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Monthly Archives: November 2020
2003 Rewind: Game Sixty
MINNESOTA 6, SAN DIEGO 2 IN SAN DIEGO
Date: Saturday, June 7.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his seventh and eighth) and a walk. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana struck out seven in six innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk. Micheal Nakamura struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit.
Opposition stars: Mark Loretta was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and a walk. Scott Linebrink pitched 4.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on six hits and a walk and striking out three.
The game: Jones led off the game with a home run to put the Twins up 1-0. The Padres put their first two batters on base, but a double play took them out of the inning. In the second Dustan Mohr walked, stole second, and scored on a Luis Rivas single. Jones led off the third with a home run to make it 3-0 Twins. Later in the inning, with two out, Torii Hunter walked, Mientkiewicz singled, and Mohr walked to load the bases. Pierzynski then delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 5-0.
San Diego got a leadoff double from Loretta in the fourth but could do nothing with it. The Twins added another run in the sixth. Mohr doubled and Pierzynski had an RBI single to put the Twins up 6-0.
The Padres finally got on the board in the sixth when Loretta hit a two-out home run. They put two on in the seventh on a hit batsman and a walk but did not score. In the eighth Gary Matthews and Rondell White walked and Brian Buchanan hit a two-out RBI single to make it 6-2. Nakamura then entered the game and struck out Dave Hansen to end the inning. San Diego got only a harmless single in the ninth.
WP: Santana (3-1). LP: Carlton Loewer (1-2). S: Nakamura (1).
Notes: Santana was 1-for-3 and was batting .333. Jones raised his average to .316. Mohr was 1-for-2 and was batting .300.
This was Santana's second start of the season. He would take one more turn in the rotation, then would go back to the bullpen until mid-July.
This was the major league debut for Micheal Nakamura. It was also his only career save. There can't be a lot of guys who got a save in their major league debut, and there have to be a lot fewer for whom it was their only career save. If someone with more time and/or initiative than I have wanted to look that up, I would be grateful.
Mientkiewicz had four stolen bases in 2003. That was his career high in a season. For his career, he had 14 stolen bases in 29 tries.
Santana's ERA was 2.49.
Loewer started for the Padres and lasted just 2.2 innings. He allowed five runs on five hits and three walks and struck out two.
Record: The Twins were 35-25, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Kansas City.
Happy Birthday–November 30
Mordecai Davidson (1845)
Frank Killen (1870)
Josh Billings (1891)
Firpo Marberry (1898)
Clyde Sukeforth (1901)
Steve Hamilton (1935)
Craig Swan (1950)
Juan Berenguer (1954)
Dave Engle (1956)
Steve Shields (1958)
Bob Tewksbury (1960)
Bo Jackson (1962)
Gary Wayne (1962)
Mark Lewis (1969)
Ray Durham (1971)
Matt Lawton (1971)
Shane Victorino (1980)
Rich Harden (1981)
Luis Valbuena (1985)
Mordecai Davidson was the owner of the Louisville Colonels in the late 1880s. Under financial pressure, he tried to save money in a variety of ways, including fining players each time the team lost. As a result, he is credited with inspiring the first baseball players' strike. Nobody ever seems to name their kid "Mordecai" any more.
Yanni – Swept Away
Let's do this, gang!
This man is entirely pleated
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November 29, 2020: The Reckoning
Thanksgiving done, now we're going to be watching case counts to see if we're going to get Christmas. I mean, of course we get Christmas...but whether we'll get grief-free holiday negotiations is going to be the next big heartache.
Lara Recap: Game Two
LARA 10, ZULIA 4 IN ZULIA
Batting stars: Jecksson Flores was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs. Joantgel Segovia was 2-for-4 with a triple. Osman Marval was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Yordanys Linares was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Yonathan Mendoza was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs. Rene Reyes was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Raul Rivero pitched 4.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and no walks and striking out two. Vicente Campos retired all five men he faced, striking out two. Yapson Gomez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Oscar Campos was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer. Jorbit Vivas was 2-for-4. Christian Fernandez pitched two shutout innings, giving up only a walk.
The game: It was actually scoreless through four innings. In the fifth, however, Lara broke through. Segovia led off with a triple and Gabriel Moreno followed with an RBI single. Moreno stole second and scored on Mendoza's double. A popup was the first out, but then Cesar Izturis singled to put runners on the corners. Linares then singled home a run and Flores doubled home another, making it 4-0 Lara.
Zulia cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning, as Grenny Cumana doubled and Campos hit a two-run homer. In the seventh, however, Lara took control. Two walks and a Linares single loaded the bases with none out. Flores singled home one run, Marval singled home two, and a sacrifice fly made it 8-2 Lara. Lara added two more in the eighth on singles by Mondoza and Deiner Lopez, an RBI double by Edward Barboza, and a sacrifice fly. Zulia got single runs in the eighth and ninth but never threatened to get back into the game.
WP: Vicente Campos (1-0). LP: Cesar Jimenez (0-1). S: None.
Notes: Lara had sixteen hits. Everyone had at least one hit and six of their players had two. Even the one substitute that used, Barboza, had a hit. Thirteen of the hits were singles and the other three were doubles.
The wind was two miles an hour in from left. Living where I do, where a fifteen mile an hour wind is considered normal, that sounds wonderful.
Record: Zulia is 1-1, tied for third with three other teams, one game behind Caracas.
Next game: Lara hosts Margarita this afternoon.
Mazatlan Recap: Game Twenty-nine
NAVOJOA 2, MAZATLAN 1 IN NAVOJOA
Batting star: Maxwell Leon was 1-for-4 with a home run.
Pitching stars: Edgar Torres pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out three. Juan Ramon Noriega pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Felix Doubront pitched seven innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks and striking out five. Asael Sanchez was 2-for-3 with a home run. Omar Renteria was 2-for-3 with a walk. Christian Zazueta was 2-for-4 with a double.
The game: Navojoa scored in the first when Renteria singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Zazueta's double. Leon homered with two out in the third to tie it 1-1. Mazatlan got all three of their hits in that inning, as two singles followed, but a fly out kept the score at 1-1.
The only other score came in the seventh, when Sanchez homered. That made it 2-1, and that's where it stayed.
WP: Doubront (4-2). LP: Torres (2-3). S: Carlos Bustamonte (5).
Notes: Isaac Paredes was 1-for-4 and is batting .378. Jose Augusto Figueroa was 0-for-1 and is batting .333. Carlos Munoz was 0-for-4 and is batting .314.
Torres lowered his ERA to 2.98. Noriega has an ERA of zero.
As noted above, Mazatlan had only three hits and got them all in the same inning, the third. I wonder what the record is for most hits where you got them all in one inning.
Record: Mazatlan is 14-15, in seventh place, 6.5 games behind Obregon. They are a half game out of sixth and one game out of fifth.
Next game: Mazatlan has a doubleheader in Obregon this afternoon.
2003 Rewind: Game Fifty-nine
MINNESOTA 7, SAN DIEGO 5 IN SAN DIEGO (11 INNINGS)
Date: Friday, June 6.
Batting stars: Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Cristian Guzman was 3-for-6. Chris Gomez was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Pitching stars: Kenny Rogers pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out four. LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Ex-Twin Brian Buchanan was 3-for-6 with a double. Mark Kotsay was 2-for-5 with a double. Mark Loretta was 2-for-5 with a walk. Future Twin Rondell White was 2-for-6 with a double. Jake Peavy pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out five.
The game: In the second, Mientkiewicz led off with a double, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on a ground out to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. The Padres put men on first and second with two out in the fourth but did not score. In the fifth Rogers walked, went to second on a Guzman single, and scored on Corey Koskie's double to make it 2-0 Twins. The Padres got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Lou Merloni singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Loretta single.
It stayed 2-1 until the seventh. Jacque Jones walked, Guzman got an infield single, and Torii Hunter got a two-out RBI single. The Twins added another run in the eighth. With two out Gomez singled, Matthew LeCroy reached on an error, and Jones hit an RBI single to make it 4-1 Twins.
Eddie Guardado came in to pitch the ninth, and the game looked secure. But Buchanan led off with a double and Xavier Nady singled. The next two batters went out, but back-to-back doubles by Gary Matthews and Ryan Klesko brought home three runs and tied it 4-4.
Each team scored once in the tenth. A. J. Pierzynski singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Jones single. But White doubled, Buchanan got an infield single, a bunt moved the runners to second and third, and a two-out wild pitch by J. C. Romero tied the score 5-5.
But the Twins prevailed in the eleventh. Mientkiewicz was hit by a pitch and was on second with two out. Pierzynski was intentionally walked, but it backfired when Gomez delivered a two-run double. In the bottom of the tenth San Diego got two-out singles from Miguel Ojeda and White. But Buchanan grounded out to end the game.
WP: Romero (2-0). LP: Rod Beck (0-1). S: None.
Notes: Gomez was again at second in place of Luis Rivas. Kielty was in right field, as there was no DH.
LeCroy and Dustan Mohr were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers. Denny Hocking came in to play third in place of Koskie in the seventh.
Jones raised his average to .312. Hocking was 0-for-2 and was batting .174.
Rogers' game score was only 66, perhaps due to a mediocre strikeout total. Still, it was his second highest game score of the season to date, and he would top it only once after this, on August 15. Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.27. Guardado gave up three runs in an inning to raise his ERA to 2.70. This was one of only two times all season that he would give up three runs in a game.
We noted Rondell White and Brian Buchanan as Padres with Twins connections. Others with Twins connections who appeared in this game were Sean Burroughs and Jesse Orosco.
The Twins stranded 14, but were still 6-for-17 with men in scoring position. San Diego stranded 11 and was 5-for-18 with men in scoring position.
Record: The Twins were 34-25, in first place in the American League Central, five games ahead of Kansas City.
Dennis Locorriere – Sharing the Night Together
TODD
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Happy Birthday–November 29
Tom Hughes (1878)
Irv Noren (1924)
Minnie Minoso (1925)
Vin Scully (1927)
George Thomas (1937)
Dick McAuliffe (1939)
Bill Freehan (1941)
Otto Velez (1950)
Mike Easler (1950)
Rick Anderson (1956)
Joe Price (1956)
Dennis Burtt (1957)
Howard Johnson (1960)
Bob Hamelin (1967)
Mariano Rivera (1969)
Brian Wolfe (1980)
Guillermo Quiroz (1981)
Craig Gentry (1983)