SEATTLE MARINERS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 31, 2003.

Batting stars:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh) and two RBIs.  Doug Mientikewicz was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.  Johan Santana pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition star:  Ichiro Suzuki was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), a triple, and two runs.  John Olerud was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Bret Boone was 2-for-5.  Edgar Martinez hit a home run, his thirteenth.  Ryan Franklin pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  There was no score, and really no threat of a score, until the fourth.  Bret Boone led off with a single and John Olerud hit a one-out single.  A force out put men on first and third with two down, and Randy Winn and Jeff Cirillo hit consecutive RBI singles to give Seattle a 2-0 lead.  The Mariners added two more in the fifth when Ichiro Suzuki led off with a triple, scored on a ground out, and Edgar Martinez followed with a two-out home run.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth.  Torii Hunter led off with an infield single and Doug Mientkiewicz followed with a bunt single.  Dustan Mohr then singled home a run.  The Twins still had two on with none out, but could do no more, and so still trailed 4-1.

The teams traded solo homers in the seventh, with Ichiro Suzuki hitting one for Seattle and Dustan Mohr hitting one for the Twins.  But the Twins did not get a man on base after that.  Their last eight batters were retired, and the Mariners took a 5-2 victory.

WP:  Ryan Franklin (4-3).

LP:  Rick Reed (3-6).

S:  Kazuhiro Sasaki (9).

Notes:  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Chris Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.  Matthew LeCroy got the most games at DH with 63, followed by Kielty (32), Jacque Jones (29), and Justin Morneau (23).

Jacque Jones was batting .330.  He would finish at .304.  Dustan Mohr was batting .322.  He would finish at .250.

LaTroy Hawkins had an ERA of 1.46.  He would finish at 1.86.  Johan Santana had an ERA of 2.68.  He would finish at 3.07.

As we’ve pointed out a couple of times, Jeff Cirillo, who went 1-for-4 in this game, played for the Twins in 2007.

As I recall, Ron Gardenhire really wanted to keep Johan Santana in the bullpen, but he was just too good, plus the Twins had too many needs in the starting rotation.  Their rotation that year, other than Santana, was Brad Radke (4.49 ERA), Kyle Lohse (4.61), Kenny Rogers (4.57), Rick Reed (5.07), and Joe Mays (6.30).  Leaving Santana, who as a starter went 11-2, 2.85, in the bullpen was simply a luxury the Twins could not afford.

Ben Davis, who caught for Seattle in this game, was a can’t-miss prospect who missed, although he did play in the majors for parts of seven seasons.  He was drafted second in 1995, behind Darin Erstad.  He reached the majors for one game in 1998.  He had three full seasons in the majors, but only one as a starter.  That was 2001, when he batted .239/.337/.357 for San Diego.  He was traded to Seattle after the season and was a part-time player the rest of his career.  The Mariners traded him to the White Sox in June of 2004, and his major league career ended after that season.  He kept trying, playing in the Yankees, Dodgers, Baltimore, and Cincinnati organizations through 2009.  He converted to pitching the last couple of years, and had a very good year in Class A in 2009.  He was thirty-two by then, though, and no one was interested in seeing if he could continue that success at a higher level.  It appears that he has been a baseball broadcaster in Philadelphia since his playing career ended.

Record:  Seattle was 36-18, in first place in the AL West, five games ahead of Oakland.  They would finish 93-69, in second place, three games behind Oakland.

The Twins were 31-23, in first place in the AL Central, 3.5 games ahead of Kansas City.  They would finish 90-72, in first place, four games ahead of Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins have lost four in a row and are 23-22 (.511)

CLEVELAND INDIANS 5, MINNESOTA TWINS 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, July 20, 1992.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Willie Banks pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks and striking out five.

Opposition stars:  Sandy Alomar was 2-for-4.  Thomas Howard was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Dennis Cook pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on eight hits and striking out four.  Steve Olin struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up three hits.

The game:  The first two Cleveland batters went out, but then Carlos Baerga walked, Albert Belle singled, and Paul Sorrento doubled to give the Indians a 2-0 lead.  The Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the first, but could do nothing with them.  Shane Mack hit a two-out triple in the third, but was also stranded.  The Twins finally got on the board in the fifth, with everything again happening with two out.  Chuck Knoblauch singled and scored on Mack’s double to cut the lead to 2-1.

It stayed 2-1 until the ninth.  Sorrento walked and Mark Whiten singled.  A bunt moved men to second and third and Felix Fermin was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Sandy Alomar singled home one and Thomas Howard singled home two, making the score 5-1.  The Twins got a couple of infield singles in the bottom of the ninth, but could not bring the tying run to the plate.

WP:  Dennis Cook (3-5).

LP:  Willie Banks (3-3).

S:  Steve Olin (17).

Notes:  Kirby Puckett was batting .335.  He would finish at .329.  Chuck Knoblauch was batting .309.  He would finish at .297.  Brian Harper was batting .305.  He would finish at.307.  Shane Mack was batting .302.  He would finish at .315.

Paul Sorrento played for the Twins from 1989-1991.  He was traded shortly before the 1992 season for Curtis Leskanic and Oscar Munoz.

By game scores, this was tied for the best start of the season for Willie Banks.  It equalled a start on June 21 against Seattle in which he pitched six shutout innings, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out five.  Seven of his game scores were over fifty, but the other five were below forty, adding up to an ERA of 5.70.

The Twins had a very good rotation in 1992, lacking only a fifth starter.  John Smiley (3.21), Kevin Tapani (3.97), Scott Erickson (3.40), and Bill Krueger (4.30) all got the job done.  Fifth starters, other than Banks, were Pat Mahomes (5.04), David West (6.99) and Mike Trombley (3.30).  It was Trombley’s rookie year, and they did not turn to him until September.

Sadly, this was Steve Olin’s last season.  He appeared to be on the verge of becoming a star reliever when he and fellow reliever Tim Crews died in a boating accident during 1993 spring training.

Record:  Cleveland was 38-55, in seventh (last) place in the AL East, 18.5 games behind Toronto.  They would finish 76-86, tied for fourth with New York, 20 games behind Toronto.  

The Twins were 56-36, in first place, 3 games ahead of Oakland.  They would finish 90-72., in second place, 6 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 23-20 (.535).