Tag Archives: awesome bullpen

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

1991 Rewind: ALCS Game Five

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MINNESOTA 8, TORONTO 5 IN TORONTO

Date:  Sunday, October 13.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second), two runs, and two RBIs.  Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-4.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Shane Mack was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.

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

Opposition stars:  Manny Lee was 2-for-3 with two runs.  Roberto Alomar was 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs.  Devon White was 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, his third.

The game:  Puckett homered in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  In the second Chili Davis singled and went to second on a passed ball.  Brian Harper reached on a strikeout/passed ball, with Davis going to third.  Mack then delivered an RBI single to make it 2-0.  A bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out, but the Twins could do no more damage, keeping the score 2-0.

Toronto came alive in the third.  Lee led off with a single and White hit a one-out single.  Alomar singled to drive in a run, Joe Carter tied it with a ground-rule double, and a third run scored on a ground out, putting the Blue Jays up 3-2.  With two out in the fifth, Lee and Mookie Wilson singled and White walked, loading the bases.  Alomar then hit a two-run single to put Toronto ahead 5-2.

It was not looking good for the Twins, and when they left the bases loaded in the sixth it looked worse.  But they came back in the seventh.  Mack singled, stole second, and went to third on Pagliarulo's single.  With one out, Dan Gladden hit a grounder to third.  The Blue Jay could've had Mack out at the plate, but an error on catcher Pat Borders allowed him to score and left men on first and second.  Knoblauch then delivered a two-run double, tying the score 5-5.

With two on and nobody out in the eighth, Gladden singled and stole second.  Knoblauch walked.  Puckett singled to put the Twins ahead, an on a throw to the plate, the runners advanced to second and third.  That cost Toronto, because Kent Hrbek hit a two-run single to put the Twins up 8-5.  The Blue Jays did not advance a man past first after that, and the Twins advanced to the World Series.

WP:  West (1-0).  LP:  Duane Ward (0-1).  S:  Aguilera (3).

Notes:  The Twins made just one non-pitching substitution.  Junior Ortiz went behind the plate in place of Harper in the ninth.

Kevin Tapani started and pitched just four innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out four.  The Twins bullpen came through again, pitching five shutout innings and allowing just two baserunners.

The Twins bullpen was amazing in this series.  West pitched 5.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and four walks.  Carl Willis pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Aguilera pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  Mark Guthrie pitched 2.2 perfect innings.  Steve Bedrosian pitched 1.1 innings and allowed two runs, but both were unearned.  He allowed three hits and two walks.  Twins starters pitched 27.1 innings and pitched to an ERA of 5.53.  Twins relievers pitched 18.1 innings and pitched to an ERA of 0.00.  The bullpen bailed out the starters game after game, and was really the MVP of the series.

The Twins stole eight bases in the series, going 8-for-12.  Gladden had three, Knoblauch had two, Mack had two, and Davis had one.

Puckett led the team in batting, going .429/.435/.762.  Pagliarulo batted .333/.333/.600.  Knoblauch was .350/.435/.450.  Mack was .333/.381/.500.  Davis was at .294/.455/.412.

On the low side, Greg Gagne batted .235/.316/.235.  Hrbek batted .143/.182/.143.  Scott Leius, Gene Larkin, Junior Ortiz, and Paul Sorrento combined to go 0-for-11.

There was nothing for the Twins to do now but wait to see who they would play in the World Series.  Pittsburgh and Atlanta were tied at two games apiece at this point.

Record:  The Twins won the best-of-seven series four games to one.