MINNESOTA 11, CALIFORNIA 3 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Monday, August 3.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 3-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-second), scoring twice and driving in five.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs.

Pitching star:  Dan Schatzeder pitched 5.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on four hits and a walk with no strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Brian Downing was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twentieth) and two walks.  Devon White was 2-for-2 with an RBI.  Bob Boone was 2-for-4 with a run.

The game:  California took a 2-0 lead in the second, but Gaetti's two-out two-run single in the third tied it 2-2.  It stayed 2-2 until the sixth, when a bases loaded walk to Gene Larkin and a Sal Butera sacrifice fly put the Twins ahead 4-2.  Downing homered in the bottom of the sixth to make it 4-3, but the Twins scored four times in the seventh to take control of the game.  Gaetti hit a three-run homer in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a run, raising his average to .322...Tom Brunansky was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI...Twins starter Joe Niekro pitched 3.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and four walks with one strikeout...California starter Mike Witt lasted 6.2 innings, but allowed seven runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts...Larkin was the DH, with Roy Smalley on the bench...Randy Bush started in right field, with Brunansky moving to left and Dan Gladden out of the lineup.  Bush batted leadoff.  With Downing leading off for California, this had to be a matchup of two of the slowest leadoff men in the history of the game.  That, however, is not what this game is known for (see below).

Record:  The Twins were 57-50, in first place by two games over Oakland.  This was an important series, as the Angels entered it just 1.5 games behind the Twins (2.5 after this game).  That, however, is not what this game is known for, either (see below).

What this game is known for, as you may know, is that this is the infamous Joe Niekro emery board game.  Niekro had given up a couple of runs in the second, but retired the side in order in the third.  He got Gus Polidor to ground out to shortstop leading off the fourth.  Tim Tschida came out to check Niekro after that and, well, the rest is history.  Oddly, the b-r.com play-by-play makes no mention of the incident, and neither does the box score there.  It simply notes "Dan Schatzeder replaces Joe Niekro pitching".  If you didn't know, you'd assume that either this was a really quick hook or Niekro must have been injured.  This seems like it would be a good time and place to share memories about that game, if anyone is inclined to do so.

[ed: Here's the incident in all its glory]

OAKLAND 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN OAKLAND (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 2.

Batting stars:  Gene Larkin was 3-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a double and a run.  Al Newman was 2-for-5 with a double and a run.

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts.  Keith Atherton pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  George Frazier pitched 1.1 scoreless innings despite giving up three hits and a walk while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Terry Steinbach was 4-for-5 with a two-run homer (his eleventh), scoring twice.  Alfredo Griffin was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his twentieth), driving in two.  Carney Lansford was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and two walks.

The game:  Steinbach's two-run homer in the second put Oakland up 2-1, but Gaetti singled in a run in the third to tie it and Larkin homered in the fourth to give the Twins a 3-2 advantage.  The score stayed there until the sixth, when Lansford homered tie it 3-3.  Griffin's two-run single in the seventh gave Oakland the lead at 5-3, but Tom Brunansky homered in the eighth to cut the margin to 5-4.  In the ninth, Larkin led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Mark Davidson.  Davidson took second on a passed ball, went to third on a fly to center, and scored on a wild pitch to tie it up 5-5 and send the game to extra innings.  In the eleventh, a two-out single by Jose Canseco scored Luis Polonia with the winning run.

Of note:  Newman was at shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne and batting second.  Gagne would enter the game in the ninth, with Newman moving to second base...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-5, dropping his average to .321...Larkin was the designated hitter in this game.  Roy Smalley was used as a pinch-hitter in the eleventh...Oakland starter Curt Young lasted only 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and no walks with two strikeouts.  He was replaced by Dennis Eckersley, who had seven saves to this point in the season but was still considered the setup man for Jay Howell.  Eckersley pitched 4.1 innings of relief, which was only tied for his fifth-longest outing of the season.  He had one start of 6.1 innings and relief appearances of six, five, and 4.2 innings.  He would become Oakland's closer in mid-August and remain their closer through 1995.

Record:  The Twins were 56-50, in first place, one game ahead of Oakland.

We hope to resume player profiles either late this week or early next.

OAKLAND 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Saturday, August 1.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with an RBI.  Tim Laudner was 1-for-3 with a double.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Dave Stewart struck out fourteen in a complete game, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk.  Carney Lansford was 2-for-4 with a home run, his eleventh.  Tony Bernazard was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk, driving in one.

The game:  In the second, Steve Henderson scored from first on a Bernazard double to put the Athletics ahead 1-0.  The Twins did not score until the eighth, when Puckett tied the score with a sacrifice fly and Hrbek put the Twins ahead with a run-scoring single.  Alfredo Griffin tied it in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single.  In the ninth, Lansford hit a leadoff walkoff homer.

Of note:  Puckett's average was .325 after this game...Greg Gagne batted second, with Steve Lombardozzi dropping to eighth...This is another time where a starter probably would not be allowed to finish in today's game.  Stewart probably would've been replaced after giving up a double to Dan Gladden to start the eighth and almost certainly after walking pinch-hitter Randy Bush.  Viola would almost certainly have been removed after starting the eighth by hitting Terry Steinbach and walking Tony Bernazard, if indeed he'd even have been allowed to start the inning.  This is not to say which is better or worse, but the game has definitely changed.

Record:  The Twins were 56-49, in first place by 1.5 games over California.

We hope to resume player profiles late this week or early next week.

MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Friday, July 31.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his twenty-first) and a double, scoring twice.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon retired all five men he faced striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jose Canseco was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-second) and two RBIs.  Luis Polonia was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Carney Lansford was 2-for-4 with a run.

The game:  Canseco homered in the fourth to put Oakland ahead 1-0.  The Twins took the lead in the sixth with an RBI single by Kent Hrbek and a three-run homer by Gaetti.  The Athletics got one back in the bottom of the sixth on a Canseco single.  They closed to 4-3 in the eighth when Polonia drove in a run with a double.  That brought on Reardon, and he slammed the door, retiring all five men he faced.  Randy Bush drove in an insurance run with a pinch-hit single in the ninth.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 with a run, dropping his average to .325...Greg Gagne batted second in this game, with Steve Lombardozzi batting eighth...Dennis Lamp started for Oakland and went six innings, giving up four runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 56-48, in first place, 2.5 games ahead of California.

We will try to resume player profiles some time next week.

SEATTLE 6, MINNESOTA 1 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Tuesday, July 28.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Juan Berenguer pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mike Morgan pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and three walks with no strikeouts.  Phil Bradley was 4-for-4 with a double and a stolen base (his twenty-seventh), scoring twice and driving in two.  Gary Matthews was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.

The game:  Matthews hit his two-run homer in the third, giving the Mariners a 3-1 lead.  Seattle added single runs in the fifth, seventh, and eighth.  The Twins had only four hits.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with an RBI, making his average .326...Al Newman started at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne and batted second...Randy Bush was in right field and Tom Brunansky was out of the lineup...Joe Niekro started for the Twins and pitched six innings, allowing five runs on eleven hits and no walks...As unusual as complete games are these days, I would think a complete game with zero strikeouts is a fairly rare thing.

Record:  The Twins were 55-47, in first place by two games over Oakland.

Player profile:  Due to personal time constraints, the player profiles are taking a few days off.

MINNESOTA 4, SEATTLE 3 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Monday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fourth.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-3 with a double and a run.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twentieth.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on six hits and no walks with seven strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits while striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Langston pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.  Jim Presley was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixteenth.  Donell Nixon was 3-for-4 with two stolen bases (his twelfth and thirteenth) and a run.

The game:  Harold Reynolds opened the scoring with a home run in the third and Presley hit a two-run shot in the sixth to give the Mariners a 3-0 lead.  It looked like that would be enough, as Langston blanked the Twins for eight innings.  In the ninth, however, Gagne led off with an infield single, Dan Gladden walked, and Lombardozzi hit a three-run homer to tie the score.  Langston left and Edwin Nunez came in.  He retired Kirby Puckett on a fly ball, but Gaetti homered to put the Twins in front.  Seattle did not go quietly in the ninth.  Reardon retired the first two batters, but Dave Valle doubled.  Manager Dick Williams did not pinch-run for his catcher and it may have cost him, because Rey Quinones singled to center and Valle was thrown out at the plate by Puckett, ending the game.  I don't know how fast Valle was, but he had five career stolen bases in thirteen seasons.

Of note:  Lombardozzi was in the second spot in the order...Puckett was back in center field...Gene Larkin was used as the DH...All seven runs in this game were scored on home runs.  I wonder what the highest number of runs is in a game in which all the runs came on home runs.

Record:  The Twins were 55-46, in first place by two games over Oakland.

Player profile:  Due to personal time constraints, there will be no player profiles for a couple more days.

TORONTO 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN TORONTO

Date:  Sunday, July 26.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth) and a hit-by-pitch.  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-3 with a double and a run.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven struck out twelve in a complete game, giving up four runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks.

Opposition stars:  Jimmy Key pitched 8.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and no walks with five strikeouts.  George Bell was 4-for-4 with a double and a stolen base (his fifth), scoring once and driving in one.  Lloyd Moseby was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base (his twenty-second), scoring once.

The game:  Puckett homered in the first to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  An error tied the score in the second, but the Twins regained the lead in the third on Lombardozzi's double and Gladden's RBI single.  Bell's run-scoring single tied it in the fifth.  It stayed 2-2 until the ninth.  Bell led off with a double and Ernie Whitt drew a one-out walk.  A fly ball moved runners to first and third with two down.  A wild pitch brought home the go-ahead run and a Garth Iorg double brought in an insurance run.

Of note:  Mark Davidson was again in center field, with Puckett at DH.  Since this is two games in a row, one assumes Puckett had a minor injury of some sort.  Davidson again batted second...It should be noted that, for the second game in a row, Blyleven did not leave any pitches up.  This was the only time all year that would happen...Had the Blue Jays not removed Key with two out and a man on first in the ninth, there would have been no substitutions of any kind in the game by either team.  I don't know how often that happens, but I don't think it's very often...Of course, it would be quite unusual in today's game for the starter to be left in a tie game after giving up a leadoff double in the eighth.

Record:  The Twins were 54-46, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Sorry, but due to personal time constraints, there will be no player profiles for the next few days.

MINNESOTA 13, TORONTO 9 IN TORONTO

Date:  Saturday, July 25.

Batting stars:  Gary Gaetti was 2-for-4 with a home run (his nineteenth), a walk, and a stolen base (his sixth), scoring twice and driving in four.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and a walk, scoring twice and driving in three.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base (his sixth), scoring once and driving in two.

Pitching stars:  Joe Niekro pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up one hit while striking out one.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Tony Fernandez was 3-for-4 with a double and two walks, scoring once and driving in one.  Garth Iorg was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and double, scoring twice.  Jesse Barfield was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in one.

The game:  Toronto scored four in the third, three of them coming on a home run by Fred McGriff, but the Twins tied it with four of their own in the fourth, three of them coming on a home run by Gaetti.  Toronto got the lead back in the bottom of the fourth, getting RBI doubles by Fernandez and Rance Mulliniks.  The Twins answered with seven in the sixth.  Larkin led off with a home run, but for the rest of the inning the single was their weapon of choice, as they got five of them.  A couple of walks and an error didn't hurt, either.  The lead was cut to 11-9 in the seventh, as Iorg hit a two-run homer and Kelly Gruber hit a solo shot.  The Twins got single runs in the eighth and ninth to take control of the game again.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs and was batting .325...Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his third), scoring twice and driving in one...Mark Davidson started in center field and batted second, with Puckett at DH...Larkin started at first, with Kent Hrbek out of the lineup...The Twins stole bases.  In addition to the ones mentioned above, Davidson stole his seventh and Randy Bush, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter for Davidson  in the sixth, stole his sixth...Les Straker pitched only three innings, allowing six runs on six hits and four walks with one strikeout...Toronto starter John Cerutti didn't last much longer, going 3.1 innings and allowing four runs on two hits and four walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 54-45, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Player profile:  Garth Iorg had a longer career than you may remember.  An eighth-round draft choice of the Yankees in 1973, he had played in AA in 1976 and was left unprotected in the expansion draft.  He batted .294 in AAA in 1977 and on the strength of that was on the Blue Jays' opening day roster in 1978.  He didn't stay long, as he batted .163 in 49 at-bats and was back in AAA by May.  He never did get on track in 1978, but he produced good AAA batting averages, although with no power, in 1979, and the start of 1980, getting to the big leagues to stay in late May of the latter year.  He was a part-time player for the Blue Jays from then through 1987, playing mostly second and third.  He was never quite an everyday player, but he would play in 120-140 games a season and get 250-400 at-bats.  His only really good season was 1985, when he batted .313/.358/.469 in 288 at-bats.  He had a couple of other years when he had a good batting average, but he drew so few walks and had so little power that he still wasn't much of an offensive contributor.  He stayed in baseball as a minor league coach and manager and as a major league coach through 2014.  For his career he batted .258/.292/.347.  Still, he played in 931 big league games and had 2450 at-bats, and that's a pretty decent career.

TORONTO 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN TORONTO

Date:  Friday, July 24.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in two.  Tom Brunansky was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring twice.  Sal Butera was 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Mike Smithson pitched four innings, giving up one run on six hits and a walk with one strikeout.  George Frazier pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and two walks with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Tony Fernandez was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs.  Juan Beniquez was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit three-run homer, his fourth.  Rick Leach was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.

The game:  The Twins scored five in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead.  Doubles were the key to the inning:  Gary Gaetti had an RBI double, Gagne had a two-run double, and Butera had a two-run double.  The score stayed 6-1 until the seventh, when the roof fell in.  Not literally--Skydome remained intact--but it must have felt like that to Tom Kelly.  Keith Atherton was starting his third inning of relief, having blanked the Blue Jays for two.  He got the first batter out, but a single, a walk, and a single loaded the bases and a sacrifice fly brought home a run and brought Dan Schatzeder into the game.  Still, the Twins led 6-2, the tying run was not yet up to bat, things were still looking okay.  Schatzeder immediately gave up a three-run homer to Beniquez to make it 6-5.  He then walked Charlie Moore.  Jeff Reardon then came in to try for a seven-out save.  It didn't happen.  Willie Upshaw singled and Leach hit the second three-run homer of the inning to put Toronto ahead 8-6.  The Twins did not get a man on base in the last two innings.

Of note:  Al Newman replaced Steve Lombardozzi at second base and batted second...Kirby Puckett was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .324...Toronto starter Jose Nunez pitched 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts...Mark Eichhorn came in to throw 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 53-45, in first place by two games over Oakland.

Player profile:  Submarine/sidearmer Mark Eichhorn was kind of up-and-down in his career, but when he was good, he was really, really good.  He was drafted by Toronto in the second round of the January draft in 1979.  He actually made his major league debut as a starter, getting called up in late August of 1982 despite not having done very well in AAA that season.  He didn't do much for the Blue Jays, either, going 0-3, 5.45 in seven starts.  He did not come back to the majors until 1986, when he was a relief pitcher.  He had an awesome year, going 14-6, 1.72, 0.96 WHIP and finished sixth in Cy Young voting despite the fact that he was pitching as a set-up man (closer Tom Henke did not receive any Cy Young votes).  He appeared in 69 games and pitched 157 relief innings.  He was not quite as good in 1987 but was still darn good, going 10-6, 3.17, 1.27 WHIP in a league-leading 89 games (127.2 innings).  The workload may have taken a toll, because he had a poor year in 1988, was sold to Atlanta and had a poor year there in 1989, signed with California as a free agent.  He did better in 1990 and then had another awesome year in 1991, going 3-3, 1.98, 0.93 WHIP in 70 games (81.2 innings).  He was pitching well again in 1992 when he was traded back to Toronto for Rob Ducey and Greg Myers.  He struggled at the end of that season, but was fairly good in 1993 for them and really good with Baltimore in 1994.  He was hurt in early August, though, missed all of 1995, and was not the same pitcher when he came back.  He had a poor year with California and that was his last shot in the majors.  He tried to come back, pitching in AAA for Tampa Bay in 1998 and for Toronto in 2000, but never got there.  Overall, he was 48-43, 3.00, 1.24 WHIP, which are fine numbers.  If you just look at his three best years, though, he was 23-14, 2.03, 0.99 WHIP.  At last report, Mark Eichhorn was coaching high school baseball in Aptos, California.  His son, Kevin, pitched in the Arizona and Detroit organizations, reaching high-A.