Monthly Archives: December 2021

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-four

CHICAGO 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA (12 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, July 4.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-5 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-6.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out one.  Bill Zepp pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Stan Williams pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Bobby Knoop was 2-for-4.  Ed Herrmann was 2-for-5 with a home run, his seventh.  Walt Williams was 2-for-6.  Tommy John pitched 8.1 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out seven.

The game:  The White Sox had men on first and third with one out in the second, but Gail Hopkins was thrown out trying to score on a grounder to third and a fly out ended the inning.  Chicago got on the board in the fourth, though.  Carlos May was hit by a pitch and Hopkins reached on a fielder's choice, putting men on first and second with none out.  Herrmann singled home a run and another run scored on a double play, making it 2-0 White Sox.

The Twins only once got a man as far as second base for six innings.  In the seventh, however, Cardenas hit a two-out double and George Mitterwald followed with an RBI single, cutting the lead to 2-1.

Chicago had men on second and third with none out in the eighth but did not score.  Herrmann homered leading off the ninth to make it 3-1.  In the bottom of the ninth Tony Oliva led off with a double and stayed on second on Rick Renick's infield single to short.  Oliva was then picked off second, a huge mistake in the ninth inning.  Bob Allison then walked, putting men on first and second.  Cardenas had an RBI single, making it 3-2 and putting men on first and third, and Rich Reese hit a sacrifice fly to send the game to extra innings.

The Twins missed a good chance in the tenth.  Tovar led off and got to third on a single-plus-error.  Danny Thompson hit a short fly ball for the first out.  Harmon Killebrew and Oliva were both intentionally walked, filling the bases, and the strategy worked, as pinch-hitter Tom Tischinski hit into a double play.  In the twelfth, Bob Spence led off with a walk.  Walt Williams replaced him on first on a fielder's choice.  He then scored when Luis Aparicio reached on an error.  Aparicio went all the way to third and scored on a sacrifice fly, making it 5-3.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the twelfth.

WP:  Wilbur Wood (4-7).

LP:  Dick Woodson (1-2).

S:  Jerry Crider (2).

Notes:  Thompson was again at second in place of Rod Carew.  Renick was at third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Reese to the bench.

There were lots of bench moves.  Frank Quilici pinch-hit for Zepp in the seventh.  Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in left field in the ninth with the Twins trailing and Alyea due to bat in the bottom of the inning.  Alyea would make only one brief appearance between this game and July 16, so he presumably was dealing with an injury.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for Holt in the ninth and Herman Hill pinch-ran for Allison, with Hill staying in the game in center and Tovar moving to left.  Reese pinch-hit for MItterwald in the ninth and Paul Ratliff pinch-hit for Ron Perranoski in the ninth, with Ratliff staying in the game to catch, Reese staying in the game at first base, and Killebrew moving to third.  Jim Kaat pinch-hit for Stan Williams in the tenth, but when the White Sox changed pitchers Tischinski pinch-hit for Kaat.

Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .324.  Tovar was batting .312.  Killebrew was 0-for-4 and was batting .308.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.68.  Perranoski gave up one run in two innings and had an ERA of 1.75.  Williams had an ERA of 1.78.  Woodson gave up two unearned runs in two innings and had an ERA of 2.70.

Tischinski was batting zero (0-for-2).  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .118.  Quilici was 0-for-1 and was batting .175.  Boswell had an ERA of 6.22.

As you can see above, the Twins used seven bench players (not counting Kaat).

Crider, of course, is an ex-Twin, having played for them in 1969.

The loss ended the Twins' five-game winning streak.  It was their second extra-inning game in four days.

Despite lasting twelve innings, the game took just 3:31 to play.

RecordL  The Twins were 48-26, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 19

Ford Frick (1894)
Al Kaline (1934)
Tony Taylor (1935)
Walt Williams (1943)
Rob Gardner (1944)
Geoff Zahn (1945)
Kevin Stanfield (1955)
Stu Cliburn (1956)
Stan Cliburn (1956)
Tom Lawless (1956)
Clay Parker (1962)
Bill Wegman (1962)
Mike Fetters (1964)
Chito Martinez (1965)
Russell Branyan (1975)
Rafael Soriano (1979)
Ian Kennedy (1984)
Aaron Loup (1987)

Ford Frick was the president of the National League from 1934-1951 and commissioner of baseball from 1951-1965.

Clay Parker was drafted by Minnesota in the twenty-first round in 1984, but did not sign.

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Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-three

MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 3.

Batting stars:  Danny Thompson was 3-for-4 with two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Rick Renick was 2-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his twenty-third) and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Duane Josephson was 2-for-3.  Floyd Weaver struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit and two walks.

The game:  The White Sox scored first, tallying twice in the first inning.  One-out singles by Luis Aparicio and Carlos May put men on first and third.  A passed ball scored one run and Josephson's two-out single made it 2-0 Chicago.

The Twins came back with four in the bottom of the first.  Tovar and Thompson led off the inning with singles.  A wild pitch scored a run and Tony Oliva delivered an RBI double to tie it 2-2.  Killebrew then walked, a run-scoring single by Jim Holt put the Twins ahead, and an error made it 4-2 Twins after one.

It was all Twins after that.  In the second Tovar doubled and scored on a Thompson single to make it 5-2.  In the fifth, Thompson and Oliva singled and Killebrew hit a three-run homer to bring the score to 8-2.

The White Sox never had two men on base after the first inning and only once advanced a man to second.

WP:  Perry (12-6).

LP:  Joel Horlen (6-10).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Renick was at third, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese on the bench.  Frank Quilici came in to play second in the sixth, with Thompson moving to shortstop and Leo Cardenas leaving the game.

Oliva was batting .325.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .308.

Quilici was 0-for-1 and was batting .177.

It was Perry's seventh complete game of the season.

The Twins were once again able to get to Joel Horlen.  He pitched five innings and allowed eight runs (seven earned) on ten hits and a walk and struck out one.  Horlen had been a good pitcher for several years, but he started to decline in 1969 and the decline was more pronounced in 1970--he went 6-16, 4.86.  He was especially bad against the Twins--0-4, 8.03, 1.99 WHIP.  He would do better in 1971 and have a decent year mostly pitching out of the bullpen for Oakland in 1972 before ending his playing career.

The Twins started their homestand 5-0.  They had just gone 3-4 against those same two teams on the road.

Record:  The Twins were 48-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 18

Ty Cobb (1886)
Dick Coffman (1906)
Gino Cimoli (1929)
Moose Skowron (1930)
Zoilo Versalles (1939)
Steve Hovley (1944)
Drew Coble (1947)
Roy Howell (1953)
Jim Clancy (1955)
Scott Bailes (1961)
Willie Blair (1965)
Joe Randa (1969)
Jose Rodriguez (1974)
Byron Buxton (1993)

Drew Coble was an American League umpire from 1982-1999.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to cheaptoy.

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Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-two

MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 2.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth), a double, and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall pitched seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Eliseo Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs.  Aurelio Monteagudo pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

The game:  Killebrew got the first hit of the game, a home run leading off the bottom of the second.  Rich Reese followed with a single, and with one out Cardenas hit a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0.

Neither team had another hit until the fifth, when Cardenas doubled and went to third on a wild pitch.  George Mitterwald walked and Hall hit into a double play, scoring Cardenas.  Tovar followed with a home run to make it 5-0 Twins.

Rodriguez got the first Royals hit in the sixth, a leadoff triple, and scored on Jackie Hernandez' sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.  Cookie Rojas got a leadoff double in the seventh and got as far as third base with two out, but he got no farther.  In the eighth Rodriguez and Ed Kirkpatrick led off with singles, putting men on first and third with none out.  Pat Kelly drew a one-out walk to load the bases and Rojas hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2, but that was all Kansas City could get.  The Royals went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (4-2).

LP:  Al Fitzmorris (4-3).

S:  Stan Williams (6).

Notes:  Danny Thompson was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Rick Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Herman Hill came in to play center in the eighth as part of a double switch, with Tovar moving to left and Renick coming out of the game.  Frank Quilici came in to play second base in the ninth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew leaving the game.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .323.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .305.  Hall had an ERA of 2.05.  Stan Williams gave up a run in two innings and had an ERA of 1.81.

Thompson was 0-for-4 and was batting .174.  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .125.

Hall had given up two runs in 13.2 innings in two starts.  He would make one more start, then return to the bullpen.  Bill Rigney apparently thought he was more valuable there, despite his success as a starter.

Hill was very fast, stealing 58 bases in the minors in 1967, and was considered an excellent defender.  Unfortunately, as we've observed before, none of the other "five tools" mean much if you can't hit, and he couldn't.  He did hit .300 in Denver in 1969, but a) it was Denver, and b) he still only had an OPS of .744.  He admittedly didn't get much of a chance in the majors, but he batted just .083 in 24 major league at-bats.

Aurelio Monteagudo had all the vowels in his first name, and all but one of the vowels in his last name.  Maybe he's who Hrbek could've bought a vowel from.

Record:  The Twins were 47-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 17

Cy Falkenberg (1879)
Ray Jablonski (1926)
Cal Ripken (1935)
Jerry Adair (1936)
Leo Cardenas (1938)
Bob Ojeda (1957)
Marvell Wynne (1959)
Curtis Pride (1968)
Alex Cintron (1978)
Chase Utley (1978)
Fernando Abad (1985)
Taylor Rogers (1990)

Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988.  He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.

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