Monthly Archives: November 2021

Minnesota Twins, MLB

2021–2022 Offseason Wishlist

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The World Series is over. Teams have extended qualifying offers to their upcoming free agents, who must determine whether to accept a one-year, $18.4 million contract and remain with their most recent club, or to decline and seek other opportunities on the open market. The deadline for those decisions is Wednesday, 17 November.

The Twins have a lot of work to do to turn around a disastrous year in which they plummeted down the elevator shaft from roof to basement, traded away key players, and Let (Some of) the Kids Play (Until Some of the Kids Got Hurt). Rather than celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1991 World Series Champions with a deep run into the postseason, the Twins are in the position to ponder the success of the Twins’ front office over the 1990–1991 offseason. Will the current front office attempt a similar worst-to-first turnaround, or do they see a return to sustainable contention taking a season (or more) to develop? The futures of several key Twins regulars are up in the air until their approach becomes clear.

We’ll know their answer in due time. For now, we can posit our own.

A few handy, non-paywalled reference materials:

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–November 15

Tom Loftus (1856)
Pat Ragan (1883)
Mickey Livingston (1914)
Gus Bell (1928)
Big Brother A (1951)
Randy Niemann (1955)
Pedro Borbon (1967)

Tom Loftus managed Cincinnati, Chicago, and Washington around the turn of the (twentieth) century.

Big Brother A is one of the two people--Dad A being the other--from whom I got a love of baseball and a love of the Twins.  I don't know how it's possible that I have a brother who's seventy years old when I'm still so young, but happy birthday, Big Brother.

We also wish a happy birthday to spookymilk’s brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 15 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Forty-one

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MINNESOTA 11, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Luis Tiant was 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his fifth) and a walk.  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Brant Alyea was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Rick Renick was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars: Luis Tiant pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out five.  Stan Williams pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Russ Snyder was 4-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Jerry McNertney was 2-for-4.  Danny Walton was 2-for-5.  Tommy Harper was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.

The game:  The Twins put this one away early.  The Brewers got two men on in the first with walks but did not score.  Alyea led off the second with a single.  With one out, singles by Leo Cardenas, Mitterwald, and Tiant made it 2-0.  Tovar walked to load the bases, Carew got an infield single, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-0.

The Twins added some more in the third.  Singles by Rick Renick and Tiant put two on with two out and Tovar hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 7-0.  Milwaukee got a pair of singles in the fourth but did not score.  In the bottom of the fourth Killebrew and Alyea singled, putting two on with one out.  Renick hit an RBI single.  With two out Mitterwald doubled home a run and Tiant delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 11-0 lead.

Snyder hit a solo homer in the fifth and Harper hit one in the seventh to cut the lead to 11-2.  The Brewers had two on with two out in the seventh, two on with one out in the eighth, and loaded the bases in the ninth, but the score did not change.

WP:  Tiant (6-0).

LP:  John Morris (2-1).

S:  Williams (2).

Notes:  Renick was at third base, with Killebrew at first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Reese replaced Killebrew in the eighth.  Frank Quilici replaced Cardenas at shortstop in the fifth, presumably due to illness or injury.  He would be back in the lineup the next day.

Tiant was batting .435.  Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .398.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .327.  Killebrew was batting .326.  Tovar was batting .302.  Williams had an ERA of 1.55.

Quilici was 0-for-2 and was batting .159.

Tiant was not a particularly good batter through most of his career.  In 1965 and 1968 he batted below .100.  In 1964 and 1966 he batted .111.  He'd only had one year in which his average was higher than that--he batted .254 in 1967.  For his career he batted .164/.185/.224.  I don't know if there was a reason he batted so well in 1970 or if it was just a small sample size fluke, but it's pretty amazing.

Also, Tiant had four RBIs in 1970.  Three of them came in this game.

The Brewers stranded eight men and went 0-for-13 with men in scoring position.

This was one of ten major league starts John Morris made.  He appeared in relief 122 times over an eight-year career.  He was 11-7, 3.95, 1 career save, 1.35 WHIP.

There was apparently a rainout on Wednesday, as there seems no other reason for an off-day in the middle of the series.

Record:  The Twins were 29-12, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Forty

MINNESOTA 6, MILWAUKEE 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 26.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-3 with a triple and a walk.  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a double.  Paul Ratliff was 2-for-4 with a double.  Jim Kaat was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-4.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Future Twin Danny Walton was 1-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.  Tommy Harper was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

The game:  Tovar homered leading off the bottom of the first to put the Twins ahead 1-0.  Walton homered in the second to tie it 1-1.  The Twins went into the lead to stay in the bottom of the second.  With one out, Ratliff doubled and scored on a Kaat single.  With two out, Carew singled and Kaat scored all the way from first base to put the Twins ahead 3-1.

Harper homered in the third to cut the lead to 3-2, but that was as close as the Brewers would come.  They threatened in the sixth, putting men on first and third with one out, but Ted Kubiak was thrown out trying to score on a grounder to third.

The Twins got an insurance run in the seventh.  Kaat singled, was bunted to second, went to third on a Carew single, and scored on a single by Tony Oliva.  They put it out of reach in the eighth.  Reese singled and scored from first on a Holt double.  Holt was bunted to third and scored on a Ratliff single.  Milwaukee got a couple of guys on base in the ninth but did not bring the tying run up to bat.

WP:  Kaat (5-1).

LP:  Bobby Bolin (1-4).

S:  None.

Notes:  Holt was again in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.

Carew got back over .400 at .404.  It would be the last time he would be above .400 this season.  Oliva was 1-for-3 and was batting .329.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .319.

I wonder when the last time is a pitcher scored from first base on a single.

This was Bolin's only season with Milwaukee, and it would not be a full season.  He had been traded to the Brewers after several solid seasons with San Francisco.  He would be traded to Boston in September and would play for the Red Sox through 1973.

Walton hit seventeen home runs in 1970.  He would not hit more than four in any other season.  He had fifteen in the first half of the season, then hit just two more before being injured and missing the month of September.  He was twenty-two in 1970 and Milwaukee probably thought they had a coming superstar, but it was not to be.  He had some big home run season in AAA, hitting 184 home runs at that level, but never got as many as 100 at-bats in a major league season after 1970.

Record:  The Twins were 28-12, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Thirty-nine

MINNESOTA 6, MILWAUKEE 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, May 25.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk.  Rich Reese was 1-for-3 with three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Russ Snyder was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.  Mike Hegan was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Tommy Harper was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base (his twentieth), a walk, and two runs.  Skip Lockwood pitched a complete game, giving up six runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out six.

The game:  Cesar Tovar and Rod Carew led off the first with singles, putting men on first and third, and Tony Oliva hit an RBI ground out to put the Twins up 1-0.  The Brewers tied it in the third when Harper drew a two-out walk, stole second, and scored on Russ Snyder's single.  The Twins went back in front in the fourth.  Oliva reached on an error and scored on a Harmon Killebrew triple.  Reese followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1 Twins.

Milwaukee came back.  Ted Kubiak led off the fifth with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-2.  In the sixth Snyder singled and scored from first on Mike Hegan's double to tie it 3-3.  The Brewers took the lead in the seventh when Gus Gil singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Harper's single.

It was the Twins' turn in the seventh.  George Mitterwald reached on an error and was bunted to second.  Tovar reached on another error, sending Mitterwald to third.  With two out, Oliva reached on yet another error, scoring Mitterwald to tie it 4-4.  Killebrew walked to load the bases and Reese delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 6-4 lead.

Milwaukee drew a pair of one-out walks in the eighth but did not score.  The first two Brewers went out in the ninth, but Harper doubled and scored on Snyder's single, cutting the lead to 6-5.  An error on Frank Quilici (in the game as a defensive replacement) put men on first and second, but future Twin Danny Walton flied out to end the game.

WP:  Tom Hall (2-1).

LP:  Lockwood (0-1).

S:  Ron Perranoski (12).

Notes:  Jim Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Quilici replaced Killebrew at third base in the ninth.

Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .387.  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .329.  Killebrew was batting .328.  Bill Zepp pitched 6.2 innings and gave up four runs, making his ERA 2.78.  Hall did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning and had an ERA of 2.59.  Stan Williams gave up a run in 1.1 innings and had an ERA of 1.65.  Perranoski got the last out and had an ERA of 1.64.

This was Zepp's second start of the season.  He would make one more, then go back to the bullpen until July, when he would go into the rotation.

Milwaukee made four errors in the game, and as you can see above, the errors cost them.  Lockwood was allowed to pitch a complete game despite giving up six runs, presumably on the theory that it's not his fault that his fielders couldn't field.  Still, a complete game while giving up six runs is unusual, even if four were unearned.

This was Killebrew's only triple in 1970.  For his career, he hit twenty-four triples.  He only once hit more than two in a season, and that's in 1961, when he hit seven.

Gus Gil somehow managed to play in parts of four seasons and appear in 221 games despite batting .186/.272/.226, for an OPS of .499.  Presumably he was considered a good fielder, but his batting line pretty much defines "futility infielder".

The Twins had played four one-run games in a row, winning two and losing two.

Record:  The Twins were 27-12, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of California.