Monthly Archives: February 2021

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-eight

MINNESOTA 12, ANAHEIM 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 2.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a double and three runs.  Michael Ryan was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his second) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jesse Orosco pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Jeff DaVanon was 3-for-4 with three walks.  Wilson Delgado was 3-for-4.  Shawn Wooten was 2-for-3 with two runs.  Chone Figgins was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs.  Greg Jones struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks.

The game:  The Twins took control early.  In the second LeCroy doubled, A. J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, and Ryan delivered a two-out three-run homer to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.  A pair of singles, a bunt, and a sacrifice fly put the Angels on the board in the third, cutting the lead to 3-1.

The Twins responded with six in the bottom of the third.  Singles by Shannon Stewart, Koskie, and LeCroy plated the first run.  Jacque Jones had a run-scoring double and Hunter hit an RBI single.  Ryan walked to load the bases and Cristian Guzman hit a three-run triple to put the Twins up 9-1.  The Twins kept it going in the fourth.  Luis Rivas singled and scored on a Koskie triple.  LeCroy walked and a double play scored a run.  Hunter then walked and scored on Pierzynski's single to make the score 12-1.

Anaheim got a few back in the fifth.  Wooten and Delgado singled, Figgins had an RBI double, and DaVanon had a two-run single to cut the lead to 12-4.  It stayed there until the eighth, when Trent Durrington walked and RBI doubles by Adam Riggs and Figgins made it 12-6.  That was as close as the Angels would come.

WP:  Kyle Lohse (12-10).  LP:  Aaron Sele (7-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Stewart was in left, Ryan in right, and Jones at DH.

With a blowout game, there were numerous substitutions.  Dustan Mohr replaced Hunter in center field in the fifth.  Lew Ford replaced Stewart in left in the seventh, his first appearance with the Twins since July 13.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Rivas in the seventh and stayed in the game at second base.  Rob Bowen replaced Pierzynski behind the plate in the eighth.  Michael Cuddyer pinch-hit for Jones in the ninth, his first appearance for the Twins since May 7.

Ryan was batting .438.  Ford was 1-for-1 and was batting .327.  Stewart was 1-for-4 and was batting .308.  Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .307.  Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .302.

Lohse pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on twelve hits and a walk, striking out one.

Brad Thomas made his first appearance as a Twin since 2001.  He allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in one inning.  He did strike out two.

Jesse Orosco made his first appearance as a Twins, twenty-five years after having been drafted by them in 1978.  As you probably know, he was traded to the Mets for Jerry Koosman in February of 1979.  The Twins got him back at the August trade deadline in 2003 for a player to be named (Juan Padilla).

Aaron Sele was not as good a pitcher as I remembered him being.  He had a couple of good seasons at the start of his career, but not much after that.  From 1996-2007 he had only one season in which he had an ERA under four (2001) and six seasons with an ERA over five.  Despite that, he made two all-star teams in that span (1998 and 2000), both times based on a high win total.  For his career, he was 148-112, despite an ERA of 4.61 and a WHIP of 1.49.  Apparently he pitched to the score a lot.

The White Sox and Royals both lost, so the Twins gained a game on both of their rivals.

Record:  The Twins were 72-66, in second place in the American League Central, one game behind Chicago.  They were one game ahead of third-place Kansas City.

 

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 16

Alex Ferguson (1897)
Parnell Woods (1912)
Creepy Crespi (1918)
Atsushi Aramaki (1926)
Bobby Darwin (1943)
Terry Crowley (1947)
Bob Didier (1949)
Glenn Abbott (1951)
Jerry Hairston (1952)
Barry Foote (1952)
Bill Pecota (1960)
Eric Bullock (1960)
Dwayne Henry (1962)
Jerome Bettis (1972)
Eric Byrnes (1976)
Tommy Milone (1987)

Parnell Woods was an infielder in the Negro Leagues for fourteen years.  He later became the business manager for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Atsushi Aramaki was a dominant pitcher in Japan in the 1950s and is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

Better known as an NFL running back, Jerome Bettis is a part-owner of the Altoona Curve and the State College Spikes.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 16 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-seven

2 Comments

ANAHEIM 10, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, September 1.

Batting star:  Michael Ryan was 3-for-4 with a home run and a double.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  John Lackey pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four.  Shawn Wooten was 2-for-4.  Bengie Molina was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourteenth) and two RBIs.  Scott Spiezio was 1-for-2 with a grand slam (his fifteenth homer).  Garret Anderson was 1-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-ninth) and two runs.

The game:  Molina got the game's first hit, a home run, with two out in the second to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.  In the third, a strikeout-plus-wild pitch and two walks loaded the bases and Spiezio hit a two-out grand slam to make it 5-0 Anaheim.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the third when Ryan homered.  In the fourth, Corey Koskie walked and Matthew LeCroy singled.  A wild pitch moved the runners up and Dustan Mohr hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 5-2.

But that was as good as it got.  Ryan led off the fifth with a double and A. J. Pierzynski and Ryan hit one-out singles in the seventh, but nothing came of them.  The Angels put it out of reach in the eighth.  Anderson led off the inning with a home run.  Later in the inning a single and two walks loaded the bases and Wilson Delgado hit a two-run single to make it 8-2.  Anaheim added two in the ninth to bring the final score to 10-2.

WP:  John Lackey (9-13).  LP:  Kenny Rogers (11-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Denny Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Shannon Stewart was in left with Ryan in right and Jacque Jones at DH.

Mohr replaced Torii Hunter in center field in the third inning.  Hunter would start the next day but again exit early.  He would be back full-time after that.  Rob Bowen replaced Pierzynski behind the plate in the ninth.  Michael Cuddyer pinch-hit for Hocking in the ninth.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Stewart in the ninth.

Rogers pitched seven innings but allowed six runs on six hits and two walks, striking out five.

Ryan hit his first major league home run in this game.  He would hit five for the season and seven for his career.

This was the major league debut for Rob Bowen.  He would play in parts of five seasons, spending time with the Twins, San Diego, the Cubs, and Oakland.  He appeared in 216 games, had 378 at-bats, and batted .209/.300/.309.

This was Adam Johnson's first game for the Twins this season.  He gave up two runs (one earned) in one inning.  He would make one other appearance this season, and that would be the last of his major league career.

After climbing to within a half game of first place, the Twins had now dropped two in a row.  The White Sox were idle and Kansas City lost.

Record:  The Twins were 71-66, tied for second with Kansas City in the American League Central, two games behind Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 15

Sliding Billy Hamilton (1866)
Charlie Irwin (1869)
Jimmy Ring (1895)
George Earnshaw (1900)
Larry Goetz (1900)
Lorenzo Ponza (1915)
Chuck Estrada (1938)
Ron Cey (1948)
Rick Auerbach (1950)
Joe Hesketh (1959)
Mark Davidson (1961)
Melido Perez (1966)
Ugueth Urbina (1974)
Alex Gonzalez (1977)
Luis Ugueto (1979)
Russell Martin (1983)
Johnny Cueto (1986)

Lorenzo Ponza invented the modern pitching machine.

Larry Goetz was a National League umpire from 1936-1957.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 15 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-six

1 Comment

TEXAS 11, MINNESOTA 10 IN TEXAS

Date:  Sunday, August 31.

Batting stars:  Denny Hocking was 4-for-4 with a home run (his third), a double, a walk, two runs, and three RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, a stolen base (his fourteenth), and three runs.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-5 with a walk and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Carlos Pulido pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.  Grant Balfour pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.  Joe Mays pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Hank Blalock was 4-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), a double, and three runs.  Alex Rodriguez was 3-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fortieth), two walks, three runs.  Mark Teixeira was 3-for-5 with a three-run homer, his twentieth.  Rafael Palmeiro was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirty-second), a walk, and two runs.  Laynce Nix was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Einar Diaz was 2-for-5.  Jason Jones was 1-for-3 with a home run (his third) and two runs.

The game:  LeCroy had an RBI single in the first to put the Twins up 1-0.  In the bottom of the first Blalock doubled and Rodriguez and Palmeiro hit back-to-back homers to make it 3-1 Rangers.  Jones homered in the second to make it 4-1.  In the third, two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out.  Nix singled home one and Jones hit a sacrifice fly, increasing the Texas lead to 6-1.

Hocking hit a two-run homer in the fourth to cut the margin to 6-3.  In the fifth, the Twins had men on first and second with two out.  Hunter doubled home one, an intentional walk loaded the bases, and accidental walks to Dustan Mohr and Hocking tied the score.  In the sixth Rivas led off with a double and scored on LeCroy's single to put the Twins in front 7-6.

The Rangers came back in the seventh.  Blalock led off with a home run to tie it.  Rodriguez walked Palmeiro singled, and Teixeira hit a three-run homer to give Texas a 10-7 lead.  But the Twins refused to go away.  In the eighth, LeCroy walked and Corey Koskie singled, putting men on first and third with one out.  Hunter singled home a run and Pierzynski hit a sacrifice fly to make it 10-9.  Hocking led off the ninth with a single, Stewart walked, a bunt moved the runners up, and Jacque Jones hit a sacrifice fly to tie it 10-10.

The momentum was all with the Twins, and it did them as much good as momentum usually does.  Nix led off the ninth with a single, was bunted to second, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Diaz' single to win the game for the Rangers.

WP:  Francisco Cordero (4-6).  LP:  Eddie Guardado (1-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Hocking remained at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Stewart was in left with Mohr in right.  Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Mohr in the eighth and went to right field.  Jones pinch-hit for Doug Mientkiewicz in the ninth.  Hocking moved to first base, with Chris Gomez coming in to play short.

Ryan was 0-for-1 and was batting .333.  Stewart was 0-for-5 and was batting .310.  Jones was batting .308.  Pierzynski raised his average to .301.  Mientkiewicz was 1-for-5 and was batting .300.

Brad Radke started and lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and a walk.  He struck out none and his ERA went back up over five at 5.02.  His game score of 14 was his second-lowest of the season, ahead of an 8 in his second start of the season.

Pulido's ERA remained zero.  Balfour had an ERA of 1.65.  J. C. Romero allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning to raise his ERA to 5.20.  Mays lowered his ERA to 6.30.

Texas used three pitchers with connections to the Twins.  Starter R. A. Dickey pitched 4.2 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks and striking out four.  Ron Mahay pitched 1.1 scoreless innings.  Aaron Fultz allowed two runs in a third of an inning.

There were six home runs in the game.  Five of them were hit by the Rangers.

Chicago won and Kansas City lost, so the Twins remained tied for second, but fell farther out of first.

Record:  The Twins were 71-65, tied for second in the American League Central with Kansas City, 1.5 games behind Chicago.