Happy Birthday–November 25

Bert Cunningham (1865)
Jakie May (1895)
Charles Baron (1913)
Joe DiMaggio (1914)
Mike Ryan (1941)
Bucky Dent (1951)
Dave Baker (1956)
Chico Walker (1958)
Mark Whiten (1966)
Octavio Dotel (1973)
Nick Swisher (1980)

First baseman Charles Baron played in the minors from 1931-1951, batting .306 with 2,319 hits.  He was a player-manager for the last five of those seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 25

2003 Rewind: Game Fifty-four

SEATTLE 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 31.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh) and two RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.  Johan Santana pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), a triple, and two runs.  John Olerud was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Bret Boone was 2-for-5.  Edgar Martinez was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Ryan Franklin pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  There was no score, or even a threat, until the fourth.  Boone led off with a single and Olerud hit a one-out single.  With two down, Randy Winn and Jeff Cirillo each hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 Mariners.  It went to 4-0 in the fifth.  Suzuki led off with a triple and scored on a ground out.  Edgar Martinez followed with a home run.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth.  Torii HunterDoug Mientkiewicz, and Mohr all singled to lead off the inning, bringing in a run and putting men on first and second.  A bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out, but the Twins could not get either run across, leaving the score 4-1.

Suzuki homered in the top of the seventh to make it 5-1.  Mohr homered in the bottom of the seventh to make it 5-2.  And that was it.  The Twins did not get a hit after Mohr's homer.

WP:  Franklin (4-3).  LP:  Rick Reed (3-6).  S:  Kazuhiro Sasaki (9).

Notes:  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Chris Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .330.  Mohr was batting .322.

Reed started and pitched seven innings, but allowed five runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out four.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.46.  Santana lowered his ERA to 2.68.

The first five Seattle batters were batting over .500.  Suzuki was at .317, Carlos Guillen was at .321, Boone was at .308, Martinez was at .314, and Olerud was at .302.

Suzuki would set a career high, up to that point, in home runs in 2003 at 13.  He would top that in 2005 with 15.  For his career, he hit 117 home runs, which is more than I would have thought.  He hit 118 in nine seasons in Japan, with a high of 25 in 1995.

This was the first time the Twins had lost three in a row since a six-game losing streak from April 18-24.

Record:  The Twins were 31-23, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Mazatlan Recaps: Games Twenty-four and Twenty-five

MAZATLAN 6, LOS MOCHIS 5 IN MAZATLAN

Batting stars:  Hector Mora was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.  Carlos Munoz was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his second.  Jose Augusto Figueroa was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Fernando Burgueno pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Alejandro Soto pitched a perfectinning.

Opposition stars:  Amilcar Gomez was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.  Hector Villalobos pitched 4.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks and striking out two.

The game:  Los Mochis took the early lead with four in the second inning.  Two walks and a ground out put men on second and third.  Rodolfo Amador hit an RBI single and Gomez hit a two-out three-run homer to make it 4-0 Los Mochis.

Mazatlan chipped away at the lead.  In the third Mora doubled and Maxwell Leon tripled to make it 4-1.  In the fourth Anthony Giansanti walked, took second on a balk, and scored on a Ricardo Valenzuela double to make it 4-2.

Mazatlan took the lead in the seventh.  Mora doubled and went to third on a balk.  A hit batsman put runners on the corners.  A sacrifice fly scored one and Munoz' two-run homer put Mazatlan up 5-4.

They did not hold the lead.  In the eighth Josuan Hernandez singled, Esteban Quiroz walked, and Leandro Castro had a run-scoring single to tie it 5-5.  But Mazatlan triumphed in the ninth.  Isaac Paredes hit a two-out single and scored from first on a single-plus-error by Munoz to win the game.

WP:  Soto (1-0).  LP:  Fabian Cota (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Figueroa is batting .439.  Paredes was 1-for-3 and is batting .385.  Munoz is batting .326.  Giansanti was 1-for-3 and is batting .308.

Burgueno has an ERA of 1.80.  Roberto Espinosa gave up a run in one inning and has an ERA of 1.88.

There were two balks in the game.  Both led to runs.

MAZATLAN 5, LOS MOCHIS 1 IN MAZATLAN

Batting stars:  Carlos Munoz was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two runs.  Maxwell Leon was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Edgar Torres pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out six.  Jesus Pirela pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Isaac Rodriguez Salazar was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  Each team scored once in the fourth.  In the top of the inning Esteban Quiroz walked, went to third on a Leandro Castro single, and scored on a ground out.  In the bottom of the inning Munoz homered, making the score 1-1.

Mazatlan took the lead in the sixth.  With one out, Isaac Paredes walked, Munoz singled, and Anthony Giansanti hit a two-run triple, putting Mazatland up 3-1.  They got a couple of insurance runs in the seventh.  With two out Jose Augusto Figueroa walked, Leon singled, and Paredes hit a two-run double, increasing the lead to 5-1.  Los Mochis threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with two out, but could not change the score.

WP:  Torres (2-2).  LP:  Cristian Castillo (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Figueroa was 0-for-3 and is batting .409.  Paredes was 1-for-3 and is batting .379.  Munoz is batting .333.  Giansanti was 1-for-4 and is batting .305.

Juan Ramon Noriega pitched two-thirds of an inning scorelessly and has an ERA of zero.  Marco Antonio Rivas struck out the only man he faced and has an ERA of 3.00.  Parela's ERA is 1.17.

Los Mochis was 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.

Record:  Mazatlan is 11-14, tied for seventh place with Mexicali, eight games behind Obregon.

Next game:  The next game for Mazatlan is Tuesday night, when they host Hermosillo (15-8).

 

2003 Rewind: Game Fifty-three

SEATTLE 6, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 30.

Batting star:  Cristian Guzman was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Joel Piniero struck out twelve in a complete game shutout, giving up four hits and two walks.  Randy Winn was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs.  Ben Davis was 2-for-4.  Carlos Guillen was 2-for-5.  Mike Cameron was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, his sixth.

The game:  The Mariners opened the scoring in the second.  Randy Winn walked, went to third on a Jeff Cirillo double, and scored on a Davis single, making it 1-0.  They added two more in the fourth.  Singles by Edgar Martinez, John Olerud, and Randy Winn plated one run and a sacrifice fly brought home another, increasing the lead to 3-0.  They got three more in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

And that was it.  The Twins threatened in the third when Lew Ford led off with a walk and went to second on Jacque Jones' one-out single.  A fly out and a strikeout ended the inning.  The threatened again in the ninth when Guzman and Corey Koskie singled with one out.  The next two batters struck out to end the game.

WP:  Piniero (5-4).  LP:  Lohse (4-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Ford was in center field in place of Torii Hunter.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .337.  Ford was 0-for-2 to drop his average to .333.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-3 and was batting .313.  Matthew LeCroy was 0-for-4, dropping his average below .300 for the first time since May 10.

Lohse's ERA went to 3.09.

This was one of two shutouts for Piniero in 2003.  The other would come on July 26 in Texas.  His twelve strikeouts were easily a season high--his next highest total was eight, on September 10.

This was the first time the Twins had lost two games in a row since April 26-27.

Record:  The Twins were 31-22, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Happy Birthday–November 23

This is a great day for names:

Chief Zimmer (1860)
Hi Church (1863)
Socks Seybold (1870)
George Stovall (1877)
Jimmy Sheckard (1878)
Runt Marr (1891)
Freddy Leach (1897)
Beans Reardon (1897)
Bubber Jonnard (1897)
Prince Hal Schumacher (1910)
Bill Gates (1918)
Charles Osgood (1926)
John Anderson (1929)
Jack McKeon (1930)
Luis Tiant (1940)
Tom Hall (1947)
Ken Schrom (1954)
Brook Jacoby (1959)
Dale Sveum (1963)
David McCarty (1969)
Adam Eaton (1977)
Jonathan Papelbon (1980)
Justin Turner (1984)
Lewis Thorpe (1995)

Runt Marr played in the minor leagues for nineteen years, managed in the minors for fifteen years, and was also a scout for many years.

Beans Reardon was a National League umpire from 1926-1949.

Bubber Jonnard was a long-time coach and scout.

Bill Gates was a minor league pitcher from 1938-1940 and 1946-1951.

Jack McKeon was a long-time manager and general manager, leading the Florida Marlins to a World Series victory in 2003.  In 2011, he became the second-oldest manager in major league history at age 80.  He also managed in the minor leagues for the Senators/Twins from 1957-64 and again in 1968, scouting for the Twins from 1965-67.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 23