Yesterday felt like a Thursday. This should be a fun week...
Monthly Archives: February 2021
2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-five
MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 1 IN CHICAGO
Date: Wednesday, September 10.
Batting stars: Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and one walk and striking out six. LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out one. Eddie Guardado struck out two in a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Jon Garland pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five. Magglio Ordonez was 1-for-2 with a walk.
The game: The White Sox had two on with two out in the first and did not score. That was really the only significant threat until the fifth, when the Twins broke the scoreless tie. Torii Hunter and Corey Koskie singled and A. J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. The Twins didn't get a big inning out of it, but sacrifice flies by Cristian Guzman and Stewart put them up 2-0.
In the sixth singles by Tony Graffanino and Frank Thomas were followed by an Ordonez sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1. The Twins got the run back in the seventh when Koskie walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Stewart's single.
Chicago put men on second and third with one out in the seventh but did not score. The Twins got an insurance run in the eighth when Doug Mientkiewicz walked and scored from first on LeCroy's double. The White Sox did not get a hit after that and the Twins won 4-1.
WP: Santana (10-3). LP: Jon Garland (11-11). S: Guardado (34).
Notes: Luis Rivas was back at second base. Stewart was in left and Jacque Jones in right. Dustan Mohr pinch-ran for LeCroy in the eighth.
Stewart raised his average to .313. Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 and was batting .305. Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .303. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .302.
Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.92. Guardado got under three at 2.95.
Having lost the first two of the four game series, the Twins needed this win. They also needed Santana to come up big yet again, and he certainly did. The bullpen, which had been solid all season, was solid again, too.
The win stopped the Twins' two-game losing streak. They would have a chance to split the series and move back into a tie for first the next day. Kansas City won, as they tried to stay in the race.
Record: The Twins were 77-68, in second place in the American League Central, one game behind Chicago. They were 2.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.
Happy Birthday–February 23
Barney Dreyfuss (1865)
Paul Cobb (1888)
Roy Johnson (1903)
Ray Brown (1908)
Mike Tresh (1914)
Elston Howard (1929)
Ron Hunt (1941)
Ken Boswell (1946)
Juan Agosto (1958)
John Shelby (1958)
Bobby Bonilla (1963)
Rondell White (1972)
Scott Elarton (1976)
Edgar Gonzalez (1983)
Barney Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900-1932.
The brother of Ty Cobb, John Paul Cobb (known by his middle name), played in over a thousand minor league games over ten years, batting .283.
Ray Brown was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues from 1931-1945.
Daft Punk – One More Time / Aerodynamic / Da Funk / Daftendirekt
Man, these guys had some bangers.
Newbish loves "One More Time" (thanks, Trolls soundtrack!) and it's definitely a song that I haven'tinded hearing a lot of over the past few months.
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Weekly Wild Whangdoodle: The Quarter Post
A Monday night game threw off my schedule. Here's a whangdoodle.
14 games represents 25% of the scheduled season, so we're now into the second half of the first half. Other than Eriksson Ek still leading the team in goals scored, I think this team has been pretty much as expected.
This week's schedule:
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We have to be almost done with the Kings at this point, right?
LA won three in a row last week to vault to the top of the bottom of the West standings - Minnesota's sweep of Anaheim puts them with the best points percentage, but the fewest games played. Separation remains difficult for this group.
LA - 17 points in 16 games
Arizona - 17 points in 17 games
Minnesota - 16 points in 14 games
San Jose - 16 points in 16 games
Anaheim - 15 points in 18 games
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The Kirill Kaprizov Corner
Kaprizov continues to lead all NHL rookies in assists and is tied for first in total points. (3G - 8A - 11Pts)
He is indeed - fun.
Players not Named Kirill
- Eriksson Ek continues to have a spectacular year. I'm not even questioning it any more.
- Fiala is scoring. This is a very good thing.
- Rask continues to score when Kaprizov feeds him the puck. I guess we let it ride? (special shout out to Rask winning 12 of 13 faceoffs against the Ducks on Saturday - I'm as confused as any of you)
- The Wild continue to be saturated with good defensemen. Dakota Mermis and Calen Addison sound like they acquitted themselves well in short stints on the COVID-decimated roster.
- Zuccarello is back! (three points in three games? Yeah, he gets an exclamation point for that)
Leaderboards
| Player | G | Player | A | Player | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eriksson Ek | 6 | Greenway | 9 | Kaprizov | 11 |
| Fiala | 6 | Kaprizov | 8 | Greenway | 11 |
| Rask | 4 | Suter | 6 | Eriksson Ek | 10 |
| Dumba | 3 | Brodin / Parise | 4 | Fiala | 7 |
| Kaprizov | 3 | Eriksson Ek | 4 | Brodin / Parise / Suter | 6 |
Nubya Garcia – Source
Welcome to nibbish week!
The title track to one of my favorite albums of last year. I'm not always big into jazz, but the dub undertones on Source were irresistible.
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2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-Four
CHICAGO 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN CHICAGO
Date: Tuesday, September 9.
Batting stars: Corey Koskie was 3-for-3 with a double, two walks, and two runs. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Jesse Orosco pitched a scoreless inning despite giving up a hit and two walks. He struck out one.
Opposition stars: Carlos Lee was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-eighth), a double, a stolen base (his seventeenth), two runs, and two RBIs. Joe Crede was 2-for-4 with a double. Magglio Ordonez was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-seventh), two runs, and two RBIs. Roberto Alomar was 1-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and a walk. Mark Buehrle pitched six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out two.
The game: The White Sox opened the scoring in the second inning. Lee singled and Paul Konerko walked, putting two men on with one out. Crede doubled home a run, a sacrifice fly brought in another, and Tony Graffanino singled in a third to make it 3-0 Chicago.
The Twins got back into it in the fourth. Mientkiewicz and Koskie singled, Torii Hunter had an RBI double, and a ground out cut the lead to 3-2. It went to 4-2 in the fifth when Ordonez homered. The Twins had three baserunners in the sixth, but did not score because they lost two runners on the bases.
The White Sox took control in the seventh. The first two batters went out, but then Alomar homered, Frank Thomas doubled, Ordonez had an RBI single, and Lee hit a two-run homer to give Chicago an 8-2 lead.
The Twins loaded the bases in the eighth but didn't score. It cost them, because they did get back into the game in the ninth. Lew Ford led off with a double, Denny Hocking had an RBI triple, and Justin Morneau drove in a run with a single. With one out, walks to Koskie and Hunter loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly made it 8-5 and Jacque Jones singled. It was 8-6 with the tying run on base and the winning run at bat in Michael Cuddyer. He struck out, however, and the game was over.
WP: Buehrle (12-13). LP: Carlos Pulido (0-1). S: Tom Gordon (11).
Notes: Chris Gomez was at second base in the continuing absence of Luis Rivas. Shannon Stewart was in left with Dustan Mohr in right.
The Twins used five pinch-hitters. Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Gomez in the seventh, with Hocking going in to play second base. Cuddyer pinch-hit for Cristian Guzman in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base, with Hocking moving to short. Ford pinch-hit for Stewart in the ninth. Morneau pinch-hit for Mientkiewicz in the ninth. Jones pinch-hit for Mohr in the ninth.
Ryan was 0-for-1 and was batting .375. Ford was 1-for-1 and was batting .333. Stewart was 0-for-3 and was batting .311. Mientkiewicz was batting .305. Jones was 1-for-1 and was batting .305. A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .302.
With various Twins starters either injured or ineffective, the Twins turned to Pulido for the start in this game. He pitched three innings, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks and striking out one. His ERA was 2.38. Rick Reed came in and pitched three solid innings but fell apart in his fourth inning, so his line is 3.2 innings, three runs, four hits, and a walk. His ERA was 5.08. Orosco's scoreless inning lowered his ERA to 7.47.
The Twins scored their runs in the ninth off Jose Paniagua. This was his only major league appearance in 2003 and the last of his career. A sad way to end: one-third of an inning, four runs, three hits, one walk. He continued to pitch for several more years--in the minors, in winter ball, in independent ball, in foreign countries--not ending his playing career until 2008. In his major league career, he went 18-21, 4.49, 1.52 WHIP. He pitched 357 innings in 270 games (14 starts).
It came as a surprise to me that Carlos Lee had 125 stolen bases in his career. He had 18 in 2003, one shy of his career mark of 19 in 2006. He had double-digit stolen bases in seven seasons.
The Twins had dropped two in a row to the division leaders. Kansas City lost again, so the Twins had no worries about dropping to third.
Record: The Twins were 76-68, in second place in the American League Central, two games behind Chicago. They were 2.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.
February 22, 2021: Out With The Newer Old Thing
Ryan Saunders is out as the Wolves coach. But don't you worry, the organization did everything they could to make it as disrespectful and awkward as possible.
Happy Birthday–February 22
Bill Klem (1874)
Clarence Mitchell (1891)
Roy Spencer (1900)
Charles O. Finley (1918)
Stubby Greer (1920)
Ryne Duren (1929)
Sparky Anderson (1934)
Steve Barber (1938)
Tom Griffin (1948)
Gerry Davis (1953)
John Halama (1972)
J. J. Putz (1977)
Kelly Johnson (1982)
Brian Duensing (1983)
Casey Kotchman (1983)
Bill Klem was a National League umpire from 1905-1941. He was the first umpire to indicate his calls with arm signals, and was also the first umpire to wear an inside chest protector. He umpired in eighteen World Series and also umpired the first all-star game.
Charles O. Finley was the owner of the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics from 1960-81.
Stubby Greer played in the minors from 1940-1958 with a career batting average of .330. He never played in the major leagues.
Sparky Anderson was born in Bridgewater, South Dakota.
Gerry Davis has been a major league umpire since 1982.
J. J. Putz was drafted by Minnesota in the seventeenth round in 1998, but did not sign.
2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Forty-three
CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN CHICAGO
Date: Monday, September 8.
Batting stars: Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4. Corey Koskie was 2-for-4. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: J. C. Romero pitched 1.2 perfect innings.
Opposition stars: Bartolo Colon pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on ten hits and one walk and striking out four. Carlos Lee was 2-for-4 with a double. Magglio Ordonez was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his ninth.
The game: The White Sox ambushed Twins starter Kyle Lohse, scoring all five of their runs in the first inning. With one out Lee doubled and Frank Thomas walked. A line out made for two down, but Carl Everett singled home a run, Paul Konerko walked to load the bases, Jose Valentin hit a two-run single, Joe Crede singled to re-load the bases, and Miguel Olivo hit a two-run double.
Lohse did not allow a run after that, but the Twins were left playing catch-up the rest of the day and could not do it. They scored twice in the second on a walk to Matthew LeCroy, a double by Torii Hunter (on which LeCroy somehow scored from first), a single by Koskie, and an RBI ground out.
But after that, it was a game of missed opportunities. The Twins left men on second and third in the third, left a man on second in the fourth and fifth, and left a man on third in the seventh. They would not score again, and lost the battle of co-division leaders 5-2.
WP: Colon (13-12). LP: Loshe (12-11). S: None.
Notes: Denny Hocking was again at second in the continued absence of Luis Rivas. Shannon Stewart was in left and Jacque Jones in right. The Twins made no in-game substitutions.
Stewart was 1-for-5 and was batting .313. Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .304. Mientkiewicz raised his average to .303. A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .301.
Lohse ended up pitching six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and four walks and striking out none. If he could've taken a mulligan for the first inning he'd have had a fine game, but of course the rules don't allow you to do that.
The Twins were 1-for-9 with men in scoring position.
This was Colon's seventh complete game. He would lead the league in 2003 with nine. He threw 117 pitches. His high for a game that season was 132 in a game against Toronto in May.
This was the first of a four-game series between two teams who were tied for first in the division going into this game. The loss obviously dropped the Twins into second. Kansas City was idle.
Record: The Twins were 76-67, in second place in the American League Central, one game behind Chicago. They were 2.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.