Happy New Year, gang! Let's shake off the old one.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... Hey, gang. In an effort to contain all of the bad stuff inside of 2020, we rushed to get this out in time. Some topics include:
CHA-CHING!
MAZATLAN 3, LOS MOCHIS 1 IN LOS MOCHIS
Mazatlan scored all three runs in the first inning, and it was enough. Edson Garcia led off with a home run, a run scored on an error, and a third scored on a bases-loaded walk. Garcia was 2-for-5 and the home run was his second. Francisco Hernandez was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks. Brayan Quintero was 2-for-4. Marco Antonio Duarte pitched five shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out four.
Stats: Isaac Paredes was 1-for-2 and is batting .379. Marco Antonio Rivas gave up an unearned run in one inning and has an ERA of 1.88. Roberto Espinosa pitched a scoreless inning and has an ERA of 1.67. Jesus Pirela pitched a perfect inning and has an ERA of 1.85.
Record: Mazatlan is 28-30, in eighth place in the Mexican League, nine games behind Obregon. They are one game behind seventh-place Culiacan.
Next game: It appears that the regular season is over, and that the playoffs will start January 2.
The regular season is over. The Gigantes host the Estrellas in the first game of the Dominican League playoff semi-finals on January 2.
CARIBES 4, LARA 3 AT CARIBES
Osman Marval's RBI single for Lara in the eighth tied it 3-3, but a bases-loaded walkoff walk won it for Caribes. For Lara, Carlos Rivero was 2-for-4 and Ildemaro Vargas was 2-for-5. Raul Rivero pitched five innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks and struck out two.
Stats: Vargas is batting .345. Josmar Cordero was 0-for-1 and is batting .328. Gorkys Hernandez was 1-for-3 is batting .323. Carlos Rivero is batting .316. Yapson Gomez gave up a run in one inning and has an ERA of 1.53. Ricardo Gomez gave up a run in a third of an inning and has an ERA of 1.74.
Record: Lara is 17-13, in third place in the Venezuelan League West, a half-game behind first-place Margarita.
Next game: Lara does not play today or tomorrow. They will host Margarita on January 2.
MAYAGUEZ 6, CAGUAS 3 IN CAGUAS
Mayaguez scored two in the third and led the rest of the way. They had three singles and a sacrifice fly in the inning. Jesmuel Valentin and Vicente Conde were each 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Xavier Fernandez was also 2-for-4 and Ivan De Jesus was 2-for-5. Hector Hernandez struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks. Mayaguez used six relief pitchers for an inning each. Caguas used ten pitchers, with only one, Luis Cruz, pitching more than one inning (he pitched 1.1).
Stats: Brian Navarreto was 0-for-1 and is batting .412. Fernandez is batting .317. Hernandez has an ERA of 1.29.
Record: Mayaguez is 13-5, in second place in the Puerto Rican League, one game behind Caguas. It looks like that ends the regular season, and that the playoffs will start January 2.
MELBOURNE 1, PERTH 0 IN MELBOURNE
Melbourne scored the game's lone run in the eighth. They scored it with classic small ball: a walk, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly. Melbourne had only three hits, all singles, while Perth had five hits, two of them doubles. Daniel McGrath struck out six in five shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk. Jon Kennedy and Drew Anderson each pitched two shutout innings.
Stats: Ex-Twin Delmon Young was 0-for-3 and is batting .389. Daryl George was 0-for-3 and is batting .318. Blake Gailen was 0-for-3 and is batting .316. Kennedy has an ERA of 1.80 and Anderson has an ERA of zero.
Record: Melbourne is 3-2, in first place in the Australian League, a half game ahead of Canberra and Sydney.
Next game: Melbourne is scheduled to host Perth again this afternoon.
Date: Friday, July 11.
Batting star: Luis Rivas was 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana pitched six inning, giving up three runs on five hits and no walks and striking out four. Juan Rincon pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Ramon Ortiz pitched six shutout innings, giving up three hits and four walks and striking out five. Garret Anderson was 2-for-4. Tim Salmon was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fourteenth. Scott Spiezio was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his ninth. Brendan Donnelly pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.
The game: The Twins got two on with one out in the third and loaded the bases with two out in the fourth, but could not get on the board. They only had one hit in those innings, with the other baserunners coming from walks and a hit batsman. The Angels got on the board in the fourth when Anderson singled, was balked to second, and scored on a Troy Glaus double.
The Twins had men on first and third with two out in the fifth, but again could not score. In the sixth Darin Erstad doubled and Salmon hit a two-run homer to make it 3-0. Anaheim got two more in the eighth when Erstad walked and Spiezio hit a two-run homer. The Twins got only one hit in the last four innings, a one-out single by Rivas in the seventh.
WP: Ortiz (11-6). LP: Santana (4-2). S: Donnelly (2).
Notes: Chris Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman. Guzman entered the game in the fourth inning in the spot of Corey Koskie, due to injury. Gomez moved to third base. Koskie would not return to the lineup until August 4. Dustan Mohr remained in left in place of Jacque Jones, with Bobby Kielty in right. Denny Hocking was in center in place of Torii Hunter.
Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 and was batting .302.
Santana entered the rotation at this point, taking the spot of Joe Mays. His ERA was an even 3.00. Rincon's ERA went down to 3.33.
The Twins were again shut down by an average pitcher. Yes, Ortiz was 11-6, but his ERA at this point was 4.41. He'd had a fine year in 2002, going 15-9, 3.77, 1.18 WHIP, but in 2003 a shiny won-lost record hid the fact that he wasn't very good. He wouldn't get better in the second half, either: he ended the season 16-13, 5.20, 1.51 WHIP. He would continue to pitch for another ten years, but he never had a good year in the majors again.
Anaheim's closer, of course, was Troy Percival, but Donnelly was really good, too. He didn't give up an earned run until May 22, his twenty-first game. This was the thirty-ninth game he'd appeared in, and he'd still given up a grand total of one earned run, giving him an ERA of 0.38. He didn't keep that up, of course, but he ended the season with an ERA of 1.58 and a WHIP of 1.07. This was the second of three saves he had for the season. He made his only all-star team this season. He was a fine reliever until 2007, when he blew out his elbow. He tried to come back in 2008 and was terrible, but he bounced back to have a strong season in 2009. That was his last good season, though, and after 2010 he was done.
The Twins had lost six games in a row and ten of eleven.
Record: The Twins were 44-47, second in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Kansas City. They were one game ahead of third-place Chicago.
King Kelly (1857)
Tom Connolly (1870)
Bobby Byrne (1884)
Syl Johnson (1900)
Tommy Byrne (1919)
Guy LaValliere (1931)
Alfredo Meli (1944)
Joe Simpson (1951)
Jim Tracy (1955)
Rick Aguilera (1961)
Esteban Loaiza (1971)
Brian Moehler (1971)
Julio DePaula (1982)
Kelvin Herrera (1989)
Adam McCreery (1992)
Tom Connolly was a major league umpire for many years. He umpired the first World Series game in 1903. He once went ten years without ejecting a player.
It does not appear that Bobby Byrne and Tommy Byrne are related.
Minor league catcher Guy LaValliere is the father of major league catcher Mike LaValliere.
Alfredo Meli is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the first man to win Italian championships as a player, a manager, and a general manager. He also founded the Italian Baseball Federation for the Blind.
Adam McCreery was drafted by the Twins in the fourteenth round in 2011 but did not sign.
Nobody ever makes a fuss about the last baby of the old year.
LOS MOCHIS 7, MAZATLAN 2 IN LOS MOCHIS
Rodolfo Amador hit a two-run homer in the fourth to give Los Mochis a 2-1 lead. They led the rest of the way, going up 7-1 before Mazatlan got one in the ninth. Mazatlan had just four hits. Jose Augusto Figueroa had one of them, going 1-for-3 with a home run, his second. Matt Gage struck out six in five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks.
Stats: Isaac Paredes was 0-for-2 and is batting .378. Figueroa is batting .301. Fernando Burgueno retired all four men he faced to lower his ERA to 1.26,
Record: Mazatlan is 27-30, in eighth place in the Mexican League, ten games behind Obregon. They are one game behind seventh-place Culiacan.
Next game: Mazatlan is again at Los Mochis tonight. It appears that this will be the last game of the regular season.
The regular season is over. The Gigantes will play the Estrellas in the semi-finals of the Dominican League playoffs beginning on January 2.
Lara's home game with Magallanes was rained out. They are at Caribes this evening. Lara is 17-12, in first place in the Venezuelan League West, a half game ahead of Magallanes.
CAGUAS 5, MAYAGUEZ 3 IN CAGUAS
Edwin Diaz hit a walkoff three-run homer to turn a 3-2 lead for Mayaguez into a 5-3 loss. Emmanuel Rivera was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs. Ex-Twin Danny Ortiz and Xavier Fernandez were each 2-for-4. Kenny Hernandez started and struck out four in 3.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and a walk.
Stats: Ortiz is batting .339. Henry Ramos was 1-for-4 and is batting .322. T. J. Rivera was 0-for-5 and is batting .302. Hernandez has an ERA of 2.70. Nick Travieso retired both men he faced and has an ERA of zero. Yacksel Rios pitched a scoreless inning and has an ERA of zero. Jacob Condra-Bogan pitched a perfect inning and has an ERA of zero. Robby Rowland gave up a run in one inning and has an ERA of 0.90.
Record: Mayaguez is 12-5, in second place in the Puerto Rican League, two games behind Caguas.
Next game: Mayaguez is at Caguas again tonight.
Melbourne had no game scheduled. They are scheduled to host Perth today. COVID concerns have resulted in numerous cancellations of games in the Australian League. A revised schedule is to be released tomorrow. Melbourne is 2-2, tied for first in the Australian League with Canberra and Sydney.
(3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)Loading... As we close the lid on this dumpster fire, what's one project (planned either pre- or post-pandemic) that you were able to accomplish this year? We made some modest but appreciated home improvements, but I'm especially glad a sturdy garden spouted up in the backyard this year. Looking forward to a variety of herbs and veggies again next year. And don't get Jane started on talking about composting...
Date: Thursday, July 10.
Batting stars: Corey Koskie was 3-for-5. Denny Hocking was 2-for-2. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-5 with two doubles. Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Joe Mays pitched a scoreless inning of relief, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: John Thomson pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out four. Michael Young was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer (his ninth), a double, and two runs. Juan Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his twenty-second and twenty-third) and four RBIs. Mark Teixiera was 2-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.
The game: Young and Hank Blalock opened the game with singles, and later in the first Gonzalez hit a three-run homer to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead. The Twins got on the board in the third when Cristian Guzman reached on an error and scored on a Doug Mientkiewicz single. Gonzalez homered in the fourth to make it 4-1, but the Twins got the run back in the fifth when Mientkiewicz walked, went to third on a Koskie single, and scored on a ground out, cutting the margin to 4-2.
But it was downhill from there. In the bottom of the fifth, Laynce Nix and Einar Diaz singled and Young hit a three-run homer. In the sixth Teixeira homered and another run scored on a sacrifice fly. It was 9-2 and the game was pretty much gone.
The Twins put two on in the seventh, but nothing came of it. They did add two in the eighth. LeCroy singled, Bobby Kielty walked, and an error loaded the bases. A double play scored a run and Hocking singled home another, but that was all the Twins could do. They got a two-out double in the ninth, but no more, and it ended 9-4.
WP: Thomson (6-9). LP: Rick Reed (4-9). S: None.
Notes: Dustan Mohr remained in left and Kielty in right in the absence of Jacque Jones. Hocking pinch-hit for Cristian Guzman in the seventh and remained in the game at shortstop.
LeCroy raised his average to .303. Koskie raised his average to .300.
Reed lasted 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three. His ERA went to 5.03.
James Baldwin made his Minnesota Twins debut in this game. He had signed with the Twins on June 10. He would stay for a little over a month, then be released. In this game he pitched 2.1 innings and gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits.
The Twins offense was again shut down by a mediocre pitcher. Thomson would go 13-14, 4.85 in 35 starts for Texas in 2003. He had been mediocre for Colorado in 1997 and 1998, but people made allowances for his youth and the thin air of Denver. He was horrible in 1999, then was injured (or maybe he was injured and then was horrible), missed all of 2000, and came back to be fairly good in 2001. He only had one good year after that, though: with Atlanta in 2004. Not that he was terrible; he just was, as we said mediocre. For his career he was 63-85, 4.68.
The Twins had lost five in a row and nine of ten. They're only consolation was that Kansas City and Chicago weren't doing much, either. They had to feel like the all-star break couldn't come fast enough, but there were three games to play in Anaheim first.
Record: The Twins were 44-46, in second place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City. They were one game ahead of third place Chicago.
