Danny Murphy (1876)
Bobo Newsom (1907)
Bob Scheffing (1913)
Walter McNeil (1934)
Bill Monboquette (1936)
Vada Pinson (1938)
Sal Campisi (1942)
Jim Hughes (1951)
Dennis Lewallyn (1953)
Bryn Smith (1955)
Melky Cabrera (1984)
Colby Rasmus (1986)
Pablo Sandoval (1986)
Walter McNeil is better known as Wally the Beer Man, long-time vendor at Minnesota Twins games.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Moss and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. AMR.
Danny Murphy (1876)
Bobo Newsom (1907)
Bob Scheffing (1913)
Walter McNeil (1934)
Bill Monboquette (1936)
Vada Pinson (1938)
Sal Campisi (1942)
Jim Hughes (1951)
Dennis Lewallyn (1953)
Bryn Smith (1955)
Melky Cabrera (1984)
Colby Rasmus (1986)
Pablo Sandoval (1986)
Walter McNeil is better known as Wally the Beer Man, long-time vendor at Minnesota Twins games.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Moss and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. AMR.
Danny Murphy (1876)
Bobo Newsom (1907)
Bob Scheffing (1913)
Walter McNeil (1934)
Bill Monboquette (1936)
Vada Pinson (1938)
Sal Campisi (1942)
Jim Hughes (1951)
Dennis Lewallyn (1953)
Bryn Smith (1955)
Melky Cabrera (1984)
Colby Rasmus (1986)
Pablo Sandoval (1986)
Walter McNeil is better known as Wally the Beer Man, long-time vendor at Minnesota Twins games.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Moss and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. AMR.
Danny Murphy (1876)
Bobo Newsom (1907)
Bob Scheffing (1913)
Walter McNeil (1934)
Bill Monboquette (1936)
Vada Pinson (1938)
Sal Campisi (1942)
Jim Hughes (1951)
Dennis Lewallyn (1953)
Bryn Smith (1955)
Melky Cabrera (1984)
Colby Rasmus (1986)
Pablo Sandoval (1986)
Walter McNeil is better known as Wally the Beer Man, long-time vendor at Minnesota Twins games.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Moss and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. AMR.
Date: Friday, June 27.
Batting stars: Dan Ford was 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs. Jerry Terrell was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Lyman Bostock was 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs.
Pitching star: Vic Albury pitched 4.1 innings of relief, giving up an unearned run on one hit and no walks and striking out four.
Opposition star: Roy Howell was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.
The game: The Twins took the lead in the first inning. Bostock led off with a double, went to third on a pickoff error, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. The Twins opened the second with two singles, but a strikeout/throwout double play took them out of the inning. In the third, Glenn Borgmann led off with a triple and Bostock followed with a double. Ford delivered a two-out single to put the Twins ahead 3-0.
The Rangers got on the board in the fourth when Cesar Tovar doubled and scored on a Mike Hargrove single. Texas then took the lead in the fifth. Tom Grieve led off with a single and scored from first on Howell's double. Roy Smalley's RBI single tied it, and singles by Jim Sundberg and Mike Cubbage put the Rangers up 4-3.
The lead didn't survive the next half-inning, though. Steve Braun walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored the tying run when Terrell singled. Terrell went to second on the throw home, took third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch (Twins Baseball!) to give the Twins a 5-4 advantage.
Texas tied it in the seventh when Howell doubled and scored on an error. It stayed 5-5 until the ninth. With two out, Rod Carew walked, Steve Brye singled, and Eric Soderholm walked, loading the bases. Ford then delivered a two-run single and Terrell had an RBI single to make the score 8-5. The Rangers went down in order in the ninth, and in fact their last nine batters were retired.
WP: Albury (5-4). LP: Jim Umbarger (4-4). S: None.
Notes: Tom Kelly was at first base in place of John Briggs, who was out for a week or so. Briggs had come over in a trade from Milwaukee a couple of weeks earlier. Sadly, we did not hit the game in which Kelly hit his home run--he was 0-for-3. He would go back to the minors about two weeks later.
Terrell was at third base in place of Soderholm. Steve Braun, normally in left field, was the DH in place of Tony Oliva. That moved Bostock from right to left and put Brye in right.
Soderholm pinch-hit for Braun in the seventh. Danny Walton pinch-hit for Kelly in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base. Luis Gomez came in for defense in the ninth, replacing Danny Thompson at short.
Carew was batting .369. He would finish at .359. Terrell was batting .327. He would finish at .286. Braun was batting .303. He would finish at .302. Larry Hisle would bat .314 in 255 at-bats. The Twins batted .271, which was second in the league to Boston's .275.
Ford led the team with just 15 home runs. Carew was right behind at 14 and Oliva was next with 13. Soderholm, Braun, and Hisle each had 11. The Twins hit 121 home runs, which was eighth in the league. Cleveland led with 153. California was last with only 55 home runs.
Bert Blyleven led the staff, going 15-10, 3.00. Jim Hughes was 16-14, 3.82--Twins fans really thought he was going to be something. Having him throw 250 innings with 12 complete games at age 23 might not have been such a bright idea. Dave Goltz, who started this game, went 14-14, 3.67. The fourth starter spot was split between Ray Corbin and Albury, neither of whom got much accomplished. Tom Burgmeier and Bill Campbell handled closing chores, and while they did fine they didn't get much help. The Twins' team ERA was 4.05, tenth in the league. Baltimore led at 3.17. The Twins were ninth in WHIP at 1.40. Baltimore led there, too at 1.23.
As you probably noticed, there are players with connections to the Twins playing for Texas: Cesar Tovar, Mike Cubbage, Roy Smalley, and Bill Hands, who started the game for the Rangers.
The Twins lost the first game of the doubleheader 2-0. This was one of only two wins out of eleven games.
Record: The Twins were 32-37, in fourth place in the American League West, 12.5 games behind Oakland. They would finish 76-83, in fourth place, 20.5 games behind Oakland.
The Rangers were 35-38, in third place in the American League West, 11.5 games behind Oakland. They would finish 79-83, in third place, 19 games behind Oakland.
Random record: The Twins are 59-52 in Random Rewind games.
Date: Sunday, May 16.
Batting stars: Butch Wynegar was 2-for-2 with two walks. Dave McKay was 2-for-4.
Pitching stars: None.
Opposition stars: Don Kirkwood pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out five. Bill Melton was 2-for-4 with a triple. Andy Etchebarren was 2-for-4.
The game: The Twins got on the board in the second inning, as Danny Thompson singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on McKay's single. That was as good as it would get for the Twins.
The Angels took the lead in the third. Dave Chalk and Ron Jackson led off the game with a single. Jerry Remy laid down a sacrifice bunt, but an error scored Chalk and put men on second and third with none out. All California could get out of it was a sacrifice fly by Bobby Bonds, but the Angels led 2-1.
It stayed 2-1 until the seventh, when California scored two runs without a hit. With one out Chalk walked and Jackson was hit by a pitch. With two out, Rusty Torres walked to load the bases, Bonds was hit by a pitch to force home a run, and Leroy Stanton walked to bring home another run. The Angels added a run in the ninth when Bill Melton tripled and scored on Etchebarren's single.
The Twins did not get a man past first base after the second inning.
WP: Kirkwood (1-3). LP: Jim Hughes (0-3). S: None.
Notes: Danny Thompson was at shortstop. Roy Smalley would be the regular shortstop for most of the season, but he had not been traded from Texas yet.
Lyman Bostock, normally the center fielder, was given the day off. Larry Hisle moved over from left to play center, with Steve Braun taking over left.
The lone Twin over .300 who played in this game was Rod Carew, at .311. He would finish at .331. Bostock, at this point in the season, was batting .349 and would finish at .323.
The Twins did not hit a home run, which was a fairly common occurrence in 1976. Dan Ford led the team in homers with twenty. Others in double figures were Hisle (14), Craig Kusick (11), and Wynegar (10).
Twins starter Jim Hughes pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks and striking out two. Older fans may remember Hughes for throwing a palmball. Hughes had gone 16-14, 3.82 as a rookie in 1975, leading Twins fans to think they might have something. It was the only good year he would have. It could be that the workload got to him--he pitched 249.2 innings in 1975 at age twenty-three. Or, it could be that he wasn't that good in the first place--even in 1975, his WHIP was 1.47. He stayed in the 1976 rotation until early August, mostly because the Twins didn't have much for alternatives. He would make two relief appearances in 1977 and then would never pitch in the big leagues again.
Hisle batted leadoff in this game, one of eight times he did that in 1976. The fact that Bostock was out of the lineup probably had to do with that. Hisle batted all over the lineup in 1976, starting double digit games at every spot except first, eighth, and ninth, and starting at least a few games at every spot except ninth. Gene Mauch did love to play with the batting order.
The Twins were in the middle of a stretch where they won five of six. As randomness would have it, this was the one loss.
Record: The Twins were 14-13, in third place in the American League West, 3.5 games behind Texas. They would finish 85-77, in third place, five games behind Kansas City.
The Angels were 12-22, in sixth (last) place in the American League West, 10 games behind Texas. They would finish 76-86, tied for fourth with Texas, 14 games behind Kansas City.
