Monthly Archives: January 2021

Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Games of January 20

LARA

LARA 11, ARAGUA 2 IN LARA (GAME 7)

Already leading 2-1, Lara scored five in the fourth to take control of the game.  Osman Marval hit a two-run double and Carlos Rivero hit a two-run homer in the inning.  Ildemaro Vargas was 5-for-6 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Yordanys Linares was 4-for-4 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Gorkys Hernandez was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Cesar Puello was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Jecksson Flores was 2-for-5.  Marval was 2-for-6 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Rivero was 1-for-3 with a home run, two walks, two runs, and three RBIs.  Ex-Twin Williams Perez pitched five innings, giving up one run on one hit and two walks and striking out two.

Record:  Lara wins the best-of-seven series 4-3.  They move on to the Venezuelan League championship series against Anzoategui.

Next game:  It appears that the league championship series begins tonight.

MAYAGUEZ

Mayaguez begins the Puerto Rican League championship series at Caguas tonight.

MELBOURNE

No game scheduled.  Melbourne is scheduled to host Brisbane this afternoon.  Melbourne is 11-5, in first place in the Australian League, one game ahead of Adelaide.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twelve

BALTIMORE 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Tuesday, August 5.

Batting star:  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Kenny Rogers pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on nine hits and a walk and striking out three.  Juan Rincon pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Brook Fordyce was 2-for-3 with two runs.  Jose Leon was 2-for-3.  Brian Roberts was 2-for-4.  Jason Johnson pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins put men on second and third in the first inning but did not score.  In the third Fordyce singled, Larry Bigbie walked, an error scored one run, Brian Roberts singled, and a ground out made it 2-0 Orioles.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth.  Jacque Jones singled, stole second, went to third on a ground out, and scored on Stewart's single to cut the lead to 2-1.  But Baltimore got the run right back in the bottom of the fifth when Fordyce singled, was balked to second, and scored on a Luis Matos single.

The Orioles loaded the bases in the sixth but did not score.  In the seventh, A. J. Pierzynski singled, Michael Restovich walked, and a bunt put men on second and third.  But all the Twins could do is score one on a ground out, cutting the margin to 3-2.  And that's where it stayed.  The Twins put a man on second with two out in the ninth, but a fly out ended the game.

WP:  Johnson (9-5).  LP:  Rogers (8-6).  S:  Jorge Julio (26).

Notes:  Stewart was again in left, Restovich in right, and Jones at DH.  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Jones in the eighth.  Todd Sears pinch-hit for Cristian Guzman in the ninth.

Restovich was 1-for-2 and was batting .333.  Stewart was batting .317.  Jones was batting .309.  Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was battinb .304.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 and was batting .301.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-2 and was batting .300.

Rogers lowered his ERA to 5.03.  The Twins really had a poor starting rotation in 2003.  And yet it took them until past mid-season to find room there for Johan Santana.

The Twins had gotten over .500, but couldn't stay there.  Would they get back over .500 tomorrow?  We'll see.

Record:  The Twins were 56-56, in third place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were 2.5 games behind second-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 21

Mike Tiernan (1867)
Lew Fonseca (1899)
Sam Mele (1922)
Danny O'Connell (1927)
Johnny Oates (1946)
Bill Stein (1947)
Mike Krukow (1952)
Dave Smith (1955)
Mike Smithson (1955)
Jose Uribe (1959)
Andy Hawkins (1960)
Darryl Motley (1960)
Chris Hammond (1966)
Tom Urbani (1968)
Rusty Greer (1969)
Jason Ryan (1976)
Brandon Crawford (1987)

Tom Urbani was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-ninth round in 1989, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 21 →

Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Games of January 19

LARA

ARAGUA 7, LARA 1 IN LARA (GAME 6)

Already leading 2-1, Aragua scored four in the seventh to put the game out of reach.  Henry Alejandro Rodriguez hit a grand slam to produce the four runs.  Cesar Hernandez was 2-for-4 to lead Lara.  Nestor Molina pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks and striking out three.

Record:  Lara and Aragua are tied 3-3 in the best of seven series.

Next game:  Lara hosts Aragua tonight in the deciding game of the semi-final series.

MAYAGUEZ

MAYAGUEZ 3, MANATI 2 AT MAYAGUEZ (GAME 4)

Having scored fifty runs in their last two games, Mayaguez got just three in this one, but it was enough.  It was a seven-inning game, because if Manati had won they were going to play a doubleheader.  Jose Sermo hit a two-run homer in the fifth to give Manati a 2-1 lead, but Henry Ramos hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to put Mayaguez in the lead to stay.  Ramos was 2-for-3 and had all three of the Mayaguez RBIs.  Emmanuel Rivera was 2-for-3.  Nick Travieso pitched six innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks and striking out three.

Record:  Mayaguez sweeps the best-of-seven series 4-0.

Next game:  Mayaguez will open the Puerto Rican League championship series at Caguas Saturday night.

MELBOURNE

No game scheduled.  Melbourne hosts Brisbane Thursday afternoon.  Melbourne is 11-5, in first place in the Australian League, one game ahead of Adelaide.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 20

Everett Mills (1845)
C. I. Taylor (1875)
William Eckert (1909)
Jimmy Outlaw (1913)
Joe Dobson (1917)
Gene Stephens (1933)
Camilo Pascual (1934)
Dave Boswell (1945)
Cecil Espy (1963)
Ozzie Guillen (1964)
Kevin Maas (1965)
Marvin Benard (1970)
Brian Giles (1971)
David Eckstein (1975)
Matt Albers (1983)
Geovany Soto (1983)

Everett Mills holds the record for most at-bats in a season without drawing a walk (342).

 C . I. Taylor founded the first African-American professional baseball team, the Birmingham Giants, in 1904.

General William Eckert was the commissioner of baseball from 1965-1968,

Marvin Benard played in the major leagues for nine years and could never get announcers to stop calling him "Marvin Bernard".

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to FTLT’s firstborn and to Twayn's younger daughter.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 20 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Eleven

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MINNESOTA 3, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Monday, August 4.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with a home run (his tenth) and a walk.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Luis Matos was 3-for-4 with a double.  Tony Batista was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Damian Moss pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on six hits and five walks and striking out three.  Eric DuBose retired all seven men he faced, striking out three.

The game:  Mientkiewicz homered in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Orioles had men on first and second with none out in the second but did not score.  Gibbons homered in the fourth, however, tying the score 1-1.

In the sixth, Mientkiewicz drew a one-out walk and went to third on a Koskie single, with Koskie taking second on the throw to third.  Torii Hunter was intentionally walked, loading the bases.  A force out at the plate followed, but with two down an error by second baseman Brian Roberts brought two runs home to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.

Matos scored in the bottom of the sixth, leading off with a double and scoring on a pair of ground outs.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the seventh but did not score.  Baltimore had two on in the seventh and two on in the eighth, but did not score either time.  So, it stayed 3-2, and that's where it ended.

WP:  Radke (8-9).  LP:  Moss (9-8).  S:  Guardado (25).

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Shannon Stewart was in left, Michael Restovich in right, and Jacque Jones at DH.

Koskie made his return to the lineup at third base.  It was his first game since July 11.

Restovich was 0-for-4 and was batting .320.  Stewart was 0-for-4 and was batting .316.  Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .309.  A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .304.  Mientkiewicz was batting .301.  Koskie was batting .301.  If you're not counting, that's six Twins in the starting lineup with averages over .300.

Radke lowered his ERA to 5.02.  Hawkins went down to 2.43.

DuBose lowered his ERA to 1.29.  That was as low as it would get.  He would pitch well at times the rest of the season, but not consistently, so his ERA would end up at 3.79.  He would not have a good year in the majors after 2003.

The Twins finally got over .500.  The next question was, could they stay there?  We shall see.

Record:  The Twins were 56-55, in third place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were 1.5 games behind second-place Chicago.