Monthly Archives: October 2021

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 2 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Saturday, May 2.

Batting star:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out six.  Ron Perranoski pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks.

Opposition stars:  Boog Powell was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixth) and a walk.  Frank Robinson was 2-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  The Orioles loaded the bases with one out in the first when Terry Crowley walked, Frank Robinson singled, and Powell walked.  They only got one run out of it, on a sacrifice fly, but they took a 1-0 lead.  The Twins took that lead away from them in the second when Tony Oliva singled and Mitterwald hit a two-run homer, making it 2-1 Twins.

Baltimore got a pair of two-out singles in the third, and the Twins got a man on third with one out in the sixth, but there was no more scoring until the bottom of the sixth when Powell homered, tying it 2-2.

The Twins took control in the eighth.  Pinch-hitter Minnie Mendoza hit a one-out single and Leo Cardenas hit a two-out single.  Harmon Killebrew then delivered an RBI double to put the Twins up 3-2.  Oliva was intentionally walked to load the bases and Brant Alyea was hit by a pitch to make it 4-2 Twins.  The Orioles did not get a hit after that.

WP:  Perry (4-1).

LP:  Mike Cuellar (3-2).

S:  Perranoski (5).

Notes:  Bob Allison was at first base in place of Rich Reese.  Frank Quilici remained at second base in the absence of Rod Carew.

Mendoza was pinch-hitting for Perry in the eighth.  Jim Holt pinch-hit for Allison in the eighth.  Reese replaced Mendoza and went to first base.  Holt remained in the game and went to left field.

Alyea was 0-for-3 and was batting .367.  Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .328.  Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .325.  Tovar was 1-for-3 and was batting .321.  Perry had an ERA of 2.25.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.72.

Mendoza was 1-for-1 and was batting .100.  Holt was 0-for-1 and was batting .188.  Mitterwald was batting .189.  Quilici was 0-for-4 and was batting .194.  Reese was 0-for-1 and was batting .194.

Cuellar pitched 7.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.

This game is an example in favor of the current trend of taking pitchers out before they get into trouble, rather than waiting until they do.  Cuellar pitched seven strong innings, but the Twins finally got to him in the eighth.

Record:  The Twins were 13-7, in first place in the American League West by percentage points, but tied with California in games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 25

Jack Doyle (1869)
Smoky Joe Wood (1889)
Jack Kent Cooke (1912)
Lee McPhail (1917)
Russ Meyer (1923)
Bobby Thomson (1923)
Bobby Brown (1924)
Roy Hartsfield (1925)
Chuck Schilling (1937)
Al Cowens (1951)
Roy Smalley (1952)
Rowland Office (1952)
Tito Landrum (1954)
Danny Darwin (1955)
Andy McGaffigan (1956)
Steve Decker (1965)
Keith Garagozzo (1969)
Pedro Martinez (1971)
Wilkin Ramirez (1985)

Jack Kent Cooke, better known as the owner of the Washington Redskins and the Los Angeles Lakers, owned the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team in the International League from 1951-1964.  He made several unsuccessful attempts to bring major league baseball to Toronto and is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Lee MacPhail was the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles from 1958-1965 and of the New York Yankees from 1966-1973.  He was the president of the American League from 1974-1983.  He is the son of Larry MacPhail and the father of Andy MacPhail.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 25 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Nineteen

BALTIMORE 9, MINNESOTA 3 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Friday, May 1.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-3 with a home run (his third), a double, a walk, and three runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Pitching star:   Steve Barber pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Dave Johnson was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Terry Crowley was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and two runs.  Brooks Robinson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and two runs.  Dick Hall pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins scored first, as Tovar opened the game with a single, went to third on Killebrew's double, and scored on Oliva's single.  The Orioles loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on three walks but did not score.  Tovar homered in the third to make it 2-0.

It was pretty much all Baltimore from there.  In the bottom of the third Crowley singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Robinson's single to cut the lead to 2-1.  In the fourth Clay Dalrymple walked, Dave McNally doubled, and Crowley hit a three-run homer to put the Orioles up 4-2.  Two singles and a sacrifice fly made it 5-2 in the fifth.

The Twins got one back in the sixth when Tovar and Killebrew walked and Oliva delivered an RBI single.  Baltimore then put it out of reach in the seventh.  An error an a hit batsman put men on first and second, Johnson doubled home a run, an intentional walk loaded the bases, and Dave May hit a three-run triple to make it 9-3.

WP:  McNally (4-1).

LP:  Dave Boswell (0-3).

S:  Hall (1).

Notes:  Frank Quilici remained at second base in the absence of Rod Carew.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for George Mitterwald in the sixth, with Tom Tischinski going behind the plate.  Jim Holt pinch-hit for the pitcher in the seventh.  Bob Allison replaced Brant Alyea in the eighth as part of a double switch.  Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Tischinski in the ninth.  Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Quilici in the ninth.

Alyea was 0-for-4 and was batting .386.  Killebrew was batting .333.  Ratliff was 0-for-1 and was also batting .333.  Oliva was batting .325.  Tovar was batting .321.  Bill Zepp allowed a run in two innings and had an ERA of 2.70.  Stan Williams allowed four runs, but they were all unearned, leaving his ERA at zero.

Mitterwald was 0-for-2 and was batting .167.  Rich Reese was 0-for-3 and was batting .193.  Dave Boswell allowed four runs in four innings and had an ERA of 6.75.

McNally pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out seven.

Boswell hurt his arm in game two of the 1969 ALCS.  I couldn't quickly find what the injury was, and I don't have time now to look more, but he was obviously not healed from it, and it appears never really would be.  He stayed in the rotation through the end of July, but had only two games with a game score over fifty.

We've already seen a few three-inning (or more) saves.  Back then, a lot of managers believed in leaving a pitcher in the game as long as he was pitching well.  The theory was that you only take him out if he's in trouble, rather than taking him out before he gets into trouble.

Record:  The Twins were 12-7, in first place in the American League West based on winning percentage, but tied in games with California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 24

Ned Williamson (1857)
Bill Kuehne (1858)
Lou Sockalexis (1871)
Ossie Bluege (1900)
Jack Russell (1905)
Jim Brosnan (1929)
Rawly Eastwick (1950)
Omar Moreno (1952)
Gary Serum (1956)
Ron Gardenhire (1957)
Junior Ortiz (1959)
Danny Clay (1961)
Rafael Belliard (1961)
Gene Larkin (1962)
Arthur Rhodes (1969)
Rafael Furcal (1977)
Chris Colabello (1983)
Eric Hosmer (1989)
Nick Gordon (1995)

Third baseman Ossie Bluege played for the franchise in Washington for eighteen years and remained in the organization for many years after that. He is credited as being the first third baseman to guard the lines in the late innings. He is also credited as the scout who discovered Harmon Killebrew.

We would like to wish a very happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. zooomx.2.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 24 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighteen

MINNESOTA 4, CLEVELAND 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, April 30.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4 with a home run (his second) and a double.  Brant Alyea was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Luis Tiant pitched 5.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk and striking out three.  Stan Williams pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Ron Perranoski pitched two perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4 with a double.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk.  Bob Miller pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins got two singles in the first but did not score.  The Indians got on the board in the fourth on Nettles' homer, taking a 1-0 lead.  The Twins countered in the bottom of the fourth.  Killebrew homered to tie it, Rich Reese singled, and Alyea hit a two-run homer to make it 3-1 Twins.  Cardenas homered in the fifth to make it 4-1.

Cleveland threatened in the sixth.  Uhlaender led off with a double.  He was still on second with two out, but then Tony Horton walked and Roy Foster singled, loading the bases.  But Ray Fosse grounded out to end the inning.  The Indians again threatened in the eighth when Uhlaender led off with a single and Nettles walked, but they never moved off of first and second.  Well, they did once the inning was over, but you know what I mean.  Cleveland went out in order in the ninth.

WP:  Tiant (4-0).

LP:  Steve Hargan (1-2).

S:  Perranoski (4).

Notes:  Paul Ratliff was again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Frank Quilici was at second in the continuing absence of Rod Carew.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field.  Minnie Mendoza replaced Killebrew in the ninth.

Alyea was batting .415.  Ratliff was batting .357.  Killebrew was batting .317.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .316.  Tiant had an ERA of 2.79.  Williams still had an ERA of zero.  Perranoski had an ERA of 1.98.

All three of the Indians designated as "stars" are ex-Twins.

If you were asked "Who led the Twins in homers in the first month of 1970", your default answer would probably be Killebrew.  If you were told that was wrong, you'd probably say "Oliva".  You might even say "Rich Reese".  But unless you're really familiar with the 1970 club, you probably wouldn't say "Brant Alyea".  But that's who it was, with five home runs.  Those five home runs represent thirteen percent of his career total.

Ratliff was batting nearly two hundred points higher than the Twins' "regular" catcher, Mitterwald.  He obviously wouldn't sustain that, but I would assume there were some who thought Ratliff should be the regular catcher.  If so, Bill Rigney didn't listen to them, because Ratliff would get just 149 at-bats.  This was the only good offensive season Ratliff had, as he batted .268 with an OPS of .806.  In fact, not only was it his only good offensive season, it was the only season in which he batted over .200 or had an OPS over .700.

This game closed out a ten-game homestand.  The Twins would now go on a nine-game road trip, traveling to Baltimore, Detroit, and Cleveland.

Record:  The Twins were 12-6, in first place in the American League West by winning percentage, but tied with California in games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–October 23

William Hulbert (1832)
Mike Sullivan (1866)
Lena Blackburne (1886)
Rube Bressler (1894)
Billy Sullivan (1910)
Vern Stephens (1920)
Ewell Blackwell (1922)
Jim Bunning (1931)
Greg Thayer (1949)
John Castino (1954)
Dwight Lowry (1957)
Al Leiter (1965)
Todd Sears (1975)
David Riske (1976)
John Lackey (1978)
Bud Smith (1979)
Kyle Gibson (1987)

William Hulbert was one of the founders of the National League and was its president from 1877 until his death in 1882.

Infielder Lena Blackburne discovered and marketed the mud from the driver beds near the Delaware River in New Jersey that has been rubbed on every major league baseball used since the 1950s.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–October 23 →