Tag Archives: Billy Traber

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Nineteen

CLEVELAND 9, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 12.

Batting stars:  Shannon Stewart was 3-for-5 with a double.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Travis Hafner was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.  Ryan Ludwick was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth), a walk, three runs, and three RBIs.  Jody Gerut was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Jhonny Peralta was 2-for-4.  Casey Blake was 2-for-5 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Ben Broussard was 2-for-5 with a double.  Angel Santos was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Rafael Betancourt struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Hafner hit a two-run double in the second to put the Indians up 2-0.  The Twins tied it in the third on a two-run strikeout.  With men on second and third, Doug Mientkiewicz struck out.  The ball was not held, and on the throw to first Cristian Guzman scored from third.  The throw from the first baseman was wild, allowing Stewart to score from second and tie it up 2-2.

Cleveland got the lead back in the fourth on Peralta's RBI single.  The Twins took their first and only lead of the game in the fifth when LeCroy hit a two-out two-run homer to put MInnesota up 4-3.

The Indians tied it in the sixth when Ludwick homered.  They went into the lead to stay in the seventh.  Santos led off with a homer, Blake hit a one-out homer, and Ludwick hit a two-out, two-run homer to make it 8-4 Cleveland.

That was pretty much it.  Each team scored in the ninth.  The Indians got an RBI single by Broussard and the Twins got a two-run single by Mientkiewicz.  The Twins had the tying run up to bat with one out, but Corey Koskie fouled out and A. J. Pierzynski fanned to end the game.

WP:  Betancourt (2-1).  LP:  James Baldwin (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was behind the plate in place of Pierzynski.  Pierzynski pinch-hit for him in the ninth.  Stewart was in left, Dustan Mohr in right, and Michael Restovich at DH.

Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Guzman in the ninth.  Jacque Jones pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the ninth.  Chris Gomez pinch-ran for Jones in the ninth.

This was Ryan's first game with the Twins in 2003.  He had played seven games in the majors in 2002.

Ryan was 1-for-1 and was batting 1.000.  Stewart was batting .320.  Restovich was 1-for-3 and was batting .314.  Jones did not have an official at-bat and was batting .305.  Koskie was 1-for-4 and was batting .302.  Pierzynski was 0-for-1 and was batting .300.

Joe Mays started.  He pitched five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.  His ERA went down to 6.38.

Billy Traber started for Cleveland.  He pitched three innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three.  This was his rookie season, and the only season in which he pitched more than fifty innings.  He threw 111.2 innings and went 6-9, 5.24, 1.54 WHIP.  He was in 33 games, 18 of them starts.  He had started the season in the bullpen but went into the rotation in early June.  He did substantially better as a reliever:  2-1, 3.52 versus 4-8, 5.68 as a starter.  He then was injured and didn't make it back to the majors until 2006, with Washington.  For his career he was 12-14, 5.65, 1.59 WHIP.

Record:  The Twins were 61-58, in third place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were two games behind second-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Three

CLEVELAND 9, MINNESOTA 2 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Saturday, July 26.

Batting star:  Dustan Mohr was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Joe Mays pitched six innings of relief, giving up one run on nine hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jody Gerut was 3-for-4 with a grand slam, his thirteenth homer.  Travis Hafner was 3-for-4 with a double.  Victor Martinez was 2-for-4.  Ryan Ludwick was 2-for-4.  Milton Bradley was 2-for-5 with a double.  Coco Crisp was 2-for-5.  Billy Traber pitched 6.1 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks and striking out six.

The game:  The Twins actually got on the board first.  With one out in the second inning Matthew LeCroy reached on an error.  Consecutive singles by Jacque Jones, Mohr, Chris Gomez, and Cristian Guzman plated two runs and gave the Twins a 2-0 lead.

Then came the bottom of the second.  Bradley doubled and Hafner singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  Singles by Ludwick, Victor Martinez, and John McDonald gave the Indians a 3-2 lead.  An error scored another run, and Coco Crisp singled to load the bases.  Casey Blake struck out, but Gerut hit a grand slam, making the score 8-2 Cleveland.

And that was pretty much it.  The Twins only threatened once, in the seventh, when they put men on second and third with two out.  The Indians added a run in the eighth when Angel Santos tripled and scored on Crisp's single.

WP:  Traber (5-5).  LP:  Kyle Lohse (6-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  Gomez was at third, as Corey Koskie was still out.  Shannon Stewart was the DH.

Alex Prieto made his major league debut in this game, pinch-hitting for Jones in the ninth.  He would be with the Twins for about a week, appearing in three games, then would come back as a September call-up.  In all, he would play in eight games in 2003 and sixteen in 2004, getting 43 at-bats and batting .209 with one home run.  Those were his career totals.  He kept playing through 2010, but did not make the majors again.

Lohse started and lasted just 1.2 innings.  He allowed eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits and struck out three.  He did not walk anyone--maybe he should have.  His ERA went to 5.18.  His game score was 12, his worst of the season.

Mays lowered his ERA to 6.44.

You can be forgiven if you don't remember Billy Traber.  This was his rookie season--he had started in the bullpen, but went into the rotation in early June.  He had a few excellent games--a one-hit shutout of the Yankees on July 8, seven shutout innings Cincinnati on June 27 and again against Seattle on August 7.  He also had some awful games, though, and for the year he was 6-9, 5.24, 1.54 WHIP.  He was injured all of 2004, was in the minors in 2005, but battled his way back to the majors with Washington in 2006.  He was never very good, though.  He only once posted an ERA below five (4.76 with the Nationals in 2007).  The 1.54 WHIP he posted in 2003 was the lowest of his career.  He went to the Yankees in 2008 and made one appearance for Boston in 2009.  For his career he was 12-14, 5.65, 1.59 WHIP.  Whatever he did in those few excellent games, apparently it was not anything he could do consistently.

The Twins once again failed to get above .500.

Record:  The Twins were 51-52, in third place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were 1.5 games behind second-place Chicago.