I remember I had scenes with Melinda McGraw in "Ides Of March" that I didn't have in "Video Vigilante," but I can't quite picture that other character. But it was Vancouver, and that year was crazy.
-Eric McCormack
Hmm. Maybe not quite as profound as I was going for.
Date: Saturday, October 4.
Batting stars: A. J. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 with a home run. Shannon Stewart was 1-for-3 with a walk.
Pitching stars: Kenny Rogers struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk. J. C. Romero pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Juan Rincon pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Roger Clemens pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out six. Juan Rivera was 3-for-4. Bernie Williams was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks. Hideki Matsui was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer. Mariano Rivera struck out three in two perfect innings.
The game: Williams doubled leading off the second and Matsui hit a one-out two-run homer to give the Yankees the early lead. It went to 3-0 in the third on singles by Rivera, Derek Jeter, and Williams. A. J. Pierzynski led off the bottom of the third with a home run to cut the lead to 3-1.
And that's where it stayed. The Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the fifth, but pinch-hitter Michael Ryan struck out to end the inning. Doug Mientkiewicz led off the sixth with a single-plus-error but was stranded on second. Mariano Rivera again came into the game at the start of the eighth inning and the Twins could again do nothing against him.
WP: Clemens. LP: Kyle Lohse. S: Rivera.
Notes: The Twins again used the same lineup. Ryan pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the fifth. Denny Hocking went in to play second base. Lew Ford pinch-hit for Hocking in the eighth. Chris Gomez went in to play second base.
Lohse started and pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks and striking out five. He threw 105 pitches in those five innings. The Yankees of that era made you work, as have the Yankees in many eras.
The Twins were 0-for-6 with men in scoring position.
The Twins had held New York to eight runs over the three games. The trouble was the Twins had only scored five, and had scored just one in each of the last two games. The record of teams scoring one run is better than that of teams scoring zero, but it's still not very good.
The Twins would send Johan Santana, who was still dealing with an injured hamstring, to the mound to try to save the season the next day. He would face David Wells for New York.
Record: The Twins were 1-2 in the best-of-five series.
(4 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... Arlie "The Freshest Man on Earth" Latham (1860)
Doc Casey (1870)
Ralph Miller (1873)
Fred Lieb (1888)
Rosy Ryan (1898)
Jimmie Crutchfield (1910)
Sid Hartman (1920)
Bob Locker (1938)
Wayne Granger (1944)
Bobby Bonds (1946)
Jim Kern (1949)
Steve Stroughter (1952)
Mickey Hatcher (1955)
Harold Baines (1959)
Mike Pagliarulo (1960)
Kim Batiste (1968)
Robert Fick (1974)
Vladimir Nunez (1975)
Dan Perkins (1975)
Kevin Youkilis (1979)
Jon Jay (1985)
Sean Poppen (1994)
Ralph Miller was the first major league player to live to be a hundred years old.
Fred Lieb was a sportswriter who covered baseball for seventy years.
Jimmie Crutchfield was a star outfielder in the Negro Leagues.
Sid Hartman was a sportswriter/broadcaster/sports executive who was involved in Minnesota sports for most of the time that there have been Minnesota sports.
Date: Thursday, October 2.
Batting stars: Shannon Stewart was 2-for-3 with a walk. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a home run. Those were the only hits the Twins had.
Pitching stars: Brad Radke pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out four. Juan Rincon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Opposition stars: Andy Pettitte struck out ten in seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks. Alfonso Soriano was 3-for-4 with a stolen base and two runs. Jason Giambi was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Mariano Rivera pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.
The game: Singles by Soriano, Derek Jeter, and Giambi loaded the bases for the Yankees with none out in the first. All the Yankees could do, though, was get a sacrifice fly from Bernie Williams to take a 1-0 lead. The Twins got a man to second with two out in the third and New York had a man on second with one out in the fourth, but the score remained 1-0.
Hunter led off the fifth with a home run to tie it 1-1. An error and a single put men on first and third with two out, but the Twins could not take the lead. The Yankees had men on first and second with two out in the fifth and the Twins had men on first and second with two out in the sixth, but the score remained tied.
But New York took control in the seventh. Nick Johnson was hit by a pitch and was bunted to second. Soriano delivered an RBI single to give the Yankees the lead. Jeter then reached on an error, putting men on second and third, and Giambi hit a two-run single to make it 4-1 New York. Rivera came in and the Twins could do nothing with him, so there is where the score ended.
WP: Pettitte. LP: Radke. S: Rivera.
Notes: Stewart was in left and Jones in right. The Twins made no in-game lineup substitutions.
LaTroy Hawkins had a great year, but he couldn't get it done in this game. He entered in the seventh with the score tied, a man on second, and one out. He gave up the Soriano single, made the error on Jeter's grounder, and gave up the Giambi single. J. C. Romero got the side out after that, but the game was gone.
Hunter and Stewart were batting .500 over the two games. Corey Koskie was batting .250. No other Twin was over .167.
Still, the Twins were even in the series, and were coming home for the next two games. It seemed like they had a good chance to win the series. At the risk of revealing a spoiler, it didn't quite work out that way.
Record: The Twins were tied with the Yankees 1-1 in the best-of-five series.
Candy Nelson (1849)
Bill Holbert (1855)
Marty McManus (1900)
Jack Rothrock (1905)
Santos Amaro (1908)
Ron Law (1946)
Dave McKay (1950)
Butch Wynegar (1956)
Steve Lake (1957)
Jerry Willard (1960)
Kirby Puckett (1960)
Kevin Brown (1965)
Brent Gates (1970)
Matt Kata (1978)
Bobby Jenks (1981)
Marwin Gonzalez (1989)
Santos Amaro is the father of Ruben Amaro Sr. and the grandfather of Ruben Amaro Jr. He was a star player in Cuba and in Mexico and is a member of the Salon de la Fama.
Matt Kata was drafted by Minnesota in the twentieth round in 1996, but did not sign.
1974
(2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... I suppose it's Pi Day too.
Oh, and adjust your clocks, citizens. What a day!
MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 1 IN NEW YORK
Date: Tuesday, September 30.
Batting stars: Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double. Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5 with a double.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana pitched four shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out three. J. C. Romero pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one. LaTroy Hawkins struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Derek Jeter was 2-for-3 with a walk. Aaron Boone was 2-for-4 with a double. Bernie Williams was 2-for-4. Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base. Mike Mussina pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out six.
The game: Stewart opened the game with a ground-rule double, but was stranded at third base. The Twins got on the board in the third, however. One-out singles by Cristian Guzman and Stewart put men on first and third, and Luis Rivas hit a sacrifice fly, putting the Twins up 1-0.
The Yankees got a pair of two-out walks in the third but stranded them. The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the fourth but also stranded them. New York got a two-out double in the fifth but again could score.
The Twins added to their lead in the sixth. Matthew LeCroy led off with a single. With one out, Torii Hunter circled the bases on a triple-plus-error, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead. The Yankees had men on first and second with none out in the seventh and did not score. The Twins had men on first and second with one out in the eighth but were also turned aside. It was still 3-0 going to the ninth.
New York did not go away quietly. Williams led off with a single. With one out, Boone doubled, putting men on second and third and bringing the tying run up to bat. Ruben Sierra flied out, but Soirano singled, making it 3-1, putting the tying run on base, and bringing the deciding run up to bat. But Nick Johnson grounded to third and game one belonged to the Twins.
WP: Hawkins (1-0). LP: Mussina (0-1). S: Eddie Guardado (1).
Notes: No spring training lineup here. All the regulars played the whole game. It was Stewart in left, Jacque Jones in right, and LeCroy at DH.
Santana had a hamstring injury which limited him to four innings. The bullpen stepped up and came through. Rick Reed was the first man out of the pen, and while the Twins might have hoped he would fill up some innings he pitched to just three batters, retiring the first two before giving up a double to Soriano. First Romero and then Hawkins picked up the slack. Closer Eddie Guardado had the worst game of any of the pitchers, but managed to get the job done.
Mussina had gone 2-0, 1.20 against the Twins in two starts (15 innings). For his career he was 22-6, 3.09. The Twins didn't exactly knock him all over the park, but they scored enough runs to win.
The Twins stranded 8 and were 1-for-6 with men in scoring position. The Yankees stranded 10 and were 1-for-10 with men in scoring position.
Ah, those wonderful, innocent days of youth, when we actually thought the Twins had a chance to beat the Yankees in a playoff series.
Record: The Twins were 1-0 in the best-of-five playoff series.
Nice hat trick for Dolla Bill Kirill.
