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).

MINNESOTA TWINS 5, TORONTO BLUE JAYS 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, August 16, 1996.

Batting star:  Scott Stahoviak was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Dave Hollins was 2-for-5 with a double.  Marty Cordova hit a two-run homer, his tenth.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out five.  Jose Parra pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Shawn Green was 3-for-4 with a double.  Alex Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth), a triple, and two runs.  Juan Guzman struck out seven in six innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks.

The game:  Doubles by Joe Carter and Shawn Green put Toronto up 1-0 in the first.  The Twins got a one-out double from Dave Hollins in the second, but he was stranded on second.  In the third, Alex Gonzalez tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Blue Jays.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the third on a hit batsman, a Scott Stahoviak single, and another hit batsman, but a foul popup ended the inning.  In the fourth, Ed Sprague hit a one-out double and went to third on a Shawn Green single, but the score remained 2-0.

The Twins got on the board in the fourth when Roberto Kelly led off with a single, went to second on a ground out, and scored from second on a wild pitch.  Toronto got the run back when Alex Gonzalez led off the fifth with a home run, making the score 3-1.  In the bottom of the fifth, Paul Molitor hit a one-out single, Scott Stahoviak walked, the two pulled off a double steal, and a wild pitch again plated a run, cutting the lead to 3-2.

The Twins took their first lead in the seventh when Rich Becker walked and Marty Cordova hit a two-out two-run homer.  The Blue Jays tied it in the ninth when Shawn Green singled and scored from first on a John Olerud double.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, and we went to extra innings.

Carlos Delgado hit a one-out single in the tenth but was stranded on first.  Scott Stahoviak led off the bottom of the tenth with a double.  With one out, Dave Hollins doubled to bring in the deciding run for a Twins’ 5-4 victory.

WP:  Jose Parra (4-3).

LP:  Paul Quantrill (4-12).

S:  None.

Notes:  Matt Walbeck caught for the Twins.  He shared the position with Greg Myers, with Myers playing in more games, 90 to 61.  Roberto Kelly was in right.  He shared the position with Matt Lawton, with Lawton playing more games, 60 to 54.

Chuck Knoblauch was batting .354.  He would finish at .341.  Paul Molitor was batting .334.  He would finish at .341.  Roberto Kelly was batting .317.  He would finish at .323.  Marty Cordova was batting .311.  He would finish at .309.  Scott Stahoviak was batting .304.  He would finish at .284.

Otis Nixon was in center for Toronto, going 0-for-5.  He would play for the Twins in 1998.

The Twins were second in team batting average at .288, behind only Cleveland (.293).  However, they were eleventh in slugging percentage.  They were eighth in runs scored.  They had four .300 hitters, but the home run leader was Marty Cordova with sixteen.

Everyone knows Paul Molitor was a great hitter, but people may have forgotten what a great old hitter he was.  In 1996, at age thirty-nine, he led the league in hits with 225 and batted .341/.390/.468.  In his three seasons for the Twins, his age 39-41 seasons, he batted .312/.362/.432, for an OPS of .794.

Jose Parra would win only two more games in his major league career.  He would win one four days later, on August 20, and win another eight years later, in 2004 with the Mets.

Juan Guzman had a really good start to his career.  In his first three seasons, he was 40-11, 3.28.  He had another strong year in this season, 1996, when he went 11-8, 2.93, leading the league in ERA.  He was second to Chuck Knoblauch for rookie of the year in 1991, made the all-star team in 1992, and was seventh in Cy Young voting in 1993.  He couldn’t sustain it, and for his career he was 91-79, 4.08.  But for a few years, he was as good as anybody.

Record:  Toronto was 54-68, in fourth place in the AL East, seventeen games behind New York.  They would finish 74-88, in fourth place, eighteen games behind New York.

The Twins were 61-60, in third place in the AL Central, 11.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 78-84, in fourth place, 21.5 games behind Cleveland

Random Record:  The Random Twins are 31-36 (.463).