Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty-one

NEW YORK 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 10 (Game 2 of doubleheader)

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-5 with a triple, scoring once and driving in three.  Tony Oliva was 4-for-5 with a stolen base (his eighth) and a run.  Sandy Valdespino was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Mel Nelson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Roger Repoz was 4-for-5 with a home run (his fifth) and a triple, scoring three times.  Hector Lopez was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fifth) and two walks, scoring twice.  Clete Boyer was 1-for-4 with a grand slam, his ninth homer.

The game:  Jimmie Hall's RBI double got the Twins on the board in the first, but Repoz and Lopez led off the second with back-to-back homers to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.  Ray Barker doubled in a run in the fourth to make it 3-1.  The Twins came back in the fifth, getting a three-run double by Mincher and a run-scoring single by Valdespino to go ahead 5-3.  Phil Linz singled in a run in the sixth to make it 5-4.  In the seventh, a single, a walk, and a bunt single, all off Dick Stigman, loaded the bases with none out.  Johnny Klippstein then came in to face Boyer, who hit a grand slam to give the Yankees an 8-5 edge.  The Twins got three singles in the ninth, cutting the lead to 8-6 and putting the tying run on base with two out, but Steve Hamilton struck out Bernie Allen to end the game.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Hall was 1-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-5 with a run.  Mudcat Grant struck out six in 6.1 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and no walks.

Record:  The loss snapped the Twins' nine-game winning streak and made their record 52-29.  They remained in first place, four games ahead of Cleveland, which lost to California 1-0.

Notes:  Hall's average dropped to .325...Bob Allison and Earl Battey did not play, with Valdespino and Jerry Zimmerman taking their spots in the lineup...Mickey Mantle was out again as well, with Repoz playing center...Tom Tresh was also out of the lineup, with Joe Pepitone taking his spot in the outfield and Ray Barker coming into the lineup to play first base...It seems somehow fitting that we've reached the half-way point of the season on Christmas Day.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 25

Pud Galvin (1856)
Joe Quinn (1864)
Barry McCormick (1874)
Walter Holke (1892)
Lloyd Brown (1904)
Ben Chapman (1908)
Jo-Jo Moore (1908)
Ned Garver (1925)
Nellie Fox (1927)
Gene Lamont (1946)
Manny Trillo (1950)
Luis Quintana (1951)
Jeff Little (1954)
Charlie Lea (1956)
Wallace Johnson (1956)
Rickey Henderson (1958)
Marty Pevey (1962)

There have been 24 major league players with the first name “Jesus”, including ex-Twins Jesus Vega and Jesus “Bombo” Rivera and one whose birthday is today, Manny Trillo.  There have been no major league players with the last name “Christ", although there have been two minor leaguers with that last name:  John Christ, who was in the Cleveland organization from 1999-2001, and Mike Christ, who was in the Seattle organization from 1984-1988.  There have been eighteen players whose first name was “Christian” (honorable mention to Cristian Guzman), sixteen players whose middle name was “Christian” (including ex-Twins Marcus Jensen, David Lamb, and Kevin Maas), and three players whose last name was “Christian”.  We would be remiss if we did not also mention 1980s journeyman catcher Steve Christmas, as well as Matt Holliday.

The staff of Happy Birthday would like to wish everyone a very merry and blessed Christmas.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 25 →

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Eighty

MINNESOTA 4, NEW YORK 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 10 (Game 1 of doubleheader)

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his ninth) and two runs.  Jimmie Hall was 3-for-4 with a run.  Joe Nossek was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched eight innings, giving up an unearned run on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Al Worthington pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Whitey Ford pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts.  Tom Tresh was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  It was scoreless through four.  In the fifth Hall singled and Nossek doubled, putting men on second and third with none out.  Perry brought home one with a squeeze bunt and Versalles followed with a two-run homer.  The Yankees got one back in the sixth on Tresh's RBI double, but they never got the tying run on base.  The Twins added a run in the ninth on a run-scoring single by pinch-hitter Sandy Valdespino.

Of note:  Rich Rollins, back in the lineup at third base for the first time in a few weeks, was 0-for-3.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 0-for-3 with a walk.  Earl Battey was 0-for-3.

Record:  The win was the ninth in a row for the Twins and raised their record to 52-28.  They were in first by four and a half games over Cleveland and Baltimore.

Notes:  Nossek replaced Bob Allison in the lineup but played center field, with Hall moving to left...Hall raised his average to .327...Battey saw his average drop to .309...Mickey Mantle was again not in the starting lineup but was used as a pinch-hitter.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 24

Henry Mathewson (1886)
Chico Garcia (1924)
Frank Taveras (1949)
John D'Acquisto (1951)
Tim Drummond (1964)
Mo Sanford (1966)
Kevin Millwood (1974)
Jamey Wright (1974)

Henry Mathewson is the younger brother of Christy Mathewson.  He appeared in two games for the Giants in 1906 and one in 1907.

Chico Garcia played professional baseball from 1944-1970, mostly in Mexico.  He played thirty-nine games in the majors in 1954 with Baltimore.  He also was a manager in Mexico for fifteen seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 24 →

Keeping Track

1965 Rewind: Game Seventy-nine

MINNESOTA 8, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 9.

Batting stars:  Don Mincher was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth) and four RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a three-run homer (his fifteenth) and two walks, scoring twice.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-5 with a double and two runs.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Roger Repoz was 1-for-2 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk.  Elston Howard was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Phil Linz was 2-for-4.

The game:  In the first inning Killebrew hit a three-run homer and Mincher followed with a solo blast to give the Twins a 4-0 lead.  Howard homered in the fourth and Repoz hit an inside-the-park home run in the fifth to cut the lead to 4-2.  The Twins got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fifth as Sandy Valdespino delivered a two-out RBI single.  Mincher hit a three-run homer in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

Of note:  Zoilo Versalles was 0-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base (his tenth) and a run.  Jimmie Hall was 0-for-4 with a run.  Earl Battey was 1-for-4.

Record:  The victory was the Twins' eighth in a row.  It raised their record to 51-28 and put them in first by 3.5 games, as Cleveland lost a doubleheader to California.

Notes:  Hall's average dropped to .321...Battey fell to .314...Repoz was playing center in place of Mickey Mantle, who appeared later as a pinch-hitter.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.