Monthly Archives: February 2021

Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Games of February 2

CARIBBEAN SERIES, DAY 3

VENEZUELA 1, COLOMBIA 0

The game's lone run scored on an RBI double by Herlis Rodriguez in the third.  That was the lone hit Venezuela had, but it was enough.  Guillermo Moscoso struck out six in five shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks.  For Colombia, B. Perez was 2-for-4.  Randy Consuegra pitched three innings, giving up one run on one hit and three walks and striking out three.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 11, PANAMA 6

The Dominican led 8-1 after five and 11-1 going to the bottom of the ninth, when Panama scored five to make it look like it was a game.  Robinson Cano was 2-for-2 with two walks for the Dominican.  Melky Cabrera was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.  Joe Van Meter pitched six innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and a walk and striking out five.  For Panama, Rodrigo Vigil was 2-for-2 and Allen Cordoba was 2-for-5.  E. Sandoval pitched three innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks and striking out two.  There were seven errors in the game.  Four were made by Panama and led to five unearned runs.

PUERTO RICO 6, MEXICO 4

Puerto Rico scored three in the fifth to break a 2-2 tie.  Vimael Machin was 2-for-4.  J. Duran was 2-for-5.  E. Diaz was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and three runs.  Hector Santiago pitched 6.1 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out five.  For Mexico, Jesus Fabela was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Ramiro Pena was 2-for-4.  Edgar Gonzalez pitched 4.2 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out three.

STANDINGS

Dominican Republic, 3-0
Panama, 2-1
Puerto Rico, 2-1
Mexico, 1-2
Venezuela, 1-2
Colombia, 0-3

TODAY'S GAMES

Venezuela v. Dominican Republic
Colombia v. Puerto Rico
Mexico v. Panama

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-five

MINNESOTA 8, CLEVELAND 2 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Tuesday, August 19.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a stolen base, his twelfth.  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-4 with two runs.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-5 with a triple.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his fourteenth.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his ninth.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out ten in eight innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk.  He threw 100 pitches.  Grant Balfour struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition star:  Casey Blake was 4-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifteenth) and a double.

The game:  It was scoreless for four innings, and the only serious threat came from the Indians.  They put men on first and third with none out in the fourth and had the bases loaded with two out, but did not score.  Cleveland got on the board in the fifth, however, when Coco Crisp hit a two-out triple and Blake followed with a two-run homer.

The Twins bounced right back in the top of the sixth.  Guzman singled and scored on a Rivas triple.  Corey Koskie was intentionally walked, but the strategy backfired as LeCroy hit a three-run homer to put the Twins ahead 4-2.  The Twins added another run in the seventh when Guzman got an infield single, went to third on an error, and scored on Stewart's infield single.  They put it out of reach in the eighth.  Doubles by Jones and A. J. Pierzynski plated one run and Mohr hit a two-run homer, making the score 8-2.

WP:  Santana (7-3).  LP:  Jason Davis (7-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was again at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Stewart was in left, Mohr in right, and Jones at DH.  Denny Hocking pinch-ran for Koskie in the ninth and stayed in the game at third base.  Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Jones in the ninth.

Ryan was down to .500.  Stewart was batting .311.  Jones was batting .311.

Santana's ERA dropped to 2.92  Balfour went to 2.89.  It was Balfour's first game since July 12.

The Blake home run produced the only earned runs Santana had given up in his last three starts.  He had gone eight innings in each.  In 24 innings he had given up 14 hits, 5 walks, and struck out 23.  It appeared that he had shown he belonged in the starting rotation.

During the off-day on August 18, the Twins had dropped back to third place.  With this win, however, it was shaping up to be quite a three-team race.  A race of mediocrity, some might say, but a race nonetheless.

Record:  The Twins were 64-61, in third place, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half game back of second-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 3

Lou Criger (1872)
Slim Sallee (1885)
Larry MacPhail (1890)
Joe Stripp (1903)
Buck Ross (1915)
Dick Tracewski (1935)
Joe Coleman (1947)
Bake McBride (1949)
Fred Lynn (1952)
Ronald Williamson (1953)
Fred Toliver (1961)
Joe Klink (1962)
Scott Klingenbeck (1971)
Skip Schumaker (1980)
B. J. Garbe (1981)
Lucas Duda (1986)

Larry MacPhail was the general manager of Cincinnati (1933-36) and Brooklyn (1938-42) and was president and part-owner of the Yankees (1946-47).  His son Lee MacPhail was president of the American League and his grandson Andy MacPhail was the general manager of the Twins (1985-94) and the president of the Cubs (2000-02), the Orioles (2007-2015), and the Phillies (2015-present).

Ronald Williamson was a catcher in the Oakland organization from 1971-1973.  In 1988, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.  He was cleared in 1999 through DNA testing and became the subject of John Grisham’s first non-fiction book, “The Innocent Man.”  Williamson passed away from cirrhosis in 2004.

Outfielder B. J. Garbe was chosen by the Twins with the fifth pick of the 1999 draft.  He was with the Twins through 2004, ended his career in 2006, and never got higher than AA.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 3 →

Minnesota Wild, NHL

Weekly Wild Whangdoodle: Week 4

11 Comments

This week's schedule:

Let's play the Avalanche again!

Last week's results:

MIN 1 - LA 2 - Highlights

The Kings are better than everyone thought, at least right now, but the Wild have to find a way to score that's in addition to Jordan Greenway digging the puck out of the corner and getting the puck to noted goal-scorer Joel Eriksson Ek. After this game, JEE was tied for 10th in the NHL in goals scored this season,

Russo had a column on The Athletic that hammered the Wild's current center situation. He doesn't see Rask, or Johansson, or Bonino, or Bjugstad as the answer, and right now it's hard to see how they will improve this pretty glaring hole.

The power play was 0 for 3 in this one and has dropped to 2 for 30 on the season (6.7% was 29th out of 31 in the NHL)

MIN 5 - LA 3 - Highlights

Look at that offense! Johansson, Kaprizov, Bjugstad, Fiala and (of course) Eriksson Ek scored. (JEE leaderboard update - only five players in the entire NHL had scored more goals  as of Friday morning).

The near self destruction in the second period (11 penalty minutes in 14 minutes of game play) almost ruined an incredibly dominant performance by the Wild.  Any time they were 5 on 5 against LA, they were in control of the game.

The power play was 0 for 4 in this one and has dropped to 2 for 34 on the season (5.9% was 30th out of 31 in the NHL)

MIN 1 - COL 5 - Highlights

I didn't pay attention to this one and you shouldn't have either.  Not great.

The power play was 0 for 2 in this one and has dropped to 2 for 36 on the season (5.6% was 30th out of 31 in the NHL)

MIN 4 - COL 3 - OT - Highlights

Victor Rask will save us all. His two goals in this one kept the Wild in it, and then Greenway and Eriksson Ek set up Jonas Brodin for the winner 18 seconds into overtime. Everyone (I mean, everyone) knows that the Wild just won't find consistent success with this set of centers, but hey, it got them 2 points and a split of their first two games with Colorado, so I guess we keep letting it ride.

Colorado somehow shut down the goal scoring machine that is Joel Eriksson Ek for two games. It's only a matter of time though, until he's back on the scoresheet.

The power play was 0 for 3 in this one and has dropped to 2 for 39 on the season (5.1% is 31st out of 31 in the NHL - they did it!)

===================================================

The Wild are halfway through their season series with LA and have 6 points in 4 games.  Do that again in the second half of the season series and I think that's a good pace.

The Wild have split every two-game set except the first one, which is enough for them to be one point out of first place in the West division.  In reality, Vegas has played 3 fewer games than Minnesota and is still only one point behind, so if we assume Vegas would win one of those three games in hand, the Wild are in fourth in the division, behind Vegas, Colorado, and St. Louis.  Raise your hand if you're surprised?  Yeah, me neither.

The Kirill Kaprizov Corner

Kaprizov leads all NHL rookies in total points and assists (2G - 6A - 8Pts).

He is averaging the most ice time per game among rookie forwards by a full two minutes, so he's playing a bunch and he's been so good. Evolving Hockey has him at 3.4 GAR (Goals above Replacement) after 10 games, which easily above an MVP level pace (Small Sample Size caveats apply).

From Russo after Tuesday's game:

It’s unbelievable how many chances Kaprizov has set up for his teammates that they haven’t finished. Look at his pass in the first period Tuesday that Bonino wasn’t ready for. Look at his backdoor pass to Johansson in the third period Sunday that should have been a tap-in, go-ahead goal.

At some point, Kaprizov has probably just got to get more selfish and do it himself. He had no shots on goal against the Kings and ranks eighth on the team with 12 shots in seven games.

Players not Named Kirill

  • I don't know what to say about Victor Rask. If he's the guy that capitalizes on Kaprizov's passes, then that's a really good thing and I hope it continues and he has a 20 goal season.
  • Joel Eriksson Ek is three goals away from his career high.
  • We're probably going to have to talk about Jordan Greenway and his point per game pace at some point, aren't we?
  • Cam Talbot came back from his injury for Sunday's win. Minnesota's team 5-on-5 FancyStat numbers are really good:
    • 10th in expected goals
    • 8th in actual goals/60 minutes
    • 3rd in expected goals against,
    • 24th(!) in actual goals against/60 minutes
  • So that's a little worrisome on the goaltending front. Kahkonen has been below average and Talbot has been a little better. Average goaltending would be really nice, so let's hope for that.

COVID news

  • Foligno had a positive Covid test on Sunday, so now we enter the seriously not fun part where we wait and wonder if this is a single case or the start of an outbreak through the team.
  • Marco Rossi (Last year's first round draft pick) went back to Austria to recover from long-term Covid complications. He will not play this season.

Leaderboards

PlayerGPlayerAPlayerPts
Eriksson Ek5Greenway8Greenway10
Fiala3Suter6Eriksson Ek9
Rask3Kaprizov6Kaprizov8
Dumba3Brodin4Suter6
6 players tied2Eriksson Ek4Brodin6
Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Games of February 1

CARIBBEAN SERIES, DAY TWO

PANAMA 9, COLOMBIA 5

Panama scored seven in the third and was never threatened.  Rodriguez hit a three-run double in the inning.  Jonathan Arauz was 3-for-5 for Panama, scoring twice and driving in two.  J. Lopez was 2-for-4.  M. Campos started and pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.  For Colombia, J. Diaz was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  E. Frias started but lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing seven runs (six earned) on six hits and two walks.  He did strike out five.

PUERTO RICO 3, VENEZUELA 0

Yadier Molina hit a two-run homer in the sixth to give Puerto Rico a 3-0 lead.  Puerto Rico had just four hits.  Hector Hernandez struck out five in five shutout innings, giving up two hits and four walks.  Venezuela had just two hits.  Raul Rivero struck out eight in 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 4, MEXICO 2

The Dominican scored single runs in the third, sixth, seventh, and ninth.  Mexico got both their runs in the ninth and had the tying run on base when the game ended.  Robinson Cano was 2-for-4 for the Dominican.  Melky Cabrera was 2-for-5.  Juan Lagares was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second.  Cesar Valdez struck out six in six shutout innings, giving up two hits and no walks.  For Mexico, Jesse Castillo was 2-for-4.  Hector Velazquez pitched 4.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and four walks.

STANDINGS

Dominican Republic, 2-0
Panama, 2-0
Mexico, 1-1
Puerto Rico, 1-1
Colombia, 0-2
Venezuela, 0-2

NEXT GAMES

Colombia v. Venezuela
Dominican Republic v. Panama
Puerto Rico v. Mexico

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-four

KANSAS CITY 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, August 17.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-2 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Shannon Stewart was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twelfth.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up three hits.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Joe Randa was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twelfth.  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixteenth.  Angel Berroa was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Mike Sweeney was 2-for-4.  Darrell May pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and no walks and striking out three.

The game:  The Twins couldn't overcome one big inning.  Rivas started the scoring with a first-inning home run.  The Royals got the run back on consecutive singles by Berroa, Sweeney, and Carlos Beltran.  The Twins went back in front in the top of the third when Cristian Guzman singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Doug Mientkiewicz single.

But in the bottom of the third, Kansas City went into the lead to stay.  Singles by Berroa and Sweeney and a sacrifice fly by Beltran tied the score.  Then came back-to-back homers by Ibanez and Randa, giving the Royals a 5-2 lead.

The Twins got one back when Stewart homered in the fifth.  They had men on first and second with one out in the seventh but did not score.  LeCroy homered in the eighth to pull the Twins within one at 5-4.  Michael Ryan hit a two-out double in the ninth, but he could not get beyond second base.

WP:  May (6-6).  LP:  Reed (5-12).  S:  Curtis Leskanic (1).

Notes:  Stewart was again in left, Michael Restovich in right, and Jones at DH.

Mientkiewicz came out of the game in the third inning, presumably due to injury.  LeCroy replaced him at first base.  Mientkiewicz would miss the next few games and be back in the lineup August 22.

Ryan pinch-hit for Restovich in the seventh and stayed in the game in right field.

Ryan was 1-for-2 and was batting .600.  Stewart was 1-for-4 and was batting .310.  Restovich was 0-for-2 and was also batting .310.  Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .306.

Reed lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on nine hits.  He neither walked nor struck out anyone.  His ERA went to 5.10.  Mays lowered his ERA to 6.12.  Hawkins' ERA went down to 2.21.

Reed's game score was not his worst of the season.  It was not even his second worst.  In fact, it was only tied for third-worst.  After this game, Ron Gardenhire had finally seen enough.  It would be Reed's last start, not just for the season but for his career.  He would spend September in the bullpen, and it would be his last season.  Kind of a sad end to a pretty decent career, but on the other hand, it's hard to argue that he deserved better.

Ex-Twin Curtis Leskanic had 55 saves over his career.  He was never "the closer" for an extended period of time, but he always managed to pick up a few saves here and there.  His high was 17 with Milwaukee in 2001.  He had 12 with Milwaukee in 2000 and 10 with Colorado in 1995.  He had come to the Royals in July of this season.  This was the first of two saves he would have for them in 2003.

Despite the loss it was a good series for the Twins, taking two of three from the first place team in their ballpark.  They would go to Cleveland for two, then host the Royals for four games in the Metrodome.

Record:  The Twins were 63-61, tied for second with Chicago in the American League Central, three games behind Kansas City.