MINNESOTA TWINS 4, NEW YORK YANKEES 1 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Thursday, May 17, 1990.

Batting stars:  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and a double.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double.  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Kent Hrbek hit a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Tapani pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and striking out five.  Rick Aguilera retired all four men he faced, striking out two.

Opposition star:  Roberto Kelly was 2-for-4.  

The game:  Gladden led off the game with a double and scored on a Gaetti single.  Harper homered in the second to make it 2-0.  Meanwhile, Tapani faced the minimum through four innings, with the only baserunner getting erased by a double play.

That changed in the fifth, as Mel Hall led off with a double and Claudell Washington singled him home.  New York threatened in the sixth, getting two-out singles by Steve Sax and Kelly, but a popup took them out of the inning.

Hrbek homered in the seventh to make it 3-1 Twins.  In the eighth, Gladden singled and was bunted to second.  Kirby Puckett was intentionally walked, Gaetti singled to load the bases, and a Gene Larkin sacrifice fly put the Twins up 4-1.

And that’s where it stayed.  The Yankees got one-out singles from Mike Blowers and Alvaro Espinoza, chasing Tapani from the game, but Terry Leach got a force out and Aguilera retired the last four New York batters.

WP:  Tapani (5-2).

LP:  Dave LaPoint (2-3).

S:  Aguilera (10).

Notes:  Fred Manrique was at second base.  Al Newman was the closest thing the Twins had to a regular second baseman, but of course, he also saw substantial time at third and short.  Nelson Liriano was the other player who was sometimes at second base.

Shane Mack was batting .366.  He would finish at .326.  Dan Gladden was batting .339.  He would finish at .275.  Gene Larkin was batting .308.  He would finish at .269.  Kirby Puckett was batting .302.  He would finish at .298.

Kevin Tapani had an ERA of 2.79.  He would finish at 4.07.  Terry Leach had an ERA of 2.33.  He would finish at 3.20.  Rick Aguilera had an ERA of 1.80.  He would finish at 2.76.

Roberto Kelly would play for the Twins from 1996-1997.  Alvaro Espinoza had played for the Twins from 1984-1986.

The Twins could not find a second baseman in 1990.  Al Newman played 89 games there and posted an OPS of .582.  Manrique was there for 67 games and had an OPS of .601.  Nelson Liriano played second for 50 games and had the best batting numbers, batting .254 with an OPS of .688.  During this time, Manrique was asked what the Twins needed to improve.  His response was “a second baseman”.  The next year, of course, Chuck Knoblauch would come along and solve that problem for several years.

This was the era in which George Steinbrenner seemed to think that if you paid a superstar salary to an average player, he would become a superstar.  Thus, players like Claudell Washington and Mel Hall got big paydays while remaining pretty much the same players they’d always been–good, but not great.  Eventually, of course, Steinbrenner would realize the error of his ways and build championship teams.

Record:  The Yankees were 13-18 in fifth place in the AL East, 6 games behind Milwaukee.  They would finish 67-95, in seventh (last) place, 21 games behind Boston.

The Twins were 18-15, in third place in the AL West, 5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-88, in seventh (last) place, 29 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins have won five in a row and are 19-12 (.613).

MINNESOTA TWINS 12, TORONTO BLUE JAYS 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, May 12, 1997.

Batting stars:  Greg Myers was 4-for-5 with two doubles, four runs, and two RBIs.  Greg Colbrunn was 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs.  Roberto Kelly was 3-for-5 with two RBIs.  Matt Lawton was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Brad Radke struck out seven in seven innings, giving up two runs on nine hits.  Todd Ritchie pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Joe Carter was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third), a double, and two runs.  Ed Sprague was 2-for-4 with a double.  Otis Nixon was 2-for-5.

The game: The Twins jumped out to a first-inning lead.  Knoblauch led off the game with a single and Rich Becker walked.  With one out Myers drove in a run with a double and Kelly followed with a two-run single, putting the Twins up 3-0.  Toronto got one back in the second when Carter hit a ground-rule double and scored on Sprague’s single, but the Twins countered with three more in the second.  Knoblauch again started the rally with a single.  With two out Paul Molitor hit an RBI double and scored on a Myers single.  Kelly then singled, followed by an RBI single by Lawton, giving the Twins a 6-1 lead.

The Twins added one more in the fourth when Colbrunn singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on an error.  Carter homered in the fifth to cut the lead to 7-2, but that was as close as the Blue Jays would get.

The Twins put it away in the bottom of the fourth.  Consecutive singles by Myers, Kelly, Lawton, and Colbrunn opened the inning to score a run.  Todd Walker scored one more on a sacrifice fly.  Hocking and Becker had RBI singles, making the score 11-2.  The Twins added one more in the fifth when Myers doubled and scored on a two-out single by Colbrunn.

WP:  Radke (3-2).

LP:  Chris Carpenter (0-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Myers was behind the plate in place of Terry Steinbach.  Colbrunn shared first base with Scott Stahoviak, who actually played more games there that year.  Hocking was at short in place of Pat Meares.  Walker was at third in place of Ron Coomer.  Lawton, who played all around the outfield that year, was in left in place of Marty Cordova.  Kelly was in right.

Kelly was batting .309.  He would finish at .287.  Molitor was batting .268.  He would finish at .305.

Otis Nixon, of course, would be the Twins’ regular center fielder the next season.  Orlando Merced, who went 0-for-3 in this game, would also be with the Twins in 1998.

Rick Aguilera had an awful April in 1997, posting an ERA of 7.15 with a WHIP of 2.21.  He would spend the rest of the season trying to get those numbers down to a respectable level.  He finished this game with an ERA of 6.46.  At the end of the season his ERA was 3.82 and his WHIP was 1.27.

This was Chris Carpenter’s rookie season and he was, to put it mildly, not very good.  He went 3-7, 5.09, 1.78 WHIP.  He was only twenty-two, however, and went on to have a fine career.  He made three all-star teams, won a Cy Young Award and finished in the top three two other times, and led the league in ERA in 2009.

The last five innings of the game were pitched by Huck Flener.  This was his last major league season, and he would appear in only three more major league games.  He is one of four major leagues called “Huck” and the only major league with the last name of “Flener”.

Record:  Toronto was 19-16, in third place in the AL East, 5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 76-86, in fifth (last) place, 22 games behind Baltimore.

Minnesota was 15-23, in fifth (last) place in the AL Central, 6.5 games behind Milwaukee.  They would finish 68-94, in fourth place, 18.5 games behind Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins have won four in a row and are 18-12 (.600).

MINNESOTA TWINS 9, KANSAS CITY ROYALS 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 23, 1986.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his thirty-second and thirty-third) and six RBIs.  Jeff Reed was 2-for-4.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Randy Bush was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Mike Smithson pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on twelve hits and one walk and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Mike Kingery was 4-for-5.  Willie Wilson was 2-for-4.

The game:  Kansas City got singles from Wilson and Kingery in the first, but stranded them on first and second, which would be one of the themes of the game.  The Twins then jumped to an early lead in the bottom of the first.  Mark Davidson led off with a single and stole second.  Kirby Puckett delivered an RBI single with one out, and with two down Gaetti hit a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0.

In the second, Kevin Seitzer hit a one-out single and Buddy Biancalana hit a two-out double, putting men on second and third, but again the Royals could not score.  The Twins added on a run in the second when Greg Gagne singled, Steve Lombardozzi walked, and Bush drove in a run with a single.  They got another in the third when a Hrbek double, a Gaetti single, and a walk to Roy Smalley loaded the bases and Reed hit an RBI single.  They scored one more time in the fourth on a Bush single, a walk to Puckett, and a pair of ground outs, making the score 6-0 Twins.

Kansas City threatened again in the fifth, getting one-out singles from Wilson and Rudy Law, and in the sixth when Jaime Quirk led off with a double, but still could not get on the scoreboard.  The Twins got three more in the sixth on a two-out rally.  Puckett reached on an error, Hrbek singled, and Gaetti hit a three-run homer, putting the Twins in front 9-0.  

The Royals finally got on the board late in the game, but it was too little, too late.  In the seventh Bo Jackson walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Kingery’s single.  With two out in the ninth, Greg Pryor reached on an error, followed by consecutive singles by Lynn Jones, Kingery, and Jorge Orta to make the score 9-2.  Quirk was then caught looking to end the game.

WP:  Smithson (11-14).

LP:  Dennis Leonard (8-13).

S:  None.

Notes:  Reed, Mark Salas, and Tim Laudner split catching duties pretty evenly in 1986.  Bush usually played left, but he was in right this game, with Davidson in left and Tom Brunansky, the regular right fielder, on the bench.

Puckett was batting .332.  He would finish at .328.

Kansas City stranded twelve runners, going 3-for-12 with men in scoring position.  

Again, in the “this would never happen today” file, Smithson pitched a complete game despite giving up twelve hits.  He gave up three hits in a row in the ninth, but was still allowed to complete the game.  No pitch count is given, but it would have to have been substantial.

Buddy Biancalana, of course, achieved some fame due to his appearance in the 1985 World Series and mentions on the David Letterman show.

Mark Davidson was a reserve outfielder for the Twins from 1986-1988 and for Houston from 1989-1991.

Jeff Reed had a long career as a backup catcher, playing for six teams.  His last year was 2000, when he was a backup for the Cubs at age thirty-seven.

This was the last major league season for Dennis Leonard.  He would make only one more start in his career.  It was a good career, though.  He won twenty games three times and finished in the top seven in Cy Young voting twice.

The Royals’ second baseman was Rondin Johnson.  He got a September call-up in 1986, his only time in the majors.  He’d batted .289 in Omaha that year.  However, he had no power, and did not draw a lot of walks, so his batting average was pretty much the substance of his offensive contribution.  He batted .258/.258/.323 in 31 major league at-bats.  He played at the University of Washington at the same time as former Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson.

Tom Kelly was managing the Twins at this point, having taken over for Ray Miller less than two weeks earlier.

Record:  Kansas City was 69-82, in fourth place in the AL West, 19 games behind California.  They would finish 76-86, tied for third with Oakland, 16 games behind California.

Minnesota was 65-85, in seventh (last) place in the AL West, 22.5 games behind California.  They would finish 71-91, in fifth place, 21 games behind California.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 17-12 (.586).