Monthly Archives: November 2020

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-six

MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 5 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Thursday, May 22.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Chris Gomez was 2-for-5 with a triple, a double, and two runs.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double.  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 with a home run (his seventh), two walks, and three RBIs.

Pitching star:  Juan Rincon retired all five batters he faced.

Opposition stars:  Eric Brynes was 1-for-3 with a home run (his third) and two RBIs.  Mark Ellis was 1-for-2 with a home run (his fourth), two walks, and two runs.

The game:  The Twins had two on with two out in the second but did not score.  In the third, however, Jones led off with a double and Kielty hit a one-out two-run homer to put the Twins up 2-0.

The lead lasted until the bottom of the third.  Ellis led off with a walk and Chris Singleton doubled, putting men on second and third.  A sacrifice fly scored a run, Scott Hatteberg singled, and Eric Chavez hit a two-run triple to put the Athletics up 3-2.  That lead lasted until the top of the fourth.  Gomez led off with a double and scored on Pierzynski's single to tie it.  Luis Rivas reached on a fielder's choice and with one out Cristian Guzman and Kielty walked, putting the Twins up 4-3.  Torii Hunter then singled to make it 5-3.

Brynes led off the fifth with a home run to cut the lead to 5-4.  The Twins loaded the bases in the seventh but did not score.  They had two on with two out in the eighth but did not score.  In the ninth, however, Gomez hit a one-out triple and scored on Rivas' two-out single to give the Twins an insurance run at 6-4.  They needed it, as Ellis hit a two-out home run to make the score 6-5.  Adam Piatt then grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Joe Mays (5-3).  LP:  John Halama (2-3).  S:  Guardado (12).

Notes:  Matthew LeCroy was again at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  He was replaced, however, in the second inning by Denny Hocking.  There's no obvious reason revealed by the play-by-play, so one assumes it was either injury or illness.

Gomez was at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Kielty was the DH.

Jones raised his average to .341.  LeCroy was 0-for-1 and was batting .319.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-5 and was batting .305.

Hocking was 1-for-4 and was batting .175.

Mays pitched five innings, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks and striking out two.  His ERA was 5.43.

Rincon lowered his ERA to 1.27.  J. C. Romero retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 3.00.  LaTroy Hawkins retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.25.  Guardado gave up a run in one inning and had an ERA of 1.83.

Halama started for Oakland.  He went six innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and four walks and striking out three.  I remember him as being a lot better than he actually was.  He had only one year with an ERA under four (3.56 in 2002) and four years with an ERA over five.  His best WHIP was 1.36 in 2004 and he only had one other season where it was under 1.40.  For his career, he was 56-48, 4.65, 1.45 WHIP in 911 innings.  He was in 262 games, 119 of them starts.

Chris Berman's nicknames eventually got old, but I did like John "Dalai" Halama.

The Twins had won five of six, seven of nine, thirteen of seventeen, and seventeen of twenty-two.

Record:  The Twins were 27-19, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 16

Mike McGeary (1850)
Joe Quest (1852)
Paul Foytack (1930)
Frank Bolling (1931)
Harry Chiti (1932)
Minnie Mendoza (1933)
Don Hahn (1948)
Herb Washington (1951)
Glenn Burke (1952)
Curt Wardle (1960)
Dwight Gooden (1964)
Chris Haney (1968)
Pete Rose (1969)
Julio Lugo (1975)
Juan Centeno (1989)

Sprinter Herb Washington played for Oakland for two seasons as a pinch-runner.  He appeared in 105 games but did not play in the field and did not bat.  He stole 31 bases in 48 attempts and scored 33 runs.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 16 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-five

MINNESOTA 4, OAKLAND 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, May 21.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 3-for-4.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventh.

Pitching stars:  Kenny Rogers pitched six innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out three.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.  J. C. Romero pitched a perfect inning.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Barry Zito pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out one.  Eric Brynes was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Miguel Tejada was 2-for-4.

The game:  Brynes led off the game with a walk, followed by singles by Scott Hatteberg and Tejada, loading the bases with one out.  Erubiel Durazo hit a two-out single to score a run and put the Athletics up 1-0.

The Twins put two on with two out in the second but did not score.  In the third, Byrnes led off with a single.  One-out singles by Tejada and Eric Chavez brought a run home to make it 2-0 Oakland.  The Twins tied it in the fourth when LeCroy hit a one-out single and Hunter followed with a two-run homer.  The tie lasted until the bottom of the fourth, when Mark Ellis led off with a single, went to second on a Terrence Long single, went to third on a double play, and scored on a wild pitch, making it 3-2 Athletics.

The Twins had men on first and third with one out in the sixth but did not score.  In the eighth Cristian Guzman singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a LeCroy single to tie it 3-3.  Luis Rivas pinch-ran for LeCroy, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Mohr's single to give the Twins their first lead at 4-3.

Oakland got a two-out single in the ninth, but did not more.  The Twins took the game 4-3.

WP:  Hawkins (4-0).  LP:  Chad Bradford (2-3).  S:  Guardado (11).

Notes:  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Denny Hocking was at second base in place of Rivas.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.

Jacque Jones was 1-for-5 and was batting .340.  LeCroy raised his average to .322.  Mohr raised his average to .310.

Hocking was 0-for-4 and was batting .167.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.29.  Romero was at 3.10.  Guardado was at 1.45.

Ron Gardenhire clearly went with the B lineup in this game, but it worked.

The Twins had won four of five, six of eight, and twelve of sixteen.

Record:  The Twins were 26-19, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 15

Tom Loftus (1856)
Pat Ragan (1883)
Mickey Livingston (1914)
Gus Bell (1928)
Big Brother A (1951)
Randy Niemann (1955)
Pedro Borbon (1967)

Tom Loftus managed Cincinnati, Chicago, and Washington around the turn of the (twentieth) century.

Big Brother A is one of the two people--Dad A being the other--from whom I got a love of baseball and a love of the Twins.  I don't know how it's possible that I have a brother who's sixty-nine years old when I'm still so young, but happy birthday, Big Brother.

We also wish a happy birthday to spookymilk’s brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 15 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-four

OAKLAND 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Tuesday, May 20.

Batting star:  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eleven hits and two walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Tim Hudson pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out five.  Eric Brynes was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.  Scott Hatteberg was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Chris Singleton was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.

The game:  The Athletics put two men on in each of the first three innings, but did not score.  Instead, it was the Twins who opened the scoring in the fourth, as Cristian Guzman led off the inning with a double and scored on Torii Hunter's two-out single.

That was as good as it got for the Twins, though.  With two out in the bottom of the fourth, Singleton and Brynes hit back-to-back doubles to tie the score and Hatteberg delivered an RBI single to make it 2-1 Oakland.

They stranded a couple more guys in the fifth, and the Twins stranded two in the sixth.  In the bottom of the sixth, Singleton and Byrnes singled and Eric Chavez walked, loading the bases with one out.  A sacrifice fly made it 3-1.  In the eighth, Brynes and Hatteberg hit back-to-back doubles to give the Athletics a 4-1 advantage.  The Twins had only one hit after the sixth inning.

WP:  Hudson (4-1).  LP:  Reed (2-5).  S:  Keith Foulke (12).

Notes:  Todd Sears was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Kielty was the DH.

Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .344.  Sears was 0-for-4 and was batting .302.

Johan Santana gave up a run in two innings to raise his ERA to 2.67.  He had given up at least one run in five of his last six appearances, raising his ERA from 0.95.

Oakland stranded 13 runners, going 3-for-13 with men in scoring position.  The Twins stranded just five, going 1-for-7 with men in scoring position.

Foulke was an excellent relief pitcher for five seasons (2000-2004).  The first three of those were with the White Sox and the last was with Boston; this was the one in-between.  He had an ERA under three in each of those seasons, and it was under 2.40 in three of them.  His WHIP was under one for three of those seasons and just barely over one in the other two.  He had 162 saves in those five seasons, leading the league in 2003.  He only made one all-star team, but twice finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting.  He fell off very quickly after 2004, but for five seasons he was about as good as anybody.

Record:  The Twins were 25-19, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Kansas City.