Monthly Archives: November 2020

Keeping Track

Lara Recap: Game One

The Venezuelan League started last night.  Our randomly selected team to follow in that league is the Cardinales de Lara.

ZULIA 6, LARA 4 IN LARA

Batting stars:  Deiner Lopez was 2-for-4.  Jecksson Flores was 2-for-5 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Luis Oviedo struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Leonel Campos struck out two a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Jesus Sanchez pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Grenny Cumana was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  Jose Salas was 2-for-4.  Elvis Araujo pitched four shutout innings, giving up two hits and one walk and striking out two.  Danny Rondon pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

The game:  Zulia scored in the first inning on two walks and an Ali Castillo single.  It stayed 1-0 until the fifth.  Zulia loaded the bases with none out on a Jose Salas single, a walk to Pablo Olivares, and a single by Daniel Brito.  A walk forced home one run, an error brought home another, and another walk forced home a third.  Jorbit Vivas then had an RBI single, making the score 5-0 Zulia.

Lara made a game of it.  They got on the board in the seventh on a hit batsman, a walk, a balk, and a ground out.  In the eighth Flores singled, a hit batsman and a walk loaded the bases, and two more walks forced home two runs, cutting the lead to 5-3.

That was as close as Lara would get.  Zulia scored once in the ninth on two walks and a Cumana single.  Lara got that run back, but no more, in the bottom of the ninth on a walk, a Flores double, and a ground out, but a fly out ended the game.

WP:  Rondon (1-0).  LP:  Nestor Molina (0-1).  S:  Silvino Bracho (1).

Notes:  Molina started for Lara.  He pitched four innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits and four walks and struck out three.

There were fourteen walks in the game.  Lara pitchers walked eight and Zulia pitchers walked six.  Four of the game's ten runs were walked in.

Lara leadoff batter Yordanys Linares was 0-for-5 and struck out four times.  I don't know anything about him, but I suspect that if he continues to do that he won't be the leadoff batter for long.

Lara was 0-for-7 with men in scoring position and stranded nine.  As you can see above, two of their runs were walked in and the other two scored on ground outs.

Record:  Lara is 0-1, tied for seventh, one game behind Zulia and Caracas.

Next game:  Lara is at Zulia this afternoon.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Fifty-eight

MINNESOTA 5, SAN FRANCISCO 2 IN SAN FRANCISCO

Date:  Thursday, June 5.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5 with a triple.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs.  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out three.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Benito Santiago was 2-for-4 with a double.  J. T. Snow was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third.  Jim Brower struck out four in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk.

The game:  Guzman tripled with one out in the first and scored on a Doug Mientkiewicz single to put the Twins up 1-0.  Their first two batters in the second reached base, but it stayed 1-0 until the third.  Torii Hunter walked with one out, stole second, and scored on Kielty's single to make it 2-0.  In the fourth Chris Gomez doubled and scored on Guzman's single to boost the lead to 3-0.  In the fifth Kielty got a two-out single and scored on Pierzynski's triple to put the Twins ahead 4-0.

The Giants got back into the game in the bottom of the fifth when Santiago led off with a double and Snow followed with a two-run homer.  That was all they could do, however, and in the seventh Hunter walked, stole second, took third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2 Twins.

The Giants brought the tying run to bat in the eighth and the ninth, but did not score either time.  They had men on first and third with two out in the eighth, but Rich Aurelia grounded out.  Bonds walked to lead off the ninth and Santiago followed with a single, but the next three batters went out to end the game.

WP:  Lohse (5-4).  LP:  Jesse Foppert (3-5).  S:  Guardado (17).

Notes:  Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Kielty was in right field (there was no DH).  Dustan Mohr went to right in the ninth.

Jacque Jones was 0-for-5 and was batting .310.  He was on a 6-for-34 streak, dropping his average from .343.

Lohse's ERA was 3.01.  Guardado's ERA was 1.75.

Over his last six starts, Lohse was 3-1, 1.90.  He pitched at least 6.1 innings in all of them, at least eight in four of them, and had two complete games.  His ERA fell from 4.46.

Pierzynski hit 24 triples in his career, with a high of six in 2002.  Half of his career triples came with the Twins.

Benito Santiago seems to have kind of dropped out of memory, but early in his career he was as good a catcher as anyone.  He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1977.  He won four Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves.  He made five all-star teams.  The thing is that he did all of that, except for one all-star team, in his first six full seasons.  He was still a decent player after that, though.  He played in twenty major league seasons, which is pretty good in and of itself.  I don't say he belongs in the Hall of Fame or anything, but he was one of the top catchers in baseball for several seasons.

Record:  The Twins were 33-25, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 28

Heinie Pietz (1870)
Frank O'Rourke (1894)
Jerry Gardner (1920)
Wes Westrum (1922)
Sixto Lezcano (1953)
Dave Righetti (1958)
Walt Weiss (1963)
John Burkett (1964)
Matt Williams (1965)
Pedro Astacio (1969)
Robb Nen (1969)
Jose Parra (1972)
Carlos Villaneuva (1983)
Miguel Diaz (1994)

Jerry Gardner spent most of his life in baseball as a minor-league player and manager and as a scout.

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to Mom Runner.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 28 →

Keeping Track

Mazatlan Recap: Game Twenty-eight

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MAZATLAN 3, HERMOSILLO 1 IN MAZATLAN

Batting stars:  Hector Mora was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ricky Alvarez was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Carlos Morales pitched six innings, giving up one run on six hits and no walks and striking out four.  Alejandro Soto pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.  Roberto Espinosa pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  Jesus Pirela struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Irving Lopez was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Alex Robles was 2-for-4.  Rafael Martin struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Mazatlan opened the scoring in the second.  An error and a walk put men on first and second with one out, and a Mora single made it 1-0.  Mazatlan scored again in the fourth on walks to Ramon Rios and Ricardo Valenzuela and a double by Edson Garcia, making it 2-0.

Hermosillo got on the board in the fifth when Lopez led off with a double and scored on a pair of ground outs.  Mazatlan got the run back in the seventh when Carlos Munoz singled, Alvarez doubled, and Rios singled, leaving the score 3-1.

That was it.  The last seven Hermosillo batters were retired, and the score remained 3-1 Mazatlan.

WP:  Morales (2-0).  LP:  Jose Cerda (0-1).  S:  Pirela (6).

Notes:  Isaac Paredes was 1-for-4 and is batting .390.  Jose Augusto Figueroa was 0-for-5 and is batting .339.  Munoz was 1-for-3 and is batting .327.

Espinosa lowered his ERA to 2.12.  Pirela is down to 0.84.

Hermosillo was 0-for-6 with men in scoring position, stranding six.  Mazatlan was just 3-for-15, but getting fifteen at-bats with runners in scoring position is always a good thing.  They stranded ten.

Despite the low score, the game again took over three hours, coming in at 3:05.  Apparently the length of games is not just a major league baseball issue.

Record:  Mazatlan is 14-14, in seventh place, seven games behind the Yaquis de Obregon.  They are a half game behind sixth-place Jalisco, and also a half game out of fifth and just a game out of third.

Next game:  Mazatlan has an off day today.  They are at Navojoa Saturday.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Fifty-seven

SAN FRANCISCO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN SAN FRANCISCO

Date:  Wednesday, June 4.

Batting star:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ray Durham was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.  Barry Bonds was 2-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and two RBIs.  Jerome Williams pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks and striking out six.

The game:  The Twins took the lead in the first on doubles by Jacque Jones and Hunter.  They increased their lead in the third.  With one out, Cristian Guzman doubled and scored on Corey Koskie's single.  Hunter doubled to put men on second and third and a ground out scored one, making it 3-0 Twins.

The Giants got on the board in the fourth when Durham walked and scored on Bonds' triple.  Each team put a man into scoring position in the sixth, but neither could take advantage of it, so it stayed 3-1 through seven.

In the eighth Jose Cruz singled and scored from first on a Marquis Grissom double.  That knocked Radke out of the box and brought J. C. Romero into the game. Durham singled to put men on the corners and Hawkins came in.  Rich Aurilia hit a ground-rule double, tying it 3-3.  An intentional walk loaded the bases with none out, but Hawkins retired the next three men to leave the score tied.

Juan Rincon came in to pitch the ninth.  Jose Cruz walked with one out and went to second on a wild pitch.  With two out Durham was intentionally walked and Aurilia was accidentally walked, loading the bases.  Walking someone to face Barry Bonds was not usually a good idea, and that proved to be true in this case.  Bonds singled to end the game.

WP:  Tim Worrell (2-2).  LP:  Rincon (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the ninth.  Denny Hocking came in to play second base.

Everyone reading this knows about Radke's first-inning struggles, but it was not the case in this game.  He only allowed one hit through three innings, a single by Marvin Benard with one out in the third.  He got through seven innings allowing just one run on four hits before apparently tiring in the eighth.  He threw 88 pitches.  Still, his ERA was 5.53 after this game.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.23.  Rincon gave up a run in two-thirds of an inning to make his ERA 2.55.

There were seven doubles in the game.  The Twins had four and the Giants three.

Some guy named Joe Nathan came in for San Francisco to retire the only batter he faced in the seventh.  I'm not sure whatever happened to him after 2003.

Record:  The Twins were 32-25, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 27

Bullet Joe Bush (1892)
Johnny Schmitz (1920)
Billy Moran (1933)
Jose Tartabull (1938)
Dave Giusti (1939)
Dan Spillner (1951)
Mike Scioscia (1958)
Randy Milligan (1961)
Tim Laker (1969)
Ivan Rodriguez (1971)
Willie Bloomquist (1977)
Jimmy Rollins (1978)

No players with connections to the Minnesota Twins appear to have been born on this day. The closest we come is Billy Moran, who was part of a three-team trade involving Minnesota, Cleveland, and the Los Angeles Angels. Minnesota acquired Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall and sent Lenny Green and Vic Power to Los Angeles. Billy Moran was sent from the Angels to Cleveland in that trade.