Monthly Archives: March 2021

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The World’s Greatest Online Magazine Presents The Half-Baked Podcast: 07. The World’s Greatest Wild Whangdoodle

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Hey, friends! Welcome back. Happy to have you.

We have a special guest this time: Daneeka's Ghost!

Topics include:

  • Is an SOS a sandwich?
  • The Wild are fun!
  • Yes, but...
  • A quick look at new additions to the Twins, including a superstar SS.
  • Checking out the 2021 depth chart.
  • A music heavy episode! Even if we didn't remember which songs! Your featured videos:

 
Oceanator - Baby Won't You

Julien Baker - Favor

Semler - Star Shopping

The Chick Corea Elektric Band - Got A Match?

Bunny Wailer - Rise and Shine

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-five

MINNESOTA 7, DETROIT 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 20.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 3-for-5 with a home run (his seventeenth), a double, and three RBIs.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 with three walks and three runs.

Pitching stars:  Grant Balfour struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.  J. C. Romero pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Juan Rincon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Craig Monroe was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twentieth), two doubles, and two RBIs.  Brandon Inge was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Dmitri Young was 2-for-4.  Alex Sanchez was 2-for-5.  No other Tiger had a hit.

The game:  The Twins jumped out to an early lead.  Shannon Stewart walked and Mientkiewicz doubled, putting men on second and third with one out.  A strikeout followed, but then Corey Koskie hit a two-run single, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Torii Hunter single to make it 3-0.  Mohr homered in the fourth to make it 4-0.

Detroit got on the board in the fifth when Monroe homered, but the Twins got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when LeCroy homered.  The Tigers got back into it in the sixth.  Sanchez led off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch.  Young then delivered a two-out RBI single followed by Monroe's run-scoring double, cutting the margin to 6-3.

That was as good as it would get for Detroit.  The Twins scored one more, in the seventh, when Mientkiewicz walked, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on LeCroy's single.  The Tigers had men on second and third with two out in the eighth, but did not score again.

WP:  Johan Santana (12-3).  LP:  Nate Robertson (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Stewart was in left, Mohr in right, and Michael Cuddyer at DH.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Stewart was 0-for-3 and was batting .307.  Mientkiewicz was batting .303.

Santana didn't pitch badly, but he ran into trouble in the sixth.  His line was 5.2 innings, three runs, four hits, two walks, and five strikeouts.

Robertson pitched five innings, allowing six runs on six hits and four walks and striking out four.

The relievers for Detroit were Chris Mears, Erik Eckenstahler, Matt Anderson, and Matt Roney.  That's the kind of bullpen that leads you to be 38-116, which was the Tigers' record after this game.

The Twins had now won eight straight.  The White Sox lost to the Royals, so the Twins edged closer to clinching the division.

Record:  The Twins were 86-69, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Chicago.  They were 5.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 5

Sam Thompson (1860)
Jeff Tesreau (1888)
Lu Blue (1897)
Elmer Valo (1921)
Del Crandall (1930)
Phil Roof (1941)
Katsuo Osugi (1945)
Kent Tekulve (1947)
Doug Bird (1950)
Mike Veeck (1951)
Mike Squires (1952)
Steve Ontiveros (1961)
Brian Hunter (1971)
Jeffrey Hammonds (1971)
Ryan Franklin (1973)
Paul Konerko (1976)
Mike MacDougal (1977)
Erik Bedard (1979)
Joe Benson (1988)

Katsuo Osugi was the first player to have a thousand hits in the Japanese Central League and the Japanese Pacific League.

The son of Bill Veeck, Mike Veeck is president of the Goldklang Baseball Group, which owns a variety of minor league teams, including the St. Paul Saints.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to brianS’ daughter.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to spookymilk’s father.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 5 →

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-four

MINNESOTA 6, DETROIT 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 19.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 4-for-4 with a home run (his eleventh), two runs, and two RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Eric Milton pitched seven shutout innings, giving up two hits and no walks and striking out four.  Grant Balfour struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition star:  Warren Morris was 2-for-3 with a double.

The game:  The Twins put men on first and third with two out in the first but did not score.  In the second, however, Hunter doubled and Pierzynski followed with a single to make it 1-0.  In the second, singles by Shannon Stewart and Doug Mientkiewicz were followed by a pair of productive ground outs to make it 2-0.

The Twins took control in the fourth.  Hunter and Pierzynski opened the inning with singles.  With one out, Cristian Guzman and Stewart delivered RBI singles.  Rivas walked to load the bases and Mientkiewicz walked to force in a run.  It was 5-0 Twins.

Milton cruised through his seven innings, throwing just 77 pitches.  In the eighth, the bullpen allowed the only two Tiger runs.  Carlos Pena walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Morris single.  With two out, singles by Alex Sanchez and Shane Halter produced another run.  A walk to Bobby Higginson loaded the bases, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate.  But Dmitri Young flied to center to end the inning.  Pierzynski homered leading off the ninth to make it 6-2, Detroit went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Milton (1-0).  LP:  Jeremy Bonderman (6-19).  S:  None.

Notes:  Stewart was in left, Michael Ryan in right, and Jacque Jones was the DH.  Dustan Mohr replaced Ryan in right in the ninth.

Ryan was 0-for-3 and was batting .356.  Pierzynski raised his average to .311.  Stewart went up to .308.  Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .306.  Mientkiewicz was 0-for-3 and was batting .302.

Milton lowered his ERA to 1.50.

Bonderman pitched 3.1 innings, giving up five runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out two.

Tiger players with Twins connections included Morris, Fernando Rodney, and Craig Monroe.

The Twins did not have a letdown after sweeping the White Sox.  The win was their seventh in a row.  The White Sox were playing the Royals, so one of them had to lose.  It was the Royals, as the White Sox tried to stay in the race.

Record:  The Twins were 85-69, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Chicago.  They were 5.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 4

Red Murray (1884)
Jeff Pfeffer (1888)
Dazzy Vance (1891)
Lefty O'Doul (1897)
Buck Canel (1906)
Clyde McCullough (1917)
Mel Queen (1918)
Leo Righetti (1925)
Cass Michaels (1926)
Bob Johnson (1936)
Jack Fischer (1939)
Danny Frisella (1946)
Tom Grieve (1948)
Harry Saferight (1949)
Sam Perlozzo (1951)
Mark Wagner (1954)
Jeff Dedmon (1960)
Tom Lampkin (1964)
Giovanni Carrera (1968)
Dave Stevens (1970)
Mark Wegner (1972)
Sergio Romo (1983)

Born in Argentina, Buck Canel broadcast major league baseball to Latin America for over four decades, calling forty-two World Series.

The father of Dave Righetti, Leo Righetti played in the minors for twelve years, eight of them in AAA.

Harry Saferight made it to the majors with Pittsburgh in 1979, but did not appear in a game.  He got to the on-deck circle three times, but each time the last out was made before he had a chance to bat.

St. Paul native Mark Wegner has been a major league umpire since 1998.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 4 →