MINNESOTA TWINS 6, OAKLAND ATHLETICS 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 6, 2002.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 3-for-3 with a home run (his eleventh), a double, and two RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits and a walk and striking out five.  He threw 113 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Eric Chavez was 2-for-4 with a double.  Scott Hatteberg was 2-for-4 with a double.  Miguel Tejada was 2-for-4.

The game:  Singles by Scott Hatteberg and Eric Chavez and a walk to Jermaine Dye loaded the bases with two out in the first, but Oakland did not score.  It cost them, as doubles by Jacque Jones and Corey Koskie gave the Twins a run in the bottom of the first.  The Athletics missed another chance in the third, as a double by Hatteberg and a single by Miguel Tejada put men on first and third with one out, but again did not result in a run.  It cost them again, as Luis Rivas tripled and scored on a ground out to make it 2-0 Minnesota.

Starter Brad Radke settled in after that, retiring eight in a row and facing the minimum each inning until the ninth.  Corey Koskie homered leading off the sixth to make it 3-0.  In the seventh, A. J. Pierzynski hit a one-out double.  With two out, Jacque Jones delivered an RBI single and came around to score on a Cristian Guzman double.  The Twins added their final run in the ninth when Torii Hunter doubled, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch.

WP:  Brad Radke (7-4).

LP:  Cory Lidle (8-10).

S:  None.

Notes:  Michael Cuddyer was in right field.  Dustan Mohr played the most games there with 94, followed by Bobby Kielty with 50.

Greg Myers caught the last part of the game for Oakland.  He had played for the Twins from 1996-1997.

Luis Rivas hit four triples in 2002.  He had twenty-nine in his career, with a high of nine in 2003.  That’s almost as many triples as home runs in his career, as he hit thirty-four homers with a career high of ten in 2004.

This was David Ortiz’ last year as a Twin.  People sometimes say he was a bust in Minnesota, but he really wasn’t.  For his career with the Twins, he hit .266/.348/.461, for an OPS of .806.  In his last season, at age twenty-six, he batted .272/.339/.500, for an OPS of .839.  While I don’t blame the Twins for not realizing what he would become–nobody saw that coming–I do blame them for simply releasing a still-young player who routinely posted an OPS of over. 800.

It is extremely unlikely, today, that a pitcher would be allowed to pitch a complete game with a six-run lead, regardless of pitch count.  Even more so, as the Twins pretty much had the division clinched at this point.  At that time, 113 pitches wasn’t considered all that extreme, although even then it was a little unusual.  Today, though, a pitcher who threw 113 pitches in a game would be treated like Iron Man McGinnity.

Ray Durham was the DH for Oakland in this game.  Normally a second baseman, he was always kind of a favorite of mine for no particular reason I can remember.  He had a long career, starting in 1995 with the White Sox and ending in 2008 in Milwaukee.  He batted .277/.352/.436 with 192 home runs, solid numbers for a second baseman.  He made two all-star teams in his fourteen-year career.  Not a Hall of Famer or anything, but a very respectable career.

It doesn’t seem to this old man like 2002 should be over twenty years ago.

Record:  Oakland was 88-52, in first place in the AL West, two games ahead of Anaheim.  They would finish 103-59, in first place, four games ahead of Anaheim.

The Twins were 82-59, in first place in the AL Central, fourteen games ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 94-67, in first place, 13.5 games ahead of Chicago.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 57-53 (.518).

MINNESOTA TWINS 9, OAKLAND ATHLETICS 2 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Saturday, August 9, 1986.

Batting stars: Mickey Hatcher was 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, and three RBIs.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-5 with a triple.  Roy Smalley hit a home run, his eighteenth.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola pitched seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and three walks and striking out six.

Opposition star:  Carney Lansford was 3-for-4.

The game:  Roy Smalley led off the game with a home run.  Mickey Hatcher then singled, Kent Hrbek walked, Tom Brunansky singled, and Gary Gaetti hit a two-run double, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead before a batter was retired by Oakland starter Dave Stewart.  In the second, Hatcher singled with one out, and with two out Brunansky walked and Gaetti singled to make it 4-0.

That’s where it stayed until the seventh, when Oakland got on the board.  Dave Kingman walked, Carney Lansford singled, and a sacrifice fly made the score 4-1.  

The Twins put the game away in the eighth.  Greg Gagne tripled, Roy Smalley walked, and Mickey Hatcher hit an RBI double.  With one out Tom Brunansky was intentionally walked to load the bases.  A wild pitch brought home a run, leading to an intentional walk to Gary Gaetti.  Another wild pitch brought home another run, and with two out, Kirby Puckett delivered a two-run single, making the score 9-1 Twins.

The Athletics got one more run in the ninth.  Jose Canseco was hit by a pitch, Dave Kingman walked, and Carney Lansford singled home a run.  The bases were loaded with one out, giving Oakland fans some slight hope, but a double play ended the game.

WP:  Frank Viola (12-8).

LP:  Dave Stewart (4-1).

S:  None.

Notes:  Jeff Reed was behind the plate.  Mark Salas had the most games there at 69, followed by Tim Laudner with 68 and Reed with 64.  Mickey Hatcher was in left field.  Randy Bush had the most games there with 90, followed by Billy Beane with 64.  Beane was in center, one of just five games he played there, in place of Kirby Puckett.

Kirby Puckett was batting .337.  He would finish at .328.

Frank Viola v. Dave Stewart sounds like an awesome pitching matchup, but Viola was struggling through a down year and Stewart was not yet the Dave Stewart he would become.  After this game, Viola had an ERA of 4.63 and Stewart had an ERA of 4.60.  Viola led the league in starts in 1986, but he never really would get it going.  The next year, of course, his ERA was 2.90 and he would help lead the Twins to the world championship.  Stewart had been released by Philadelphia on May 9 and would not sign with Oakland until two weeks later.  This was only his seventh start with the Athletics.  He would finish with an ERA of 3.74, and the net year would win twenty games.

Dusty Baker was in the last year of his career.  At age thirty-seven, he struggled to a .240/.314/.322 season.  Dave Kingman was also in the last year of his career.  Also age thirty-seven, he struggled to a .210/.255/.431 season.  Somehow, with thirty-five home runs, he managed to have a -1.0 WAR.

Record:  Oakland was 48-64, in sixth place in the AL West, thirteen games behind California.  They would finish 76-86, tied for third place with Kansas City, sixteen games behind California.

The Twins were 48-61, in fourth place in the AL West, 11.5 games behind California.  They would finish 71-91, in sixth place, twenty-one games behind California.

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 56-53 (.514).