probably remember that Wells threw a perfect game against the Twins.  For his career, he was actually better against them than Mussina was:  19-6, 2.34, 1.01 WHIP in 200.1 innings (38 games, 25 starts).

After sweeping Detroit to start the season, the Twins had now been swept by Toronto and New York.  In the Yankee series, they were outscored 11-4.  In the losing streak they were outscored 30-10.  They would next travel to Toronto to take another shot at the Blue Jays.

Record:  The Twins were 3-6, in fourth place in the American League Central, five games behind Kansas City.