SEATTLE MARINERS 8, MINNESOTA TWINS 7 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Tuesday, August 5, 2008.

Batting star:  Jason Kubel was 4-for-5 with two home runs (his fifteenth and sixteenth), a double, three runs, and three RBIs.  Brendan Harris was 2-for-3.  Carlos Gomez was 2-for-3.

Pitching star:  Boof Bonser pitched a scoreless inning of relief, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Raul Ibanez was 3-for-5 with a home run (his seventeenth), two runs, and five RBIs.  Jose Lopez was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Jeremy Reed was 3-for-5.  Ichiro Suzuki was 2-for-4 with a walk and three runs.  R. A. Dickey pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out three.

The game:  Jason Kubel and Delmon Young led off the second with singles.  A ground out moved them to second and third, a wild pitch brought home one, and a sacrifice fly brought home another to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

Seattle came roaring back in the third.  Ichiro Suzuki and Jeremy Reed led off the inning with singles and Raul Ibanez hit a three-run homer.  With one out, Jose Lopez and Jeff Clement singled, putting men on first and third, and a sacrifice fly made it 4-2 Mariners.

The Twins missed a chance in the fifth.  Brendan Harris and Carlos Gomez singled, and a bunt moved them to second and third with one out.  Joe Mauer drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but the runners were stranded.  Jason Kubel hit a home run in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-3, but Seattle got the run back with interest in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out, Bryan LaHair struck out but reached first on a wild pitch.  Yuniesky Betancourt doubled and Inchiro Suzuki was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Raul Ibanez delivered a two-out two-run single to give the Mariners a 6-3 advantage.

The Twins came back in the eighth.  With one out Justin Morneau doubled and Jason Kubel hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 6-5.  With two out, Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris singled and Mike Lamb hit a two-run double, putting the Twins up 7-6.  But in the bottom of the eighth, Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez singled, and Jose Lopez hit a two-out two-run double, putting Seattle back on top 8-7.

In the ninth, the first two Twins struck out.  Justin Morneau walked, Jason Kubel doubled, and Delmon Young was intentionally walked to load the bases.  But pinch-hitter Mike Redmond lined to right, and the game went to the Mariners.

WP:  J. J. Putz (4-4).

LP:  Matt Guerrier (6-5).

S:  None.

Notes:  Nick Punto was at second base in place of Alexi Casilla.  Punto was used more at short than anyone else, but Brendan Harris was at short in this game.  

Joe Mauer was batting .317.  He would finish at a league-leading .328.  Justin Morneau was batting .315.  He would finish at .300.  Denard Span was batting .304.  He would finish at .294.

Craig Breslow had an ERA of 2.39.  He would finish at 1.63.  Joe Nathan had an ERA of 1.17.  He would finish at 1.33.

Jeremy Reed was in AAA for the Twins in 2011.  R. A. Dickey was with the Twins in 2009.

Boof Bonser started the year in the rotation, but was moved to the bullpen in early June.  He was no better there.  He missed 2009 due to injury, and was traded to Boston after that season.

J. J. Putz had 189 major league saves, with a career high of 45 in 2011.

Raul Ibanez had a nineteen-year major league career, from 1996-2014, when he was forty-two.  He batted 272/.335/.465 with 305 home runs.  He only made one all-star team (2009 with Philadelphia), and the only thing he ever led the league in was games played in 2005, but he was a consistently good player for a very long time.

Record:  Seattle was 44-69, in fourth (last) place in the AL West, twenty-six games behind Los Angeles.  They would finish 61-101, in fourth place, thirty-nine games behind Los Angeles.  

The Twins were 62-51, in second place in the AL Central, a half game behind Chicago. They would finish 88-75, in second place, losing game 163 to Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 31-38 (.449).

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES 11, MINNESOTA TWINS  6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 11, 2004.

Batting stars:  Joe Mauer was 3-for-3 with a home run (his second), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4.  Lew Ford was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second), a double, two runs, and two RBIs.

Pitching stars: None.

Opposition stars:  Mike Lieberthal was 3-for-4.  Ricky Ledee was 3-for-5 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth), three runs, and five RBIs.  Placido Polanco was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), two runs, and three RBIs.  Jimmy Rollins was 2-for-5 with two runs.  

The game:  The Twins took the early lead in the second.  With one out, Torii Hunter singled, Jacque Jones doubled, and Matthew LeCroy walked, loading the bases.  All the Twins could manage was a sacrifice fly, but they took a 1-0 lead.  

The lead lasted until the fourth.  Jim Thome drew a one-out walk, and with two out Ricky Ledee hit a two-run homer, putting Philadelphia up 2-1.  In the fifth, Mike Lieberthal led off with a single, Jimmy Rollins hit a one-out single, and Placido Polanco hit a three-run homer, making it 5-1 Phillies.  

Joe Mauer homered in the fifth to cut the lead to 5-2, but Philadelphia got the run right back in the sixth on singles by Ricky Ledee and Mike Lieberthal and a two-out RBI double by Marlon Byrd.  

The Twins got back into it after that.  In the sixth, Lew Ford led off with a double and scored on a pair of ground outs.  In the seventh, Joe Mauer led off with a double, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a ground out.  Doug Mientkiewicz then doubled and Lew Ford hit a two-run homer to tie it 6-6.

But then, in the ninth, the Phillies took over.  With one out, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco singled and Bobby Abreu walked, loading the bases.  Jim Thome brought home two with a ground rule double, and Ricky Ledee hit a two-out three-run homer, giving Philadelphia an 11-6 lead.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Tim Worrell (2-2).

LP:  Terry Mulholland (0-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Joe Mauer was behind the plate.  He was the regular catcher when healthy, but he missed most of the season due to injury, with Henry Blanco doing most of the catching.  Michael Cuddyer was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Matthew LeCroy was at DH.  The Twins didn’t have a regular DH in 2004.  Jose Offerman played the most games there at 39, with LeCroy second at 30.

Joe Mauer was batting .346.  He would finish at .308.  Lew Ford was batting .324.  He would finish at .299.

Jim Thome was at first base for Philadelphia.  He would play for the Twins in 2010-2011.

Mauer batted eighth in this game.  Presumably, the Twins were trying not to put too much pressure on him in his rookie season, especially when he was coming back from injury.  This was his tenth major league game.

Lew Ford hit thirty-five career home runs.  2004 was his career high, with fifteen.

Ricky Ledee hit sixty-three career home runs, two of them in this game.  His career high was thirteen, in 2004 and 2000.

Seth Greisinger was the Twins’ starter.  He pitched 5.2 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and a walk, striking out three.  This was the last game he would pitch for the Twins, as he would spend the rest of the season in AAA and be released after the season.  He would make just one more major league appearance, for Atlanta in 2005.

Record:  Philadelphia was 31-27, in second place in the NL East, 1.5 games behind Florida.  They would finish 86-76, in second place, ten games behind Atlanta.

The Twins were 33-27, in first place in the AL Central, a half game ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, nine games ahead of Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 31-37 (.456).