Monthly Archives: October 2020

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Nineteen

NEW YORK 15, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 21.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.

Pitching star:  Tony Fiore struck out five in 3.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks.

Opposition stars:  David Wells pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.  Erick Almonte was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Raul Mondesi was 3-for-4 with a double and a hit-by-pitch.  Nick Johnson was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his second and third), a walk, three runs, and four RBIs.  John Flaherty was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Alfonso Soriano was 1-for-5 with a grand slam (his seventh homer) a walk, and two runs.  Bernie Williams was 1-for-5 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and a walk.

The game:  I see no need to give play-by-play of all fifteen of the Yankees' runs.  Johnson hit a two-run homer in a three-run third.  Soriano hit a grand slam in the fourth to make it 7-0.  A walk and five singles in the fifth made it 11-0.  Johnson homered again in the seventh to make it 12-0.

The Twins avoided the shutout when Mohr homered leading off the eighth.  Williams hit a two-run homer in a three-run ninth.

WP:  Wells (3-0).  LP:  Rick Reed (1-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Chris Gomez was at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Mohr was in left field in place of Jacque Jones.  Bobby Kielty was in center in place of Torii Hunter, who was the DH.  Michael Cuddyer was again in right field.

Denny Hocking came in to play third base in the seventh inning.  Gomez moved to second and Luis Rivas came out of the game.

Gomez was 0-for-4 and was batting .391.  Kielty was 1-for-4 and was batting .356.  Prince was 1-for-3 and was batting .333.

Mohr raised his average to .125.  Hocking was 0-for-1 and was batting .133.  Hunter was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .179.

By game scores, this was Reed's worst game of the season.  He lasted 4.1 innings and surrendered 11 runs (10 earned) on 10 hits and 3 walks.  He struck out four and had a game score of 2.  His ERA went up to 7.52.  The good news, if you want to call it that, is that this is as high as his ERA would ever go this season.

Fiore got his ERA down to 6.39.

This was the only three-hit game of Erick Almonte's career.  He was the Yankees' starting shortstop from the start of the season until early May, due to an injury to Derek Jeter.  It was the only time he was a starter in his career.  Of his 133 career at-bats, 100 of them came in 2003--he had 4 in 2001 and 29 in 2011, when he was with Milwaukee.  He was in the Yankee organization through 2003, was in the Rockies' chain in 2004, was in Japan in 2005, played independent ball in 2006, was in the Detroit organization from 2007-2008, was with the Brewers from 2009-2012, and played in Mexico in 2013.  His AAA numbers are .283/.361/.424, not bad numbers at all.  In the majors, however, he batted .233/.282/.331.  I don't know about his fielding, but he batted well enough in the minors to think he could've helped someone in the big leagues.  This was his only chance to do it, though, and while he batted .260/.321/.350 he wasn't going to beat out Derek Jeter no matter what he did.

So the Twins have now begun their season with six series sweeps.  They won three, lost six, won six, and now have lost seven.  We'll see if another series sweep awaits when they head to Kansas City.

Record:  The Twins were 9-10, in third place in the American League Central, six games behind Kansas City.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 20

Jigger Statz (1897)
Bruce Campbell (1909)
Mickey Mantle (1931)
Juan Marichal (1937)
Dave Collins (1952)
Keith Hernandez (1953)
Jerry Meals (1961)
Rudy Seanez (1968)
Juan Gonzalez (1969)

William Julius "Judy" Johnson was a star third baseman in the Negro Leagues.

Jerry Meals has been a major league umpire since 1998.

It appears that no players associated with the Twins were born on this day.

We also want to wish a very happy birthday to GreekHouse and to freealonzo’s mother.

Keeping Track

Mazatlan Recap: Games Three and Four

LOS MOCHIS 9, MAZATLAN 8 IN LOS MOCHIS

Batting stars:  None.  That sounds strange, that you could score eight runs with no batting stars, but Mazatlan hit no home runs and had no one with more than one hit and one walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Josuan Hernandez was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, three runs, and three RBIs.  Isaac Rodriguez Salazar was 3-for-5 with a double and three runs.  Eddy Martinez was 3-for-5 with a double.  Carlos Soto was 2-for-3.  Esteban Quiroz was 2-for-4 with a grand slam, a double, and six RBIs.  Hector Soto pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

The game:  Los Mochis scored in the first inning, as Salazar led off with a double, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  It went to 2-0 in the third when Hernandez and Quiroz hit back-to-back doubles.

Mazatlan got on the board in the fourth when Edson Garcia walked and scored on an error.  They tied it in the fifth when Ramon Rios doubled and scored on a Diego Madero single.  But Los Mochis got the lead right back in the bottom of the fifth when Salazar singled and Hernandez hit a two-run homer, making it 4-2 Los Mochis.

Mazatlan tied it back up in the sixth.  Garcia doubled and Anthony Giansanti walked.  A bunt moved the runners to second and third, a fielder's choice scored one, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-4.  They took the lead in the seventh.  Chris Roberson reached on an error, and with two out singles by Giansanti and Carlos Munoz brought home the tie-breaking run.  A wild pitch scored another to make it 6-4.  It went to 8-4 in the top of the eighth.  Issmael Salas doubled and scored on a Ricardo Valenzuela single.  An error moved Valenzuela to third, and a sacrifice fly brought him home.

Then came the bottom of the eighth.  Saul Soto walked and Juan Camacho singled.  With one out, Salazar singled to load the bases.  Hernandez was hit by a pitch to make it 8-5, and Quiroz hit a grand slam to put Los Mochis ahead 9-8.

Mazatlan went down in order in the ninth and went down to defeat.

WP:  Vidal Sotelo (1-0).  LP:  Ivan Zavala (0-1).  S:  Jose Quezada (1).

Notes:  Ignacio Marrujo started for Mazatlan.  He went 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out one.  Jonas Garibay started for Los Mochis.  He went five innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on four hits and two walks and striking out one.

Record:  Mazatlan was 1-2.

LOS MOCHIS 7, MAZATLAN 5 IN LOS MOCHIS

Batting stars:  Ricky Alvarez was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Anthony Giansanti was 1-for-3 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Marco Antonio Rivas pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Ryan Newell struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Eddy Martinez was 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, and two runs.  Amilcar Gomez was 3-for-4.  Esteban Quiroz was 2-for-4 with a home run, his second.  Leandro Castro was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.  Adrian Hernandez pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks and striking out one.  Juan Gomez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.

The game:  Los Mochis jumped out to the lead early.  With two out, Quiroz homered, Martinez singled, and Castro homered, giving Los Mochis a 3-0 lead.  In the second, again with two out, Gomez and Isaac Rodriguez Salazar singled and Josuan Hernandez hit a two-run triple to make it 5-0.

Mazatlan got back into the game in the third.  Diego Madero walked and Chris Roberson was hit by a pitch.  Edson Garcia then delivered an RBI single, Giansanti followed with another RBI single, and a run scored on a ground out to cut the margin to 5-3.  Los Mochis got one run back in the bottom of the third when Martinez homered, making it 6-3.  It stayed there until the sixth, when Saul Soto homered to make it 7-3.

Mazatlan got back into the game in the eighth.  Giansanti walked, Carlos Munoz singled, and Ricky Alvarez hit an RBI double.  A sacrifice fly made it 7-5.  That was as much as Mazatlan could do, however, as they managed only a walk for the rest of the game and went down 7-5.

WP:  Rafael Ordaz (1-0).  LP:  Carlos Felix (0-1).  S:  Juan Gamez (2).

Notes:  The decisions went to the starters.  Ordaz pitched five innings, giving up three runs on three hits and three walks and striking out none.  Felix pitched 1.2 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and no walks and striking out one.

The attendance at the game was 493.  I have no idea what average attendance is at a Mexican League game.  I also have no idea how many fans they're actually allowing into the games.

Record:  Mazatlan is 1-3, tied for seventh place, three games behind Obregon.

Next game:  Mazatlan comes home to play Navajoa on Tuesday.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eighteen

NEW YORK 8, MINNESOTA 2 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Sunday, April 20.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3 with a double.  Chris Gomez was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and three walks.  Mike Fetters pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mike Mussina struck out eight in seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks.  Nick Johnson was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs.  Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Bernie Williams was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourth), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Jason Giambi was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his fourth.  Raul Mondesi was 2-for-5 with a double,

The game:  The Yankees jumped on Twins starter Kyle Lohse, scoring three runs before a man was retired.  Soriano and Johnson singled and Giambi hit a three-run homer.  Williams homered in the third to make it 4-0.

The Twins got on the board in the fourth.  Gomez led off with a single and Corey Koskie walked.  The next two batters went out, but Bobby Kielty walked and Pierzynski had an RBI single.  The Twins missed a chance for more, however, when Koskie was thrown out at the plate.  The Yankees responded with three more in the fifth.  Soriano and Johnson again singled.  Giambi struck out this time, but Williams hit an RBI double and with two out, Jorge Posada hit a two-run double, making the score 7-1 New York.

New York left the bases loaded in the sixth, but added one in the seventh on doubles by Mondesi and Hideki Matsui.  The Twins got their last run in the seventh when Pierzynski doubled and scored on a pair of wild pitches.

WP:  Mussina (4-0).  LP:  Lohse (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Michael Cuddyer was in right field.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.

Matthew LeCroy went behind the plate in the eighth in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Dustan Mohr went to center in the eighth in place of Torii Hunter.  Denny Hocking pinch-hit for Doug Mientkiewicz in the ninth.

Gomez raised his average to .474.  Kielty was 1-for-3 and was batting .366.  Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .333.

Mohr was 0-for-1 and was batting .107.  Hocking was 0-for-1 and was batting .143.  Hunter was 0-for-3 and was batting .172.

Lohse lasted 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits and a walk while striking out two.  By game scores this was his third-worst game of the season at 16.  He had a 13 (July 8) and a 12 (July 26).

Santana and Fetters each had an ERA of zero.  Guardado's ERA was 1.17.  Tony Fiore gave up a run in one inning and had an ERA of 8.00.

Randy Choate pitched an inning for the Yankees.  He went to spring training for the Twins in 2007.

This was a four-game wrap-around series, so the Twins had one more chance to avoid a series sweep.

Record:  The Twins were 9-9, in third place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 19

Mordecai Brown (1876)
Fred Snodgrass (1887)
Bob O'Farrell (1896)
Al Brazle (1913)
Walt Bond (1937)
Sandy Alomar (1943)
Al Gallagher (1945)
Mark Davis (1960)
Tim Belcher (1961)
Dave Veres (1966)
Keith Foulke (1972)
Horacio Estrada (1975)
Michael Young (1976)
Randy Ruiz (1977)
Jose Bautista (1980)
Rajai Davis (1980)
J. A. Happ (1982)
Josh Tomlin (1984)
Daniel Descalso (1986)
Jordan Lyles (1990)

The Twins chose Tim Belcher with the first pick of the 1983 draft, but he did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 19 →