Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifteen

MINNESOTA 4, DETROIT 3 IN DETROIT

Date:  Friday, August 8.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his second.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched eight innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and three walks and striking out five.  He threw 118 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Craig Monroe was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twelfth) and a walk.  Mike Maroth pitched eight innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  In the third, Pierzynski led off with a double and scored on a Michael Restovich triple.  A sacrifice fly made it 2-0.  Stewart then singled and stole second.  Luis Rivas reached on an error.  Stewart was caught on the front end of a double steal, but Rivas went to second and scored on Doug Mientkiewicz' single to make it 3-0 Twins.  LeCroy homered in the fourth to increase the lead to 4-0.

The Tigers got on the board in the fifth.  Monroe walked and Carlos Pena singled, putting men on first and second with none out.  An error brought home a run, but a double play took away the chance for a bigger inning for Detroit.

It was still 4-1 through eight, and it appeared the Twins had the game well in hand.  In the ninth, however, Dmitri Young hit a one-out double and Monroe followed with a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 4-3.  But a strikeout and a fly out ended the game with the Twins still on the right side of the score.

WP:  Santana (6-3).  LP:  Maroth (6-16).  S:  Guardado (26).

Notes:  Stewart was in left with Restovich in right.

Restovich was 1-for-3 and was batting .333.  Stewart raised his average to .320.  Pierzynski raised his average to .302.  Corey Koskie was 0-for-3 and was batting .300.

In his last two starts, Santana pitched fourteen innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and six walks, striking out twelve.  His season ERA was 3.19.

The Twins once again edged one game over .500.  Would they be able to stay over .500 this time?

Record:  The Twins were 58-57, in third place in the American League Central, three games behind Chicago.  They were 2.5 games behind second-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 24

Dave Brain (1879)
Pinch Thomas (1888)
Cliff Heathcote (1898)
Flint Rhem (1901)
Jean Yawkey (1909)
Johnny Dickshot (1910)
Ray Kelly (1914)
Jack Brickhouse (1916)
Walter Haas (1916)
Dick Stigman (1936)
Sandy Valdespino (1939)
Jumbo Ozaki (1947)
Tim Stoddard (1953)
Atlee Hammaker (1958)
Neil Allen (1958)
Rob Dibble (1964)
Scott Kazmir (1984)
Tyler Flowers (1986)
Franklin Morales (1986)

Jean Yawkey was the wife of Tom Yawkey and was owner of the Boston Red Sox from 1978 until her death in 1992.

Ray Kelly was a baseball writer in Philadelphia for fifty years.

Jack Brickhouse was a broadcaster for the Chicago Cubs from 1948-1981.

Walter Haas was the owner of the Oakland Athletics from 1980 until his death in 1995.

Better known as a professional golfer, Jumbo Ozaki played professional baseball in Japan for three seasons, pitching for two seasons and playing outfield for one.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 24 →

Keeping Track

Winter Wonderland: Games of January 21 and 22

LARA

Thursday

No game scheduled.

Friday

ANZOATEGUI 6, LARA 0 AT LARA

It was scoreless through five, but Anzoategui scored two in each of innings six through eight.  Jecksson Flores was 3-for-4 to lead Lara.  Yordanys Linares was 2-for-4.  Lara had seven hits and drew six walks, but they could not score.  Ex-Twin Logan Darnell pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks and striking out two.  Willians Astudillo was 1-for-5 with a double for Anzoategui.

Record:  Anzoategui leads the best-of-seven series 1-0.

Next game:  Lara hosts Anzoategui again tonight.

MAYAGUEZ

Thursday

CAGUAS 4, MAYAGUEZ 0 AT CAGUAS

Yadier Molina hit a two-run triple in the first and later scored on a ground out, giving Caguas a 3-0 lead.  Mayaguez had just two hits.  Hector Hernandez pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and four walks and striking out four.

Molina had played for Manati in the first round of the playoffs.  Now he's with Caguas.  I'm not sure how that works.

Friday

CAGUAS 7, MAYAGUEZ 5 AT MAYAGUEZ

Caguas scored two in the sixth to take a 7-2 lead.  Mayaguez had the tying run up to bat when the game ended.  Jeremy Rivera was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs for Mayaguez.  Jack Lopez was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Joel Huertas started and pitched 2.1 innings, allowing three runs on one hit and three walks.  The teams combined to use fifteen pitchers, with Mayaguez using eight.

Record:  Mayaguez trails the best-of-seven series 0-2.

Next game:  Mayaguez is at Caguas tonight.

MELBOURNE

Thursday

MELBOURNE 4, BRISBANE 3 AT MELBOURNE

Blake Gailen's RBI double broke a 3-3 tie.  Ex-Twin Delmon Young was 3-for-4 with a walk.  Jake Romanski was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Blake Flynn started and pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.

Friday

BRISBANE 3, MELBOURNE 2 AT MELBOURNE

Dermon Fritsch singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth, breaking a 2-2 tie.  Colin Willis was 3-for-3 for Melbourne.  Damek Tomscha was 2-for-4.  Tyler Beardsley pitched 5.1 innings, giving up one run on two hits and three walks and striking out four.

Stats:  Ex-Twin Delmon Young was 1-for-4 and is batting .443.  Darryl George was 1-for-4 and is batting .333.  Jack Barrie was 0-for-3 and is batting .333.  Tomscha is batting .328.  Willis is batting .316.  Beardsley has an ERA of 2.84.  Jon Kennedy gave up an unearned run in two-thirds of an inning and has an ERA of 2.38.

Record:  Melbourne is 12-6, in first place in the Australian League, one game ahead of Adelaide.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fourteen

BALTIMORE 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Thursday, August 7.

Batting stars:  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double.  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twentieth.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Jeff Conine was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Jack Cust was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer.  Rodrigo Lopez pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out six.

The game:  With two out in the first, Conine doubled and scored on a Jay Gibbons single to put the Orioles up 1-0.  The Twins took the lead in the second when Koskie doubled and Hunter hit a two-run homer.  They got an insurance run in the third when Stewart doubled and scored on a Rivas single.

It wasn't enough.  In the fourth Conine and Batista singled and Cust hit a three-run homer to give Baltimore a 4-3 lead.  They got an insurance run of their own later in the inning when Deivi Cruz doubled and scored on Larry Bigbie's single.

And that was it.  The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the fifth but did not score.  They also had men on first and third with two out in the seventh but did not score.  That was the last time they got the tying run on base.

WP:  Lopez (5-6).  LP:  Reed (5-11).  S:  Jorge Julio (27).

Notes:  Denny Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Stewart was in right field.

Jacque Jones was apparently injured, as Dustan Mohr replaced him in left field in the fourth inning.  He would miss one game, then be back in the lineup.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Mohr in the ninth.  Todd Sears pinch-hit for Hocking in the ninth.

Stewart was batting .318.  Jones was 0-for-2 and was batting .305.  Koskie was batting .302.  Doug Mientkiewicz and A. J. Pierzynski each slipped back to .299.

This was the last complete game of Reed's career.

This was Cust's first homer as a Baltimore Oriole.  It was only the second game he'd played for them.  It was also the second homer of his career, as he'd hit one for Colorado in 2002.  He would not become a regular player until 2007, when he went to Oakland.  He would end up with 105 career home runs.  He was a three true outcomes guy--he had over 90 walks three years in a row, leading the league once; he led the league in strikeouts three times, and he hit 84 homers over three seasons.  His final numbers were .242/.374/.439.  Even in his last season, when he batted just .213 with three home runs, he had an OBP of .344.

The Twins again failed to stay above .500.

Record:  The Twins were 57-57, in third place in the American League Central, 3.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were three games behind Chicago.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–January 23

Ben Shibe (1838)
Red Donahue (1873)
Bobby Burke (1907)
Randy Gumpert (1918)
Chico Carrasquel (1926)
Frank Sullivan (1930)
Joe Amalfitano (1934)
Don Nottebart (1936)
Paul Ratliff (1944)
Kurt Bevacqua (1947)
Charlie Spikes (1951)
Alan Embree (1970)
Mark Wohlers (1970)
Erubiel Durazo (1974)
Brandon Duckworth (1976)
Juan Rincon (1979)
Jeff Samardzija (1985)

Ben Shibe was the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 until his death in 1922.  Shibe Park was named in his honor.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–January 23 →

Friday Music Day

FMD: Tom Jones Need Not Apply

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The Ghost family has decided on their themed playlist for 2021 - Cats.  We threw together a few songs last weekend, so we've got a 10-song start, but are always open to suggestions:

  • Nashville Cats - The Lovin' Spoonful
  • The Cat Came Back - Sonny James
  • The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) - The Tokens
  • Stray Cat Strut - Stray Cats
  • Keyboard Sonata in G Minor (the "Cat Fugue") - D. Scarlatti
  • Eye of the Tiger - Survivor
  • Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats - Cats
  • You Can Sleep on Top of Anything - Kitty Kat Fan Club
  • Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat - Artistocats
  • Honky Cat - Elton John

Last year we did space and ended up with a fun mix.

Spoiler SelectShow

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.