Hope everyone is having an old people New Years Eve quietly at home.
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 5 IN BALTIMORE (10 INNINGS)
Date: Friday, July 17.
Batting stars: Tom Tischinski was 2-for-2 with three walks and two runs. Jim Holt was 2-for-3. Rich Reese was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his seventh. Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-eighth) and two runs. Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Jim Kaat pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one. Ron Perranoski pitched three shutout innings, walking one and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mark Belanger was 3-for-5. Elrod Hendricks was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixth. Paul Blair was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Dave Johnson was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh), two walks, two runs, and two RBIs. Mike Cuellar pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks and striking out three.
The game: The Orioles opened the first with a Don Buford single and a Blair double, putting men on second and third with none out, but only scored once on a ground out. Each team threatened in the second but did not score. The Twins loaded the bases in the fourth, the second time they had done so, but again did not score. Baltimore loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth on a walk to Johnson and singles by Hendricks and Belanger, but again only scored once on a ground out, leaving them up 2-0. It went to 3-0 in the sixth when Hendricks homered.
The Twins came back in the seventh. Tischinski and Tovar singled and Reese hit a two-out three-run homer to tie it 3-3. The Orioles grabbed the lead right back in the bottom of the seventh when Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch and Johnson hit a two-run homer, making it 5-3.
Killebrew homered in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-4. In the ninth, Tischinski walked, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a Tovar single, tying the score 5-5.
Killebrew led off the tenth with a single. With one out, Perranoski bunted and was safe on a fielder's choice, putting men on first and second. With two out Tischinski delivered an RBI single to give the Twins their first lead of the game. It was the only lead they needed, as Baltimore went down in order in the bottom of the tenth.
WP: Perranoski (6-2).
LP: Ed Watt (2-6).
S: None.
Notes: Charlie Manuel was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Jim Holt was in center, with Tovar moving to second base. Tischinski was at catcher in place of George Mitterwald.
Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Kaat in the seventh. Danny Thompson pinch-hit for Manuel in the eighth and stayed in the game at second base, with Tovar moving to center field. Alyea pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth. Bob Allison went to left. Frank Quilici went to second base in the tenth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew coming out of the game.
Tischinski was batting .375. Killebrew was batting .326. Tony Oliva was 0-for-5 and was batting .319. Tovar was batting .314. Bill Zepp gave up three runs in five innings and had an ERA of 2.80. Stan Williams allowed two runs in an inning and had an ERA of 1.64. Perranoski had an ERA of 1.55.
Manuel was 0-for-2 and was batting .150. Allison was 0-for-2 and was batting .174.
Kaat was once again used in relief. Someone in the starting rotation being used in relief on consecutive days is certainly not something you see very often. He would go back to starting three days later and would not appear in relief again until September.
This was Tischinski's only multi-hit game of the season. He raised his average from .167 to .375.
Oddly, Bill Rigney did not pinch-run for either Tischinski in the ninth, when he represented the tying run, or for Killebrew in the tenth, when he represented the go-ahead run. Not pinch-running for Killebrew is understandable--it was a tie game, and you might need Harmon's bat if the game continued. But not running for Tischinski in the ninth, when you needed to pull out all the stops to tie the game, seems strange. Quilici was still on the bench, available for use, but he was not used. Rigney got away with it, but it's hard to think it was the right thing to do.
Record: The Twins were 55-29, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.
If you have something to finish up this year, now is the time to do it.
King Kelly (1857)
Tom Connolly (1870)
Bobby Byrne (1884)
Syl Johnson (1900)
Tommy Byrne (1919)
Guy LaValliere (1931)
Alfredo Meli (1944)
Joe Simpson (1951)
Jim Tracy (1955)
Rick Aguilera (1961)
Esteban Loaiza (1971)
Brian Moehler (1971)
Julio DePaula (1982)
Alex Colome (1988)
Kelvin Herrera (1989)
Adam McCreery (1992)
Tom Connolly was a major league umpire for many years. He umpired the first World Series game in 1903. He once went ten years without ejecting a player.
It does not appear that Bobby Byrne and Tommy Byrne are related.
Minor league catcher Guy LaValliere is the father of major league catcher Mike LaValliere.
Alfredo Meli is a member of the Italian Baseball Hall of Fame. He was the first man to win Italian championships as a player, a manager, and a general manager. He also founded the Italian Baseball Federation for the Blind.
Adam McCreery was drafted by the Twins in the fourteenth round in 2011 but did not sign.
Nobody ever makes a fuss about the last baby of the old year.
BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN BALTIMORE
Date: Thursday, July 15.
Batting stars: Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-seventh. Rich Reese was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mike Cuellar pitched a complete game, giving up one run on nine hits and three walks and striking out four. Boog Powell was 1-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-fourth), a walk, and two RBIs.
The game: The Twins had men on second and third with one out in the first, but Cesar Tovar was thrown out at the plate on a grounder to third to end the inning. The Orioles then scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first when Don Buford singled, went to second on Paul Blair's bunt single, took third on a ground out, and scored on a passed ball.
The Twins had two on with none out in the second, but a double play took them out of the inning. Baltimore took it to 2-0 in the third when Blair singled, went to third on Frank Robinson's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.
The Twins got on the board in the sixth when Killebrew homered, but the Orioles came back with three in the bottom of the sixth. Powell led off the inning with a home run. Brooks Robinson walked, Dave Johnson reached on an error, and Andy Etchebarren hit a two-run double, making it 5-1 Baltimore.
The Twins did not get a man past first base after that.
WP: Cuellar (12-5).
LP: Tom Hall (5-3).
S: None.
Notes: Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew. Bob Allison was in left field in place of Brant Alyea. Alyea and Rick Renick pinch-hit for pitchers. Frank Quilici pinch-ran for Alyea. Jim Holt pinch-ran for Renick.
Killebrew was batting .325. Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .324. Tovar was 1-for-5 and was batting .313. Hall gave up four runs (three earned) in five innings and had an ERA of 2.30. Dick Woodson gave up an unearned run in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.63. Williams had an ERA of 1.39.
Jim Kaat was again used in relief, giving up no runs in two-thirds of an inning. It's hard to understand why, with a rested bullpen, it was necessary to use Kaat, but there it is. In fact, I really don't understand why Hall started the first game off the all-star game ahead of Kaat, although I will admit he had a much better ERA.
The Twins stranded nine and were 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.
Record: The Twins were 54-29, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.
Our holiday trip was met with some interesting delays, including a unplanned hotel stay due to weather immediately followed by a flat tire. Got home before the snow started falling here at least.
Frank Torre (1931)
Sandy Koufax (1935)
Jose Morales (1944)
Tom Murphy (1945)
Travis Baptist (1971)
A. J. Pierzynski (1976)
Brad Voyles (1976)
Grant Balfour (1977)
Jim Hoey (1982)
These seven early-twenty-somethings are part of the same South London scene that produced Black Midi, Squid, and yes, Dry Cleaning. It's virtually impossible to categorize their music, (other than avant-garde), as they mix such disparate elements as post punk, math rock, klezmer and free jazz among their influences. From their 2021 debut album For the First Time. I was gonna play "Black Sunglasses" --the first song of theirs I was introduced to--it's brilliant! Unfortunately, the lyrics to that one are decidedly NSFW. However, if you’re intrigued by “Opus”, you really need to check it out. As one witty You Tube commenter said of "singer"/guitarist Issac Wood, "I like my vocalists to sound like they're standing on a window sill yelling at a police negotiator." Perfect.
(3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)Loading... Slippery roads made us pull over and spend a night in non-Madison Wisconsin. Someone (loudly) set the lobby PA to a deeper college station or something (Big Thief, Michael Kiwnuka, etc.). Wasn't expecting that.
NATIONAL LEAGUE 5, AMERICAN LEAGUE 4 IN CINCINNATI (12 INNINGS)
Date: Tuesday, July 14.
Twins: Harmon Killebrew started at third base and went 1-for-2 with a walk. Tony Oliva was a reserve outfielder and went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. Jim Perry struck out three in two innings, giving up one run on one hit and one walk.
The game: Neither team got a man to third base for five innings. In the sixth, Ray Fosse led off with a single, was bunted to second, and scored on a Carl Yastrzemski single to give the Americans a 1-0 lead. It went to 2-0 in the seventh, as Brooks Robinson hit a one-out single, Oliva walked, Dave Johnson got an infield single, and Fosse hit a sacrifice fly.
The Nationals got on the board in the bottom of the seventh. Bud Harrelson singled, Cito Gaston walked, and Denis Menke was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out. Willie McCovey hit into a double play, but a run scored to make it 2-1.
The Americans took what looked like a commanding lead in the eighth. Yastrzemski and Willie Horton singled, and Robinson hit a two-out triple, scoring them both and making the score 4-1. In the bottom of the ninth, however, Dick Dietz led off with a home run. Harrelson singled, Joe Morgan hit a one-out single, McCovey had an RBI single, and Roberto Clemente hit a sacrifice fly, tying it 4-4.
It stayed 4-4 until the twelfth. With two out, Pete Rose and Billy Grabarkewitz singled, putting men on first and second. Jim Hickman then delivered an RBI single to win the game for the Nationals.
WP: Claude Osteen,
LP: Clyde Wright
S: None.
Notes: As you probably know, the game ended on the famous (or infamous) play in which Rose ran over Fosse. It's not really accurate to say the play ended Fosse's career--he was a starter for two more seasons and a part-time catcher for five seasons after that. It clearly affected his career, of course. People have debated endlessly whether what Rose did was a hard-nosed play or a cheap shot. To a large extent, it depends on what you think of Pete Rose.
There were four pitchers who pitched three innings in this game and four more who pitched two innings. Someone pitching two innings in the all-star game is rare these days. Three is unheard of. We could debate whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Subjectively, though, I think the game was more fun when the starting pitcher threw three innings.
Rod Carew clearly would have been an all-star had he not been injured.
Two players for the Americans played the entire game: Luis Aparicio and Yastrzemski. Dave Johnson played ten innings, coming out as part of a double switch.
As these rewinds are for the Twins, we usually have just American League players. I thought it might be fun to do the all-star game, to hear some great National League names again, too. I hope you enjoyed it.
