Tag Archives: 2003 rewind

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-five

MINNESOTA 3, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, July 18.

Batting star:  Chris Gomez was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his second) and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Johan Santana pitched 7.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out seven.

Opposition stars:  Barry Zito struck out nine in an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs (two earned) on three hits and four walks.  Terrence Long was 2-for-3.

The game:  There were no hits in the game until the bottom of the third.  Dustan Mohr reached on an error, went to second on a ground out, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on the first hit of the game, a Gomez single.

It stayed 1-0 through seven, with neither team getting a man past first base.  In the eighth, however, the Athletics tied the score.  Eric Chavez singled, went to second on Long's single, and scored on a two-out single by Billy McMillon.  But the Twins came right back in the bottom of the eighth.  Jacque Jones led off with a bunt single and was bunted to second.  Shannon Stewart was intentionally walked.  Gomez then delivered an RBI single.  A ground out scored another run, giving the Twins a 3-1 lead heading to the ninth.

Oakland did not go away quietly.  Miguel Tejada walked, and Chavez delivered a two-out double that cut the lead to 3-2 and put the tying run in scoring position.  But Ramon Hernandez flied to center, and the victory was preserved.

WP:  LaTroy Hawkins (6-2).  LP:  Zito (8-7).  S:  Eddie Guardado (21).

Notes:  Gomez was at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Shannon Stewart pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the eighth, with Denny Hocking taking over at second base in the ninth.

Jones was 1-for-3 and was batting .306.

Santana lowered his ERA to 2.84.  Hawkins pitched two-thirds of an inning without giving up a run to make his ERA 2.47.

Zito had a fine year, but his won-lost record didn't show it.  He was 14-12, but with an ERA of 3.30 and a WHIP of 1.18.  He also had four complete games and one shutout.  His numbers were not all that far off his Cy Young year of 2002, but he received no votes at all in 2003 due to the won-lost record.

The Twins had won two games in a row for the first time since June 28-29.  In fact, this was only the third game they had won since then.

It seemed likely that Santana would stay in the rotation, as of course he did.

Record:  The Twins were 46-49, in second place in the American League Central, 6.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half game ahead of third-place Chicago.

 

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-four

MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 17.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifteenth), two runs, and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Ellis was 3-for-4.  Chris Singleton was 2-for-4.

The game:  The all-star break was apparently what the Twins needed, as they scored five runs in the first inning to put this one away early.  With one out Cristian Guzman reached on an error and Jones singled, putting men on first and second.  Then came three more singles, producing four runs:  Hunter had an RBI single, Pierzynski drove in two with a single, and Doug Mientkiewicz had a run-scoring single.  Another run scored on a ground out to make it 5-0 after one inning.

The Athletics got on the board in the second on consecutive two-out singles by Terrence Long, Ellis, and Singleton.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the second when Hunter homered.

And that was pretty much it.  Oakland got one more run, scoring in the sixth when Miguel Tejada singled and scored on a Ramon Hernandez double.  Hernandez was thrown out trying to go to third, however, and the Athletics did not mount another threat the rest of the game.

WP:  Reed (5-9).  LP:  Tim Hudson (7-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at third base in the continuing absence of Corey Koskie.

Jones raised his average to .306.  Pierzynski was batting .300.

Much was made of the Twins debut of Shannon Stewart in this game, but he went 0-for-5 as the DH.  More important was the return of Jones to the lineup, as he had three hits and scored a run.  Stewart would eventually see time in left field, with Jones either in right or at DH.  The playing time of people like Justin Morneau and Matthew LeCroy would be substantially reduced, with Morneau eventually being sent back to AAA simply because there was not a spot for him.

It really was a big deal to Twins fans when they acquired Stewart.  I still remember finding out about it.  I had been at a local ball game that night, and turned on ESPN while getting ready for bed.  The bottom line crawl said that Stewart had been traded, and my thought was "Oh.  I wonder who got him."  Then the crawl said it was the Twins, and I just went, "Wow!"  I was stunned that they would pull off a trade like that.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.51.

Hudson pitched seven innings for Oakland, giving up six runs (four earned) on eleven hits and one walk and striking out two.  He was having what was probably the best season of his career.  He would finish 16-7, 2.70, 1.08 WHIP and would finish fourth in Cy Young voting.   He could've finished better--I'm not saying it was injustice, just that his numbers are pretty much in line with the top three that year (Roy Halladay, Esteban Loaiza, and Pedro Martinez).

The win snapped an eight-game losing streak, and was the first win for the Twins since the fourth of July.  Their drop to third place turned out to be brief.

Record:  The Twins were 45-49, in second place in the American League Central, 7.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-three

ANAHEIM 8, MINNESOTA 3 IN ANAHEIM

Date:  Sunday, July 13.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fourteenth), a walk, and two runs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4.  Chris Gomez was 2-for-5 with a triple.

Pitching star:  Juan Rincon struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Benji Gil was 2-for-3.  Garret Anderson was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-second), a stolen base (his fifth), and two runs.  Bengie Molina was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Troy Glaus was 2-for-4 with two runs.  John Lackey pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.

The game:  The Twins got a pair of one-out singles in the second, but a double play took them out of the inning.  The Angels then got on the board in the third when Adam Kennedy walked, was bunted to second, and scored on a Scott Spiezio double.

The Twins took their only lead of the game in the fourth, when Bobby Kielty got a two-out single and Hunter followed with a two-run homer.  The lead lasted until the first batter of the next half inning, as Anderson led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run.  Later in the inning Glaus singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Molina's double.  Gil followed with an RBI single, and that quickly it was 4-2 Anaheim.

The Twins stayed in the game thanks to Rincon's fine relief pitching.  They got closer in the sixth, when Mientkiewicz singled, Hunter walked, and Pierzynski had an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-3.  Hunter was thrown out trying to go third on the single, however, so the inning ended with the Twins still trailing by a run.  In the seventh, the Twins managed to get a walk and three singles and not score.  Justin Morneau drew the walk leading off the inning but was erased by a double play.  Luis Rivas, Gomez, and Denny Hocking then got consecutive singles, but Rivas was thrown out trying to score on Hocking's single, so again the score remained 4-3.  The Twins put men on first and third with two out in the eighth, but again could not tie the score.

The Angels finally put the game away in the bottom of the eighth.  Singles by Tim Salmon, Anderson, and Glaus brought home one run.  Jeff DaVanon walked to load the bases, Molina singled home a run, a wild pitch brought home another, and a sacrifice fly brought the score to 8-4.  The Twins got a two-out triple in the ninth, but 8-4 was where it ended.

WP:  Lackey (7-8).  LP:  Kyle Lohse (6-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Hocking was at third in the continued absence of Corey Koskie.  Dustan Mohr remained in left in the absence of Jacque Jones.  Bobby Kielty was in right.  Morneau was the DH.

Lew Ford pinch-ran for Morneau in the seventh and remained in the game at DH.  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Ford in the eighth.  Guzman pinch-hit for Mohr in the ninth.

Ford was the only Twin with an average over .300, and he did not bat.

Lohse struck out four in four innings, but allowed four runs on five hits and a walk.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched just a third of an inning, but also allowed four runs.  His ERA jumped from 1.79 to 2.56.  He would eventually get it back below two, but it would take a couple of months.

This would be Kielty's last game as a Twin.  He would be traded to Toronto over the all-star break for Dave Gassner and Shannon Stewart.

There was probably no team happier to see the all-star break come than the Twins.  They had lost eight in a row and twelve of thirteen.  They had also finally fallen into third place.

Record:  The Twins were 44-49, in third place in the American League Central, 7.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half-game behind second-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-two

ANAHEIM 6, MINNESOTA 1 IN ANAHEIM

Date:  Saturday, July 12.

Batting star:  Denny Hocking was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second.

Pitching star:  Brad Radke struck out seven in 6.1 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:   Jerrod Washburn pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and one walk and striking out five.  Francisco Rodriguez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.  Scott Spiezio was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Jeff DaVanon was 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base (his tenth) and two runs.

The game:  There was no score, and not much in the way of threats, until the fifth, when Hocking hit a one-out homer.  Radke had given up just three harmless singles through five innings, so it looked like the one run might hold up.  In the sixth, however, Spiezio reached third on a single-plus-error and scored on a Troy Glaus double, tying the score.

The Angels took control in the seventh.  DaVanon and Adam Kennedy opened the inning with singles.  With one out, Darin Erstad tripled them both home to make it 3-1.  Consecutive singles by Spiezio, Tim Salmon, and Garret Anderson increased the lead to 5-1, and there it stayed.  The Twins had only one hit after Hocking's home run, a one-out single by Doug Mientkiewicz in the sixth.

WP:  Washburn (8-9).  LP:  Radke (5-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman, who may have been battling a minor injury.  Denny Hocking was at third in place of Corey Koskie, who was also injured.  Dustan Mohr remained in left in place of Jacque Jones, with Bobby Kielty in right.

Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 and was batting .301.

Radke's ERA came down to 5.49.  J. C. Romero gave up a run while retiring no one and had an ERA of 5.20.  James Baldwin retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 2.70.

This was Rodriguez' rookie season, although he'd appeared in five games in 2002.  The Angels had a tremendous bullpen:  closer Troy Percival had the highest ERA of the bunch.  It was Brendan Donnelly (1.58, 1.07 WHIP); Ben Weber (2.69, 1.32); Scot Shields (2.85, 1.19), Rodriguez (3.03, 0.99), and Percival (3.47, 1.14).  Plus, the had Scott Schoeneweis (3.96, 1.22) in long relief, and in September they called up Derrick Turnbow (0.59, 0.65).  On the other hand, Washburn had the best starters' ERA at 4.43.  If you were going to beat Anaheim, you'd better get them early.

The Twins had lost seven in a row and eleven of twelve.  The only good news was that Kansas City wasn't playing all that well, and third-place Chicago was playing just about as poorly as the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 44-48, in second place in the American League Central, 6.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half-game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-one

ANAHEIM 5, MINNESOTA IN ANAHEIM

Date:  Friday, July 11.

Batting star:  Luis Rivas was 1-for-2 and was hit by a pitch.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched six inning, giving up three runs on five hits and no walks and striking out four.  Juan Rincon pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ramon Ortiz pitched six shutout innings, giving up three hits and four walks and striking out five.  Garret Anderson was 2-for-4.  Tim Salmon was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fourteenth.  Scott Spiezio was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his ninth.  Brendan Donnelly pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.

The game:  The Twins got two on with one out in the third and loaded the bases with two out in the fourth, but could not get on the board.  They only had one hit in those innings, with the other baserunners coming from walks and a hit batsman.  The Angels got on the board in the fourth when Anderson singled, was balked to second, and scored on a Troy Glaus double.

The Twins had men on first and third with two out in the fifth, but again could not score.  In the sixth Darin Erstad doubled and Salmon hit a two-run homer to make it 3-0.  Anaheim got two more in the eighth when Erstad walked and Spiezio hit a two-run homer.  The Twins got only one hit in the last four innings, a one-out single by Rivas in the seventh.

WP:  Ortiz (11-6).  LP:  Santana (4-2).  S:  Donnelly (2).

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Guzman entered the game in the fourth inning in the spot of Corey Koskie, due to injury.  Gomez moved to third base.  Koskie would not return to the lineup until August 4.  Dustan Mohr remained in left in place of Jacque Jones, with Bobby Kielty in right.  Denny Hocking was in center in place of Torii Hunter.

Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 and was batting .302.

Santana entered the rotation at this point, taking the spot of Joe Mays.  His ERA was an even 3.00.  Rincon's ERA went down to 3.33.

The Twins were again shut down by an average pitcher.  Yes, Ortiz was 11-6, but his ERA at this point was 4.41.  He'd had a fine year in 2002, going 15-9, 3.77, 1.18 WHIP, but in 2003 a shiny won-lost record hid the fact that he wasn't very good.  He wouldn't get better in the second half, either:  he ended the season 16-13, 5.20, 1.51 WHIP.  He would continue to pitch for another ten years, but he never had a good year in the majors again.

Anaheim's closer, of course, was Troy Percival, but Donnelly was really good, too.  He didn't give up an earned run until May 22, his twenty-first game.  This was the thirty-ninth game he'd appeared in, and he'd still given up a grand total of one earned run, giving him an ERA of 0.38.  He didn't keep that up, of course, but he ended the season with an ERA of 1.58 and a WHIP of 1.07.  This was the second of three saves he had for the season.  He made his only all-star team this season.  He was a fine reliever until 2007, when he blew out his elbow.  He tried to come back in 2008 and was terrible, but he bounced back to have a strong season in 2009.  That was his last good season, though, and after 2010 he was done.

The Twins had lost six games in a row and ten of eleven.

Record:  The Twins were 44-47, second in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were one game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety

TEXAS 9, MINNESOTA 4 AT TEXAS

Date:  Thursday, July 10.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 3-for-5.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-2.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Joe Mays pitched a scoreless inning of relief, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  John Thomson pitched seven innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out four.  Michael Young was 3-for-4 with a three-run homer (his ninth), a double, and two runs.  Juan Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his twenty-second and twenty-third) and four RBIs.  Mark Teixiera was 2-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.

The game:  Young and Hank Blalock opened the game with singles, and later in the first Gonzalez hit a three-run homer to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead.  The Twins got on the board in the third when Cristian Guzman reached on an error and scored on a Doug Mientkiewicz single.  Gonzalez homered in the fourth to make it 4-1, but the Twins got the run back in the fifth when Mientkiewicz walked, went to third on a Koskie single, and scored on a ground out, cutting the margin to 4-2.

But it was downhill from there.  In the bottom of the fifth, Laynce Nix and Einar Diaz singled and Young hit a three-run homer.  In the sixth Teixeira homered and another run scored on a sacrifice fly.  It was 9-2 and the game was pretty much gone.

The Twins put two on in the seventh, but nothing came of it.  They did add two in the eighth.  LeCroy singled, Bobby Kielty walked, and an error loaded the bases.  A double play scored a run and Hocking singled home another, but that was all the Twins could do.  They got a two-out double in the ninth, but no more, and it ended 9-4.

WP:  Thomson (6-9).  LP:  Rick Reed (4-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Dustan Mohr remained in left and Kielty in right in the absence of Jacque Jones.  Hocking pinch-hit for Cristian Guzman in the seventh and remained in the game at shortstop.

LeCroy raised his average to .303.  Koskie raised his average to .300.

Reed lasted 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.  His ERA went to 5.03.

James Baldwin made his Minnesota Twins debut in this game.  He had signed with the Twins on June 10.  He would stay for a little over a month, then be released.  In this game he pitched 2.1 innings and gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits.

The Twins offense was again shut down by a mediocre pitcher.  Thomson would go 13-14, 4.85 in 35 starts for Texas in 2003.  He had been mediocre for Colorado in 1997 and 1998, but people made allowances for his youth and the thin air of Denver.  He was horrible in 1999, then was injured (or maybe he was injured and then was horrible), missed all of 2000, and came back to be fairly good in 2001.  He only had one good year after that, though:  with Atlanta in 2004.  Not that he was terrible; he just was, as we said mediocre.  For his career he was 63-85, 4.68.

The Twins had lost five in a row and nine of ten.  They're only consolation was that Kansas City and Chicago weren't doing much, either.  They had to feel like the all-star break couldn't come fast enough, but there were three games to play in Anaheim first.

Record:  The Twins were 44-46, in second place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were one game ahead of third place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eighty-nine

2 Comments

TEXAS 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN TEXAS

Date:  Wednesday, July 9.

Batting star:  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Joaquin Benoit pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out five.  Ryan Ludwick was 2-for-3 with a double.  Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Mark Teixiera was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twelfth).

The game:  Teixiera homered in the second inning to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.  The Twins did not mount a threat until the fifth, when Dustan Mohr hit a one-out double.  He got to third with two down, but was stranded there.  In the sixth, however, Hunter hit a two-out homer to tie it 1-1.

That was as good as it got for the Twins.  In the bottom of the sixth, Donnie Sadler walked and Rodriguez followed with a two-run homer.  In the seventh, Ludwick doubled and scored on a Michael Young single.  The Twins got a man to second in the seventh and eighth, but did not bring the tying run up to bat.

WP:  Benoit (4-4).  LP:  Kenny Rogers (7-5).  S:  Ugueth Urbina (26).

Notes:  Mohr remained in left and Bobby Kielty in right in the continued absence of Jacque Jones.  Justin Morneau was the DH.

The Twins had no one batting over .300 in their lineup.  The highest average was Doug Mientkiewicz at .296.

Rogers didn't pitch badly other than the home runs.  His line was seven innings, four runs, seven hits, three walks, and one strikeout.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.79.

By stifling the Twins offense, Benoit lowered his ERA to 5.27.  A month later he would be out of the rotation.  By 2005 he became a full-time reliever, and he had some very good years out of the bullpen.  For his career, he was 14-19, 6.06, 1.58 WHIP as a starter.  As a reliever, he was 44-30, 53 saves, 2.06, 1.12 WHIP.  He only had one season when he was the closer, 2013 for Detroit, but was a valuable member of major league bullpens for several years.  I think we can say he found his niche.

The Twins had lost four in a row and eight of nine.  They fell below .500 for the first time since April.

Record:  The Twins were 44-45, in second place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City.  They remained one game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eighty-eight

TEXAS 8, MINNESOTA 6 IN TEXAS

Date:  Tuesday, July 8.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 2-for-3 with a stolen base, his eighth.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5.

Pitching star:  Grant Balfour pitched three shutout innings, giving up a walk and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Michael Young was 3-for-5 with two runs.  Kevin Mench was 2-for-2 with two doubles and a hit-by-pitch.  Todd Greene was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Hank Blalock was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Rafael Palmeiro was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Juan Gonzalez was 1-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-first) and two RBIs.  Jay Powell pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

The game:  After a scoreless first, the Twins scored five runs in the second inning.  Bobby Kielty and Justin Morneau walked, Chris Gomez had an RBI single, and A. J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  A sacrifice fly scored a run, Lew Ford's double scored two more, and Mientkiewicz singled home another to give the Twins a 5-0 lead.

The lead lasted until the Rangers batted in the bottom of the second.  Palmeiro led off the inning with a home run.  The next two batters went out, but Mench and Mark Teixiera hit back-to-back doubles, Greene had an RBI single, Young singled and Blalock walked to load the bases, and Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run double to tie it 5-5.  Gonzalez homered leading off the third, and that quickly it was 6-5 Texas.

The Twins opened the fourth with singles, but nothing came of it.  The Rangers scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.  In the fifth, Greene doubled and scored on a Young single to increase the lead to 8-5.

The Twins did not threaten until the ninth.  Rivas led off with a single and stole second.  Mientkiewicz singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate.  A sacrifice fly brought home a run, but it was the second out.  Torii Hunter walked to bring the winning run to the plate and a wild pitch moved the tying run into scoring position.  But Bobby Kielty lined to center to end the game.

WP:  Powell (2-0).  LP:  Kyle Lohse (6-7).  S:  Ugueth Urbina (25).

Notes:  Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Ford was in left in the continuing absence of Jacque Jones, with Kielty in right.  Morneau was the DH.

Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Morneau in the eighth.

Ford was 1-for-4 and was batting .314.  Mientkiewicz raised his average to .301.  LeCroy was 1-for-1 and was batting .300.

Lohse lasted just three innings and allowed seven runs on ten hits and a walk.  He struck out three.  Whatever magic he'd had early in the season was clearly gone:  in his last five starts, he had pitched 23 innings and allowed 29 earned runs.  His ERA went from 2.91 to 4.63.

The Texas starter was Tony Mounce.  He also pitched just three innings, allowing five runs on five hits and three walks and striking out none.  This was the only major league season of his career.  He made 11 starts and went 1-5, 7.11, 1.78 WHIP.  He was 3-10, 4.41, 1.56 WHIP in 149 AAA innings and 31-21, 4.26, 1.46 WHIP in 431 AA innings.  There was obviously something about him that the Rangers liked, but it's also obvious that he was just not good enough to be a major league pitcher.

The Twins had now lost three in a row and seven of eight.  Another loss would drop them below .500.

Record:  The Twins were 44-44, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were one game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eighty-seven

CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, July 6.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5 with two doubles.

Pitching star:  Brad Radke pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Matt Lawton was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fourteenth) and three runs.  Shane Spencer was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fifth) and three RBIs.  Milton Bradley was 2-for-5 with a triple.  Jason Stanford pitched five innings, giving up two runs on five hits and four walks and striking out one.

The game:  Bradley hit a two-out triple in the first but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a home run.  That enabled the Twins to take the early lead in the second on a walk to Torii Hunter and a single-plus-error by Dustan Mohr.  It went to 2-0 in the third on back-to-back two-out doubles by Bobby Kielty and Mientkiewicz.

The Indians got on the board in the fourth when singles by Lawton and Bradley were followed by a sacrifice fly.  The Twins loaded the bases in the fourth and put men on first and second in the fifth but did not score.  They did get one more in the sixth when Pierzynski doubled and scored on a Luis Rivas single.

Cleveland got that run back in the seventh when Casey Blake doubled and scored on a Victor Martinez single.  Lawton homered in the eighth to tie it 3-3.  It stayed tied until the tenth, when Lawton singled and Spencer hit a two-run homer.  The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the tenth, and did not get a hit after the seventh.

WP:  David Riske (2-1).  LP:  Eddie Guardado (1-4).  S:  Danys Baez (20).

Notes:  Mohr remained in left in the absence of Jacque Jones, with Kielty in right.  Justin Morneau pinch-hit for Matthew LeCroy in the seventh and remained in the game at DH.

Corey Koskie was 0-for-5 and dropped to an even .300.

By game scores, this was Radke's best game since April 24.

LaTroy Hawkins gave up a run in two innings to raise his ERA to 1.84.

Cleveland used three players with Twins connections:  Lawton, Casey Blake, and Jack Cressend.

The Twins had lost two in a row and six of seven.

Record:  The Twins were 44-43, in second place in the American League Central, 3.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were one game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Eighty-six

CLEVELAND 13, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 5.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 with a home run, his ninth.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a home run, his fourteenth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Casey Blake was 5-for-5 with two home runs (his ninth and tenth), two doubles, three runs, and seven RBIs.  Milton Bradley was 4-for-4 with a home run (his seventh), a walk, three runs, and two RBIs.  Ben Broussard was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs.  Matt Lawton was 2-for-5 with a home run (his thirteenth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Brian Anderson pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out four.

The game:  Lawton started the scoring with a first-inning home run.  Blake had a two-run double later in the inning, and another run scored on a ground out to make it 4-0.  LeCroy got the Twins on the board with a home run in the second, but the Indians got the run back in the third on Blake's RBI single.

The onslaught continued in the fourth.  Lawton had an RBI single and Bradley hit a two-run homer.  Koskie homered in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-2, but Brandon Phillips had an RBI single in the fifth to get the run back again.

The Twins never got back into the game.  Blake homered in the seventh to make it 10-2.  Blake hit a three-run homer in the ninth to bring us to the final score of 13-2.

WP:  Anderson (6-6).  LP:  Joe Mays (8-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Dustan Mohr remained in left field in place of Jacque Jones, with Bobby Kielty in right.  Justin Morneau pinch-hit for Doug Mientkiewicz in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Koskie in the eighth and stayed in the game at third.  Denny Hocking replaced Torii Hunter in center field in the ninth.

Koskie was batting .305.

Mays lasted just three innings, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk.  His ERA was 6.57.  Johan Santana also pitched poorly, allowing four runs on six hits in three innings, although he did strike out six.  His ERA was 2.86.

This was Anderson's second stint with Cleveland.  He had pitched for them in 1996-1997, but was unprotected and was taken by Arizona in the expansion draft.  He signed with Cleveland as a free agent before the 2003 season, but was traded to Kansas City in late August with a player to be named later for two guys you never heard of (Trey Dyson and Kieran Mattison, neither of whom made the majors).  He pitched well in seven starts down the stretch for the Royals, then had two poor seasons before calling it a career.

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

Record:  The Twins were 44-42, in second place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were just two games ahead of third-place Chicago.