ANAHEIM ANGELS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN ANAHEIM

Date:  Tuesday, June 1, 1999.

Batting star:  Denny Hocking was 2-for-4 with a double.  Marty Cordova was 2-for-4 with a double.  Corey Koskie hit a home run, his fourth.

Pitching star:  Benj Sampson struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.      

Opposition stars:  Troy Glaus was 2-for-2 with a home run (his seventh), a double, a walk, and two runs.  Randy Velarde was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and two runs.  Ken Hill pitched 8.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits and three walks and striking out six.

The game:  Each team got a double in the third inning, but only Anaheim turned it into a run, as Troy Glaus led off with a double, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  In the fourth, Randy Velarde led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Garret Anderson double.  Todd Greene followed with an RBI single, and it was 3-0 Angels.

The Twins opened the fifth with a pair of walks, but nothing came of it.  Marty Cordova hit a two-out double in the sixth, but was stranded at second.  Anaheim made it 4-0 in the seventh when Troy Glaus homered and it went to 5-0 in the eighth when Randy Velarde homered.

The Twins finally got on the board in the ninth when Corey Koskie homered with two out, but that was it.  The final was 5-1 Angels.

WP:  Ken Hill (2-4).

LP:  Mike Lincoln (1-8).

S:  None.

Notes:  Javier Valentin was behind the plate in place of Terry Steinbach.  Denny Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Matt Lawton was in left in place of Chad Allen.  Lawton was usually in right field, but Corey Koskie was in right in this game.  Koskie played the most games at third base (79), but Brent Gates (61) and Ron Coomer (57) also played a lot of third.  Coomer was the third baseman in this game.  Coomer also played 71 games of first base.

Marty Cordova was batting .306.  He would finish at .285.  Ron Coomer was batting .306.  He would finish at .263.

Matt Walbeck was the catcher for Anaheim, going 0-for-3.  He played for the Twins from 1994-1996.

This was another year the Twins struggled with pitching.  The starter, Mike Lincoln, had an ERA of 5.98 after this game and finished at 6.84.  The relievers were Benj Sampson (7.67 after this game, 8.11 for the year), Rob Radlosky (15.43, 12.46), and Gary Rath (13.50, 11.57).  

The Twins had two decent starters, Brad Radke and Eric Milton.  The others were Lincoln, LaTroy Hawkins (6.66), Joe Mays (4.37, but with a 1.44 WHIP), and Dan Perkins (6.54).  In the bullpen, Rick Aguilera was traded in May.  Mike Trombley (4.33) became the closer.  Bob Wells and Travis Miller pitched pretty well, but that was about it.

This was the best game Ken Hill pitched in 1999, and was the only time he pitched more than 7.2 innings.

Koskie in right was another attempt by the Twins to turn a third baseman into an outfielder.  They did it with Graig Nettles, Trevor Plouffe!, and Miguel Sano as well.

Record:  Anaheim was 25-27, in fourth (last) place in the AL West, 6.5 games behind Texas.  They would finish 70-92, in fourth (last) place, 25 games behind Texas.

The Twins were 18-33, in fifth (last) place in the AL Central, 15.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 63-97, in fifth (last) place, 33 games behind Cleveland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 26-28 (.481).