Monthly Archives: March 2022

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-six

MINNESOTA 1, KANSAS CITY 0 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Friday, September 25.

Batting star:  Steve Brye was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game shutout, giving up two hits and no walks and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Cookie Rojas was 2-for-3.  Wally Bunker pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out one.

The game:  Neither team got a hit until the fourth.  Leo Cardenas led off the inning with a walk, went to second on a Harmon Killebrew single, and scored on a Brye double to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.

And that was it.  Neither team got a man past first base after that.  Both Royals hits were singles by Rojas.  He got one leading off the sixth and he got one with two out in the eighth.

WP:  Perry (24-12).

LP:  Bunker (2-11).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jim Nettles was in center field in place of Cesar Tovar.  Brye was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Rick Dempsey was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.

Frank Quilici went to second base in the fifth inning, with Thompson moving to shortstop and Cardenas coming out of the game.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .322.  Nettles was 1-for-4 and was batting .308.  Perry had an ERA of 2.96.

Dempsey was 0-for-3 and was batting zero.

With the division clinched, Bill Rigney obviously gave some guys a day off.  The only ones who really needed the rest, though, were Tovar and Cardenas.  The others had plenty of time off during the season.  Oliva and Killebrew, who had played nearly every game, remained in the lineup.

You see that Bunker was 2-11 and you might think he was awful, but he wasn't.  He wasn't great, but his ERA was 4.22 and his WHIP was 1.31.  One suspects that the Royals simply didn't score runs for him.

This was the first of seven games against the Royals to close out the season.

Record:  The Twins were 95-61, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 13

Frank "Home Run" Baker (1886)
Patsy Gharrity (1892)
Alejandro Oms (1895)
C. Arnholt Smith (1899)
Doug Harvey (1930)
Bill Dailey (1935)
Steve Barber (1948)
Randy Bass (1954)
Terry Leach (1954)
Yoshihiko Takahashi (1957)
Luis Aguayo (1959)
Mariano Duncan (1963)
Will Clark (1964)
Jorge Fabregas (1970)
Scott Sullivan (1971)
Johan Santana (1979)
Mike Aviles (1981)
Sandy Leon (1989)
Robinson Leyer (1993)

Outfielder Alejandro Oms was a star in Cuba and in the Negro Leagues.

C. Arnholt Smith was the original owner of the San Diego Padres.

Doug Harvey was a National League umpire from 1962-92.

Infielder Yoshihiko Takahashi has the longest hitting streak in Japanese professional baseball.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 13 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-five

MINNESOTA 7, OAKLAND 4 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, September 23.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with three runs.  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fifteenth.  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Jim Nettles was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Bill Zepp retired all four men he faced.

Opposition stars:  Bert Campaneris was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-second.  Dave Duncan was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his tenth) and a walk.  Marcel Lachemann struck out two in two perfect innings.

The game:  Nettles led off the game with a single.  With one out, Oliva singled and Harmon Killebrew walked, loading the bases.  With two out, Holt delivered a two-run double, putting the Twins in front 2-0.  In the third, Oliva and Holt singled and Mitterwald hit a two-out three-run homer, making it 5-0 Twins.  It went to 7-0 in the seventh.  With one out, Leo Cardenas doubled, Oliva singled, and Killebrew walked, loading the bases, and Rich Reese came through with a two-run single.

Over the first six innings the Athletics drew seven walks, but did not score because they had no hits.  That changed in the seventh when Campaneris homered.  In the eighth Don Mincher and Sal Bando walked and Duncan hit a three-run homer, cutting the lead to 7-4.  But that was as good as it got for them, and the Twins had another victory.

WP:  Hall (10-6).

LP:  Catfish Hunter (17-14).

S:  Zepp (2).

Notes:  Nettles was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Holt was in center field in place of Cesar Tovar.  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Tovar pinch-ran for Killebrew in the seventh, with Frank Quilici going to third base.  Herman Hill replaced Tony Oliva in right field in the seventh.

Nettles was batting .333.  Oliva was batting .324.  Hall had an ERA of 2.69.  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .095.

Oddly, for the day after a clincher, the Twins used pretty much their regular lineup.  The only major change was Nettles in the outfield rather than Tovar.

Hall pitched 7.2 innings.  He gave up only two hits, both home runs.  He struck out nine, but he also walked nine.

Hunter pitched 6.1 innings for Oakland.  He allowed seven runs on eleven hits and a walk and struck out six.

The Twins would finish up their road trip with three games in Kansas City.  They would then come home for a season-ending four-game series, also with Kansas City, meaning they would end the season with seven games against the Royals.  That seems like really odd scheduling to me.

Record:  The Twins were 94-61, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 12

Abraham Mills (1884)
Denny Lyons (1866)
Leroy Matlock (1907)
Vern Law (1930)
Durwood Merrill (1938)
Johnny Callison (1939)
Jimmy Wynn (1942)
Bill Butler (1947)
Larry Rothschild (1954)
Ruppert Jones (1955)
Dale Murphy (1956)
Mike Quade (1957)
Darryl Strawberry (1962)
Shawn Gilbert (1965)
Steve Finley (1965)
Raul Mondesi (1971)
Greg Hansell (1971) 
David Lee (1973)
P. J. Walters (1985)

Abraham Mills was president of the Mills Commission, which determined that Abner Doubleday invented the game of baseball in Cooperstown, New York in 1839.

Leroy Matlock was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues in the 1930s.

Durwood Merrill was a major league umpire from 1977-2002.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 12 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-four

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MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Tuesday, September 22.

Batting stars:  Tony Oliva was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his twenty-third), a double, a stolen base (his fifth), and three runs.  Rich Reese was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched five innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks and striking out three.  Ron Perranoski pitched 3.2 innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Joe Rudi was 5-for-5 with two doubles.  Bert Campaneris was 2-for-5 with a double, a stolen base (his forty-second), and two runs.  Sal Bando was 0-for-0 with four walks.  Paul Lindblad pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  Cesar Tovar led off with a walk and Oliva hit a two-run homer to give the Twins a quick 2-0 lead.  The Athletics loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the first but did not score.  Campaneris led off the third with a double and Rudi followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 2-1.  Oakland had men on first ands second with two out, but did not score.

The Twins stretched their lead in the sixth.  Oliva singled, Harmon Killebrew walked, and Reese reached on an error, loading the bases.  Jim Holt then delivered a two-run single, putting the Twins up 4-1.  Oakland got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Bando walked, went to third on Dave Duncan's single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Twins got a three-run lead again in the seventh on doubles by Oliva and Reese.  The Athletics tried to come back in the ninth.  Campaneris singled, stole second, and scored on Rudi's single, making it 5-3 and bringing the tying run to the plate with two out.  But Felipe Alou grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Kaat (13-10).

LP:  Chuck Dobson (16-14).

S:  Perranoski (32).

Notes:  Holt was in center field, with Tovar moving to left and Brant Alyea on the bench.  Paul Ratliff was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Danny Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.

Carew pinch-hit for Kaat in the sixth.  Tom Tischinski went behind the plate in the seventh in place of Ratliff.  Frank Quilici went to third base in place of Killebrew in the ninth.

Carew was 0-for-1 and was batting .374. Oliva was batting .321.  Tovar was 1-for-4 and was batting .300.  Stan Williams gave up a run in a third of an inning and had an ERA of 2.07.  Perranoski had an ERA of 2.30.

Tischinski was 0-for-1 and was batting .196.

This was the first appearance for Carew since he was injured exactly three months earlier.

This was the clincher for the Twins.  They had won back-to-back division championships.  It will be interesting to see what their lineup looks like in the next game.

Record:  The Twins were 93-61, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.

Cup of Coffee

March 12, 2022: We’re Back

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So, MLB is back, which is cool. More importantly, how do you guys want to do the fantasy league this year, especially regarding keepers? I'm not going to go through the previous exhaustive process (I have a feeling that's why we haven't seen rpz for awhile...). Also, there seem to be no settings other than just to allow keepers.

Everyone cool with that? Or just no keepers? Oh, also, eligible keepers are just whoever is on your roster at the end of the season.