CALIFORNIA 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, September 17.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-4.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Dick Woodson retired all four batters he faced, striking out three of them.  Al Worthington pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jay Johnstone was 3-for-5.  Billy Cowan was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.  Bill Voss was 2-for-4 and scored twice.  Ken Tatum pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins gave the Angels a run in the first, as they made two errors and issued two walks.  Roger Repoz was walked with the bases loaded to force in the run and give California a 1-0 lead.  The Twins put two on with none out in the second, but never advanced them past first and second.

The Angels stretched their lead in the third.  Voss led off with a single and Jim Fregosi walked.  With one out Rick Reichardt delivered an RBI single.  Repoz walked to load the bases and Aurelio Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly, giving California a 3-0 advantage.  The Angels missed a chance to build the lead still farther in the fourth, as they had the bases loaded with two out, but Cowan struck out to end the inning.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, but only for one.  Harmon Killebrew walked and Rich Reese doubled to put men on second and third with one out, but all they could get out of it was Cesar Tovar's sacrifice fly.  In the sixth, the Twins gave California some more runs.  They opened the inning with two errors, putting men on first and second.  RBI singles by Johnstone and Cowan followed, increasing the Angels lead to 5-1.

The Twins got back into the game in the seventh.  They got four consecutive singles to start the inning, as Tovar, Roseboro, Cardenas, and Jim Holt all got base hits to cut the margin to 5-3.  Bob Allison walked to load the bases, still with none out, and the Twins looked ready to at least time the score if not take the lead.  It was not to be, though.  Graig Nettles struck out, Tony Oliva hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4, and Killebrew flied out to end the inning.

California added a run in the eighth on two walks and a two-out single by Cowan.  The Twins put two runners on base with two out in the bottom of the eighth, but Charlie Manuel fouled out.  Nettles walked with one out in the ninth, bringing the tying run up to bat with the big hitters coming up, but Oliva hit into a force out and Killebrew fanned to end the game.

WP:  Tom Murphy (10-14).  LP:  Dean Chance (5-4).  S:  Tatum (21).

Notes:  The expanded rosters again made themselves known, as the Twins used five pinch-hitters (Allison, Rick Renick, Nettles, Holt, and Manuel) and one pinch-runner (Herman Hill).  They also used five pitchers.

Rod Carew was 0-for-3 and was batting .333.  He was pinch-hit for by Renick in the seventh inning.  I know Carew was slumping, and the move gained a platoon advantage, but it still doesn't make much sense to me.  On the other hand, Billy Martin would sometimes make moves like that to try to wake a player up, so that's a possibility, too.

Reese was 1-for-3 and was batting .325.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .311.  Ron Perranoski pitched an inning, giving up a run on a hit and two walks, and his ERA went up to 2.28.

Chance started for the Twins and pitched just 2.1 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks and striking out one.  His ERA was 2.95.  Murphy started for the Angels and pitched six innings, giving up four runs on six hits and two walks and striking out one.

The Twins pretty much gave this game away.  They made four errors and allowed eight walks.  They also stranded nine runners and went 2-for-12 with men in scoring position.

Billy Cowan started the season with the Yankees.  Used mostly as a pinch-hitter he batted .167/.216/.228 in 51 plate appearances.  He was sold to the Angels in late July.  Used as both a pinch-hitter and a reserve outfielder, he batted .304/.350/.536 in sixty plate appearances, which must have been annoying to Yankee fans.  Cowan had a pretty substantial career, really, playing from 1963-1972.  He was a regular only one of those years, with the Cubs in 1964.  He played center field and batted .241/.268/.404 with nineteen home runs.  He had 520 plate appearances that season--his next highest was 189.  In addition to the teams listed above, he also played for the Mets and Philadelphia.  After baseball, he became a successful real estate investment consultant until his retirement.

Record:  The Twins were 89-59, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Oakland.  The Athletics won, so the Twins' magic number remained six.

MINNESOTA 11, OAKLAND 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 16.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 3-for-4 with a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a three-run homer (his forty-fourth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his tenth) and a double, scoring twice and driving in two.  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-4 with a home run, his third.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on ten hits and four walks and striking out five.

Opposition stars:  Dick Green was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Fred Talbot struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

The game:  The Athletics put men on first and second with one out in the first inning, but Sal Bando hit into a double play.  The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first.  Rod Carew drew a one-out walk, Tony Oliva singled, and Killebrew hit a three-run homer to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead.

Oakland got on the board in the second when Green tripled and scored on a ground out.  Each team put two men on in the third and did not score.  The Athletics put two men on in the fourth and again did not score.  The Twins didn't worry about putting men on base in the bottom of the fourth, as Roseboro and Cardenas started the inning with back-to-back homers to make the score 5-1 Twins.

The Twins put it out of reach in the fifth.  With one out, Killebrew walked and Reese doubled, putting men on second and third.  Cesar Tovar delivered a two-run single and went to third on a stolen base-plus-error.  With two out, Cardenas had an RBI double, Perry had a run-scoring single, Ted Uhlaender walked, and Carew hit a two-run triple.  It was 11-1 Minnesota.

Oakland again put two on in the sixth but did not score.  They got a couple of runs in the seventh.  Bert Campaneris and Jose Tartabull singled and Bobby Brooks walked, loading the bases with none out.  Sal Bando struck out, but Tito Francona hit a two-run single to cut the margin to 11-3.  There were still two on with one out, but Green hit into a double play to end the inning.  The Athletics got only one more hit after that.

WP:  Perry (19-6).  LP:  Jim Nash (8-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .336.  Reese was batting .325.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .313.  Perry's ERA went to 2.93.

I didn't notice this yesterday, but Reggie Jackson was apparently injured and missed this series.  He had not played since September 9 and would not play until September 18.  He certainly would not have missed a series that was, in effect, Oakland's last chance to get back into the race without a good reason.  Bobby Brooks was in right field in Jackson's place.

Oakland had been the Twins' closest rival all season, but the Twins took care of them in September, winning five of six.  They dominated the Athletics in the second half of the season, going 5-4 against them in the first half but 8-1 in the second half.

Record:  Minnesota was 89-58, in first place in the American League West, ten games ahead of Oakland.  The Twins' magic number was six.

MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, September 15.

Batting stars:  Cesar Tovar was 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, his thirty-eighth.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a two-run homer (his forty-third) and two walks, scoring twice.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two doubles.

Pitching star:  Dave Boswell pitched a complete game, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Rick Monday was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his eleventh) and a walk.

The game:  The Twins missed a chance in the first, failing to score despite two walks and a double.  The first walk was wiped on by a double play.  The Athletics got on the board in the second when Tito Francona hit a one-out single and Monday hit a two-out home run, putting Oakland up 2-0.

The Twins got on the board in the third.  Rod Carew got an infield single with two out and scored from first on Oliva's double.  Killebrew followed with a two-run homer and the Twins led 3-2.  The Athletics tied it in the fifth.  Rollie Fingers led off with an infield single-plus error and scored on Jose Tartabull's single to make the score 3-3.

Minnesota went ahead to stay in the sixth.  Killebrew led off with a single and advanced to third on Tovar's one-out double.  Johnny Roseboro was intentionally walked, but Leo Cardenas hit a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 4-3 advantage.

The Twins put it out of reach in the eighth.  Killebrew walked and was replaced by pinch-runner Herman Hill.  A wild pitch moved Hill to second and he went to third when Rich Reese reached on a sacrifice/fielder's choice.  Tovar then delivered an RBI single.  A double play gave Oakland a chance to get out of the inning.  Cardenas was intentionally walked to bring up Boswell, who wrecked the strategy with a run-scoring single.  The Athletics did not get a hit after Tartabull's RBI single in the fifth.

WP:  Boswell (17-11).  LP:  Fingers (6-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .337.  Reese was 0-for-3 and was batting .320.  Oliva was batting .314.

It's understandable why you'd walk Cardenas to pitch to Boswell, but Boswell wasn't a bad hitter.  His career numbers are .202/.222/.283, which sounds like "good hitter for a pitcher", but much of his career was in the 1960s, when there were regular players who didn't hit .200.  His best offensive year was 1965, when he batted .316/.333/.368 in 39 plate appearances.  He also had a good year in 1968, when he batted .233/.254/.367 in 68 plate appearances.

Fingers was the starter for Oakland.  He pitched six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out two.  This was his fifth start of the season.  He would make three more, as he was apparently in the rotation for the last three weeks of the season.  He would be in the rotation for about half of 1970 and six weeks in 1971, then would make a permanent transition to the bullpen.

Entering the series down eight games with seventeen to play, Oakland pretty much had to sweep the series to have a realistic chance to get back into the race.  The Twins took care of that chance on the first day.

Record:  The Twins were 88-58, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Oakland.

KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, September 14.

Batting stars:  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with a home run, his twenty-third.

Pitching star:  Bob Miller struck out five in 4.2 innings, giving up one run on no hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Dick Drago pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on ten hits and a walk and striking out five.  Luis Alcaraz was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  Alcaraz hit a home run with one out in the first to put the Royals up 1-0.  Each team then missed some chances--the Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the second, Kansas City loaded the bases with two out in the third, and the Twins got another pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the third.  The Royals increased their lead to 2-0 in the fourth when Chuck Harrison doubled and ex-Twin Jackie Hernandez singled.

The Twins tied it in the sixth.  Harmon Killebrew and Rich Reese singled with one-out in the first.  A ground out moved the runners up and Johnny Roseboro was given an intentional walk.  Cardenas foiled the strategy with a two-run double to make the score 2-2.  The Twins took the lead in the eighth when Oliva led off with a home run.

Lou Piniella led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk. Ron Perranoski came in and allowed a run-scoring double to Hawk Taylor, making the score 3-3.  A bunt moved Taylor to third and Jerry Adair singled to put Kansas City up 4-3.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

WP:  Drago (10-11).  LP:  Perranoski (9-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins used their regular lineup.  Rod Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .337.  Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .323.  Oliva was batting .313.  Perranoski raised his ERA to 2.22.

Tom Hall pitched 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and three walks and striking out one.  It seems like a pretty quick hook for Hall.  Maybe Billy Martin thought that if you can't get Jackie Hernandez out when you need to, you shouldn't be in the game.

This was one of four major league home runs hit by Luis Alcaraz.  An infielder, he had gotten a September call-up with the Dodgers in 1967 and spent about half of 1968 with them.  He batted just .151 in 1968, however, and even in a pitchers' era that was considered unacceptable.  He was sold to Kansas City after the season and got a couple of months with them in both 1969 and 1970.  For his career, he batted .192/.235/.260 with four home runs in 391 plate appearances.  He then played in the Mexican League for several years, finally ending his playing career in 1981 at age forty.  He is a distant cousin of Orlando Cepeda and was a player-manager in the last few years of his career.

Record:  The Twins were 87-58, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Oakland.

KANSAS CITY 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, September 13.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.  Graig Nettles was 0-for-1 with three walks.

Pitching star:  Dean Chance pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Mike Hedlund struck out eight in six shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and four walks.  Moe Drabowsky pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks and striking out one.  Ed Kirkpatrick was 2-for-4.

The game:  I'd say this was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel, but it was played fifty years ago, so it probably wasn't old-fashioned at the time.  Neither team got a man past first base until the third.   Cardenas led off with a single, was bunted to second, and went to third on a ground out.  Rod Carew walked, but Tony Oliva fouled out to end the inning.  Cardenas also led off the fifth inning with a single and was again bunted to second (both bunts were by Chance), but went no further.

The Royals had put two men on in the fourth, as Kirkpatrick got a one-out single and Lou Piniella was hit by a pitch with two down, but Luis Alcaraz hit into a forceout.

The two teams combined for one baserunner in innings six through eight, a one-out walk to Harmon Killebrew.  With one out in the ninth, Mike Fiore tripled and scored on Kirkpatrick's single for the lone run of the game.  In the bottom of the ninth, Rich Reese and Graig Nettles drew consecutive one-out walks, but Johnny Roseboro fouled out and Cardenas struck out to end the game.

WP:  Drabowsky (9-9).  LP:  Chance (5-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Ted Uhlaender was in center field, with Cesar Tovar on the bench.  Nettles was in left field.

Carew was 0-for-2 with two walks and was batting .338.  Reese was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .324.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .311.  Chance lowered his ERA to 2.81.

Since his return to the lineup September 8, Carew was 3-for-20.  Oliva was slumping over that same span, going 4-for-26.

Cardenas' two singles were the only two hits the Twins had.

Roger Nelson started for Kansas City.  He pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk, then was removed from the game.  No reason is apparent from the play-by-play--one assumes injury or illness.

Hedlund had been in and out of the rotation a couple of times during the season.  He had started and pitched seven innings on Sept. 3 and pitched an inning of relief on Sept. 8, so pitching six innings probably wasn't a big deal to him.  He did okay as a starter, but was excellent as a reliever--0-0, but with two saves, an ERA of 1.69, and a WHIP of 1.03.  He began 1970 in the Royals' bullpen, but did poorly and spent most of the season in AAA Omaha.  He came back to have an excellent year as a starter with Kansas City in 1971 but struggled in 1972 and then was in AAA in 1973-1974.

Record:  The Twins were 87-57, in first place in the American League West, 7.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 3, KANSAS CITY 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 12.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his seventh.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-3 with a home run (his tenth) and a walk.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base, his eighth.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game shutout, giving up six hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Joe Foy was 2-for-4.  Ed Kirkpatrick was 2-for-4.  Jim Rooker pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks and striking out eight.

The game:  The Royals got a pair of two-out singles in the first but did not score.  Tovar led off the bottom of the first with a home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.

Kansas City mounted its biggest threat in the fourth.  Kirkpatrick and Foy started the inning with singles, putting men on first and third.  Lou Piniella then hit into a fielder's choice, with Kirkpatrick thrown out at the plate.  The Royals still had men on first and second with one out,  Jerry Adair struck out, Eliseo Rodriguez walked to load the bases, and ex-Twin Jackie Hernandez flied out to end the inning.

The Twins got some insurance runs in the fourth.  Killebrew led off with a walk and Allison hit a one-out two-run homer to make the score 3-0.  Kansas City did not get a man past first base the rest of the game.

WP:  Perry (18-6).  LP:  Rooker (4-13).  S:  None.

Notes:  Allison was in left field, with Ted Uhlaender on the bench.  Rick Renick was at third, with Killebrew on first and Rich Reese out of the lineup.  George Mitterwald was behind the plate, with Johnny Roseboro on the bench.

Rod Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .339.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .314.

A while back, it was mentioned in a comment that the Twins would've had the top three batting averages in the league had Reese gotten enough plate appearances to qualify.  I really don't know why he didn't.  In other words, I don't know why Billy Martin played Rick Renick at third so darn much.  At this point of the season it didn't really matter, but Renick started 27 games at third base in 1969.  It wasn't to give Killebrew a rest, because most of the time it happened the way it did in this game, with Killebrew moving to first and Reese going out.  It wasn't to gain a platoon advantage, because Reese hit both left-handers and right-handers substantially better than Renick.  I don't think it improved the defense much, either--I'll grant that Renick was probably better at third than Killebrew, but it's not like he was a gold glover--Frank Quilici still came in to play defense late in the game.  Plus, moving Harmon to first probably weakened the defense there.  One other thing--they also had Graig Nettles, who was a better batter and probably a better defender, although Nettles wasn't known as a great defensive player at this stage in his career.  I don't understand what Martin saw in Renick, but there was obviously something.

Don't let Rooker's 4-13 record fool you.  He actually pitched pretty well in 1969 and just didn't get any help.  He ended 4-16, but with an ERA of 3.75 and a WHIP of 1.32.  He eventually went to Pittsburgh, where he had some fine years for some winning ball clubs.

Record:  The Twins were 87-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.

CHICAGO 4, MINNESOTA 0 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Thursday, September 11.

Batting stars:  None.

Pitching star:  Bob Miller pitched three shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Joel Horlen pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and one walk and striking out four.  Tom McCraw was 2-for-4 and scored twice.  Ed Herrmann was 1-for-2 with two walks.

The game:  The White Sox opened the scoring in the second.  With one out, McCraw and Herrmann singled.  Bob Christian struck out, but Bobby Knoop singled to left to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.  The took a substantially bigger lead in the third.  With one out, Luis Aparicio walked and Walt Williams singled.  Bill Melton struck out, but McCraw singled home a run to make it 2-0.  Herrmann reached on an error to load the bases, and Christian delivered a two-run single to put the White Sox up 4-0.

The Twins never did mount a threat.  They had so few baserunners that we can list them all.  Tony Oliva had a two-out single-plus-error in the first.  Cesar Tovar had a one-out single in the second.  Johnny Roseboro had a one-out single in the fifth.  Ted Uhlaender drew a one-out walk in the ninth.

WP:  Horlen (11-15).  LP:  Dave Boswell (16-11).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins used their regular lineup.  Rod Carew was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .343.  Rich Reese was 0-for-3 and was batting .326.  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .316.

Boswell started and pitched five innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out four.

By game scores, this was Horlen's best game of the season.  He had one other shutout, in Baltimore on May 6.

There were no extra-base hits in the game.  The Twins had three singles and Chicago had seven.  I don't think that's rare, exactly, but it is unusual.

Tom McCraw played a long time for a guy who really wasn't all that good.  He was primarily a first baseman, although he also played some outfield.  He had a really good year in AAA Indianapolis in 1962, batting .326/.408/.463 at age twenty-one.  He only hit seven home runs, but still, that's a solid season.  He started 1963 in AAA but came up to the White Sox in early June and stayed for eight years.  He did that despite never posting an OPS as high as .700.  His career numbers for Chicago are .240/.300/.354.  Even granted that it was 1960s baseball, that's not very good, especially for a first baseman.  Still, the Sox kept him in the lineup through 1969.  He moved to more of a reserve role in 1970, then was traded to Washington for Ed Stroud.  He moved to Cleveland for 1972, was traded to California for Leo Cardenas in 1973, then went back to the Indians in mid-1974.  He batted better as a reserve--he hit .294/.343/.442 in 1974 and .275/.362/.451 in 1975.  The 1975 totals, however, were in just 59 plate appearances, and he was released at the end of June.  One assumes he was considered a good defender and also was a nice guy, because he couldn't have played so long if he wasn't.  When the Indians released him they kept him around as a batting coach, and he was a batting coach for one major league team or another through 2005, when he retired.  He apparently was a good friend of Frank Robinson, as he was Robinson's batting coach with four different teams.

Record:  The Twins were 86-56, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.

CHICAGO 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Wednesday, September 10.

Batting stars:  Tom Hall was 2-for-3.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, his seventeenth and eighteenth.

Pitching star:  Hall pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and five walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Tommy John pitched eight innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on eleven hits and five walks and striking out seven.  Don Pavletich was 2-for-2 with a home run (his sixth) and a walk, driving in two.  Bobby Knoop was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  Walt Williams opened the first inning.  He was still on first with two out, but back-to-back singles by Bill Melton and Pavletich put the White Sox on the board with a 1-0 lead.

The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the second, but did not score.  They loaded the bases with one out in the third, but Carew was caught stealing home and the Twins again did not score.  Consecutive one-out singles by Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Bob Allison loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Rick Renick hit into a double play and the Twins once more did not score.  In the sixh, Pavletich homered to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead.

The Twins finally broke through in the seventh.  With one out, Carew singled, Killebrew walked, and John threw two wild pitches to bring home a run.  The Twins could not get him to throw a third one, however, and they still trailed 2-1.  With two out in the Chicago eighth, Bob Christian singled and scored on Knoop's single-plus-error to get the run back for the White Sox and put their lead back to two.

George Mitterwald and Cesar Tovar opened the ninth with singles.  A passed ball put Herman Hill, who pinch-ran for Mitterwald, on third.  An error scored him, but Tovar was thrown out trying to score on the play and the Twins trailed 3-2.  The error put Carew on second with one out and he stole third, putting the tying run ninety feet away.  But there he stayed, as Killebrew struck out and Oliva bounced back to the pitcher.

WP:  John (7-11).  LP:  Hall (8-5).  S:  Wilbur Wood (12).

Notes:  Renick was at third, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese out of the lineup.  Allison was in left field with Ted Uhlaender out of the lineup.  Tom Tischinski caught, with Johnny Roseboro out of the lineup.

Carew was batting .346.  Oliva was batting .316.

The Twins stranded eleven men and were 2-for-11 with men in scoring position.  Chicago stranded eight and was 1-for-8 with men in scoring position.

Tommy John was in his fifth full season.  He would last another twenty years, with his last year coming in 1989 with the Yankees at age forty-six.  Wilbur Wood was in his fifth full season.  He would last only nine more years, with his last year coming with the White Sox at the young age of thirty-six.

Hall had allowed more than three earned runs in a start only twice since April 25, and both of those times he allowed exactly four earned runs.  He was not in the rotation all that time--he made twelve starts and eight relief appearances over that span.  One of the relief appearances was an eight-inning win in which he allowed one run.

Bob Christian got his biggest chance in 1969.  He had gone 1-for-3 in three games for Detroit in 1968.   He spent a week with the White Sox in June, then came up in early August for two weeks, then got a September call-up.  He was Chicago's regular left fielder in September, taking over for Carlos May.  It did not go well, as he batted .217/.273/.318 in 143 plate appearances for the season.  it went better in September, when he had regular play, but he still batted just .250/.306/.364 in that span.  On the other hand, he was just twenty-three.  He got sixteen more plate appearances in 1970, then his major league career was over.  He'd had an excellent 1970 season in AAA Tucson, batting .335/.418/.445, and at age twenty-four one would've thought he looked like  a prospect.  Instead, they let him go to Japan for two seasons.  Sadly, Bob Christian passed away in 1974 from leukemia at the young age of twenty-eight.

Record:  The Twins were 86-55, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 11, CALIFORNIA 7 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Tuesday, September 9.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-4 with a home run (his ninth), a double, and three RBIs.  Rich Reese was 3-for-5 with a triple, scoring twice and driving in two.  Ted Uhlaender was 3-for-6 with two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Johnny Roseboro was 2-for-5.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Jim Kaat pitched five innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Rick Reichardt was 2-for-3 with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and a stolen base (his third), scoring twice.  Sandy Alomar was 2-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases, his thirteenth and fourteenth.  Jay Johnstone was 2-for-5 and scored twice.  Joe Azcue was 2-for-5.

The game:  In the first, Alomar walked leading off the inning and was on third with two out.  The Angels then got singles from Johnstone and Reichardt and a double by Bill Voss to take a 3-0 lead.  The Twins got one back in the second when Killebrew doubled and scored on a single by Roseboro.  They cut the margin to 3-2 in the fourth when Reese singled, went to third on a Tovar single, and scored on Cardenas' double.  The Twins might have had more, but Tovar was caught trying to steal second before Cardenas doubled.

The Angels got one in the fourth when Vern Geishert hit into a force out but went to second on an error and scored on Alomar's single.  The Twins got the run back in the fifth when Uhlaender doubled and scored on Killebrew's two-out single, making the score 4-3.

California appeared to take control of the game in the fifth.  Johnstone and Reichardt led off the game with singles.  A pickoff error allowed Johnstone to score and put Reichardt on second.  With one out, Aurelio Rodriguez was intentionally walked.  Azcue then delivered an RBI single and Bubba Morton came through with a sacrifice fly, giving the Angels a 7-3 advantage.

It turned out to be no problem at all for the Twins.  Tovar led off the sixth with a single and with one out, Cardenas hit a two-run homer to cut the lead to 7-5.  With two out, Uhlaender singled and Rod Carew reached on an error.  Oliva doubled them both home to tie the score.  Killebrew walked, and Reese circled the bases on a triple-plus-error, putting the Twins up 10-7.

The Twins added a run in the seventh on singles by Roseboro, Kaat, and Uhlaender.  California put a man on base in each of the last three innings, but did not have two on until the ninth, when Billy Cowan doubled and Rodriguez singled with one out.  Azcue hit into a double play to end the game.

WP:  Kaat (13-11).  LP:  Tom Bradley (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Carew returned to the lineup at second base.  Tovar went back to center field and Uhlaender went back to left.

Carew was 1-for-5 and was batting .345.  Reese raised his average to .329.  Oliva was batting .317.

Kaat was used in relief eight times in 1969.  He pitched 28 innings in those eight appearances, pitching anywhere from 0.1 innings to 9.1 innings.

Dean Chance started for the Twins and pitched three innings, giving up three runs on three hits and two walks and striking out one.  Vern Geishert was the Angels starter.  He went five innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and striking out two.

This was the second of three starts Geishert would make in his career.  He came up in late August of 1969 and stayed the rest of the season.  It would be his only time in the major leagues.  He was 1-1, 4.65, 1.26 WHIP.  He did extremely well as a starter in Class A in 1966, at age 20, and did pretty well as a reliever in AAA in 1967 at age 21.  Moved back to starting in 1968, he struggled at AA.  He both started and relieved in AAA in 1969 and did fairly well, although I don't know what his starting/relieving splits might have been.  The Angels sent him to Cincinnati after that season, and he was in AAA as a starter through 1971.  He made just seven starts in AAA in 1971 and then was traded, along with Frank Duffy, to San Francisco for George Foster, a trade that worked pretty well for the Reds.  Geishert did not appear in a game for the Giants--his b-r.com biography simply says that "he decided to leave pro ball".  It does appear that he is still living in retirement in his native Wisconsin.

Record:  The Twins were 86-54, in first place in the American League West, 9.5 games ahead of Oakland.

CALIFORNIA 6, MINNESOTA 4 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Monday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Bob Allison was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixth), a double, and three RBIs.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Dick Woodson struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Al Worthingon pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jay Johnstone was 2-for-2 with two walks.  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Jim Spencer was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Sandy Alomar was 2-for-5 with a stolen base (his twelfth) and two runs.

The game:  Bob Allison led off the second with a double.  He was caught stealing third, but was safe on an error on third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez.  He was still on third with two out, so Billy Martin had him try to steal home.  He was thrown out.

Cardenas led off the third with a double and did not try to steal any bases, but the result was the same--the Twins did not score.  In the bottom of the third, the Angels got on the board.  Singles by Alomar and Spencer were followed by a passed ball, putting men on second and third.  Fregosi hit a sacrifice fly and Johnstone singled, giving California a 2-0 lead.

California followed with a four-run fifth.  Again it opened with singles by Alomar and Spencer.  An error scored one run, and an intentional walk to Johnstone was followed by RBI singles by Rick Reichardt, Bill Voss, and Rodriguez.  The Angels were up 6-0.

The Twins cut the lead in half in the sixth.  Cesar Tovar led off with a single, Harmon Killebrew drew a one-out walk, and Allison followed with a three-run homer.  The Twins got closer in the eighth.  Killebrew again drew a one-out walk.  Graig Nettles hit a two-out double, putting men on second and third.  A wild pitch made it 6-4 and Charlie Manuel walked, bringing the go-ahead run up to bat.  Ted Uhlaender flied to left, however, and the chance was gone.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Rudy May (8-11).  LP:  Jim Perry (17-6).  S:  Ken Tatum (18).

Notes:  Rod Carew was still out of the starting lineup, although he did pinch-hit.  Tovar was at second base and Uhlaender in center field.  Rick Renick played third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Rich Reese out of the lineup.  Allison was in left field.

Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .317.

Twins starter Perry pitched 4.1 innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on nine hits and a walk and striking out three.  Angels starter May pitched 7.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and four walks and striking out five.

Getting caught stealing twice in the same inning, as Allison did, is an unusual feat.  For it to be third and home is even more unusual.  It would, of course, be interesting to know just how unusual it is.

Aurelio Rodriguez has an unusual feat, too--he has all the vowels in his first name.  What would be really cool is if some day there was a player named Aurelio Figueroa.

Each of the top four men in the Angels lineup had exactly two hits.  They went a combined 8-for-15 with three walks.  Each of the next four men in the Angels lineup had exactly one hit.  They were a combined 4-for-15 with a walk.  The ninth spot in the Angels lineup had no hits, going 0-for-4.

This was Rudy May's first full season.  He would go on to have a long and successful career.  His best years really came in his mid-thirties, for Montreal in 1979 and the Yankees in 1980.  In that 1980 season he led the league in ERA, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, and SO/W ratio.  For his career he was 152-156, but with an ERA of 3.46 and a WHIP of 1.25.  He had 87 complete games, 24 shutouts, and 12 saves.

Record:  The Twins were 85-54, in first place in the American League West, 8.5 games ahead of Oakland.