Happy Birthday–November 11

Joe Battin (1853)
Freddy Parent (1875)
Rabbit Maranville (1891)
Al Schacht (1892)
Pie Traynor (1898)
Hal Trosky (1912)
George Case (1915)
Ike Delock (1929)
Ron Musselman (1954)
John Hobbs (1955)
Cory Snyder (1962)
Roberto Hernandez (1964)
Damion Easley (1969)
Jason Grilli (1976)

Sadly, Joe Battin wasn't much good at battin'.  An infielder, he batted .225/.241/.281.  His career spanned ten seasons, though, so I assume he was really good at fieldin'.

Al Schacht played in the majors for three years, but was better known as "The Clown Prince of Baseball".

On this Veterans' Day, we would like to thank all current and former members of the military for their service, especially those who are part of the wgom.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 11

1970 Rewind: Game Thirty-six

CALIFORNIA 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, April 22.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.  Rick Renick was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out three.  Stan Williams struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.

Opposition stars:  Ken McMullen was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk.  Jim Spencer was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Clyde Wright pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.

The game:   The Twins missed a chance in the first.  Cesar Tovar led off with an infield hit and went to third with none out on a pickoff error.  Unfortunately for the Twins, he was then thrown out trying to score on a grounder to second, so the game remained scoreless.

McMullen changed that in the second, hitting a home run to put the Angels up 1-0.  The Twins got one-out singles in the fifth from Leo Cardenas and George Mitterwald and Perry bunted to move the runners to second and third, but Tovar grounded out to end the inning.  The Twins did tie it in the sixth, however, on consecutive one-out singles by Harmon KillebrewOliva, and Brant Alyea.  They missed a chance for more, however, as Oliva was thrown out trying to go to third on Alyea's single.

California went ahead to stay in the seventh.  Spencer led off with a home run to put them ahead 2-1.  With one out, the Angels got consecutive singles from Bill Voss, Joe Azcue, and pitcher Wright to make it 3-1.  Renick homered in the ninth to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Twins could not get the tying run on base.

WP:  Wright (6-2).

LP:  Perry (6-3).

S:  Ken Tatum (7).

Notes:  Minnie Mendoza pinch-hit for Tom Hall in the seventh.  Rich Reese pinch-hit for Mitterwald in the ninth.

Carew was 0-for-3 and was batting .418.  Oliva was batting .324.  Killebrew was 1-for-3 and was batting .315.  Renick was 1-for-4 and was batting .300.  Perry had an ERA of 2.70.  Williams had an ERA of 1.64.

Mitterwald was 1-for-3 and was batting .185.

It was a battle of the top two teams in the division.  There will, of course, be two more games in the series.  it's early to talk about a "big series", but I'm sure there was a lot of interest in this one.

Angels closer Tatum had an ERA of 0.86 at this point in the season and had given up just twelve hits in twenty-one innings.

Williams had not pitched since May 16.

Record:  The Twins were 25-11, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.

Happy Birthday–November 10

Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 10

1970 Rewind: Game Thirty-five

MINNESOTA 10, KANSAS CITY 5 IN KANSAS CITY

Date: Wednesday, May 20.

Batting stars: Rod Carew was 4-for-5 with a home run (his third), a triple, a double, a stolen base (his third), two runs, and two RBIs. Jim Holt was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs. Paul Ratliff was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his second) and two walks. Leo Cardenas was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his fifth. Rich Reese was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his second), a walk, and two runs.

Pitching star: Tom Hall struck out five in three innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks.

Opposition stars: Joe Keough was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third), a walk, and two runs. Eliseo Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a triple, a double, and two runs. Pat Kelly was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his sixteenth. Amos Otis was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth) and a double. Mike Fiore was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.

The game: Otis homered in the first to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Carew, who had singled in the first, homered in the third to tie it 1-1. Kansas City regained the lead in the fourth when Rodriguez doubled, Kelly walked, and Fiore hit a two-run double to make it 3-1. Holt singled and Ratliff homered in the sixth to tie it 3-3, but Keough homered in the home half of the sixth to once again give the Royals the lead at 4-3.

The Twins took control from there. With two out in the seventh Reese walked, Holt singled, and Cardenas hit a three-run homer to give the Twins their first lead at 6-4. With one out in the eighth Tovar walked and scored on a triple by Carew, who had doubled in the sixth inning. With two out, Killebrew hit an RBI single and Reese followed with a two-run homer, giving the Twins a 10-4 advantage. Kansas City added one in the ninth when Rodriguez tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly, but the Twins' lead was never in jeopardy.

WP: Dave Boswell (2-5).

LP: Bob Johnson (1-2).

S: Hall (1).

Notes: Holt was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald. Mitterwald came in to catch in the seventh as part of a double switch. Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the eighth and stayed in the game at third base.

Carew's average reached a season high of .432. Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .319. Killebrew was 1-for-4 and was batting .315. Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .300.

Mitterwald was 0-for-2 and was batting .179.  Boswell pitched six innings and gave up four runs, giving him an ERA of 6.31.

As you may have noticed, Carew hit for the cycle in this game:  a single in the first, a home run in the third, a double in the sixth, and a triple in the eighth.  He grounded out in his other at-bat.  This was the seventh time in eight games that he had more than one hit, the fifth time he had more than two, and the second time he had four.  Over that span he was 22-for-37 and raised his average more than a hundred points, from an already-high .328 to .432.

Neither starter pitched particularly well.  Boswell, as noted above, pitched six innings, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk and striking out four.  Johnson struck out seven in seven innings, but gave up six runs on ten hits and four walks.

When I was a kid, I loved the name "Eliseo Rodriguez".

This was Hall's eleventh relief appearance.  It was the sixth time he'd gone more than one inning, the fourth time he'd gone more than two, and the third time he'd gone three or more.  It was his first career save.

I can't hear the name "Amos Otis" without thinking of the Jerry Reed song "Amos Moses".

The Twins had won seven in a row, ten of twelve, and thirteen of sixteen.

Record:  The Twins were 25-10, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of California.  They had the best record in the American League, but not in all of baseball--that honor went to Cincinnati, who was 28-11.

Weekly Wild Whangdoodle: Out West Again

Games this week:

On the road again. A trip to the west gets 3 games in 4 days. Don't expect a lot of power-play goals on this trip, it features four teams at the bottom of the league in power play goal rates.  Minnesota (24th), Arizona (29th), Vegas (31st), and Seattle (32nd).

Arizona is truly terrible, they just got their first win of the season last week.  Any points dropped to the Coyotes would be a missed opportunity.

Vegas is really banged up, playing without Marc Stone or Pacioretty or new acquisition Jack Eichel.  This is a good time to run into the Golden Knights.

Seattle has struggled ever since they dominated the Wild a couple weeks ago, but are probably the best 5-on-5 possession team of the three the Wild will face on this trip.

Continue reading Weekly Wild Whangdoodle: Out West Again

Happy Birthday–November 9

George Wood (1858)
Harvey Hendrick (1897)
Johnny Gooch (1897)
Jerry Priddy (1919)
Bob Wren (1920)
Bill Bruton (1925)
Whitey Herzog (1931)
Bob Gibson (1935)
Jim Riggleman (1952)
Teddy Higuera (1958)
Dion James (1962)
Chad Ogea (1970)
Adam Dunn (1979)
Chuck James (1981)
Joel Zumaya (1984)
Alex Kirilloff (1997)

Bob Wren was the head coach of Ohio University from 1949-1972.

Jim Riggleman has managed San Diego, the Cubs, Seattle, and Washington.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 9