Monthly Archives: March 2021

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-eight

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MINNESOTA 3, CLEVELAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, September 24.

Batting stars:  Lew Ford was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third), a triple, and two RBIs.  Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-4 with a home run, his third.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched six innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Victor Martinez was 2-for-4.  Ben Broussard was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixteenth.  C. C. Sabathia pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  The Indians got a man to second base with two out in the first and third, but did not score either time.  They got on the board in the fourth, however, as Broussard hit a one-out home run.  The Twins did not get a man to second base until the fifth and did not score until the sixth, when Ford homered with one out to tie it 1-1.  The Twins then loaded the bases, still with one out, but a popup and a ground out ended the inning.

The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the seventh when Denny Hocking hit a two-out single and scored on a Ford triple.  Cleveland tied it in the eighth.  Jhonny Peralta led off with a walk, went to second on a passed ball, took third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch.

Cuddyer led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run to put the Twins back in front.  Martinez hit a one-out single in the ninth for the Indians, but he did not get past first base.

WP:  Jesse Orosco (2-1).  LP:  Rafael Betancourt (2-2).  S:  Guardado (41).

Notes:  It was the day after the Twins clinched so it was even lower down the alphabet than a B lineup.  Matthew LeCroy was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Justin Morneau was at first in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Alex Prieto was at second in place of Luis Rivas.  Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Cuddyer was at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Ford was in center in place of Torii Hunter.  Michael Restovich was in left, Dustan Mohr in right, and Michael Ryan at DH.  Rob Bowen replaced LeCroy at catcher in the seventh.

Ryan was 1-for-4 and was batting .347.  Ford was batting .333.  Restovich was 0-for-3 and was batting .304.

Prieto was 1-for-3 and was batting .167.  Bowen made his first appearance since September 2 and was batting .000 (0-for-3).

Guardado lowered his ERA to 2.80.

Rick Reed gave up a run in 1.2 innings and had an ERA of 5.14.  Orosco retired the only man he faced and lowered his ERA to 7.64.  This would be his only win as a Twin.

Granted that Cleveland wasn't very good and was just playing out the season, it's still kind of impressive that the Twins were able to win playing a bunch of reserves and AAA players.

The Twins had won eleven in a row.

Record:  The Twins were 89-69, in first place in the American League Central, six games ahead of Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 8

Harry Lord (1882)
Pat Flaherty (1897)
Bobby Goff (1902)
Pete Fox (1909)
Ray Mueller (1912)
Al Gionfriddo (1922)
Carl Furillo (1922)
Jim Bouton (1939)
Jacques Doucet (1940)
Dick Allen (1942)
Jim Rice (1953)
John Butcher (1957)
Mark Salas (1961)
Lance Barksdale (1967)
Mike Moriarty (1974)
Juan Encarnacion (1976)
Hines Ward (1976)

If you have a few minutes to spare, I would very much recommend reading Harry Lord’s biography at baseball-reference.com.

Pat Flaherty pitched in the minors from 1917-1921.  He also played in the NFL from 1923-1928, was a major in the Air Force, and appeared in about 250 movies from 1934 to the 1950s.

Bobby Goff played in the minor leagues for nineteen years, 1923-1941.  He also was a minor league manager and general manager and a major league scout, remaining in baseball until 1972.

Jacques Doucet was the French-language play-by-play announcer for the Montreal Expos from 1972 until the team left.

Lance Barksdale has been a major league umpire since 2000.

NFL star Hines Ward was drafted by the Florida Marlins in 1994, but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-seven

MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 23.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third), a walk, and two runs.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Kenny Rogers pitched 8.2 innings, giving up one run on eight hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Alex Escobar was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Josh Bard was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Indians had men on first and third with one out in the second but did not score.  The Twins had men on first and second with two out in the second but did not score.  In the third, however, Guzman singled and Shannon Stewart and Luis Rivas had back-to-back doubles to get the Twins on the board with a 2-0 lead.

Cleveland got back-to-back hit-by-pitches to start the fourth but did not score.  In the bottom of the fourth the Twins added a run without a hit.  Koskie walked, A. J. Pierzynski reached on an error, Guzman walked, and Stewart hit a sacrifice fly.

The Indians had a man on second with one out in the fifth and men on first and second with none out in the seventh, but did not score.  Guzman homered leading off the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-0.  Cleveland rallied in the ninth, getting singles from Jody Gerut, Escobar, and Josh Bard to make it 4-1 and bring the tying run to the plate.  But Eddie Guardado came in to strike out Greg LaRocca to end the game.

WP:  Rogers (13-8).  LP:  Jake Westbrook (7-10).  S:  Guardado (40).

Notes:  Stewart was in left and Jacque Jones in right.  The Twins made no in-game lineup substitutions.

Pierzynski was 0-for-3 and was batting .309.  Stewart was 1-for-3 and was batting .308.  Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .303.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 and was batting .300.

Rogers threw 102 pitches.

Guardado lowered his ERA to 2.84.

Westbrook pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks and striking out two.

The strikeout to end the game was Greg LaRocca's last major league at-bat.  He played in a handful of games in three separate seasons.  An infielder, he batted .261/.337/.352 in 100 plate appearances (39 games).  After this season he went to Japan, where he had several successful seasons.

It was the Twins' tenth consecutive win.  Chicago and Kansas City had both won yesterday, when the Twins were off, but they both lost today, so the Twins clinched the division.

Record:  The Twins were 88-69, in first place in the American League Central, six games ahead of Chicago and Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 7

Ed Willett (1884)
Dave Danforth (1890)
Andy Phillip (1922)
Bobo Holloman (1923)
Red Wilson (1929)
Galen Cisco (1936)
Jimmie Hall (1938)
J. R. Richard (1950)
Jeff Burroughs (1951)
Albert Hall (1958)
Joe Carter (1960)
Jose Cano (1962)
German Gonzalez (1962)
Mauro Gozzo (1966)
Jeff Kent (1968)
Tyler Ladendorf (1988)

A member of the basketball Hall of Fame, Andy Phillip played minor league baseball in 1947, 1949, and 1952, batting .281 in 123 games.

Bobo Holloman is sometimes referred to as the worst pitcher ever to throw a major league no-hitter.

The father of Robinson Cano, Jose Cano appeared in six games for Houston in 1989.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to strategery's son.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 7 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-six

MINNESOTA 6, DETROIT 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 21.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-3 with a triple, a stolen base (his eighteenth), a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with two runs.

Pitching star:  Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and no walks and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Dmitri Young was 2-for-4 with a double.  Alex Sanchez was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Craig Monroe was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Tigers scored one in the top of the third when Brandon Inge doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  The Twins bounced back with four in the bottom of the third.  Mohr singled and scored on Guzman's triple.  Stewart followed with an RBI single and went to third on an error.  Denny Hocking then had an RBI single.  The next two batters went out, but Jacque Jones singled and Torii Hunter hit a run-scoring double, putting the Twins up 4-1.

The Twins added two in the sixth Mohr singled, went to third on a pickoff error, and scored on Guzman's single.  Stewart then doubled and Hocking hit a sacrifice fly, making it 6-1.  They needed those runs, because the Tigers rallied in the eighth.  Ramon Santiago and Sanchez singled.  A wild pitch moved them to second and third.  With two out, Young drove in one and another wild pitch brought home another, cutting the lead to 6-3.

Detroit scored again in the ninth.  Danny Klassen singled, went to second on yet another wild pitch, and scored on Sanchez' single.  They tying run was up to bat with two out, but Warren Morris grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Radke (14-10).  LP:  Nate Cornejo (6-17).  S:  Eddie Guardado (39).

Notes:  Hocking was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Stewart was in left, Jones in right, and Matthew LeCroy at DH.  The Twins made no in-game lineup substitutions.

A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .311.  Stewart was batting .308.  Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .306.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-4 and was batting .302.

In his last four starts, Radke had given up six earned runs in thirty innings.  He had not given up a walk in those innings.

Cornejo pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six runs on twelve hits and a walk and striking out two.

This was Danny Klassen's last year in the majors.  He played in parts of five seasons, totaling eighty-five major league games.  He batted .226/.289/.341 in 287 plate appearances.  A middle infielder, he played in AAA through 2008.

Of the three wild pitches, two were thrown by J. C. Romero and one by Guardado.

It was the Twins' ninth straight win.  The Royals beat the White Sox, so the Twins increased their lead.  The magic number was down to two.

Record:  The Twins were 87-69, in first place in the American League Central, 5.5 games ahead of both Chicago and Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 6

Ring Lardner (1885)
Lefty Grove (1900)
Pete Gray (1915)
Bob Swift (1915)
Ted Abernathy (1933)
Cookie Rojas (1939)
Willie Stargell (1940)
Karl Best (1959)
Scott Stahoviak (1970)
Terry Adams (1973)
Marcus Thames (1977)
Clint Barmes (1979)
Jake Arrieta (1986)
Francisco Cervelli (1986)
Ross Detwiler (1986)

Author Ring Lardner wrote about a variety of subjects, but is probably most famous for writing about baseball.  If you haven't read any of his stuff, you really should.

As you probably know, Pete Gray played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945 despite having only one arm.

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