Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 9

Harry Pulliam (1864)
Heinie Zimmerman (1887)
Specs Toporcer (1899)
Bill Veeck (1914)
Jodie Phipps (1918)
Vic Wertz (1925)
Erv Palica (1928)
Clete Boyer (1937)
Eddie Solomon (1951)
Mookie Wilson (1956)
Pete O'Brien (1958)
John Kruk (1961)
Doug Linton (1965)
Todd Pratt (1967)
Vladimir Guerrero (1975)
Dioner Navarro (1984)

Harry Pulliam was president of the National League from 1903-1909.

Bill Veeck was the owner of the Cleveland Indians (1946-49), St. Louis Browns (1951-53), and Chicago White Sox (1958-61, 1975-81).

Pitcher Jodie Phipps played in the minors from 1939-1957, winning 275 games.  He also managed in the minors for seven seasons.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to LBR.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 9 →

Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Games of February 6

MELBOURNE

SYDNEY 7, MELBOURNE 3 AT SYDNEY

Sydney scored five in the first inning and led all the way.  Jarryd Dale was 2-for-4 for Melbourne.  Kyle Perkins was 1-for-2 with a home run (his second) and two walks.  Ex-Twin Sam Gibbons started for Melbourne.  He pitched 3.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out two.

Record:  Melbourne is 19-8, in first place in the Australian League, four games ahead of Perth.

Next game:  The regular season is over.  Five of the six teams go to the playoffs.  The playoffs start with a play-in game between Canberra and Sydney.  After that, the four teams remaining play a double-elimination tournament.  Except, the championship game is not double-elimination.  In other words, if you reach the finals, there's no advantage to being the undefeated team other than you played one fewer game so your pitching might be in better shape.  If a team goes undefeated, but then loses to the one-loss team in the finals, it does not get another chance.

CARIBBEAN SERIES FINAL

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 4, PUERTO RICO 1

The Dominican scored two in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie.  Ramon Torres was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Ronald Guzman was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs.  Johan Camargo was 1-for-3 with a home run.  Cesar Valdez pitched five innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out three.  Puerto Rico had only four hits.  Hector Hernandez struck out seven in five innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk.

The Dominican Republic goes undefeated and wins the Caribbean Series.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty

MINNESOTA 8, KANSAS CITY 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, August 24.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 3-for-5 with three RBIs.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base (his fourth, a walk, and three runs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-2 with a double and three walks.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-third) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out ten in six innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks.  J. C. Romero struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Juan Rincon struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Joe Randa was 2-for-4 with a double.  Desi Relaford was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

The game:  Relaford homered in the second to give the Royals a 1-0 lead.  The Twins got the run back on Hunter's homer in the bottom of the second.  The Twins took the lead in the third.  Walks to Stewart and Luis Rivas and a double steal, putting men on second and third with none out.  LeCroy hit an RBI single, Corey Koskie had a sacrifice fly, Hunter walked, and Jacque Jones delivered an RBI single to make it 4-1 Minnesota.  It went to 5-1 in the fourth when Stewart singled, Mientkiewicz walked, and LeCroy hit another RBI single.

Kansas City loaded the bases in the fifth but did not score.  In the bottom of the fifth Cristian Guzman singled, stole second, went to third on a ground out, and scored on Rivas' squeeze bunt to make it 6-1.  The Twins added two in the eighth.  A. J. Pierzynski singled and Stewart doubled, putting men on second and third.  Rivas hit a sacrifice fly and LeCroy had another RBI single to bring the final score to 8-1.

WP:  Santana (8-3).  LP:  Graeme Lloyd (1-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jones was in left and Stewart in right.  Dustan Mohr pinch-ran for Jones in the fifth and went to right field, with Stewart moving to left.

Stewart was batting .313.  Jones was at .308.  Mientkiewicz climbed back to an even .300.

Santana lowered his ERA to 2.85.  In his last five starts he had pitched 36 innings.  He had given up six runs (five earned) on 25 hits and 10 walks while striking out 40.

Royals starter Kevin Appier pitched just two innings, giving up one run on one hit and two walks and striking out one.  He was removed due to injury and would not pitch any more in 2003.  He had been signed by Kansas City in early August to bolster their rotation to make a playoff run, but he was able to make only four starts for them in 2003.

It was a needed win over a team ahead of them in the standings, but the Twins were still in third place as they headed west for a road trip.

Record:  The Twins were 67-63, in third place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Chicago.  They were a half game behind second-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–February 8

Bug Holliday (1867)
Bob Cobb (1899)
Don Heffner (1911)
Danny Carnevale (1918)
Buddy Blattner (1920)
Dewey Soriano (1920)
Hoot Evers (1921)
Willard Marshall (1921)
Joe Black (1924)
Larry Dolan (1931)
Fritz Peterson (1942)
Bob Oliver (1943)
Aaron Cook (1979)

Bob Cobb was the president of the AAA Hollywood Stars from 1938-1957. He later was involved in bringing an American League expansion team to Los Angeles. In addition, he opened the famous Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles in 1928.

Danny Carnevale was a minor league player (1937-1953) and manager (1947-55, 1962-63, 1972; five league championships) and was also a scout for many years.

Dewey Soriano was a minor league pitcher in the 1940s. He was later co-owner and president of the Seattle Pilots.

Larry Dolan has owned the Cleveland Indians since 2000.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to ubelmann.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 8 →

The Nation Has An Appetite

Everything bagel bread

3 Comments

Topping

Bread

  1. For the topping: Combine all ingredients in bowl; set aside.  - or just buy everything but the bagel from Trader Joes.....
2. For the bread: Spray 8½ by 4½-inch loaf pan with oil spray. Whisk flour and yeast together in bowl of stand mixer. Fit mixer with dough hook. Add 1¼ cups (10 ounces) water and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Mix on medium-low speed until dough comes together and no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes. Turn off mixer, cover bowl with dish towel or plastic wrap, and let dough stand for 10 minutes.
3. Add salt to dough and knead on medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Turn out dough onto clean counter and form into ball by pinching and pulling dough edges under so top is smooth. Flip dough smooth side down.
4. Pat dough into 6-inch square and position parallel to edge of counter. Fold top edge of dough down to midline, pressing to seal. Fold bottom edge of dough up to meet first seam at midline and press to seal. Fold dough in half so top and bottom edges meet; pinch together to seal. Flip dough seam side down and roll into 8-inch log.
5. Transfer to prepared pan, seam side down. Spray top of dough lightly with oil spray, then cover loosely with plastic. Let sit in warm place until dough rises to lip of pan, about 1 hour.
6. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line large plate with clean dish towel. Bring 2 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven. Once boiling, add baking soda and remaining 2 tablespoons corn syrup.
7. Gently tip dough out of pan onto counter. Lift dough, gently lower into boiling water, and cook for 45 seconds per side. Using spider skimmer or 2 slotted spoons, transfer dough to prepared plate. Fold dish towel over dough gently to wick away excess moisture on top. Let sit until cool enough to handle, about 2 minutes.
8. Respray now-empty pan with oil spray. Add 2 tablespoons topping to pan and shake until bottom and sides of pan are evenly coated. Transfer dough to prepared pan, seam side down, pushing it in at edges to fit if necessary.
9. Using paring knife, make six ¼-inch-deep slashes crosswise along surface of dough, about 1 inch apart. Brush dough with egg, then sprinkle with remaining 4 teaspoons topping. Bake until golden brown and loaf registers at least 200 degrees, about 45 minutes. Let bread cool completely in pan, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, slice, and serve, toasted if desired.
I got this recipe from ATK / Cooks Illustrated. The first time I made this the dough was almost soupy because I didn't really do a great job measuring, and we didn't have a kitchen scale...... The dough was ugly as sin, and flopped all around, and then baked up to perfection. Crazy.
This time the kitchen scale was used and we nailed the correct amount of flour to water and the dough came together exactly as described. We lined the loaf pan with a bit of cheese cloth to help lift the loaf and deposit it into the boiling water.  Worked like a charm. However, I did manage to mangle the shit out of the dough when trying to get it back out of the water. I'll work on a better method next time. Currently in the oven. I'll let you know how it turned out.
Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-nine

KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 23.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 3-for-4.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.

Pitching star:  Grant Balfour struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up two hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  D. J. Carrasco struck out four in four shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks.  Aaron Guiel was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his eleventh), a double, and two runs.  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4.

The game:  It started well.  With one out in the first Rivas hit a home run.  Mientkiewicz followed with a double and scored on LeCroy's single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  In the third, singles by LeCroy, Koskie, and Jacque Jones made it 3-0 Twins.

The Royals got on the board in the fourth.  Guiel doubled and scored on a Joe Randa single to make it 3-1.  In the fifth, Desi Relaford and Angel Berroa singled and Guiel hit a three-run homer to make it 4-3 Kansas City.

And that was it.  The best the Twins could do was put the tying run on third with two out in the seventh.

WP:  Carrasco (5-4).  LP:  Joe Mays (8-8).  S:  Mike MacDougal (26).

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Gomez in the ninth and Guzman then came in as a pinch-runner.

Jones was in left with Stewart in right.

Ryan drew a walk and was batting .500.  Stewart was 1-for-5 and was batting .312.  Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .307.

Mays pitched five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out three.  It was Mays' first start since August 12 and only his second start since July 5.  He pitched well other than the three-run homer, but of course the three-run homer is what put the Royals ahead to stay.

Balfour lowered his ERA to 2.03.

Jose Lima started for Kansas City.  He pitched four innings, allowing three runs on ten hits and no walks and striking out one.

The Twins were blowing a chance to move up in the standings, losing two of three to the Royals at home.  They would have one more chance the next day.

Record:  The Twins were 66-63, in third place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Chicago.  They were 1.5 games behind second-place Kansas City.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.