Tag Archives: 1991 rewind

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Fifty

MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 1 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Sunday, June 2.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 3-for-5 with a double.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Lenny Webster was 1-for-2 with a double and two walks.

Pitching star:  Scott Erickson pitched 8.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out eight.  He threw 119 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Jim Eisenreich was 3-for-4 with a double.  Luis Aquino pitched four shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  The Twins scored exactly one run in each of the first four innings.  In the first, Chuck Knoblauch tripled followed by a Puckett double.  In the second, Mike Pagliarulo doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Gagne's single.  In the third, Puckett homered.

The Royals got on the board in the bottom of the third, as Terry Shumpert walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Kirk Gibson's single.  Webster homered in the fourth to make the score 4-1.

And that was it.  Erickson was in control after that, retiring ten straight batters at one point and not allowing a man past second base.  Rick Aguilera came on with one out in the ninth to complete the game.

WP:  Erickson (8-2).  LP:  Tom Gordon (4-3).  S:  Aguilera (11).

Notes:  Pedro Munoz replaced Dan Gladden in left.  Gagne was the leadoff batter.  Gene Larkin was in right field.  Gladden was used as a pinch-runner for Larkin in the eighth and went to left field, with Munoz moving to right.  Al Newman pinch-ran for Pagliarulo, also in the eighth inning, and remained in the game at third base.  With the injury to Junior Ortiz, Webster was called up and made his 1991 debut.  He had been up briefly in 1989 and 1990, getting a total of twenty-six at-bats, but his home run in this game was the first of his major league career.  It's interesting that Tom Kelly continued to use someone other than Brian Harper to catch Erickson.

Webster, after his debut, was batting .500.  Puckett raised his average to .335.  Gagne raised his average to .319.  Erickson lowered his ERA to 1.58.  Aguilera dropped his ERA to 1.82.

Despite the fact that Erickson was only twenty-three and in his first full year in the majors, TK was not hesitant to leave him out there.  This was his eleventh start, and he had thrown over one hundred pitches in eight of them.  In six of them he was over one hundred ten and four he had one hundred twenty or more.  His high was 134 on April 16 and his low was 84 in his next start on April 21.  His average in those eleven starts was one hundred ten.

Eisenreich apparently enjoyed playing against his former team.  For his career, he batted .341/.364/.514 in 179 at-bats against the Twins.  The only team against whom he had a higher career OPS was the Dodgers, whom he destroyed to the tune of .405/.468/.620 in 205 at-bats.  He hit seven homers against the Dodgers and no more than four against any other club.  In 1991 Eisenreich batted .423/.444/.615 against Minnesota.  Obviously, he did not play against the Dodgers that year.

The Twins had finally pulled back up to .500.  Could they get above .500?  Could they stay there?  We shall see.

Record:  The Twins were 25-25, in fifth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Oakland.  They were one game ahead of sixth-place Chicago and 1.5 games behind fourth-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-nine

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MINNESOTA 8, KANSAS CITY 4 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Saturday, June 1.

Batting stars:  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-3.  Chili Davis was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his tenth and eleventh) and four RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5.  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching star:  Terry Leach pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Terry Shumpert was 2-for-3 with a home run, a stolen base (his eighth) and three runs.  Brian McRae was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

The game:  Kent Hrbek walked leading off the second and Davis followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 2-0.  The Royals tied it in the third.  A walk and an error put men on second and third, a ground out scored one, and a Kirk Gibson single brought home the tying run.

The Twins took the lead again in the top of the fifth on singles by Brian Harper, Pagliarulo, and Knoblauch.  Kansas City tied it in the bottom of the inning when Shumpert singled, stole second, and scored on a McRae single.

The Twins went into the lead to stay in the sixth.  Puckett led off the inning with a single and with one out, Davis hit another two-run homer, giving the Twins a 5-3 advantage.  They took control of the game in the seventh.  Pagliarulo led off with a single and Knoblauch walked, but pinch-runner Greg Gagne was picked off second.  Not to worry.  Gladden singled, a ground out moved the runners up, and Puckett delivered a two-run single to put the Twins in front 7-3.

Each team scored one more time.  Shumpert homered in the seventh to make the score 7-4.  In the eighth, Pedro Munoz singled, stole second, and scored on Gladden's single to make it 8-4.  The Royals got only one hit after Shumpert's homer.

WP:  Allan Anderson (2-4).  LP:  Kevin Appier (3-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Al Newman started at shortstop, with Gagne on the bench.  Newman batted second, with Knoblauch ninth.  I assume there was a reason TK did that, but I have no idea what it is.  I can kind of get making Knoblauch the "second leadoff man", but not when it means putting Newman, his .197 average, and his .509 OPS in the number two spot.  But Tom Kelly did sometimes move in a mysterious way.

When Gagne pinch-ran for Pagliarulo, he remained in the game at short with Newman moving to third.  Munoz was the right fielder.

Harper was 1-for-5, dropping his average to .333.  Not that there's anything wrong with .333, but that's the lowest it had been since May 9.  Puckett went up to .332.  Gagne was 0-for-1 and was batting .308.  Davis went up to .301.

Carl Willis pitched two-thirds of an inning without giving up a run, dropping his ERA to 3.38.  Leach went down to 3.32.

This was Anderson's first win since April 10, the second game of the season.  He pitched 6.1 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks.  He did not record a strikeout.  One of the things that has struck me in doing this series is how few strikeouts there were in the game back then, especially compared to today.  The Twins staff was tenth in team pitching strikeouts, and their batters struck out the least of any team in the league, so their games would obviously tend to have fewer strikeouts than average.

Appier pitched six innings, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk and striking out five.  Appier had been sent to the bullpen for a few weeks in May, although he really wasn't pitching all that badly.  He returned to the rotation in late May and stayed there the rest of the year, having a fine season.  Appier was a very good pitcher from 1990-1997, but then suffered a torn labrum.  While he resumed pitching in 1999, his numbers make it look like he didn't fully recover until 2001.  He had another good year in 2002, but then he struggled for two more seasons before calling it quits.  For his career, he was 169-137, 3.74, 1.29 WHIP over sixteen seasons.  That's a pretty good career.

The Royals starting shortstop in this game was David Howard, who was in his rookie year.  After this game, he was batting .056 (1-for-18).  He was obviously not their regular shortstop--that was Kurt Stillwell--but Howard was with the team for all but about three weeks of the season.  He was still in double digits (.087) on July 11, but pulled his average up to .216 by the end of the season.  He played for parts of nine seasons in the majors.  His highest average in a season in which he got 25 or more at-bats was .245 in 1998.  His highest OPS was .655 that same year.  He actually was the Royals regular shortstop in 1996 and batted .219 with an OPS of .595.  For his career he batted .225/.291/.303 in 1583 at-bats.  He played all over, but mostly middle infield.  I assume he's a heck of a nice guy, because he'd never have played that long if he wasn't.

Record:  The Twins were 24-25, fifth in the American League West, 5.5 games behind Oakland.  They were one game ahead of sixth-place Chicago and two games behind fourth-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-eight

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KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Friday, May 31.

Batting star:  Junior Ortiz was 1-for-1 with a double.

Pitching star:  Steve Bedrosian pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Bret Saberhagen pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and one walk and striking out four.  Jim Eisenreich was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brian McRae was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his sixth.  Mike Macfarlane was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.

The game:  Kent Hrbek hit a triple with two out in the first but was stranded at third base.  Macfarlane started the scoring in the second, leading off the inning with a home run.  The Twins tied it in the third.  Ortiz led off with a double and went to third on a Scott Leius single.  Oritz apparently injured himself running the bases, because Brian Harper then pinch-ran for him and scored on an Al Newman sacrifice fly, tying the score 1-1.

The Royals got the lead back in the fourth.  George Brett and Eisenreich opened the inning with back-to-back doubles, giving Kansas City the lead, and Kevin Seitzer delivered a one-out RBI single to make it 3-1.  The Royals added one more in the seventh on singles by Warren Cromartie, Terry Shumpert, and McRae.

The Twins got only one hit after the third inning, a single by Al Newman in the sixth.  Their last eleven batters were retired.

WP:  Saberhagen (6-3).  LP:  Kevin Tapani (2-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Dan Gladden was again out of the lineup, with Pedro Munoz in left.  Greg Gagne moved up to the leadoff spot.  Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch and batted second.  Shane Mack was in center in place of Kirby Puckett.  Gene Larkin was in right field.  Ortiz started at catcher, but as mentioned above, he came out in the third inning and was replaced by Harper.

Harper went 0-for-2 and dropped his average to .339.  Gagne was 0-for-4 and was batting .311.

Leius was 1-for-3 and raised his average to .182.

Tapani pitched seven innings, but allowed four runs on nine hits and no walks and struck out three.  It was his fourth consecutive start with a game score below fifty.  He hadn't had one above sixty since April 27.  For the month of May he went 0-6, 5.35, 1.45 WHIP.  He would come back to have a fine June and pitch well the rest of the season.  He had only nine losses on the year, and six of them came in May.

Facing a fine pitcher in Bret Saberhagen, TK sat out Knoblauch, Puckett, Gladden, and Harper.  There may have been strategic reasons for this, but it also strikes me that the manager might have thought this was one they weren't likely to win anyway, and so he might as well give some of his regulars a rest.

I have zero recollection of Warren Cromartie as a Kansas City Royal.  I remember him as a good outfielder for the Expos, for whom he played in parts of nine seasons.  He actually was drafted by the Twins once, in 1972, but he did not sign.  He was never a great player, but he was a solid contributor.  From 1977 to 1981 he batted between .275 and .304.  He stayed with Montreal through 1983, then played for seven seasons in Japan.  He did well there, posting an OPS over .800 in every year except his last, when it was .798.  Four of those years his OPS was over .900 and in two of them it was over 1.000.  He came back to the US in 1991 and did pretty well as a bench player, batting .313 with an OPS of .801, but in just 148 plate appearances.  He retired after the season.  In more recent years, he has been involved in trying to bring major league baseball back to Montreal, and on a personal note, I hope he succeeds.

Record:  The Twins were 23-25, in fifth place in the American League West, just two percentage points ahead of sixth-place Chicago.  They trailed first-place Texas by 5.5 games and trailed fourth-place Seattle by two games.

 

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-seven

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MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Thursday, May 30.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-3.  Chili Davis was 1-for-4 with a home run, his ninth.

Pitching star:  Mark Guthrie pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and three walks and striking out four.

Opposition star:  Mark Gubicza pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out three.

The game:  The Twins opened the scoring in the third.  Gene Larkin led off with a walk and was followed by singles by Mike Pagliarulo and Gagne to bring home the first run.  A fly ball and a force out scored a second run to put the Twins up 2-0.

The Royals threatened in the bottom of the third, as one-out singles by Terry Shumpert and Brian McRae were followed by a double steal to put men on second and third.  Shumpert, however, was thrown out trying to score on an grounder to third and another ground out ended the inning.  Kansas City did get on the board in the fifth when Kurt Stillwell led off with a triple and Bill Pecota followed with a double, but the next three batters could not get the ball out of the infield and the score stayed 2-1.

The Twins got some insurance in the late innings.  In the eighth, Pagliarulo walked and scored on Gagne's single-plus-error.  Davis hit a two-out solo homer in the ninth.  The Royals got one more in the bottom of the ninth, as Jim Eisenreich led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Kirk Gibson, but McRae grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Guthrie (4-3).  LP:  Gubicza (1-3).  S:  Aguilera (10).

Notes:  Larkin was in right field.  Mack replaced him in the field in the eighth.  In the top of the eighth, Al Newman pinch-ran for Pagliarulo and Randy Bush pinch-hit for Chuck Knoblauch.  Newman remained in the game at second with Scott Leius coming in to play third.

Brian Harper was 0-for-4, dropping his average to .344.  He was now 2-for-16 in his last four games.  Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .330.  Gagne raised his average to .320.  Davis was batting .305.  Rick Aguilera pitched 1.2 innings and gave up a run, but his ERA was still just 1.88.

This was the last really good start Guthrie would have in 1991.  Not that every other start was awful, but his best were no more than okay, and as we all know, just okay is not okay.  He went to the bullpen at the end of June and did quite well there the rest of the season.

I remember thinking that Terry Shumpert would be a good player.  He wasn't, and looking back on it I don't know why I thought he would be.  1991 was his only season as a mostly-regular, and he batted just .217 with an OPS of .605.  He stayed in the Royals organization through 1994, went to Boston in 1995, to the Cubs in 1996, and to San Diego in 1997.  Each year he would play a handful of games in the majors, but he never did much.  Then he signed with Colorado for 1998 and had the season of his life.  In 304 plate appearances he batted .347/.413/.584, for a .997 OPS.  He had never done anything close to that before and never would again.  His next highest batting average was .289, also with Colorado in 2001.  His next highest OPS was .796 with Colorado in 2000.  By 2002, however, even playing in Colorado couldn't save him.  His OPS dropped to .676, he played one more year for Tampa Bay, and then was done.  His numbers for the Rockies are .282/.349/.463; his career numbers are .252/.315/.409.  If there was ever a poster boy for a Coors Field effect, it would be Terry Shumpert.

Record:  The Twins were 23-24, fifth in the American League West, 5.5 games behind Oakland.  They were two games behind fourth-place Seattle and a game ahead of sixth-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-six

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MINNESOTA 9, TEXAS 1 IN TEXAS

Date:  Wednesday, May 29.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a double, and two runs.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and four RBIs.  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, a stolen base, and two runs.  Shane Mack was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out eight.

Opposition stars:  Ruben Sierra was 2-for-3.  Eric Nolte pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

The game:  The Rangers took the early lead, getting on the board in the first inning as Brian Downing doubled and Sierra singled him in.  It was all Twins after that, and they started in the very next inning.  Hrbek and Chili Davis started the inning with back-to-back doubles to tie the score.  Brian Harper walked.  The next two batters went out, but Gagne hit a three-run homer to give the Twins a 4-1 lead.

The Twins added a run in the fourth when Larkin hit a two-out single, stole second (!), and scored on a Shane Mack single.  They put it out of reach in the sixth.  Hrbek hit a solo homer with one out.  With two out, Harper walked and Larkin hit a two-run homer.  Mack followed with a single and scored on Gagne's double.  It was 9-1 Twins, and that's where it stayed.

WP:  Morris (5-5).  LP:  Nolan Ryan (3-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mack started in left field, with Dan Gladden out of the lineup.  Gladden entered the game in the seventh to give Kirby Puckett a break, with Mack moving to center.  Chuck Knoblauch moved into the leadoff spot, with Al Newman, who was at third base, batting second.  Larkin was in right field.  Scott Leius came into the game in the eighth inning at shortstop to give Gagne the rest of the game off.

Harper was 0-for-2 with two walks.  His average fell to .355.  Puckett was 0-for-4 and dropped to .337.  Gagne went up to .312.  Davis was 1-for-4 and was batting .307.

Leius went 0-for-1 to drop his average to .171.

Morris threw 123 pitches in the complete game.

This was one of two stolen bases in 1991 for Larkin.  The other would come on September 28.  He was 2-for-5 in stealing bases that year.  For his career, he was 23-for-40.  His career high in stolen bases was seven in 1992.  He went 7-for-9 that season.  It was also one of two home runs Larkin hit in 1991.  The other would come on August 6.  For his career, he hit 32 home runs, with a high of eight in 1988.  My guess would be that this was the only time he hit a home run and stole a base in the same game, but I didn't actually check to see if that's true.

I doubt that many people would've predicted that, with May nearly over Gagne would have more home runs than Hrbek.  It would not stay that way all season, of course.

Nolan Ryan lasted just four innings for Texas, allowing five runs on five hits and a walk and striking out four.  Ryan was forty-four in 1991, but he was still an effective pitcher.  He went 12-6, 2.91 and led the league in WHIP at 1.01.  1991 was the first time in five years that he did not lead the league in strikeouts, and that's largely because injuries limited him to 173 innings--he still led the league in strikeouts per nine innings.  We remember Nolan Ryan as a great pitcher, but we sometimes forget that he was a great old pitcher, quite possibly the best old pitcher there's ever been.

Record:  The Twins were 22-24, in fifth place in the American League West, but just two percentage points ahead of sixth-place Chicago.  They trailed first-place Texas by 5.5 games and were two games behind fourth-place Seattle.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-five

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MINNESOTA 3, TEXAS 0 IN TEXAS

Date:  Tuesday, May 28.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with a home run (his third) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Scott Erickson pitched eight shutout innings, giving up seven hits and three walks and striking out seven.  He threw 119 pitches.  Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jose Guzman pitched 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out three.  Geno Petralli was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Ruben Sierra was 2-for-4.

The game:  Gladden led off the game with a home run to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Rangers got a pair of one-out singles in the bottom of the first, but a pop up and a strikeout ended the inning.  The Twins scored again in the third when Gagne singled, was bunted to second, and scored on Puckett's two-out single.

Texas threatened again in the fourth with a pair of two-out singles, but Denny Walling flied out to end the inning.  The Twins added a run in the fifth on singles by Gagne and Chuck Knoblauch and a Puckett sacrifice fly, making the score 3-0.

The Rangers had two more threats come to nothing.  Two singles in the fifth went for naught when Julio Franco hit into a force out.  A walk and an error put men on first and second with none out in the seventh, but two ground outs and a strike out put that threat away.  That was it, as Texas did not get a hit after the fifth.

WP:  Erickson (7-2).  LP:  Jose Guzman (0-1).  S:  Aguilera (9).

Notes:  With Erickson pitching, Junior Ortiz was again behind the plate.  Gene Larkin was in right field and Kent Hrbek was at first base at the start of the game, but Hrbek came out after batting in the first inning.  Shane Mack went to right and Larkin went to first.  Hrbek would start the next game, so whatever was wrong must not have been too serious.

Scott Leius pinch-hit for Mike Pagliarulo in the ninth inning and remained in the game at third base.

Puckett raised his average to .344.  Chili Davis was 1-for-4 and was batting .308.  Gagne raised his average to .303.  Erickson's ERA was 1.63.  Aguilera went down to 1.61.

Leius was 0-for-1 and was batting .175.

The Rangers stranded nine and were 0-for-7 with men in scoring position.

I tended to get Jose Guzman confused with Juan Guzman in the nineties, and sometimes I still do.  Jose had been a solid starter for the Rangers from 1987-1988, then missed all of 1989 due to injury and was able to make only ten minor league appearances in 1990.  He came back strong in 1991, though, going 13-7, 3.08 in 25 starts.  He had another good year for the Rangers in 1992, then became a free agent and signed with the Cubs.  He got hurt almost immediately and was able to make only four starts for the Cubs.  He kept pitching, when he could, in the minors through 1996.  He made a comeback, sort of, in 2001-2002, pitching in independent ball with the Fort Worth Cats.  His career numbers are 80-74, 4.05, 1,37 WHIP.  Nothing special, but not bad, either.  And for a few seasons, he was a pitcher anyone would've been happy to have in their rotation.

Record:  The Twins were 21-24, sixth in the American League West, a mere two percentage points ahead of seventh-place Kansas City.  They trailed first-place Texas by 6.5 games.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-four

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TEXAS 11, MINNESOTA 4 IN TEXAS

Date:  Monday, May 27.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 4-for-5.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a home run (his third) and three RBIs.  Chuck Knoblauch was 0-for-1 with four walks.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Juan Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs, and three RBIs.  Rafael Palmeiro was 3-for-5 with two runs.  Steve Buechele was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Julio Franco was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth), a triple, two runs, and three RBIs.  Mike Stanley was 2-for-5 with a double.  Brian Downing was 1-for-3 with a triple, two walks, and two RBIs.

The game:  Well, the Twins got off to a good start.  Gladden led off with a bunt single, Chuck Knoblauch walked, and Puckett delivered an RBI single, giving the Twins a run before anyone was retired.  A double play and a ground out took them out of the inning, though, and it was all downhill from there.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Palmeiro singled and Ruben Sierra doubled.  A ground out held the runners at second and third and gave the Twins hope, but the hope was dashed as Gonzalez hit a two-run double and Stanley followed with an RBI single, putting the Rangers up 3-1.

The Twins opened the second with a single and a walk, but a double play again took them out of the inning.  They got men to second and third with one out in the third, but again could not tally.

Texas added a run in the third on singles by Buechele, Stanley, and Mario Diaz.  The Rangers put it out of reach in the fourth.  Downing led off with a walk, Palmeiro singled, and Sierra's sacrifice fly made it 5-1.  Franco had an RBI triple and scored on Gonzalez' single and the score was 7-1.

Hrbek hit a two-run homer in the fifth to cut the margin to 7-3.  The Twins put men on second and third in the seventh but could not bring them home.  Texas padded their lead with a two-run triple by Downing in the bottom of the seventh and a two-run homer by Franco in the eighth.

The Twins tried to rally in the ninth.  Gladden led off with a single, Knoblauch walked, Puckett singled, and Hrbek walked, forcing in a run and leaving the bases loaded with none out.  "Leaving the bases loaded", however, is exactly what the Twins did, as Kenny Rogers came in to strike out Chili Davis, get Brian Harper on a short fly ball, and strike out Pedro Munoz to end the game.

WP:  Kevin Brown (4-3).  LP:  Allan Anderson (1-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Munoz was in right field.  Al Newman was at third base.  Scott Leius came into the game in the eighth inning to play shortstop, replacing Greg Gagne.

Harper was 1-for-5 and was batting .361.  Puckett raised his average to .339.  Davis was 1-for-5 and was batting .310.  Munoz was 1-for-4 with a walk and was batting .302.

Anderson lasted just 3.1 ininngs, allowing seven runs on eleven hits and a walk and striking out two.  It was his third poor start out of four, and his ERA was up to 5.20.

Paul Abbott relieved Anderson, making his 1991 debut.  He had made seven starts for the Twins in 1990.  He did not pitch particularly well, either, going 3.1 innings and giving up two runs on three hits and four walks.  He did strike out three.  He would stay on the team until mid-August, then come back as a September call-up.

Terry Leach finished up.  He had his second consecutive bad game, pitching 1.1 innings and allowing two runs on one hit and a walk and striking out three.  Over his last two games, his ERA rose from 2.08 to 3.66.

Texas starter Brown pitched five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and five walks and striking out two.

The Twins stranded twelve men and were 2-for-15 with men in scoring position.

The Twins had lost three in a row, seven of eight, and nine of twelve.

I'd forgotten that Kenny Rogers spent his first four major league seasons in the bullpen.  In fact, he led the league in appearances with 81 in 1992.  He would become a starter the following season, 1993, jumping from 78.2 innings to 208.1.  He would remain in a major league rotation through 2008, when he was forty-three.  He was clearly on the down side by then, but he had an excellent season in 2006, when he was forty-one:  He went 17-8, 3.84, 1.26 WHIP and finished tied for fifth (with Joe Nathan) in Cy Young voting.  For his career, he was 219-156, 4.27, 1.40 WHIP.  That may not sound super, but he was in a major league rotation for sixteen consecutive seasons and made thirty or more starts in fourteen of them, and that's pretty good.

Record:  The Twins were 20-24, in sixth place, mere percentage points ahead of seventh-place Kansas City.  They were 7.5 games behind first-place Texas and one game behind fifth-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-three

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KANSAS CITY 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, May 26.

Batting stars:  Gene Larkin was 2-for-4.  Chili Davis was 2-for-4.  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Carl Willis pitched three shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Steve Bedrosian pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Bret Saberhagen pitched a complete game, giving up one run on eight hits and two walks and striking out two.  Brian McRae was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fourth), a stolen base (his fourth), two runs and two RBIs.  Brent Mayne was 2-for-4.  George Brett was 2-for-4.  Kirk Gibson was 2-for-5 with a double.

The game:  The Royals jumped on Twins starter Kevin Tapani for three runs in the first inning.  They got the first two of them before anyone was retired:  McRae singled, Gibson had an RBI double, Brett singled, and Danny Tartabull had an RBI single.  Following a pop up, Mayne singled home the third run of the inning.  Kansas City added another run in the second when McRae led off the inning with a homer to make the score 4-0.  They got their final run in the fourth when Terry Shumpert doubled and scored on McRae's single.

Meanwhile, the Twins were not doing much of anything off Saberhagen.  They got a man to second base in the third, when Knoblauch and Shane Mack drew two-out walks.  They did it again in the seventh when Davis reached on an error and Larkin had a two-out single.  They actually got two hits in the same inning in the eighth, when Knoblauch singled with one out and Kirby Puckett singled with two out.

The Twins did get on the board in the ninth, when they opened the inning with consecutive singles by Davis, Brian Harper, and Larkin.  Another hit would've brought the tying run to the plate, but instead a strikeout and a double play ended the game.

WP:  Saberhagen (5-3).  LP:  Tapani (2-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  With a day game, Mack was in left, replacing Dan Gladden.  He batted second, with Knoblauch moving up to the leadoff spot.  Larkin was in right field.  Al Newman was at short, replacing Greg Gagne.

Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .368.  Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326.  Davis raised his average to .313.

Tapani lasted just four innings, giving up five runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out one.  It was his first really bad game of the season, but he hadn't been pitching as well lately.  His ERA went up steadily from 2.10 on April 27 to now 3.79.

The Twins bullpen did really well.  Five shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Much of that was Willis, as set forth above.  His ERA was now 3.48.  Aguilera's ERA went to 1.69.

George Brett was off to a very slow start, and in fact would not have a particularly good year.  He had won the batting title in 1990, batting .329.  At this point in 1991, however, he was batting just .224.  He would end the season at .255 with an OPS of .729.  Well, he was thirty-eight.  He would play for two more seasons at about the same level of production, then retire at age forty.  He was mostly a DH at this point, with Bill Pecota having taken over at third base.  Pecota would bat .286 with an OPS of .756--I don't know how this compared to his PECOTA projection.

This was an odd-numbered year, so naturally Saberhagen was having a good season.  Actually, when you look at the stats, the odd-even thing is not nearly as pronounced as legend has made it out to be.  It shows up in his won-lost record more than anywhere else, indicating that it may have been a function of luck as much as anything.  It's true that, throughout most of his career, his ERA was lower in odd-numbered years than in even, but most of the time the difference is not all that great.  It made for a good story, though.

The Twins had now lost six of seven and eight of eleven.  One suspects people were saying "same old Twins".

Record:  The Twins were 20-23, sixth in the American League West, 6.5 games behind Texas.  They remained a half game behind fifth-place Chicago.  They were one game ahead of last-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-two

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KANSAS CITY 11, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 25.

Batting stars:  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with a double.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his fourth.

Pitching star:  Carl Willis pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Kurt Stillwell was 4-for-5 with a home run (his second) and five RBIs.  Kirk Gibson was 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base (his sixth) and two runs.  Danny Tartabull was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs, and three RBIs.  George Brett was 2-for-3 with two walks and three runs.  Carmelo Martinez was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Mark Gubicza pitched 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out two.  Jeff Montgomery struck out four in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  It was actually close most of the way.  The Twins threatened twice in the early innings, getting a two-out double from Harper in the second and two-out singles from Gladden and Knoblauch in the third.  The Royals threatened in the fourth, putting men on second and third with one out.  But no one actually scored until the fifth.  Greg Gagne got a one-out single, Gladden had an RBI double and took third on the throw home, and a passed ball put the Twins ahead 2-0.

That was as good as it would get for the Twins.  Mark Guthrie had given up just four harmless singles in the first five innings and retired the first two men in the sixth.  But then Gibson singled, Brett walked, and Tartabull and Mike Macfarlane had RBI singles to tie the score.  Terry Leach, who had been pitching very well, gave up RBI singles to Martinez and Stillwell and Kansas City suddenly had a 4-2 lead.

The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the sixth, but Gladden fanned.  In the seventh the Royals added to their lead.  Gibson doubled, Brett was intentionally walked, and Tartabull delivered a two-run double to make the score 6-2.  Kansas City added five in the ninth to put the game away, with a grand slam by Stillwell sealing the Twins' fate.

WP:  Gubicza (1-2).  LP:  Guthrie (3-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Pedro Munoz was in right field.  Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Gladden in the ninth.  Scott Leius pinch-hit for Hrbek in the ninth.

Harper was now batting .373.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-5 and was batting .327.  Chili Davis was 1-for-4 and was at .308.  Munoz was 1-for-4 and was also batting .308.  Leach was charged with two runs in one inning, but still had an ERA of 2.95.

Guthrie was charged with four runs in 5.2 innings, giving up seven hits and one walk and striking out six.

Larry Casian pitched the ninth and gave up all five runs, making his ERA 7.36.  That was his last appearance for the Twins in 1991, as he spent the rest of the season in AAA Portland.  He would not return to the majors until September of 1992, but he would have a fine year for the Twins in 1993.  He also played for Cleveland, the Cubs, Kansas City, and the White Sox in a career that spanned nine seasons.

For some reason the Royals used two pitchers to get through the ninth inning.  Mark Davis came in to start the inning and retired the only man he faced.  Dan Schatzeder then came in to finish the game.  I'm sure there was some reason for that, but I have no idea what it is.  And while I don't remember, I strongly suspect that when each pitcher came in, John Gordon solemnly stated that "this is not a save situation".

It's kind of cool that Gladden scored the Twins' second run on a Dazzle Special.

I had completely forgotten that Kirk Gibson was a Kansas City Royal.  1991 was his only season with the team, and it was nothing special:  .236/.341/.403.  He was traded to Pittsburgh for 1992 but batted just .196 in sixteen games and was released in early May.  He sat out the rest of the season and then returned to Detroit, where his career had begun.  He had a few good seasons for the Tigers as a part-time player before calling it quits following the 1995 season.

Danny Tartabull has been largely forgotten now, but he was a darn good batter for several years.  He got his first regular playing time with Seattle in 1986 and posted an OPS of .836 with 25 home runs.  That was only good for fifth in Rookie of the Year voting, and while one could argue that he should have finished higher the guys who beat him out were pretty good, too--Jose Canseco, Wally Joyner, Mark Eichhorn, and Cory Snyder.  The Mariners traded him to Kansas City after the season and he stayed there for five years.  In each of those years he had an OPS of over .800 and two of them were over .900.  His best season with the Royals was his last one, which is the season we're dealing with, 1991.  He batted .316 with 35 homers, led the league in slugging at .593, and had an OPS of .990.  Oddly, for all of his good offensive seasons, 1991 was the only time he made the all-star team.  He became a free agent after the season and went to the Yankees, where he had three more solid seasons.  He slumped in 1995 and was traded to Oakland, but came back to have a solid 1996 season for the White Sox.  That was about it for him, though.  He signed with Philadelphia for 1997 but broke his foot in the first game of the season.  He played in three games, going 0-for-7, then went on the DL and never played again.  For his career, he batted .273/.368/.496 with 262 home runs in just over 5000 at-bats.  As you probably know, his dad is former major league outfielder Jose Tartabull.  He supposedly had a bad attitude, and he's had legal problems since leaving baseball, but he was one of the best batters around for several seasons.

The Twins had lost five of their last six and seven of their last ten.

Record:  The Twins were 20-22, in sixth place in the American League West, 5.5 games behind Texas.  They were a half game behind fifth-place Chicago.

 

Keeping Track

1991 Rewind: Game Forty-one

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MINNESOTA 3, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 24.

Batting stars:  Chili Davis was 4-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Jack Morris pitched 8.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Kurt Stillwell was 1-for-3 with a walk.  George Brett was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  The Royals got on the board in the second when Mike Macfarlane doubled and scored on a Stillwell single.  Each team had a failed threat before the Twins took the lead in the fourth.  Gagne led off with a single and Kent Hrbek drew a one-out walk.  Davis then hit a two-run double-plus-error to give the Twins the lead.  Brian Harper's sacrifice fly brough Davis home and gave the Twins a 3-1 advantage.

That was it for the Twins, but it was enough.  Brett homered leading off the sixth to cut the margin to 3-2.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the sixth and did not score.  After the fourth, Kansas City only once got a man as far as second base.  That was in the ninth, when Carmelo Martinez drew a one-out walk and pinch-runner Gary Thurman stole second with two out.  Jim Eisenreich struck out to end the game.

WP:  Morris (4-5).  LP:  Storm Davis (2-5).  S:  Rick Aguilera (9).

Notes:  Pedro Munoz was again in right field.  Chuck Knoblauch was back at second base but batted ninth, with Gagne moved up to number two.

Harper was 1-for-3 and was batting .368.  After his big day yesterday, Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and dropped his average to .331.  Munoz was 1-for-3 and was batting .314.  With his big day, Davis raised his average to .310.  Gagne went up to .301.

Aguilera struck out both batters he faced to lower his ERA to 1.77.

Morris' ERA was 4.93.  It was the first time all season it had been under 5.00.  He got started on a roll with this game, though, as he would not have a game score lower than 60 until July 5.

You probably know the story of Jim Eisenreich, so there's no need for me to repeat it.  It's pretty amazing, though, the career he had when he never got over 214 at-bats in a season until he was thirty.  He was a part-time player for most of the next ten seasons, playing with Kansas City, Philadelphia, Florida, and the Dodgers.  In those ten seasons, he batted .300 or better five times and had an OPS of over .800 three times.  He ended his career with nearly 4000 at-bats and 1160 hits.  His career line is .290/.341/.404.  On the one hand, you can think of what might have been, but on the other hand, what actually was, was pretty darn good.

Record:  The Twins were 20-21, in sixth place in the American League West, 4.5 games behind Texas.  The trailed fifth-place Chicago by a half game.