Monthly Archives: January 2021

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-five

MINNESOTA 3, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 18.

Batting star:  Chris Gomez was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his second) and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Johan Santana pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Barry Zito struck out nine in an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits and four walks.  Terrence Long was 2-for-3.

The game:  There were no hits in the game until the bottom of the third.  Dustan Mohr reached on an error, went to second on a ground out, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on the first hit of the game, a Gomez single.

It stayed 1-0 through seven, with neither team getting a man past first base.  In the eighth, however, the Athletics tied the score.  Eric Chavez singled, went to second on Long's single, and scored on a two-out single by Billy McMillon.  But the Twins came right back in the bottom of the eighth.  Jacque Jones led off with a bunt single and was bunted to second.  Shannon Stewart was intentionally walked.  Gomez then delivered an RBI single.  A ground out scored another run, giving the Twins a 3-1 lead heading to the ninth.

Oakland did not go away quietly.  Miguel Tejada walked, and Chavez delivered a two-out double that cut the lead to 3-2 and put the tying run in scoring position.  But Ramon Hernandez flied to center, and the victory was preserved.

WP:  LaTroy Hawkins (6-2).  LP:  Zito (8-7).  S:  Eddie Guardado (21).

Notes:  Gomez was at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Shannon Stewart pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the eighth, with Denny Hocking taking over at second base in the ninth.

Jones was 1-for-3 and was batting .306.

Santana lowered his ERA to 2.84.  Hawkins pitched two-thirds of an inning without giving up a run to make his ERA 2.47.

Zito had a fine year, but his won-lost record didn't show it.  He was 14-12, but with an ERA of 3.30 and a WHIP of 1.18.  He also had four complete games and one shutout.  His numbers were not all that far off his Cy Young year of 2002, but he received no votes at all in 2003 due to the won-lost record.

The Twins had won two games in a row for the first time since June 28-29.  In fact, this was only the third game they had won since then.

It seemed likely that Santana would stay in the rotation, as of course he did.

Record:  The Twins were 46-49, in second place in the American League Central, 6.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half game ahead of third-place Chicago.

 

First Monday Book Day

Always Look a Gift Book in the Pages?

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All right, all right, so I won't win any awards here for best post title. But it's a new year and we're going to have a first book Monday on the first Monday of the first month, gosh darn it!

So did you give books as holiday gifts? Did you get any books?

I got Braiding Sweetgrass, which I read last year and adored. So why get a book I already read? Because it was that good. And because there's a special new hardcover edition with a new introduction and--gasp!--deckled edges. *Swoon*

The other book I received couldn't be more different, though it's still a work of nonfiction: HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes. I've followed Ms. Holmes's IG account for a while, and I'm a fan of the way she does close readings of the sartorial choices of the royals. I haven't started this one yet, but I feel like it'll be a nice distraction when I'm ready to dive in.

How bookish were your holidays?

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 4

Tommy Corcoran (1869)
Ernest Lanigan (1873)
Al Bridwell (1884)
Ossie Vitt (1890)
George Selkirk (1908)
Gabe Paul (1910)
Herman Franks (1914)
Don McMahon (1930)
Tito Fuentes (1944)
Charlie Manuel (1944)
Ken Reynolds (1947)
Paul Gibson (1960)
Daryl Boston (1963)
Trey Hillman (1963)
Ted Lilly (1976)
Willie Martinez (1978)
Blake Cederlind (1996)

Ernest Lanigan was the nephew of the Spink brothers who founded The Sporting News.  He worked for the publication from the time he was 15.  Among other things, he compiled baseball's first encyclopedia, published in 1922, and served as curator, historian, and director of the Hall of Fame from 1946 until his death in 1962.

Gabe Paul was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians (twice), and the New York Yankees.

Trey Hillman was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2008-2010.

Blake Cederlind was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-second round in 2015, but he did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 4 →

WGOM Videos

Bartees Strange – Mustang (and others)

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Finding live performances of stuff that I liked this year proved to be very, very difficult. While this one wasn't necessarily my first choice, I feel like it's a solid contender.

Bartees made some waves earlier in the year with an EP of The National covers (which are good!) before dropping his debut full length in early October. It's a mash of hip-hop, indie rock, and jazzy music, and it comes recommended.

Mustang itself is a straight banger and is the first song on the video, after a brief introduction, but the entire performance is on the video.

3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 103 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)
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Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-four

MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 17.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifteenth), two runs, and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Ellis was 3-for-4.  Chris Singleton was 2-for-4.

The game:  The all-star break was apparently what the Twins needed, as they scored five runs in the first inning to put this one away early.  With one out Cristian Guzman reached on an error and Jones singled, putting men on first and second.  Then came three more singles, producing four runs:  Hunter had an RBI single, Pierzynski drove in two with a single, and Doug Mientkiewicz had a run-scoring single.  Another run scored on a ground out to make it 5-0 after one inning.

The Athletics got on the board in the second on consecutive two-out singles by Terrence Long, Ellis, and Singleton.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the second when Hunter homered.

And that was pretty much it.  Oakland got one more run, scoring in the sixth when Miguel Tejada singled and scored on a Ramon Hernandez double.  Hernandez was thrown out trying to go to third, however, and the Athletics did not mount another threat the rest of the game.

WP:  Reed (5-9).  LP:  Tim Hudson (7-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at third base in the continuing absence of Corey Koskie.

Jones raised his average to .306.  Pierzynski was batting .300.

Much was made of the Twins debut of Shannon Stewart in this game, but he went 0-for-5 as the DH.  More important was the return of Jones to the lineup, as he had three hits and scored a run.  Stewart would eventually see time in left field, with Jones either in right or at DH.  The playing time of people like Justin Morneau and Matthew LeCroy would be substantially reduced, with Morneau eventually being sent back to AAA simply because there was not a spot for him.

It really was a big deal to Twins fans when they acquired Stewart.  I still remember finding out about it.  I had been at a local ball game that night, and turned on ESPN while getting ready for bed.  The bottom line crawl said that Stewart had been traded, and my thought was "Oh.  I wonder who got him."  Then the crawl said it was the Twins, and I just went, "Wow!"  I was stunned that they would pull off a trade like that.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.51.

Hudson pitched seven innings for Oakland, giving up six runs (four earned) on eleven hits and one walk and striking out two.  He was having what was probably the best season of his career.  He would finish 16-7, 2.70, 1.08 WHIP and would finish fourth in Cy Young voting.   He could've finished better--I'm not saying it was injustice, just that his numbers are pretty much in line with the top three that year (Roy Halladay, Esteban Loaiza, and Pedro Martinez).

The win snapped an eight-game losing streak, and was the first win for the Twins since the fourth of July.  Their drop to third place turned out to be brief.

Record:  The Twins were 45-49, in second place in the American League Central, 7.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 3

Barney Gilligan (1856)
Warren Brown (1894)
Gus Suhr (1906)
Frenchy Bordagaray (1910)
Sid Hudson (1915)
Eddie Einhorn (1936)
Bob Gebhard (1943)
Dick Colpaert (1944)
Larry Barnett (1945)
Gary Lavelle (1949)
Darren Daulton (1962)
Luis Rivera (1964)
Luis Sojo (1965)
A. J. Burnett (1977)
Michael Restovich (1979)
Alex Meyer (1990)

Warren Brown was a long-time sportswriter, mostly in Chicago.  He coined Babe Ruth's famous nickname, "The Sultan of Swat".

Eddie Einhorn was a part-owner of the Chicago White Sox.  He was the founder of the TVS networks, which syndicated sports regionally and nationally in the days before twenty-four hour cable sports stations.

Larry Barnett was a major league umpire from 1969-1999.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 3 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-three

ANAHEIM 8, MINNESOTA 3 IN ANAHEIM

Date:  Sunday, July 13.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth), a walk, and two runs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.  Chris Gomez was 2-for-5 with a triple.

Pitching star:  Juan Rincon struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Benji Gil was 2-for-3.  Garret Anderson was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-second), a stolen base (his fifth), and two runs.  Bengie Molina was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Troy Glaus was 2-for-4 with two runs.  John Lackey pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.

The game:  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the second, but a double play took them out of the inning.  The Angels then got on the board in the third when Adam Kennedy walked, was bunted to second, and scored on a Scott Spiezio double.

The Twins took their only lead of the game in the fourth, when Bobby Kielty got a two-out single and Hunter followed with a two-run homer.  The lead lasted until the first batter of the next half inning, as Anderson led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run.  Later in the inning Glaus singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Molina's double.  Gil followed with an RBI single, and that quickly it was 4-2 Anaheim.

The Twins stayed in the game thanks to Rincon's fine relief pitching.  They got closer in the sixth, when Mientkiewicz singled, Hunter walked, and Pierzynski had an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-3.  Hunter was thrown out trying to go third on the single, however, so the inning ended with the Twins still trailing by a run.  In the seventh, the Twins managed to get a walk and three singles and not score.  Justin Morneau drew the walk leading off the inning but was erased by a double play.  Luis Rivas, Gomez, and Denny Hocking then got consecutive singles, but Rivas was thrown out trying to score on Hocking's single, so again the score remained 4-3.  The Twins put men on first and third with two out in the eighth, but again could not tie the score.

The Angels finally put the game away in the bottom of the eighth.  Singles by Tim Salmon, Anderson, and Glaus brought home one run.  Jeff DaVanon walked to load the bases, Molina singled home a run, a wild pitch brought home another, and a sacrifice fly brought the score to 8-4.  The Twins got a two-out triple in the ninth, but 8-4 was where it ended.

WP:  Lackey (7-8).  LP:  Kyle Lohse (6-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Hocking was at third in the continued absence of Corey Koskie.  Dustan Mohr remained in left in the absence of Jacque Jones.  Bobby Kielty was in right.  Morneau was the DH.

Lew Ford pinch-ran for Morneau in the seventh and remained in the game at DH.  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Ford in the eighth.  Guzman pinch-hit for Mohr in the ninth.

Ford was the only Twin with an average over .300, and he did not bat.

Lohse struck out four in four innings, but allowed four runs on five hits and a walk.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched just a third of an inning, but also allowed four runs.  His ERA jumped from 1.79 to 2.56.  He would eventually get it back below two, but it would take a couple of months.

This would be Kielty's last game as a Twin.  He would be traded to Toronto over the all-star break for Dave Gassner and Shannon Stewart.

There was probably no team happier to see the all-star break come than the Twins.  They had lost eight in a row and twelve of thirteen.  They had also finally fallen into third place.

Record:  The Twins were 44-49, in third place in the American League Central, 7.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half-game behind second-place Chicago.