Tag Archives: 2003 rewind

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-four

OAKLAND 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Tuesday, May 20.

Batting star:  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 and was hit by a pitch.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched six innings, giving up three runs on eleven hits and two walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Tim Hudson pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out five.  Eric Brynes was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.  Scott Hatteberg was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Chris Singleton was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.

The game:  The Athletics put two men on in each of the first three innings, but did not score.  Instead, it was the Twins who opened the scoring in the fourth, as Cristian Guzman led off the inning with a double and scored on Torii Hunter's two-out single.

That was as good as it got for the Twins, though.  With two out in the bottom of the fourth, Singleton and Brynes hit back-to-back doubles to tie the score and Hatteberg delivered an RBI single to make it 2-1 Oakland.

They stranded a couple more guys in the fifth, and the Twins stranded two in the sixth.  In the bottom of the sixth, Singleton and Byrnes singled and Eric Chavez walked, loading the bases with one out.  A sacrifice fly made it 3-1.  In the eighth, Brynes and Hatteberg hit back-to-back doubles to give the Athletics a 4-1 advantage.  The Twins had only one hit after the sixth inning.

WP:  Hudson (4-1).  LP:  Reed (2-5).  S:  Keith Foulke (12).

Notes:  Todd Sears was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Kielty was the DH.

Jacque Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .344.  Sears was 0-for-4 and was batting .302.

Johan Santana gave up a run in two innings to raise his ERA to 2.67.  He had given up at least one run in five of his last six appearances, raising his ERA from 0.95.

Oakland stranded 13 runners, going 3-for-13 with men in scoring position.  The Twins stranded just five, going 1-for-7 with men in scoring position.

Foulke was an excellent relief pitcher for five seasons (2000-2004).  The first three of those were with the White Sox and the last was with Boston; this was the one in-between.  He had an ERA under three in each of those seasons, and it was under 2.40 in three of them.  His WHIP was under one for three of those seasons and just barely over one in the other two.  He had 162 saves in those five seasons, leading the league in 2003.  He only made one all-star team, but twice finished in the top ten in Cy Young voting.  He fell off very quickly after 2004, but for five seasons he was about as good as anybody.

Record:  The Twins were 25-19, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-three

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, May 18.

Batting stars:  Denny Hocking was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Todd Sears was 2-for-2 with a walk.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-3.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and four walks and striking out four.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Esteban Loaiza pitched six innings, giving up one run on eight hits and three walks and striking out three.  Jose Valentin was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his ninth) and two walks.  D'Angelo Jimenez was 2-for-3.

The game:  The Twins had two on with two out in the first and had a runner on third with one out in the second, but it was the White Sox who scored first.  Joe Crede led off the third with a double and Valentin hit a two-out two-run homer to put the Chicago up 2-0.

The Twins loaded the bases in the third but did not score.  The White Sox loaded the bases in the fifth but did not score.  The Twins finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth.  Hocking led off with a double and Sears delivered a two-out single that cut the lead to 2-1.

Each team got a man to third with one out in the seventh and did not score.  With one out in the eighth, Torii Hunter and Mohr each singled, putting men on first and third.  A wild pitch tied the score and an error put the Twins ahead 3-2.

Chicago put two on with two out in the ninth, but Guardado struck out Tony Graffanino to end the game.

WP:  Hawkins (3-0).  LP:  Tom Gordon (2-3).  S:  Guardado (10).

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Hocking was in right field.  Sears was the DH.  Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.

Mientkiewicz came out in the third inning after hitting a double in the second.  He apparently was injured, as he would not play again until May 24.  Mohr entered the game and went to right field, with Hocking moving to first base.  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Sears in the eighth.  Bobby Kielty pinch-hit for Gomez in the eighth.  Rivas then pinch-ran for Kielty and stayed in the game at second.  Pierzynski pinch-hit for Prince in the eighth and stayed in the game at catcher.

Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .347.  Sears raised his average to .333.  LeCroy was 0-for-1 and was batting .310.

Hocking's big day raised his average to .188.

Lohse's ERA was 3.22.  Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.35.  Guardado lowered his ERA to 1.53.

As you can see from the game summary, both teams missed numerous opportunities.  The White Sox stranded nine and were 1-for-9 with men in scoring position.  The Twins stranded nine and were 1-for-15 with men in scoring position.

The Twins swept the series, outscoring Chicago 24-6.  Eighteen of those runs came in the first game.  The Twins had now won five of six, eleven of fourteen. and fifteen of nineteen.  The hot streak moved them into first place.

Record:  The Twins were 25-18, in first place, a half game ahead of Kansas City.

 

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-two

MINNESOTA 3, CHICAGO 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 17.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-4.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-3 with a double and a stolen base, his third.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on seven hits and no walks and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Jon Garland pitched six innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out two.  Carlos Lee was 2-for-4.

The game:  In the first Cristian Guzman singled, stole second, and scored on a Koskie single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the fourth Bobby Kielty walked, went to third on a Mientkiewicz single, and scored on a ground out to make it 2-0.

The White Sox did not get a man past first base through six innings.  In the seventh, however, singles by Maggio Ordonez, Paul Konerko, and Joe Crede loaded the bases with two out and Miguel Olivo singled to bring home a run, cutting the lead to 2-1.  J. C. Romero came in to retire D'Angelo Jimenez, keeping the Twins ahead.  In fact, Chicago did not get a man on base after Olivo's single.

The Twins added an insurance run in the eighth.  Jones singled, went to third when Guzman reached on an error, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

WP:  Mays (4-3).  LP:  Garland (2-4).  S:  Guardado (9).

Notes:  Jones was back in left field, with Mohr moving to right.  Kielty was the DH.  The Twins made no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jones picked up right where he'd left off, raising his average to .349.

Rivas went 0-for-3, snapping a seven-game hitting streak.  He went 13-for-26 in those games, raising his average from .188 to .261.

Mays lowered his ERA to 5.26.  Romero retired both batters he faced to lower his ERA to 3.26.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out both men he faced to lower his ERA to 1.47.  Guardado lowered his ERA to 1.62.

Carlos Lee has pretty much been forgotten already, but he was a fine player for a long time.  He spent fourteen years in the majors, most of them with the White Sox and Astros.  He batted .285/.339/.483 with 358 home runs.  He also had 125 stolen bases.  He hit over 20 homers every year from 2000-2010, topping 30 in five of those years.  He made three all-star teams and won two silver slugger awards.  His best season was probably 2008, when he batted .314/.368/.569 with 28 home runs.  Oddly, he did not make the all-star team that season.  He was also durable, playing in over 150 games ten times and over 140 games twelve times.  He never led the league in any major categories, and I'm not nominating him for the Hall of Fame or anything.  But he was someone you'd be quite happy to have on your side for quite a few years.

Record:  The Twins were 24-18, in second place in the American League Central, a half game behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty-one

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 18, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 16.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-5 with a home run (his third), a double, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, three runs, and five RBIs.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a home run (his sixth), two runs, and four RBIs.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-5 with a walk and two runs.  Tom Prince was 1-for-1 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out three.  Tony Fiore pitched two perfect innings of relief.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Lee was 2-for-4 with a double.  Sandy Alomar was 2-for-4.

The game:  The White Sox took the early lead.  In the second Magglio Ordonez singled and scored from first on Lee's double.  Lee then scored on a sacrifice fly-plus-error to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.  The Twins got one back in the bottom of the inning when Dustan Mohr doubled, went to third on Pierzynski's single, and scored on a ground out, cutting the margin to 2-1.

The Twins took the lead in the third.  Guzman walked, Koskie hit a one-out single, and Kielty hit a three-run homer, making it 4-2 Twins.

The Twins took control in the fourth.  The first five batters reached, with two singles and an error loading the bases, Guzman delivering a two-run single, and a walk loading the bases.  With one out Kielty singled home two more and Hunter hit a three-run homer to make the score 11-2.

The Twins kept adding on.  In the sixth two walks, and a Hunter single brought home a run, Pierzynski doubled home another, a ground out scored a third and Rivas singled home another to make it 15-2.  Jose Valentin homered in the seventh to make it 15-3.  Prince led off the eighth with a home run and Mientkiewicz hit a two-run homer later in the inning to bring the final to 18-3.

WP:  Radke (5-3).  LP:  Mark Buehrle (2-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mohr was in left field, with Denny Hocking in right and Kielty as the DH.  Apparently, Ron Gardenhire didn't think much of Kielty's defense, as he was seemingly playing everyone else in the outfield while keeping Kielty at DH.

Chris Gomez went to short in the seventh, replacing Guzman.  Prince replaced Pierzynski behind the plate in the eighth.

Prince was batting .313.  Hocking was 1-for-5 to get his average up to triple digits at .107.

Radke lowered his ERA to 5.60.  Fiore's ERA was 5.57.

Mark Buehrle started for Chicago.  He pitched 3.1 innings and allowed ten runs (nine earned) on ten hits and two walks and struck out none.  Buehrle had an awful May, going 0-4, 7.16 in five starts.  I don't know if it was an injury, a mechanical problem, or just bad luck. In four of the other six months his ERA was under four, and the other month (August) it was at 4.50.  For the season he was 14-14, 4.14.

This was the most runs the Twins would score in a game in 2003.

Record:  The Twins were 23-18, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Forty

KANSAS CITY 9, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA (14 INNINGS)

Date:  Thursday, May 15.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 4-for-7 with a triple.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-5 with two runs.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-5 with two walks.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-6 with a triple.

Pitching stars:  Juan Rincon pitched a perfect inning.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.  Tony Fiore pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Mike Defelice was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-7 with two runs.  Desi Relaford was 2-for-7 with a stolen base, his sixth.  Angel Berroa was 2-for-7.  Carlos Beltran was 1-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and three walks.

The game:  Michael Tucker led off the game with a double and Beltran hit a one-out home run, putting the Royals up 2-0.  The Twins played catch-up the rest of the day.

They got on the board in the third on two-out walks to Doug Mientkiewicz and Koskie and an RBI single by Todd Sears.  Kansas City got the run back in the fourth when Ibanez singled, went to third on Ken Harvey's double, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  The Twins cut the margin to 3-2 in the fifth on singles by Rivas and Guzman and a sacrifice fly.  The tied it in the sixth when Torii Hunter singled and scored on Guzman's triple.

The Royals went back in front in the seventh.  Relaford led off with a single and scored on Defelice's triple.  A pair of walks loaded the bases with one out and a balk brought home a run to make it 5-3 Kansas City.  The Twins got out of the inning with no further damage and got one of the runs back in the bottom of the seventh when Guzman tripled and scored on a ground out.  With two out in the eighth Rivas and Guzman singled, Mientkiewicz walked to load the bases, and Koskie walked to bring in the tying run.  Denny Hocking struck out to leave the bases loaded. Neither team scored in the ninth, so we went to extra innings.

This was back when men were men, and we didn't have any ridiculous "start the inning with a man on second" nonsense.  The Royals put together a couple of threats.  A hit batsman and a walk put two on with two out in the ninth.  Defelice hit a one-out double in the eleventh.  The Twins had men on first and third with one out in the twelfth, but a double play ended the inning.  Kansas City had men on first and second with one out in the thirteenth.

The dam finally broke in the fourteenth.  Joe Randa led off with a double and Beltran walked.  Mike Sweeney singled to load the bases.  Raul Ibanez then singled home a run.  A sacrifice fly brought home a second, and RBI singles by Relaford and Berroa made it 9-5.  The Twins could not rally in the bottom of the inning.

WP:  D. J. Carrasco (3-1).  LP:  Johan Santana (2-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Sears was again at first base and Mientkiewicz in right field.  Dustan Mohr was again in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.  It seems odd to me that Kielty, an outfielder, would be the DH while Mientkiewicz, a first baseman, was in right field.  It's hard to second-guess a decision like that when we're this far removed from it, though, and Gardy may have had a good reason for doing it this way.

Denny Hocking pinch-ran for Sears in the seventh and stayed in the game in right field, with Mientkiewicz going to first base.  Jones pinch-hit for Rivas in the twelfth.  Chris Gomez came in to play second base in the thirteenth.

Jones was 0-for-1 and was batting .338.  Hocking was 0-for-2 and was batting .087.

Kenny Rogers started for the Twins and pitched 6.1 innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out six.  J. C. Romero did not give up a run in two-thirds of an inning to make his ERA 3.38.  Rincon's ERA was 1.37.  Hawkins' ERA was 1.53.  Guardado's ERA was 1.72.  Johan Santana was charged with all four fourteenth-inning runs in his third inning of work, making his ERA 2.56.  Fiore lowered his ERA to 6.16.

Miguel Ascencio started for the Royals.  He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and three walks and striking out five.

Both starting catchers hit a triple in this game.  I don't know how often that's happened, but it certainly seems unusual.  Pierzynski had three triples in 2003 and twenty-four for his career.  It was Defelice's only triple of the season and one of nine he had in his career.

I had remembered Joe Randa as something of a Twins-killer, but he really wasn't.  His career numbers against them are .275/.315/.404, not terrible but nothing special, either.  Those are actually below his overall career numbers of .284/.339/.426.

The battle of the top two teams in the division was evenly split, so the Twins remained where they had been before the series.

Record:  The Twins were 22-18, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-nine

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 7, KANSAS CITY 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, May 14.

Batting stars:  Doug Mienkiewicz was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-3 with a double, a stolen base, and two runs.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-4.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5 with a triple.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifth.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits  and one walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  None.

The game:  Guzman led off the first with a triple and scored on a Mientkiewicz single to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It stayed 1-0 until the fourth.  Matthew LeCroy was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Torii Hunter and Todd Sears walked, loading the bases.  A ground out scored one, a sacrifice fly scored another, and Rivas had an RBI single to make it 4-0 Twins.

The Twins continued to add on.  In the fifth Mientkiewicz led off with a double and Koskie followed with a two-run homer to make it 6-0.  Mohr led off the sixth with a double, went to third on Rivas' single, and scored on a ground out to bring the score to 7-0.

Reed was in complete control.  The only threat the Royals had came in the fourth, and it was a mild one.  Carlos Beltran drew a two-out walk and Mike Sweeney singled, putting men on first and second.  Raul Ibanez flied to left to end the inning.  They had only three hits and had none after the fifth inning.

WP:  Reed (2-4).  LP:  Runelvys Hernandez (4-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Sears was at first base, with Mientkiewicz in right field.  Mohr was in left in place of Jacque Jones.

Bobby Kielty pinch-ran for LeCroy in the fourth, after LeCroy was hit by a pitch, and stayed in the game at DH.

Mohr was batting .315.  LeCroy was 0-for-1 and was batting .314.  Kielty was 1-for-3 and was batting .307.

By game scores this was easily Reed's best game of the season.  His game score was 82; his next best was 65, which he did twice.

Hernandez pitched five innings, allowing six runs on six hits and two walks and striking out three.  Runelvys apparently left the building and went on the disabled list after this game, as he did not pitch again until July 11.

Jones was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game.  He would not start again until May 17.

Record:  The Twins were 22-17, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-eight

MINNESOTA 4, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Tuesday, May 13.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4.  Todd Sears was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse struck out seven in seven innings, giving up one run on eight hits and no walks and striking out seven.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Kyle Snyder pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out three.  Desi Relaford was 3-for-4 with a stolen base, his fifth.  Ken Harvey was 2-for-4 with a double.  Carlos Beltran was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his fourth.  Mike Sweeney was 2-for-5.

The game:  The Royals had a man on third with two out in the first and had two on with none out in the fifth, but it was still scoreless through five.  Beltran led off the sixth with a single.  A force out meant that it was Raul Ibanez on first with two down.  Harvey singled, and then Relaford delivered an RBI single.  Relaford was out trying to stretch it to a double, but it was till 1-0 Kansas City.

The Twins tied it in the seventh.  LeCroy hit a one-out double and scored on a two-out single by Doug Mientkiewicz.  The tie lasted until the next half-inning.  In the eighth, Beltran and Ibanez walked and Harvey delivered a double to put the Royals back up 2-1.

It was still 2-1 until the bottom of the ninth.  But Chris Gomez led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Bobby Kielty single to tie it 2-2.

We went to the tenth.  Kansas City got a two-out single, but no more.  In the bottom of the inning, Mohr singled with one out.  With two out, Sears hit a walkoff two-run homer to give the Twins a 4-2 victory.

WP:  Hawkins (2-0).  LP:  Albie Lopez (4-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  Mohr was in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Denny Hocking was in right field.

Tom Prince pinch-ran for LeCroy in the seventh.  Sears pinch-hit for Hocking in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base, with Mientkiewicz moving to right field.  Jacque Jones pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the eighth.  Cristian Guzman then came in to play short, with Gomez moving to second.  Bobby Kielty pinch-hit for Prince in the ninth.

Jones was 0-for-1 and was batting .340.  LeCroy raised his average to .318.  Kielty was 1-for-1 and was batting .306.  Mohr was batting .302.

Hocking was 0-for-2 and was batting .095.

Lohse lowered his ERA to 3.27.  Johan Santana gave up one run in one inning to make his ERA 1.57.  Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.62.

LeCroy was 9-for-20 in his last five games and 15-for-39 in his last ten games.

I mentioned Sears' first home run the other day.  This was his second and last.  He didn't have a long or particularly good career, but he has this one story of a walkoff home run that he can tell his grandchildren some day.

Neither starter walked a batter, and there were only three walks in the entire game.  Either the pitchers had excellent control, the batters were swinging at everything, or the umpire had a really big strike zone.

If you remember Mike Sweeney as a Twins-killer, you're right.  For his career he batted .325/.384/.554 with twenty-five home runs against them.  His slugging average and OPS were higher against the Twins than against any other team, excluding National League teams against which he had fewer than fifty at-bats.  In 2003, however, not so much:  he hit .281/.369/.421 with just two home runs..  That's good, but it's nothing to get particularly excited about.

I couldn't quickly find out how many times Prince was used as a pinch-runner in his career, but it can't be very many.  That he was used in this game, at age thirty-eight, when he'd lost any little bit of speed he had, says something about LeCroy's running ability.

Record:  The Twins were 21-17, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-seven

KANSAS CITY 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 2-for-2 with two stolen bases (his fourth and fifth).  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks and striking out two.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Juan Rincon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Jeremy Affeldt struck out eight in six innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and a walk.  Jason Grimsley pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.  Carlos Beltran was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a stolen base (his third), and two runs.  Brent Mayne was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Royals scored two in the first inning.  With one out, Joe Randa walked, Carlos Beltran singled, and Mike Sweeney walked, loading the bases.  Raul Ibanez delivered a two-run single, making it 2-0 Kansas City.

Hunter homered with two out in the fourth to get the Twins on the board, but Beltran homered with two out in the fifth to make it 3-1.  With one out in the sixth, Corey Koskie singled and scored from first on a Matthew LeCroy double to cut the margin to 3-2.  LeCroy got to third with two out, but did not score.  In the seventh Dustan Mohr singled and was bunted to second, but did not advance.  The Twins would not get a man past first after that.

WP:  Affeldt (3-1).  LP:  Mays (3-2).  S:  Mike MacDougal (11).

Notes:  LeCroy was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Bobby Kielty was the DH.

Tom Prince replaced LeCroy in the ninth.  Denny Hocking pinch-ran for Doug Mientkiewicz in the ninth.  Pierzynski pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the ninth.

Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .343.  LeCroy was 1-for-4 and was batting .305.

Mays lowered his ERA to 5.85.  Rincon lowered his ERA to 1.45.

The Twins were 0-for-5 with men in scoring position.

This was a battle between the top two teams in the Central Division.

Record:  The Twins were 20-17, in second place in the American League Central, 3.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-six

MINNESOTA 9, BOSTON 8 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, May 11.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.  Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a triple, three runs, and two RBIs.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a double.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4 with a double.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Jeremy Giambi was 4-for-4 with two home runs, his third and fourth.  Manny Ramirez was 2-for-5 with a double.  Todd Walker was 2-for-5.  Nomar Garciaparra was 2-for-5.  Jason Varitek was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.  Bill Mueller was 1-for-5 with a home run, his third.  Ramiro Mendoza pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk.

The game:  Jones led off the bottom of the first with a single and scored on LeCroy's double.  They took a commanding lead in the second.  With one out, Mohr and Pierzynski singled, Luis Rivas had an RBI double, Jones hit a two-run triple, and a ground out scored another run.  It was 5-0 Twins after two.

The lead increased in the fourth.  Pierzynski, Rivas, and Jones all singled, loading the bases with one out.  An error scored two runs and a sacrifice fly brought home a third, making the score 8-0 after four.

Mueller homered in the fifth to get the Red Sox on the board, but it was still 8-1.  And the Twins got the run back in the bottom of the fifth when Torii Hunter and Mientkiewicz singled and a ground out brought the run home, so it was 9-1 after five.

Then the Red Sox started their comeback.  It started slowly, with one run in the sixth on singles by Walker, Garciaparra, and Trot Nixon.  With one out in the seventh Giambi and Varitek homered, Johnny Damon and Walker singled, and Ramirez hit a ground-rule double to cut the lead to 9-5.  Giambi homered again in the eighth to make it 9-6.

Then came the ninth.  The first two Boston batters went out.  Garciaparra and Ramirez singled.  Kevin Millar walked, loading the bases.  Shea Hillenbrand delivered a two-run single, making the score 9-8 and putting men on first and second.  But Bill Mueller grounded to short, and the Twins held on for the win.

WP:  Brad Radke (4-3).  LP:  Derek Lowe (3-3).  S:  Eddie Guardado (8).

Notes:  Denny Hocking replaced Corey Koskie at third base in the seventh.

Jones raised his average to .353.  LeCroy was batting .308.

Hocking was 0-for-1 and was batting .105.

Radke pitched well for six innings, but his line is 6.1 innings, five runs, ten hits, no walks, and two strikeouts.  His ERA went to 5.85.

LaTroy Hawkins gave up one run in 1.2 innings to raise his ERA to 1.84.  Guardado gave up two runs in one inning to raise his ERA to 1.84.

Record:  The Twins were 20-26, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-four

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MINNESOTA 5, BOSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 9.

Batting stars:  Todd Sears was 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out three.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  J. C. Romero pitched a perfect inning.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jason Shiell struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.  Jason Varitek was 1-for-2 with a walk.

The game:  Jones and Guzman opened the game with singles.  With one out, Sears singled to put the Twins up 1-0 in the first.

In the second, A. J. Pierzynski led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Jones.  Guzman followed with a single.  With two out, Sears delivered a three-run homer to make it 5-0 Twins.

And that was it.  The Red Sox had some threats.  Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-out triple in the first.  Bill Mueller had a two-out double in the second.  With two out in the fourth, Shea Hllenbrand singled and Miller reached on an error.  But none of them came to anything, and the last ten Boston batters were retired.

WP:  Santana (2-0).  LP:  Pedro Martinez (3-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Sears was the DH.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jones raised his average to .338.  Sears was batting .308.

Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 and was batting .191.

Santana's ERA was 1.13.  Hawkins' ERA was 1.38.  Guardado's ERa was 0.66.

I remember that Sears hit a mammoth home run in his short career.  I'm wondering if this might have been it.  He only hit one other homer, so there's a fifty percent chance.  Memory tells me that it took out some lights on the scoreboard or something.  It was a big home run in the game, whether it was a monster homer or not.

Martinez pitched five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out five.  He only lost four games in 2003, so this was an unusual thing.  He went 14-4, 2.22, 1.04 WHIP.  He led the league in winning percentage, ERA, FIP, WHIP, hits per nine, homers per nine, and strikeouts per nine.  He finished third in Cy Young voting, behind Roy Halladay and Esteban Loaiza, and while both of them have fine seasons you can make an argument that Martinez should have won it.  The one thing that probably hurt him is that he only made 29 starts and pitched just 186.2 innings.  Nothing wrong with that, but Halladay made 36 starts and pitched 266 innings, and eighty more innings makes a difference.  On the other hand, Halladay's ERA was a full run higher and Martinez actually struck out two more batters even though he pitched eighty fewer innings.  At any rate, Martinez was an excellent pitcher, and it was quite a thing to beat him.

This was Santana's first start of the season.  He was taking the place of Rick Reed, who missed a start due to injury.  Despite his strong start, he would go back to the bullpen.  His next start came on June 7, and he would not join the rotation until July 11.

The Twins had won consecutive games by a 5-0 score.  They had won nine of out of ten.

Record:  The Twins were 19-15, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.