Tag Archives: 1987 rewind

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Thirteen

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MINNESOTA 13, SEATTLE 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 20.

Batting stars:  Al Newman was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his third) and a walk.  Randy Bush was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

Pitching star:  Mike Smithson pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk with no strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  John Moses was 4-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Ken Phelps was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fourth) and a walk, driving in two.  Rey Quinones was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.

The game:  The Twins scored six runs in the first and never had a lead of less than four after that.  Mariners starter Mike Morgan faced six batters and did not retire any of them, giving up RBI doubles to Bush and Kent Hrbek, the Gaetti three-run homer, and a home run to Roy Smalley.

Of note:  Newman raised his average to .333...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-3 with a walk and a run, dropping his average to .400...Dan Gladden was 1-for-1 as a reserve and was batting .346.

Record:  The Twins were 9-4 and in first place, leading California by one game.

Notes:  Newman started the game at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Gagne entered the game in the eighth inning to give Gaetti a break, with Newman moving to third base...Bush was again in right and Tom Brunansky in left.  Gladden entered the game in the seventh and took over for Puckett in center...Smithson did a lot of pitching from 1982-86, and it appears to have taken a toll on him.  He pitched 199.1 innings in 1982 (most in AAA), 223.1 in 1983, 252 in 1984 (his first year with the Twins), 257 in 1985, and 198 in 1986.  He led the league in starts in both 1984 and 1985.  He did very well 1984, was still decent in 1985, was not very good in 1986, and by 1987 he was done as an effective pitcher.  His first two starts in 1987 were good, this one was okay, but it would go downhill from here.  He made a couple of starts that weren't bad, but most of them were.  He spent part of the season in the minors and would only make one more really good start, on September 5.  The Twins released him after the season, he had a couple of poor years with Boston, and then he was done, apparently a victim of overuse.  When the old school guys talk about how modern pitchers are "babied", they never mention the Mike Smithsons of baseball, but a guy could find an awful lot of them if he wanted to take the time to look.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Twelve

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MINNESOTA 6, CALIFORNIA 5 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Sunday, April 19.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his third) and a hit-by-pitch, scoring twice and driving in one.  Mark Salas was 1-for-2 with two walks and a run.

Pitching star:  Juan Berenguer pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Devon White was 1-for-4 with a home run (his fourth) and a hit-by-pitch.  Jack Howell was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his second), two walks, and a stolen base.  Gary Pettis was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run.

The game:  Gaetti's three-run homer in the sixth put the Twins up 4-2.  It was 4-3 going to the ninth, when the Twins got two runs on one hit.  They were aided by a walk, an error, and two productive outs.  They needed both those runs, as closer Jeff Reardon loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with a walk, a single, and a hit batsman, then gave up a two-run single to Ruppert Jones before getting the last out.

Notes:  Al Newman was 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI, making his average .310.  Puckett raised his average to .426.  Salas, making his first start of the year, was batting .500 (2-for-4).  Reardon had given up at least one run in three of his five appearances and had an ERA of 6.35.  Starter Mark Portugal pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 8-4, tied for first with California.

Notes:  Newman started at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne, and batted leadoff.  Randy Bush again played right field, with Tom Brunansky moving to left...Don Sutton was the starter for California.  He pitched well until the Gaetti homer, but his line was five innings, four runs, seven hits, one walk, and four strikeouts.  Sutton was in the next-to-last year of his Hall of Fame career and had his worst season, going 11-11, 4.70, although with just a 1.25 WHIP.  He was still durable at age 42, making 34 starts and pitching 191.2 innings.  He also made one relief appearance that season, pitching 4.1 innings of relief on Sept. 27, two days after he had started and pitched five innings.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Eleven

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CALIFORNIA 1, MINNESOTA 0 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Saturday, April 18.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a walk and stolen base.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4.  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola got the Twins' second consecutive complete game loss, going eight innings and giving up an unearned run on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  John Candelaria pitched 7.1 scoreless innings, giving up four hits and two walks with three strikeouts.  Donnie Moore struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  Doug DeCinces was 2-for-3 with a run.

The game:  The lone run came in the seventh, when DeCinces singles, Dick Schofield got an infield single, and Butch Wynegar got an infield single-plus-error to bring DeCinces home.  The Twins got a man to third with two out in fifth and to second with one out in both the eighth and the ninth.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was 0-for-4 to drop his average to .320.  Randy Bush pinch-hit and was 0-for-1, dropping his average to .303.  Puckett's average fell to .419.  Greg Gagne was 0-for-3 and was batting .313.

Record:  The Twins were 7-4 and in second place, a game behind California.

Notes:  Tom Brunansky was the DH in this game, with Mark Davidson playing right field and Roy Smalley out of the lineup.  Nieto remained the starting catcher...I assume you know the story of the suicide of Donnie Moore.  His biographies tend to say he was never the same pitcher after the blown save in the deciding game of the 1986 ALCS, but that's really not true.  He pitched pretty well in the first part of 1987, but then ran into injury problems.  He made only three appearances after May 24, struggled through a 1988 season again marred by injury, and was released in late August.  He made a few appearances in AAA for the Royals in 1989, was released in June, and died in July.  On the face of it, it seems like perhaps the Angels did not treat him particularly fairly, but I don't know enough of the circumstances to state that with confidence.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Ten

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CALIFORNIA 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Friday, April 17.

Batting star:  Randy Bush was 1-for-4 with a triple and a run.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, going eight innings and giving up two runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Mike Witt also pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.  Devon White was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Mark McLemore was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, scoring once.

The game:  Blyleven left a pitch up to Devon White, who homered in the third to put the Angels up 1-0.  Bush led off the fourth with a triple and scored on a Puckett single to tie it 1-1.  McLemore led off the sixth with a ground-rule double and scored on a Wally Joyner single to give California a 2-1 lead.  The Twins did not get a hit after Puckett's fourth-inning single and their only baserunner after the fifth came when Puckett reached on a strikeout/passed ball leading off the ninth.

Of note:  Puckett's average dropped to .425.  Dan Gladden struck out as a pinch-hitter and dropped to .381.  Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 and was batting .345.  Al Newman went 0-for-4 to fall to .320.  Bush fell to .313.

Record:  The Twins were 7-3 and were tied for first with California.

Notes:  Newman was again at second base with Steve Lombardozzi on the bench.  Bush again started in right with Tom Brunansky in left and Gladden on the bench...Devon White had more power than I remembered.  I think of him as a speed guy, but he hit 208 home runs in his career.  1987 was his first full season in the majors and his best from a home run standpoint, as he hit 24 that year.  His highest slugging percentage, and his highest OPS, actually came in his last season, with Milwaukee in 2001, when he hit .277/.343/.459.  He became a free agent after that season--I don't know if nobody wanted him or if he simply decided, at age 39, that he'd had enough.  My recollection of him as a speed guy is not entirely misplaced, as he stole 346 bases.  His highest number there came in 1989, when he stole 44.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Nine

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MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 2 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, April 15.

Batting stars:  Al Newman was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Mike Smithson pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  George Frazier struck out two in 1.1 innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Dave Stewart pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  Dwayne Murphy was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one.

The game:  Puckett singled in a run in the third, Newman doubled one home in the fifth, and Puckett had another RBI single in the seventh to put the Twins up 3-0.  Doubles by Carney Lansford and Murphy made it 3-1 after seven, but Tom Nieto delivered a two-out two-run single in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Of note:  Dan Gladden was 1-for-3 with a walk and three runs.  He was batting .400 on the young season.  Newman raised his average to .381.  Puckett raised his average to .444.  Randy Bush went 2-for-3 to raise his average to .321.  Roy Smalley went 0-for-4 but was still batting .310.  Greg Gagne raised his average to .346.  That's six of the nine batters in the starting lineup with averages over .300.

Record:  The Twins were 7-2, in first place, leading California by a game.

Notes:  Bush played right field in place of Tom Brunansky, who delivered a pinch-hit single in the eighth...Newman started at second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi.  Newman started nearly half the team's games in 1987, with 38 starts at shortstop, 32 at second base, 3 at third base, and 2 at DH...Bill Krueger, who would pitch for the Twins in 1992, was in the Oakland bullpen at the start of the 1987 season.  He made nine appearances, but pitched only 5.2 innings.  Four of those appearances and four of the innings were against the Twins.  He allowed three runs on six hits and two walks.  Two of the runs were in this game. He spent most of 1987 and 1988 in the minors before resurfacing with Milwaukee in 1989.  He had some decent seasons from 1989-1993, but was really never all that good, and after 1995 he was done.  He's had a successful life after baseball, though.   He's the Strategic Relationship Officer for Northwest Center, a nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities.  He is also a broadcaster for Root Sports Northwest.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Eight

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MINNESOTA 9, OAKLAND 8 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Tuesday, April 14.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, scoring twice and driving in one.  Tom Nieto was 2-for-5 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Terry Steinbach was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer and two walks, scoring twice.  Jose Canseco was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and a stolen base.  Reggie Jackson was 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.

The game:  The Twins had three doubles in a five-run fourth that gave them a 7-0 lead.  Starter Mark Portugal couldn't make it out of the bottom of the fourth, yielding four runs on four hits, two of them homers.  A two-run double by Gary Gaetti made it 9-4 in the top of the sixth, but again the Athletics responded, scoring three in the bottom of the sixth.  With the score 9-7, Jeff Reardon came on in the eighth to try for a two-inning save.  He retired the side with no problem in the eighth, but Mike Davis homered leading off the bottom of the ninth.  Tony Phillips followed with a single, but Reardon retired the next three batters to preserve the victory.

Of note:  Gladden was now batting .438.  Al Newman, playing second base, went 1-for-3 to raise his average to .313.  Kirby Puckett took an 0-for-3 to drop his average to .452.  Smalley raised his average to .360.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 to raise his average to .318.  Randy Bush played right field in place of Tom Brunansky and went 1-for-5.

Record:  The Twins were 6-2, in first place by a game over California.

Notes:  Joe Klink pitched two innings in this game, one of his twelve appearances as a Twin.  He pitched in five major league seasons spread over ten years.  One of them was actually pretty good:  He posted a 2.04 ERA in forty games for Oakland in 1990.  His career numbers are better than you might think:  10-6, 3 saves, a 4.26 ERA.  He had a stretch of ninety consecutive appearances without giving up a home run, the most by a left-hander since at least 1957.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Seven

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OAKLAND 6, MINNESOTA 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Monday, April 13.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a home run (his fifth) and a walk.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-4 with two doubles.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola pitched 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and six walks with three strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Carney Lansford was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.  Alfredo Griffin was 2-for-5 with a run, an RBI, and a stolen base.  Jose Canseco was 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.

The game:  Hrbek's two-run single in the sixth gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.  In the seventh, however, RBI singles by Griffin and Canseco gave the Athletics a 3-2 advantage.  Puckett tied it with a home run leading off the eighth, but in the bottom of the eighth, a two-out two-run single by Lansford gave Oakland the lead for good.  The go-ahead runs came off George Frazier, who had come in to get the last out of the seventh.

Of note:  Four of the Twins batters were batting .300 or better in the young season:  Al Newman (.308), Randy Bush (.300), Puckett (.500) and Smalley (.350).  Two, however, were below .200:  Tom Brunansky (.160) and Tom Nieto (.143).

Record:  The Twins were 5-2, tied for first with California.

Notes:  Because of all that's happened since, it's easy to forget what a great batter Jose Canseco was, especially early in his career.  He was the Rookie of the Year in 1986, made the all-star team in five of his first seven seasons, and received MVP votes in five of his first six seasons, winning the award in 1988.  The one year he didn't get MVP votes, 1989, was when he was injured and only played in 65 games.  He hit over 30 homers in each of his first five full seasons, leading the league in 1988 and 1991.  He was traded from Oakland in 1992 and then was up and down, battling injuries much of the time.  He still had some fine years, though, topping a .900 OPS with Texas in 1994, with Boston in 1995, and with Tampa Bay in 1999.  He hit 462 home runs for his career, had a slugging average of .515, and an OPS of .867.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Six

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MINNESOTA 8, SEATTLE 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Sunday, April 12.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a triple, and a stolen base, scoring twice and driving in three.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base.  Tim Laudner was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Ken Phelps was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his second and third), scoring three times.  Alvin Davis was 2-for-4 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.

The game:  In the first inning, Puckett hit a two-run triple and scored on a balk, as the Twins jumped on Mark Langston for a 3-0 lead.  It was 5-0 half-way through, but the Mariners hung around, and it was 6-3 through seven.  Laudner hit a two-run homer in the top of the eighth to make it 8-3, but Davis' two-run double cut it to 8-5 in the bottom of the eighth.  Juan Berenguer, who came in to start the seventh, settled down after that and retired the final five Mariners, four by strikeout.

Of note:  Gladden was making his first start of the season...This was Puckett's third three-hit game of the young season.  He was batting .520 (13-for 25)...Blyleven apparently left a couple of pitches up to Phelps.  But they were both solo home runs, so they didn't hurt him.

Record:  The Twins were 5-1, in first place by one game over California.

Notes:  Ken Phelps had four seasons in which he played over a hundred games.  In those four seasons, he hit 99 home runs and had an OPS well over .900.  He had a heck of a time getting teams to play him that much, though.  In 1979 he hit 20 homers with an OPS of .885 in Omaha.  In 1980 he hit 23 homers there with an OPS of .988.  The Royals saw fit to give him exactly four major league at-bats in those two seasons.  Yes, the Royals had some pretty good teams back then, but they also gave nearly two hundred games at first base to the immortal Pete LaCock.  It took a trade to Seattle to give him substantial playing time at age twenty-nine, which he took advantage of.  The Mariners eventually traded him to the Yankees for Jay Buhner, which worked out pretty well for them.  The Yankees didn't give Phelps a ton of playing time, either, but they at least had the excuse of having Don Mattingly at first base.  Phelps bounced around his last few years.  He still had a decent career, but one wonders what he might have done had the Royals not made him waste some prime years in Omaha.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Five

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SEATTLE 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Saturday, April 11.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Randy Bush was 2-for-5 with a home run, his second.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up two hits and a walk with one strikeout.  Apparently, the rules allowed relief pitchers to work more than one inning back then.

Opposition stars:  Donell Nixon was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two stolen bases, scoring once and driving in one.  Ken Phelps was 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and two RBIs.  Rey Quinones was 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

The game:  The Twins trailed 5-2 after five, but a Puckett home run in the sixth, an RBI groundout in the eighth, and a sacrifice fly in the ninth tied it 5-5.  Jeff Reardon came on to work the ninth.  He retired the first batter, but Scott Bradley singled, Mickey Brantley doubled, and Mike Kingery singled home the winning run.

Of note:  Les Straker started but lasted only four innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks with one strikeout...Greg Gagne was 1-for-3 with a run...Mark Davidson was used as a pinch-runner and stole a base.

Record:  The Twins were 4-1, falling into a tie for first with California.

Notes:  Gladden remained out of the starting lineup, with Tom Brunansky starting in left and Bush in right.  He was used as a pinch-hitter and hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the ninth...Davidson stole nine bases in 1987 and was caught stealing only twice...1987 was one of the better years of Minnesota native Mike Kingery's career, as he batted .280 with 25 doubles.  The next two years he would bat .204 and .223 and see substantial time in the minors.  He signed with the Giants for 1990 and bounced back to bat .295 in part-time play, although with an OPS of just .673.  The next two seasons he again spent substantial time in the minors and could not top the Mendoza line in his major league time.  He wasn't in the majors at all in 1993, but he signed with Colorado for 1994 and had the best season of his career at age 33, batting .349 with an OPS of .933 in 349 at-bats.  He had a decent year in 1995, but didn't do much upon moving to Pittsburgh in 1996 and was done after that.  It appears that he returned to Minnesota and operates the Solid Foundation Baseball School in Grove City.

Keeping Track

1987 Rewind: Game Four

MINNESOTA 8, SEATTLE 1 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Friday, April 10.

Batting stars:  Randy Bush was 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, scoring twice and driving in two.  Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice and driving in one.

Pitching stars:  Mike Smithson pitched eight innings, giving up an unearned run on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts.  George Frazier pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Jim Presley was 2-for-4 with an RBI.  Rey Quinones was 2-for-4.

The game:  Bush hit a two-run homer in a three-run fifth that put the Twins up 5-1.  The Twins had added three in the eighth, two scoring on a two-run homer by Gary Gaetti.

Of Note:  Al Newman started at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne and was 3-for-5 with a run.  Gaetti was 1-for-4.  Tom Brunansky was 0-for-4.

Record:  The Twins remained unbeaten, going to 4-0.  They were in first place, leading California by a game.

Notes:  Dan Gladden remained out of the lineup, with Brunansky in left and Bush in right...I don't remember Jim Presley as a home run hitter, but he hit 28 in 1985, 27 in 1986, and 24 in 1987.  Those were his only really productive years, though.  He hung on in Seattle through 1989, then bounced around a couple more seasons before ending his playing career.  He has stayed in baseball as a coach, and in 2016 was the batting coach for Round Rock.