This album is good, like all her others
(3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
Loading... Candy Cummings (1848)
Cliff Carroll (1859)
Walt Wilmot (1863)
Boileryard Clarke (1868)
Hans Lobert (1881)
Burt Shotton (1884)
Charlie Berry (1902)
Skeeter Newsome (1910)
Roy Cullenbine (1913)
Andy Carey (1931)
Bobby Knoop (1938)
Willie Horton (1942)
Ed Farmer (1949)
George Hendrick (1949)
Andy Hassler (1951)
Jerry Royster (1952)
Mike Walters (1957)
Alan Mills (1966)
Doug Mirabelli (1970)
Alex Cora (1975)
David Murphy (1981)
Yoenis Cespedes (1985)
Alex Cora was drafted by Minnesota in the twelfth round in 1993, but he did not sign.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to AMR.
Well, Wilson went down on my fantasy team, so what the hell, Cousins gets the start. This should be amusing.
Fall is also Halloween, and this is a nice Halloween song, what with it being about a mummy and all.
But it's also just so pretty, and Josh Ritter deserves more play too, right?
(3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)Loading... DETROIT 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Friday, April 24.
Batting stars: Brant Alyea was 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double. Rich Reese was 2-for-5. Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-1 with a home run (his third), four walks, and three runs.
Pitching stars: Stan Williams struck out two in 1.2 innings, giving up one hit. Ron Perranoski struck out two in a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Al Kaline was 5-for-5 with two doubles. Bill Freehan was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second), two walks, and three RBIs. Cesar Gutierrez was 2-for-5 with two runs. Dick McAuliffe was 1-for-5 with a home run, his third. John Hiller pitched 5.2 innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out three.
The game: McAuliffe led off the game with a home run. Gutierrez singled and scored on Kaline's double, making the score 2-0 Tigers before an out was recorded. The Twins tied it in the bottom of the first. Tovar doubled, and walks to Jim Holt and Killebrew loaded the bases. With two out, Alyea delivered a two-run double, making the score 2-2.
Detroit went back ahead in the third. Singles by Gutierrez, Kaline, and Norm Cash loaded the bases with none out. Willie Horton struck out, but Jim Northrup's ground ball was booted by second baseman Tovar, resulting in all three runs scoring and Northrup ending up at second base. Freehan's RBI single made it 6-2 Tigers.
The Twins again came back. Tony Oliva doubled, Killebrew walked, and with two out Alyea again hit a two-run double, making it 6-4 after three. In the fourth Tom Hall singled and Tovar tripled, cutting the lead to 6-5. Killebrew homered leading off the sixth, tying the score 6-6.
But in the seventh, the Tigers went into the lead to stay. Northrup drew a one-out walk and Freehan hit a two-run homer, making it 8-6. The Twins put two on with two out in the seventh, but never got a man past first base after that.
WP: Hiller (1-0).
LP: Tom Hall (0-1).
S: None.
Notes: Tovar was at second base, rather than in center field, with Rod Carew out of the lineup. Holt went to center field. Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Holt in the seventh and stayed in the game at second, with Tovar moving to center. Bob Allison pinch-hit for Williams in the eighth. Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth.
Alyea was batting .429. Tovar was batting .385. Killebrew was batting .343. Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .327. Williams had an ERA of zero. Perranoski had an ERA of 2.31. Jim Perry started and gave up six runs (four earned) on eight hits and no walks in three innings and had an ERA of 2.57. Hall gave up two runs on three hits and three walks in 3.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.84.
Reese raised his average to .194. George Mitterwald was 0-for-4 and was batting .167.
Joe Niekro started for Detroit and pitched 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out none. No other players with Twins connections played for the Tigers in this game.
Despite the fact that Twins were trailing late, Perranoski appeared for the fifth time in six games. He had pitched 9.2 innings in those games. It would be six days before he pitched again.
Alyea was really tearing it up early, batting .429/.474/.857 in the season's first twelve games. He had three doubles, four home runs, and twenty RBIs.
Detroit manager Mayo Smith apparently decided Killebrew was not going to beat them in this game, as he walked four times. It's not that there was always a base open--he walked in the first with men on first and second, walked in the third with a man on second, walked in the seventh with the bases empty, and walked in the ninth with the bases empty. The one time they pitched to him he led off the fifth with a home run. The walks were not intentional, but it seems clear the Tigers were trying hard not to give Harmon much to hit.
Hall pitched better than his line looks. He pitched three scoreless innings before giving up a two-run homer to Freehan. One could argue that he was left in the game too long, but on the other hand, Freehan was a fine batter (200 career home runs), so it's possible that he simply hit a good pitch.
The Twins had won four, lost two, won four, and lost two. We'll see if they could start another four-game winning streak.
Record: The Twins were 8-4, tied for first in the American League West based on winning percentage, but a half game back of California.
Buck Ewing (1859)
Paul Derringer (1906)
Red Rolfe (1908)
Howie Moss (1918)
Johnny Klippstein (1927)
Jim Gilliam (1928)
Pete Cimino (1942)
Dan Pasqua (1961)
John Mabry (1970)
John Rocker (1974)
Gil Velazquez (1979)
Carlos Gonzalez (1985)
Chris Mazza (1989)
Howie Moss hit 279 minor league homers in a thirteen-year career.
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!
Autumn, amiright?
(2 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10)Loading... CHICAGO 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, April 23.
Batting stars: Paul Ratliff was 2-for-3 with two runs. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his fifth.
Pitching stars: Steve Barber pitched 2.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out two. Stan Williams struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up on hit.
Opposition stars: Luis Aparicio was 3-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Bobby Knoop was 3-for-5 with a home run, his second. Gail Hopkins was 2-for-3 with a double.
The game: Each team got a man to second in the first, but there was no score until the second, when Hopkins doubled and scored on Buddy Bradford's single. The White Sox put two on again in the third and scored again in the fourth on singles by Bradford, Knoop, and Aparicio.
The Twins got on the board in the fifth: Ratliff singled, Leo Cardenas walked, a bunt advanced the runners, and a sacrifice fly scored Ratliff. Chicago got the run back in the sixth when Knoop singled, was bunted to second, and scored on an Aparicio single.
The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the sixth. With one out Harmon Killebrew walked and Rich Reese singled. With two out Ratliff delivered an RBI single and Cardenas followed with a two-run double, putting the Twins up 4-3. They put two in the seventh with one out, but did not add to their lead.
It cost them, as Chicago went into the lead to stay in the eighth. Knoop led off the inning with a home run to tie the score. Syd O'Brien pinch-hit a single and was bunted to second, with bunter Walt Williams also reaching base on a fielder's choice. Aparicio then reached on a three-base error on pitcher Ron Perranoski, putting the White Sox up 6-4. A sacrifice fly then made it 7-4.
The Twins got one in the ninth. Tovar singled and went to second on a wild pitch. Killebrew reached on an error, scoring Tovar and bringing the winning run up to bat. But pinch-hitter Rick Renick flied out to center to end the game.
WP: Tommie Sisk (1-0).
LP: Perranoski (0-1).
S: Wilbur Wood (3).
Notes: Ratliff was again behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Mitterwald would pinch-hit for him in the eighth and go behind the plate.
Rod Carew started the game, but was pinch-hit for in the first inning by Minnie Mendoza. One assumes he was dealing with an injury or illness. Charlie Manuel and Bob Allison pinch-hit for pitchers. It was the first action Allison had seen in what would be his last season. Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in left field in the seventh. Renick pinch-hit for Reese in the ninth.
Bill Zepp started and pitched three innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on seven hits and one walk and striking out one.
Alyea was 0-for-2 and was batting .419. Tovar was batting .383. Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .340. Ratliff was batting .333. Manuel was 0-for-1 and was batting .333. Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .324. Holt and Renick were each 0-for-1 and each was batting .300. Zepp had an ERA of 2.25. Perranoski gave up four runs (one earned) in two innings and had an ERA of 2.53. Tom Hall struck out the only man he faced and had an ERA of zero. Williams also had an ERA of zero.
Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .161.
This was the last good season Perranoski would have, and part of the reason may be that Bill Rigney seemed determined to drive him into the ground in April. In the space of five games, Perranoski had come in four times, pitching a total of 8.2 innings. I know men were men back then, but even so, this seems like overdoing it, especially in the first month of the season.
The White Sox' starter was Gerry Janeski. He pitched 5.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four. He was a rookie, and this was just his third major league start. He started the season strong, with a 2.91 ERA in his first eight starts, but would end going 10-17, 4.77, 1.51 WHIP. 1970 was his only full major league season. He would be traded to Washington after the season and would make 27 more appearances (11 starts) over two seasons for the Senators/Rangers. His career numbers were 11-23, 4.73, 1.55 WHIP. After baseball, Janeski had a successful career in real estate in California.
This would be the last win of Tommie Sisk's career. He'd had some solid seasons with PIttsburgh, but had a poor year in 1969 with the expansion San Diego Padres and would struggle in 1970, his last major league season. The White Sox traded him to Cleveland in June and he was traded to Montreal after the season, but he never pitched in the majors for either of those clubs.
The loss snapped a four game winning streak for the Twins. They had won four, lost two, then won four again. We'll see if they go on to lose two again.
Record: The Twins were 8-3, in first place in the American League West by winning percentage, but a half game behind California.
Seriously, this is just the worst possible combination for the final four teams in baseball.
All right, I'd still take the Dodgers over the Cards, but besides that, worst final four teams.
Games this week:
Season opener on ESPN+ and Hulu! Actual options to see Wild games without buying NHL.tv! Huzzah!
If you are out of the BSN market, you should be able to see any non-nationally televised game on ESPN+ throughout the season and watch any blacked out games 24 hours later.
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The Wild start the season with a back to back in southern California. Neither the Ducks or the Kings are expected to be any good this year, so this seems like a pretty favorable way to start the season.
The Wild are back in the Central division this year, and Arizona has been added to this division to make room for the Kraken in the Pacific Division. These are the teams Minnesota is competing with for playoff spots, so let's see what we can expect from all of them.
JFresh (@JFreshHockey) does pretty extensive projections for all 32 teams based on the analytics of Top Down Hockey and his own projection system. Here are how all the Central division teams rank when compared to each other:
| Team | FwdOff | FwdDef | DOff | DDef | Goal | RankSum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 8 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 30 |
| Chicago | 6 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 28 |
| Colorado | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| Dallas | 4 | 3 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 24 |
| Minnesota | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 18 |
| Nashville | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 22 |
| St.Louis | 5 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 29 |
| Winnipeg | 2 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 22 |
The future is .... coming in a little bit.
The Wild broke camp without any of their highly touted rookies. Rossi, Beckman, Addison will all start in the AHL in Iowa (note to self - find out when the Iowa Wild come play the Chicago Wolves) and Matt Boldy broke his ankle in the last week of camp and will miss 4-6 weeks.
But last year's team didn't have any of those guys and they had a really good season! Let's see who is new and who is one year older.
If you spent any time looking at the table at the start of the post, and then you noticed that no mention was made of the goaltending in the "what's new" part of the Wild preview, you might be thinking that we need to spend some time thinking about what effect the Talbot-Kahkonen duo is going to have on the Wild's season.
There's an ongoing discussion in the stats/analytics community whether hockey is a game where it's better to construct your team by improving your worst players or if you are better off finding improvement at the top end of your roster. The arrival of Cam Talbot last year and his mostly average and sometimes great play was probably the biggest difference maker that took a team that finished 10th in the conference the year before to a team that looked like a dark-horse contender. JFresh's model doesn't like Talbot much and hates Kahkonen, so predicts some rough going for the goalie position for Minnesota this year. But it seems reasonable to me to think that Talbot will probably continue to be average to slightly better than that. And really that's what the Wild need. They have scoring (wait ... checking my notes ... yes, it says here the Minnesota Wild have scoring ... huh) and a solid D corps (Spurgeon, Brodin, Dumba are all good to great). A good to great top end of the roster with exciting young players waiting in the wings plus average goaltending is a pretty solid recipe for an entertaining season.
Kahkonen ... he's more of a question. He's a free agent after this season, and there are some cheap in-house options to replace him. If he isn't better than replacement level, I think he's gone. I hope he takes a step this season, but I have to say I'm not a believer.
Ok, what else is there to say?
Kaprizov Korner
Oh yeah, who wants to watch Kaprizov play keep away from the Blackhawks for a while? I started to almost feel bad for number 17.
