Tag Archives: Jack Cressend

Happy Birthday–May 13

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Leroy Morney (1909)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)
David Hernandez (1985)
John Ryan Murphy (1991)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

Bill McKinley was an American League umpire from 1946-65.

Bill Kinnamon was an American League umpire from 1960-69.

Sean McDonough has been a baseball broadcaster since 1988.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 13

Happy Birthday–May 13

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)
David Hernandez (1985)
John Ryan Murphy (1991)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

Bill McKinley was an American League umpire from 1946-65.

Bill Kinnamon was an American League umpire from 1960-69.

Sean McDonough has been a baseball broadcaster since 1988.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 13

Happy Birthday–May 13

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)
David Hernandez (1985)
John Ryan Murphy (1991)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

Bill McKinley was an American League umpire from 1946-65.

Bill Kinnamon was an American League umpire from 1960-69.

Sean McDonough has been a baseball broadcaster since 1988.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 13

Happy Birthday–May 13

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)
David Hernandez (1985)
John Ryan Murphy (1991)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

Bill McKinley was an American League umpire from 1946-65.

Bill Kinnamon was an American League umpire from 1960-69.

Sean McDonough has been a baseball broadcaster since 1988.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 13

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Four

CLEVELAND 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN CLEVELAND (14 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, July 27.

Batting stars:  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a walk.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-5 with a double.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-7.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and no walks and striking out four.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Juan Rincon pitched four innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Tim Laker was 3-for-5.  Coco Crisp was 3-for-7.  Casey Blake was 2-for-6 with two doubles.  Jhonny Peralta was 1-for-6 with a home run.  Jason Davis pitched nine innings, giving up two runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out four.  Ex-Twin Jack Cressend pitched two innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

The game:  Lots of missed opportunities early.  The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the first.  The Indians put a man on second with one out in the first and had men on second and third with one out in the second.  The Twins finally got on the board in the third, but missed a chance for more.  Stewart led off with a single and Luis Rivas followed with a double, putting men on second and third with none out.  They could only score once, however, and that was on a wild pitch which gave the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Cleveland promptly tied it in the bottom of the third when Peralta led off the inning with a home run.

The Twins got the lead back in the sixth when A. J. Pierzynski led off with a double and scored on Stewart's single.  They held the lead until the ninth, when the Indians tied it without getting a hit.  Milton Bradley walked and Ben Broussard reached on an error on a bunt.  Laker sacrificed the men to second and third, Ryan Ludwick was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Victor Martinez hit a sacrifice fly, tying the score 2-2.

The Twins got a man to third with two out in the tenth but did not score.  The Indians loaded the bases with two out in the tenth but did not score.  The Twins had a man on second with two out in the twelfth and did not score.  Cleveland had men on first and second with one out in the twelfth and a man on second with one out in the thirteenth and did not score.

The game ended in the fourteenth.  Casey Blake hit a one-out double and went to third on a ground out.  Bradley was intentionally walked and took second on defensive indifference and Zach Sorensen walked.  Laker then singled to left to bring home the deciding run.

WP:  Rafael Betancourt (1-1).  LP:  Rincon (2-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was again at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Stewart was in right.  Todd Sears was the DH.

Dustan Mohr replaced Jones in left in the eighth.  I don't know if Jones was hurting or if it was simply a defensive substitution, but Jones did not miss any games.  Justin Morneau pinch-hit for Mohr in the thirteenth, with Denny Hocking going to left.

Jones raised his average to .313.  Stewart was batting .309.

Reed's game score of 65 is one that he topped only once in 2003, when he pitched a three-hit shutout of Kansas City in May.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.50.

Cressend came up to the Indians on July 1 and had a tremendous half-season, going 2-1, 2.51, 1.14 WHIP in 33 games (43 innings).  It seemed as if, at age twenty-eight, he had finally found something.  If he did, though, he lost it again the next year.  He went 0-1, 6.32, 2.04 in eleven games (15.2 innings) in 2004 and never made it back to the majors after that.

The Twins had three players on their roster, MientkiewiczMorneau, and Sears, whose primary position was first base.  They also had Matthew LeCroy, who could play some first base.  That's really not the recommended way to construct a roster.

With the loss, the Twins feel deeper into third place.

Record:  The Twins were 51-53, in third place in the American League Central, 6.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were 2.5 games behind second-place Chicago.

Random Rewind: 2001, Game One Hundred Twenty-six

TORONTO 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 21.

Batting stars:  Cristian Guzman was 3-for-5.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-3.  Brian Buchanan was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching stars:  Eddie Guardado pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.  Todd Jones pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Carlos Delgado was 3-for-5 with a home run (his thirty-sixth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Raul Mondesi was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-second), a double, a walk, and two RBIs.  Alex Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-5 with a home run (his ninth) and a double.  Jose Cruz was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-fourth.  Scott Eyre struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Brad Radke was pitching and so, as you might guess, the Blue Jays scored in the first inning.  With one out, Gonzalez singled and was balked to second.  Delgado delivered a two-out RBI single and scored from first on Mondesi's double, giving Toronto a 2-0 lead before the Twins came to bat.  The Twins put men on first and second with one out in the bottom of the first, but a double play took them out of the inning.

The Blue Jays wasted a leadoff triple in the third.  It looked like it might cost them, as the Twins tied it up in the bottom of the inning.  Pierzynski led off with a single and scored on Luis Rivas' double-plus-error.  Rivas scored on a Guzman single to make it 2-2.  The Twins then took the lead in the fourth on Buchanan's two-out home run.  Cruz homered in the fifth, evening the score again at three.  The Twins took the lead back again in the bottom of the fifth, as Doug Mientkiewicz hit a two-out double and Corey Koskie circled the bases on a double-plus-error-plus-error, giving the Twins a 5-3 advantage.

Jack Cressend came in to relieve Radke in the sixth.  He gave up a home run to each of the first three batters he faced, Stewart, Delgado, and Mondesi, to put Toronto back in front at 6-5.  They added a run in the seventh when Gonzalez singled, Stewart doubled, Mondesi was intentionally walked with two out, and Brad Fullmer singled, making the score 7-5.

The Twins had their chances after that.  With one out in the seventh, Jacque Jones walked and Guzman singled, with a wild pitch moving them to second and third.  In the ninth, singles by Denny Hocking and Guzman put men on first and second with two out.  In both cases, however, the Twins were turned aside and 7-5 was the final score.

WP:  Brandon Lyon (2-2).  LPCressend (2-2).  S:   Billy Koch (29).

Notes:  Buchanan was in right field.  Matt Lawton had been the regular right fielder, but he was traded to the Mets for Rick Reed at the end of July.  Buchanan was the mostly-regular right fielder the rest of the way.

Hocking pinch-hit for Pierzynski in the ninth.

Mientkiewicz was batting .326.  He would finish at .306.  Guzman was batting .314.  He would finish at .302.  The Twins were fourth in team batting at .272.

Torii Hunter led the team in home runs with 27.  Koskie was right behind at 26.  The Twins had six other players with double-digit home runs:  David Ortiz (18).  Mientkiewicz (15), Jones (14), Guzman (10), Lawton (10), and Buchanan (10).  The Twins were ninth in home runs with 164.

Ortiz is widely considered to have been a bust during his time with the Twins.  He certainly wasn't the "Big Papi" he would become, but in 2001 he hit 18 homers and had an OPS of .799.  In 2002, his age 26 seasons, he batted 272, hit 20 homers, and had an OPS of .839.  I'm not claiming that's Hall-of-Fame worthy or anything, but it's a long way from Scott Stahoviak.

Radke pitched five innings, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five.  Radke had a good year in 2001, going 15-11, 3.94.  The best starter was actually Joe Mays, in his one good year:  he went 17-13, 3.16.  Eric Milton was solid:  15-7, 4.32.  But from there, it went downhill fast:  Kyle Lohse (4-7, 5.68), Rick Reed (4-6, 5.19), J. C. Romero (1-4, 6.23).  Romero, of course, would go on to give the Twins a couple of good years out of the bullpen.  Reed would go on to be an important contributor to the 2002 division champions.

Cressend was actually a solid reliever for the Twins in 2001, although you obviously couldn't tell it by this game.  He went 3-2, 3.67, 1.17 WHIP in 56.1 innings (44 games).  He gave up six home runs on the season, half of them in this game.

This was the last of a streak in which the Twins would win just one game out of twelve.  They lost eight in a row, won one, then lost the next three.

Record:  The Twins were 65-61, in second place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 85-77, in second place, 6 games behind Cleveland.

The Blue Jays were 60-66, in third place in the American League East, 14 games behind New York.  They would finish 80-82, in third place, 16 games behind New York.

Random record:  The Twins are 36-33 in Random Rewind games.

Happy Birthday–May 13

Jimmy Archer (1883)
Larry Gardner (1886)
Babe Dye (1898)
Bill McKinley (1910)
Bill Kinnamon (1919)
Dusty Rhodes (1927)
Johnny Roseboro (1933)
Leon Wagner (1934)
Juan Beniquez (1950)
Bobby Valentine (1950)
Lenny Faedo (1960)
Sean McDonough (1962)
Jose Rijo (1965)
Jack Cressend (1975)
Trajan Langdon (1976)
Barry Zito (1978)
David Hernandez (1985)
John Ryan Murphy (1991)

Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Dye was a minor league outfielder from 1919-1926, spending much of his career in the American Association.  In 811 games, he hit .311, slugged .443, and stole 118 bases.

Bill McKinley was an American League umpire from 1946-65.

Bill Kinnamon was an American League umpire from 1960-69.

Sean McDonough has been a baseball broadcaster since 1988.

College basketball star Trajan Langdon was a third baseman in the low minors for three seasons.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 13