MINNESOTA 6, WASHINGTON 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 26.

Batting stars:  Ted Uhlaender was 1-for-1 with two walks and two RBIs.  Dave Boswell was 1-for-2 with a home run, his second.

Pitching stars:  Boswell pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks and striking out five.

Opposition stars:  Del Unser was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Lee Maye was 2-for-5 and scored twice.  Dave Baldwin pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Unser led off the game with a triple and scored on Maye's single.  Frank Howard singled to put men on first and third with none out.  Ex-Twin Bernie Allen grounded out to score Maye, but Boswell was able to limit the damage.  In the bottom of the first, Rick Renick singled, Harmon Killebrew walked, a wild pitch advanced the runners, and Oliva's run-scoring ground out made it 2-1 Senators.

The Twins took the lead in the third.  Boswell led off the inning with a home run, tying the score 2-2.  Renick walked, Cesar Tovar singled, and Killebrew walked, loading the bases with none out.  Oliva had a sacrifice fly to put the Twins in front.  Rich Reese, pinch-hitting for Bob Allison, was hit by a pitch, re-loading the bases.  Leo Cardenas hit another sacrifice fly, making the score 4-2.  George Mitterwald walked, loading the bases one more time, and Ted Uhlaender, pinch-hitting for Frank Quilici, delivered an infield single, leaving the Twins ahead 5-2.

Washington got one back in the fifth.  With a man on first and two-out, second baseman Tovar made an error that allowed the runner to score and cut the margin to 5-3.  The Senators threatened in the sixth, putting two on with two out, but did not score.  The Twins got the run back in the seventh.  One-out walks to Oliva and Reese put men on first and second, a ground out moved them to second and third, an intentional walk to Mitterwald loaded the bases, and a walk to Uhlaender forced in a run, leaving the score 6-3.

Washington closed out the scoring in the eighth.  With one out, future Twin Brant Alyea doubled and ex-Twin Zoilo Versalles singled.  The next two batters struck out, ending the inning.  The Senators got a leadoff single from Unser in the ninth, but he never advanced past first base.

WP:  Boswell (14-9).  LP:  Barry Moore (8-6).  S:  Ron Perranoski (24).

Notes:  Tovar was back in center field at the start of this game, with Frank Quilici at second base.  Renick was at third base, with Killebrew on first.  Mitterwald was behind the plate.  When Allison, who had started in left field, and Quilici came out for pinch-hitters, lots of defensive changes resulted.  Reese, one of the pinch-hitters, stayed in the game at first base, Killebrew moved to third, and Renick went to left.  Uhlaender, the other pinch-hitter, went to center, with Tovar moving to second.

Reese was 0-for-1 with a walk and was batting .331.  Oliva was 0-for-2 with a walk and was batting .318.  Perranoski saw his ERA go up to 2.16.

The Twins drew nine walks in the game.  Three came from Washington starter Barry Moore, who lasted just two innings and allowed five runs on three hits and three walks and struck out one.  Five came from Jim Shellenback, who allowed a run on no hits and five walks in 2.2 innings.

Record:  The Twins were 76-51, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.  It's remarkable how long the Twins lead stayed from about a game and a half to about three and a half games.  The could never quite shake Oakland, but Oakland could never quite catch up, either.

WASHINGTON 7, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, August 25.

Batting star:  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Dean Chance pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out three.  Ron Perranoski pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Frank Howard was 4-for-4 with a home run (his fortieth) and a walk, scoring three times.  Future Twin Brant Alyea was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Ken McMullen was 2-for-5 with two RBis.  Darold Knowles pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  Howard homered with two out in the first to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.  In the bottom of the first, Uhlaender singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Tony Oliva single to tie it 1-1.

Washington went back into the lead in the third.  Ex-Twin Zoilo Versalles was hit by a pitch, Howard singled, and a wild pitch put men on second and third.  McMullen then delivered a two-run single to make the score 3-1.  A walk and a wild pitch again put men on second and third, and a Rich Reese error allowed a run to score, giving the Senators a 4-1 advantage.

The Twins got back into the game in the sixth.  Consecutive singles by Leo Cardenas, Rick Renick, and Uhlaender made the score 4-2 and put men on first and third with none out.  Cesar Tovar grounded out to cut the margin to 4-3 and put the tying run on second with one out and the Twins big sticks coming up.  But Oliva flied out and Harmon Killebrew grounded to third, leaving the Twins down a run at 4-3.

It stayed 4-3 until the ninth, when Washington put the game out of reach.  Singles by Versalles and Howard opened the inning.  With one out, Ed Stroud delivered an RBI single.  A ground out moved the runners to second and third and Del Unser hit a two-run single to make the score 7-3.  The Twins put two on with two out in the ninth but could do no more.

WP:  Dick Bosman (10-5).  LP:  Jim Kaat (11-11).  S:  Knowles (10).

Notes:  It was again Uhlaender in center and Tovar at second base.  Graig Nettles started the game in left.

Oddly, George Mitterwald went into the game in left field in the ninth inning.  It was the first time he had played left field in the majors, although he had played twenty-one games of outfield in AAA Denver in 1968.  Only one ball was hit to left in the inning, a fly ball by McMullen, and Mitterwald caught it.  I don't know why Nettles came out of the game--one assumes he was injured, but he had not batted in the eighth and no balls were hit to left in the eighth, so if he was it must have happened before that and just got worse or something.  He would pinch-hit the next day and not play in the field again until August 29, which would reinforce the injury theory.  One wonders why Billy Martin didn't put Frank Quilici, who had pinch-hit in the eighth, at second base and move Tovar into the outfield.  Another option would have been to put Bob Allison in left.  Allison would pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth, so maybe Martin deliberately wanted to hold him back for the pinch-hitting opportunity.  It didn't hurt the Twins any--in fact, Mitterwald got a two-out single in the ninth inning.  It just seems like an odd decision.

Rich Reese was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .332.  Oliva was 1-for-4 and was batting .319.  Chance dropped his ERA to 2.62.  Perranoski got his ERA down to 2.11.

Kaat started for the Twins but pitched just two innings, giving up four runs on six hits and striking out one.  Dick Bosman was the Washington starter.  He pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk and striking out four.

The Twins used six pitchers, which is not that unusual now but was rare in 1969.  They used four of them in the last three innings:  Dick Woodson (0.2 innings), Perranoski (1.1), Al Worthington (0.1) and Joe Grzenda (0.2).

Record:  The Twins were 75-51, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 1, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, August 24.

Batting star:  Rick Renick was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall pitched a complete game shutout, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out eight.

Opposition star:  Al Downing pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up an unearned run on four hits and five walks (three intentional) and striking out five.

The game:  This was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel.  Each team had just four hits.  Neither team got a man past first base until the fifth, and then no hits were involved--Leo Cardenas drew a one-out walk and Frank Quilici reached on an error with two out.  Hall grounded out to end the inning.

Each team put two on in the sixth.  For the Yankees, Horace Clarke and Gene Michael got consecutive one-out singles.  For the Twins, Renick got an infield single and was bunted to second.  That led to Harmon Killebrew getting an intentional walk and that strategy worked, as a fly out and a line out ended the inning.

The Yankees got a man to second in the eighth, as Len Boehmer got a bunt single and was bunted to second by Downing.  That was the last man who would get as far as second base for New York.

The Twins finally scored in the ninth.  Oliva reached on a three-base error by New York left fielder Bill Robinson.  Bob Allison and Cardenas were intentionally walked to fill the bases.  George Mitterwald then singled to bring home Oliva with the deciding run.

WP:  Hall (6-4).  LP:  Al Downing (4-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins kind of used a B lineup on this Sunday.  Renick was at third and batted leadoff.  Cesar Tovar batted second and was in centerfield.  Allison was in left and Frank Quilici was at second base.  Mitterwald was behind the plate.  Killebrew played first.  That left mostly-regulars Ted Uhlaender, Rich Reese, Graig Nettles, and Johnny Roseboro on the bench.

That would be a good bench, but it was never used.  Each team used exactly nine players, no more.  There were no relief pitchers, no pinch-hitters, no pinch-runners, no defensive replacements.  I suspect that's pretty rare.

Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .320.

By game scores, this was tied for Hall's best game of the season.  On April 18, he had thrown a two-hit shutout (with four walks) against the California Angels.

Downing had been in the Yankee bullpen most of the season, not moving into the rotation until August 2.  My first thought was "how could the Yankees have had four starters better than Al Downing?"  I really don't think they did, but their four starters weren't bad:  Mel Stottlemyre, Fritz Peterson, Stan Bahnsen, and Bill Burbach.  Burbach is the least known of the four, but he posted a 3.65 ERA in 1969.  Downing had an ERA of 3.16 as a starter, with a WHIP of 1.26, so he was probably better, but the point is that there was no obvious hole in the rotation that Downing should have been filling.

I miss the days when the Twins could sweep a three-game series against the Yankees.  I have to admit, though, that this was a tough way for Downing to lose--a leadoff three-base error in the ninth.  It's hard to say if the two intentional walks were good strategy or not--there really aren't any good strategies for a situation where the other team has the winning run on third with none out.  Filling the bases to set up a force play at the plate is probably as good a strategy as any.  Had Downing been able to get Mitterwald out, the next two batters were Quilici and Hall, which might well have provided an escape hatch, although the Twins certainly might have used a pinch-hitter or two.  Fortunately for the Twins, Mitterwald delivered.

Record:  The Twins were 75-50, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 8, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 23.

Batting stars:  Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his eighth.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirty-sixth), a stolen base (his seventh), and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Roy White was 2-for-4 with a double.  Lindy McDaniel pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.  Steve Hamilton pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

The game:  The Twins took care of business in the first inning.  Uhlaender led off with an infield single and was bunted to second.  Oliva had an RBI double and Killebrew hit a two-run homer.  The Twins weren't done,  though, as Rich Reese and Nettles followed with back-to-back doubles and Leo Cardenas delivered a two-out single.  The Twins batted around to take a 5-0 lead.

In the second, the Twins loaded the bases with one out on singles by Cesar Tovar and Oliva and a walk to Killebrew.  Reese fouled out, but the Twins then pulled off a triple steal, with Killebrew stealing second, Oliva third, and Tovar home, making the score 6-0.  They added two more in the third on walks to Johnny Roseboro and Cardenas, a bunt by Perry, and a two-run single by Uhlaender, leaving the Twins with an 8-0 lead.

The Yankees got two on for the first time in the fourth, when White led off with a single and Bobby Murcer drew a one-out walk, but it came to nothing.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the fourth, getting singles from Nettles and Roseboro and a walk to Cardenas, but Perry struck out to end the inning.

New York finally broke through in the sixth.  With two out, Joe Pepitone and Murcer singled and ex-Twin Jimmie Hall hit a two-run triple.  Jerry Kenney then singled him home to cut the lead to 8-3.  That was as good as it would get for the Yankees, though, as they got only one hit the rest of the game.

WP:  Perry (15-5).  LP:  Mel Stottlemyre (16-11).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was again Uhlaender in center, Tovar at second, and Nettles in left.

Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .335.  Oliva's average was .322.  Perry's ERA was 2.96.

The Twins were 5-for-9 with men in scoring position.

Stottlemyre lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs on six hits and no walks with no strikeouts.  He was a star pitcher and had an excellent season in 1969, but the Twins wore him out.  In four games, he was 1-3, 5.11, 1.46 WHIP.  The Twins batted .340/.373/.511 against him, for an .883 OPS.  The best any other team could do was .709 (Boston).  The Twins obviously didn't do that well against him for his entire career, but they did have the second best OPS against him (second, surprisingly enough, to Kansas City).

Record:  The Twins were 74-50, in first place, 2.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

MINNESOTA 6, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 22.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his sixteenth and seventeenth) and five RBIs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched eight shutout innings, giving up seven hits and one walk and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition star:  Mike Kekich pitched a scoreless inning.

The game:  The Twins opened the bottom of the first with singles by Uhlaender and Cesar Tovar but Oliva lined into a double play, leaving just a man on first with two out.  Tovar then went to third on a stolen base-plus-error, Harmon Killebrew then walked and Rich Reese singled, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees got a pair of singles in the third but could do nothing with them.  In the bottom of the third, Uhlaender singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer, making the score 3-0.

New York missed a chance to get back into the game in the sixth.  Tom Shopay led off with a single and Gene Michael hit a one-out double, putting men on second and third.  Roy White then hit back to the pitcher, who threw Shopay out at the plate.  Joe Pepitone flied out and the inning was over.  They had another chance in the seventh.  Ron Woods and Jerry Kenney singled with one out.  Jake Gibbs struck out, but a wild pitch put men on second and third and ex-Twin Jimmie Hall walked, loading the bases.  Horace Clarke then grounded out to end the inning.

The Twins put it out of reach in the seventh.  Cardenas led off with a single, Tovar drew a two-out walk, and Oliva hit a three-run homer to make the score 6-0.  The Yankees did not get a man on base in either of the last two innings.

WP:  Boswell (13-9).  LP:  Stan Bahnsen (7-12).  S:  Perranoski (23).

Notes:  Uhlaender remained in center and Tovar at second base.  Graig Nettles was the left fielder in this game.

Reese was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .336.  Oliva raised his average to .321.

Boswell was allowed to bat for himself in the bottom of the eighth.  He was hit by a pitch and then was removed for a pinch-runner.  He did not miss a start, so one assumes the removal was simply precautionary.  The pinch-runner, by the way, was Tom Hall.  It used to be common for pitchers to be used as pinch-runners.  It seems like, with today's short benches, that wouldn't be a bad strategy to use.  Yes, pitchers aren't particularly used to running the bases, but one would think they could learn.  The downside of it, I suppose, is that all it would take is one pitcher getting hurt running the bases for every second-guesser in the world to say, "Why did you have a pitcher pinch-running, you idiot!"  So it probably won't happen.  I still think it would be a good idea, though.

I remember Tom Shopay more as a Baltimore Oriole, which is understandable--he played for them from 1971-1972 and again from 1975-1977.  What's not understandable, really, is why I remember Tom Shopay at all.  He played in parts of seven seasons, but he never had more than 79 plate appearances in any of them.  He was an outfielder, although he was frequently used as a pinch-hitter.  Of his 341 career plate appearances, 116 of them were as a pinch-hitter.  He wasn't particularly good at it, batting .210/.307/.230 as a pinch-hitter.  Those numbers aren't far off his career numbers--.201/.262/.259.  It's hard to say why he kept getting chances in the majors.  His AAA numbers are okay, but nothing to shout about--.284/.348/.408 in 3182 plate appearances.  He really didn't even take advantage of the vagaries of small sample sizes in the majors--other than his first year 1967, he never even approached an OPS of .600.  He was probably a really nice guy--he wouldn't have kept getting chances if he wasn't.  It sounds like he had a successful career in business after baseball.  At last report, he was living in Miami.

Record:  The Twins were 73-50, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.

BOSTON 7, MINNESOTA 6 IN BOSTON

Date:  Wednesday, August 20.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth), two walks, and a stolen base (his thirty-first).  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirty-fifth.

Pitching star:  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  George Scott was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two RBIs.  Tony Conigliaro was 2-for-5.  Syd O'Brien was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and two runs.

The game:  Scott started the scoring in the third with a home run, putting the Red Sox up 1-0.  Scott struck again in the fourth, delivering a two-out single to give Boston a 2-0 lead.  The Red Sox doubled their lead in the fifth, as a walk, an error, and an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out.  A sacrifice fly by Reggie Smith and a Rico Petrocelli single gave Boston a 4-0 advantage.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth.  Rich Reese singled and Graig Nettles doubled, putting men on second and third.  Cardenas singled home a run, but Nettles was thrown out at the plate, leaving the score 4-1.  It went to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth, as Jerry Moses singled and O'Brien hit a two-run homer.

The Twins came back.  In the seventh, Tovar walked and Killebrew hit a two-run homer, cutting the margin to 6-3.  The home run did not kill the rally, as Tony Oliva doubled and Reese reached on an error to make the score 6-4.  With two out in the eighth, Bob Allison hit a two-out single and Tovar followed with a two-run homer, tying the score 6-6.

But that was as far as it got.  In the bottom of the ninth, Mike Andrews walked and was bunted to second.  Smith was intentionally walked.  Dean Chance came in and struck out Petrocelli, but Conigliaro delivered a game-ending single.

WP:  Sparky Lyle (7-2).  LP:  Ron Perranoski (8-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was again at second base, with Uhlaender in center field and Nettles in left.

Reese was 1-for-5 and was batting .336.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .320.

Perranoski gave up two walks (one intentional) and one run in two-thirds of an inning, making his ERA 2.16.  Chance's ERA was now 2.82.

Jim Kaat started for the Twins and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out one.  Mike Nagy started for Boston and pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks and striking out four.

Syd O'Brien was a major league infielder from 1969-1972.  He was mostly used at third by Boston in 1969, but also played in double digit games at second and short.  This was his best offensive season, as he batted .243/.287/.422 with nine home runs in 263 at-bats.  He got the most playing time of his career in 1970 with the White Sox, when he appeared in 121 games and got 467 plate appearances at third and second.  He batted .247, but with an OPS of just .625.  He moved on to the Angels for 1971 and was traded to Milwaukee at the July deadline in 1972.  He played in AAA for Pittsburgh and Detroit in 1973 before his playing career ended.  One assumes he was considered a good fielder, and of course being able to play multiple positions helped him stay in the majors.  His career offensive numbers are .230/.273/.347 with 24 home runs in 1130 plate appearances.  He had a successful business career after baseball and was living in northern California at last report.

Record:  The Twins were 72-50, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 8, BOSTON 6 IN BOSTON

Date:  Tuesday, August 19.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his thirty-fourth) and two walks.

Pitching star:  Dean Chance pitched 2.2 perfect innings of relief, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 2-for-5 with a grand slam (his thirty-second homer), scoring twice.  Dalton Jones was 2-for-5.

The game:  Reese led off the second with a double.  He was still on second with two out, but Johnny Roseboro walked and Jim Perry delivered a two-out single to get the Twins on the board.  The Twins stretched the lead in the third.  Ted Uhlaender singled and scored from first on a Cesar Tovar double.  Tony Oliva doubled to score Tovar and later came around to score on an error, putting the Twins up 4-0.

The lead didn't survive the third inning.  Don Lock and Mike Andrews drew one-out walks.  Jones then singled and Yastrzemski hit a grand slam to tie it 4-4.  The Twins took the lead back in the fourth.  They loaded the bases with one out on walks to Roseboro and Perry and a hit-by-pitch by Uhlaender,  Tovar hit into a forceout at the plate, but a throwing error by catcher Russ Gibson, in an attempt to turn a double play, allowed two runs to score and gave the Twins a 6-4 lead.

The Red Sox cut into the lead in the fifth.  With two out and none on, Yastrzemski and Reggie Smith singled and Rico Petrocelli hit a ground-rule double to make it 6-5.  In the seventh, Jones singled and scored on a Smith triple, tying it 6-6.

In the ninth, however, it was Killebrew to the rescue.  Tovar walked with one out and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins in the lead 8-6.  Chance, who had come on in the seventh after the Smith triple, retired the side in order in the ninth, and in fact retired all eight men he faced.

WP:  Chance (4-2).  LP:  Sparky Lyle (6-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was again at second base and Uhlaender in center.  Charlie Manuel started in left, but was replaced by Rick Renick, who pinch-hit for him in the seventh.  This time, Billy Martin made the defensive move we suggest a few days ago, putting Frank Quilici at second base and moving Tovar to left field, leaving Killebrew to man third base.

Reese raised his average to .339.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .321.

Perry pitched six innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out seven.  His ERA went up to 2.96.  Chance's ERA went down to 2.84.

Dalton Jones, who played more games at second and third than anywhere else, was at first base for the Red Sox.  George Scott, who played way more games at first base than anywhere else, was at third.

Bill Lee pitched two-thirds of an inning in this game, giving up a walk.  He was not "the Spaceman" yet, as 1969 was his first season. He had come up in late June and was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen, making one start at the end of the season.  He was only twenty-two, and probably not ready yet--he went 1-3, 4.50, 1.62 WHIP.  He was with the Red Sox for two months in 1970, then missed the rest of the season, presumably due to injury.  He was a pretty good reliever in 1971-1972, then became a starter.  He made his only all-star team in 1973, when he went 17-11, 2.75, 1.23 WHIP.  He was a good starter through 1975, leading the league in innings in 1974 with 320.  He averaged 17 complete games and 290 innings a year over three seasons, and it eventually took its toll.  He struggled through three more seasons with Boston, then was traded to Montreal.  He bounced back with one more good season in 1979, going 16-10, 3.04, 1.24 WHIP for the Expos.  He went back to the bullpen in 1981 and had another pretty good year, going 5-6, 2.94, 1.17 WHIP with 6 saves.  He made seven more appearances in 1982, but then was done as a big-leaguer.  His career numbers are 119-90, 19 saves, 3.62, 1.36 WHIP.  He pitched 1944.1 innings in 416 games, 225 of them starts.

Record:  The Twins were 72-49, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.

BOSTON 7, MINNESOTA 6 IN BOSTON (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Monday, August 18.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-3 with a home run, his sixth.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his thirty-third.

Pitching star:   Dave Boswell pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Mike Andrews was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Tony Conigliaro was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixteenth) and four RBIs.  Carl Yastrzemski was 2-for-5 with a double.  Ex-Twin Lee Stange pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks.

The game:  Boswell ran into trouble in the first inning.  He walked Mike Andrews and gave up a triple to Dalton Jones, putting the Red Sox up 1-0 two batters into the game.  He retired the next two batters with Jones still on third, leading to hopes that he would get out of the inning with no further damage.  Then, however, Rico Petrocelli walked, Conigliaro had an RBI single, and George Scott reached on an error, making the score 3-0.

The Twins first nine batters were all retired, but the offense came to life in the fourth.  Cesar Tovar doubled and went to third on a Ted Uhlaender single.  Oliva singled in a run and Killebrew followed with a three-run homer, putting the Twins ahead 4-3.  The home run did not kill the rally, however.  With one out, Nettles homered to make it 5-3.  The rally was still not killed, as with two out Mitterwald doubled and scored on Boswell's single.  The Twins led 6-3 after the inning.

Boswell had been in control after the first inning.  The only threat Boston had was in the fifth, when Andrews singled and was thrown out trying to score on Yastrzemski's double.  With the score still 6-3, however, Bill Zepp came in to start the eighth.  Yastrzemski singled to start the inning and Reggie Smith walked.  Petrocelli struck out, but Conigliaro hit a three-run homer to tie the score 6-6.

Each team put a man in scoring position in the ninth.  Mitterwald singled to start the top of the ninth and was bunted to second.  He went to third on a fly out, but that was as far as he got.  In the bottom of the ninth, Dick Woodson issued one-out walks to Andrews and Syd O'Brien, but Ron Perranoski came in and got a double play to end the inning.

The Twins could manage only a two-out single in the top of the tenth.  In the bottom of the tenth, Smith led off with a walk and was bunted to second.  Conigliaro was intentionally walked, but Scott foiled the strategy with a game-ending double to center.

WP:  Sparky Lyle (6-1).  LP:  Perranoski (8-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second base with Uhlaender in center and Nettles in left.  Mitterwald was behind the plate.

Reese boosted his average to .338.  Oliva was batting .322.  Perranoski's ERA went up to 2.08.

This isn't a second-guess, exactly, because there are a lot of things I don't know that went into the decision.  But it seems strange a) that Boswell was pulled after seven innings and b) that Zepp would have been brought in.  It was Boswell's first appearance since July 31, which may have been the reason he was pulled, but Billy Martin notoriously did not usually worry about things like that.  I don't have a pitch count for him (not that Martin would've worried about that, either), but he had faced twenty-nine batters, not a huge amount.  Zepp was a twenty-two-year-old rookie making his second major league appearance.  He had done well in his first one, but with Perranoski and Al Worthington ready to go, as well as Woodson, I wonder why Zepp was the choice.  Again, I'm sure there are reasons I know nothing about.  I just wonder what they were.

This was after Tony Conigliaro was beaned--1969 was his first year back.  He wasn't as good as he'd been, but he was still a productive player--.255/.321/.427 with 20 homers.  In 1970 he looked like he was back where he'd been--.266/.324/.498 with 36 homers, all numbers that were pretty much in line with his pre-beaning stats.  That was his last good year, though.  He was traded to the Angels after the season, had a poor year in 1971, and retired.  He tried to come back with Boston in 1975, but it simply was not to be.

Record:  The Twins were 71-49, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 3 IN WASHINGTON (13 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 17.

Batting stars:  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his thirteenth.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-6 with two walks.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his thirty-second) and two walks.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall pitched eight innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and three walks and striking out five.  Ron Perranoski pitched three innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Joe Coleman pitched eleven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and five walks and striking out five.  Frank Howard was 1-for-4 with two walks.  Ken McMullen was 1-for-4 with two walks.

The game:  Not that 4-3 is high-scoring, but it was even more of pitchers' duel than that sounds like.  In the second, Ken McMullen walked and Bernie Allen singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  The Senators scored only once, on a Paul Casanova ground out, to take a 1-0 lead.  Johnny Roseboro opened the Twins third with a walk.  Bob Allison, pinch-hitting for Twins starter Dean Chance, bunted him to second and Uhlaender singled him home to tie the score 1-1.

It stayed 1-1 for quite some time.  Washington loaded the bases in the third.  The Twins put men on first and second in the fourth.  The Senators put men on first and second in the fifth.  The Twins got a man to second in the eighth.  But the game stayed tied 1-1, going into extra innings.

In the eleventh, Oliva hit a one-out single and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-1.  Hall, who had come in to start the third inning, was still in there starting the eleventh, but came out after giving up a single to Howard to start the inning.  Ron Perranoski came in and it still looked good for the Twins.  He walked Mike Epstein, however, and gave up a single to McMullen.  Tim Cullen hit into a double play, making the score 3-2 but putting the Twins one out away from victory.  But Eddie Brinkman singled tying the score 3-3 and they played on.

In the thirteenth, the Twins started with consecutive singles by Tovar, Uhlaender, and Oliva, making the score 4-3.  Killebrew walked, loading the bases with none out.  The Twins could do no more, however, and carried the precarious 4-3 lead to the bottom of the thirteenth.  Cullen got a one-out single, putting the tying run on base.  He did not advance, however, as Brinkman and Casanova each hit into forceouts to end the game.

WP:  Perranoski (8-6).  LP:  Dennis Higgins (9-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was again at second with Uhlaender in center.  Graig Nettles played left.  In the eleventh, after the Twins took the lead, Frank Quilici came in to play third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Reese to left.  Another option would've been to put Quilici at second and Tovar in center.  It seems like that might have been better, although I certainly can't prove it.

Reese was 0-for-5 with a walk, making his average .337.  Oliva was batting .322.  Perranoski's ERA was 2.01.

One assumes Chance was still having injury problems, as there was no apparent strategic reason for taking him out of the game.  He would go to the bullpen after this game, making three relief appearances before returning to the rotation on September 1.

Hall had just pitched a complete game on August 13, so an eight-inning stint wasn't out of the question for him.  I wonder, though, when the last time is someone pitched eight innings of relief in a game.

I also wonder when the last time is that someone pitched eleven innings, the way Coleman did in this game.

The two teams combined to strand twenty runners and went a combined 4-for-23 with men in scoring position.

I don't have time to do a full profile of Coleman, but he was a fine pitcher for Washington from 1968-1970.  He went 32-41 because the Senators had a lousy team, but he had an ERA in the low-to-mid threes each year and pitched over 200 innings a season.  He then went to Detroit, got some run support, and went 62-38 from 1971-1973, winning twenty games twice while being pretty much the same pitcher he had been in Washington.  He struggled for a few years, had a couple of good years as a reliever (1977-1978), and was done after the 1979 campaign.  For about six years, though, he was a really good major league starting pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 71-48, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

WASHINGTON 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, August 16.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-2 with a home run, his fifth.  Rich Reese was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, allowing six runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ed Brinkman was 2-for-4.  Future Twin Brant Alyea was 2-for-4.  Frank Howard was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his thirty-eighth) and a walk.

The game:  The Senators had men on first and second with one out in the second, but did not score.  In the fourth, Ted Uhlaender led off with a double-plus-error and scored on Killebrew's single to put the Twins up 1-0.  Washington led off the fourth with two singles but did not score.  Nettles led off the fifth with a home run, but the Twins wasted Kaat's two-out double.  Still, Minnesota led 2-0.

It didn't last.  With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Del Unser and Brinkman singled and Howard followed with a three-run homer to put the Senators up 3-2.  The Twins tied it in the sixth when Tony Oliva singled, Killebrew walked, and Rick Renick delivered a two-out pinch-hit single to tie it 3-3.

Cesar Tovar hit a two-out double in the seventh and went to third on a wild pitch, but was stranded there.  In the eighth, however, Killebrew singled and Reese hit a two-run homer.  The Twins led 5-3 going to the bottom of the eighth.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Alyea and Cullen singled.  Kaat remained in the game to face Ed Stroud, who tripled in both runs to tie the score.  Kaat remained in the game to face Paul Casanova, who hit a sacrifice fly to give Washington a 6-5 lead.  Leo Cardenas led off the ninth with a single, but was erased on a double play and the Twins could not come back.

WP:  Darold Knowles (6-2).  LP:  Kaat  (11-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second base, with Uhlaender in center and Nettles in left.

Reese was batting .342.  Oliva was batting .321.

In the sixth and seventh, Kaat gave up just one hit, a single, and immediately got a double play so that he faced just six batters in those two innings.  It would seem that was part of the reason he was left in to pitch the entire eighth.  It's easy to second-guess that, but it's hard to put oneself into the mindset of a manager in 1969.  The game was simply played differently.  It probably would not have been an unusual move to bring in a reliever, but it probably was not that unusual to leave the starter in, either.

Frank Howard was a great batter.  He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1960 with the Dodgers, he finished in the top ten of MVP voting four times, and he made the all-star team four times.  He wore the Twins out in 1969, batting .442/.556/.721 against them in fifty-four plate appearances, for an OPS of 1.276.  For his career he batted .305/.388/.514 against the Twins in 464 plate appearances, for an OPS of .901, and hit twenty-two home runs.

Dick Bosman was the starting pitcher for the Senators.  He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out three.

Record:  The Twins were 70-48, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.