Tag Archives: johan santana

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty

CLEVELAND 5, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA (14 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, August 13.

Batting star:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out eight in eight shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Eddie Guardado pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jason Davis struck out six in six shutout innings, giving up two hits and two walks.  Rafael Betancourt struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Terry Mulholland pitched four shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out two.  Ben Broussard was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his fourth.  Jhonny Peralta was 2-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base.  Jody Gerut was 2-for-6.

The game:  This is what you would call a pitchers' duel.  Neither team even put two men on base until the seventh, when the Twins got two-out singles from Jones and Torii Hunter.  Neither team got a man to third until the eighth, when Michael Ryan doubled and went to third when Cristian Guzman reached on an error.  That was the closest the Twins came to scoring:  they had men on first and third with none out.  But Shannon Stewart grounded out, Luis Rivas hit into a fielder's choice with Ryan thrown out at the plate, and Corey Koskie grounded out.

It remained scoreless until the fourteenth, when it all fell apart for the Twins.  Juan Rincon was in his second inning of work.  He gave up consecutive singles to Casey Blake, Gerut, and Ryan Ludwick, with the last one bringing home the first run of the game.  J. C. Romero came in.  A bunt moved the runners up, Tim Laker was intentionally walked, Travis Hafner was hit by a pitch to bring in a run, Peralta singled home two, and a ground out brought home the fifth run.  The Twins got a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fourteenth, but that was all.

WP:  Mulholland (2-2).  LP:  Rincon (3-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Stewart was again in left, with Dustan Mohr in right and Jones at DH.  Ryan pinch-hit for Mohr in the eighth, with MIchael Restovich going to right field.  Denny Hocking pinch-ran for Jones in the ninth.

Ryan had his second consecutive pinch-hit hit and was batting 1.000.  Stewart was 1-for-6 and was batting .317.  Jones was batting .307.  Koskie was 1-for-5 and was batting .301.

Santana lowered his ERA to 2.96.  His game score of 81 was his best of the season.  He now had back-to-back eight-inning starts without giving up an earned run.  It's almost like they should've put him in the rotation sooner or something.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.25.

By games scores, this was tied for Jason Davis' best game of the season.  He equaled his score of 72 of June 18, when he allowed one run in a complete game against Detroit.  For the season, he would go 8-11, 4.68, 1.33 WHIP.  It was the best season of his career, although he did have a decent year pitching out of the bullpen for the Indians in 2006.  For his career, he was 22-26, 4.82, 1.52 WHIP in 461 innings.  He appeared in 144 games, 56 of them starts.

After winning four in a row, the Twins had now dropped two straight and were falling back toward .500.

Record:  The Twins were 61-59, in third place in the American League Central, 3.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were two games behind second-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifteen

MINNESOTA 4, DETROIT 3 IN DETROIT

Date:  Friday, August 8.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with a double.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his second.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched eight innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and three walks and striking out five.  He threw 118 pitches.

Opposition stars:  Craig Monroe was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twelfth) and a walk.  Mike Maroth pitched eight innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out two.

The game:  In the third, Pierzynski led off with a double and scored on a Michael Restovich triple.  A sacrifice fly made it 2-0.  Stewart then singled and stole second.  Luis Rivas reached on an error.  Stewart was caught on the front end of a double steal, but Rivas went to second and scored on Doug Mientkiewicz' single to make it 3-0 Twins.  LeCroy homered in the fourth to increase the lead to 4-0.

The Tigers got on the board in the fifth.  Monroe walked and Carlos Pena singled, putting men on first and second with none out.  An error brought home a run, but a double play took away the chance for a bigger inning for Detroit.

It was still 4-1 through eight, and it appeared the Twins had the game well in hand.  In the ninth, however, Dmitri Young hit a one-out double and Monroe followed with a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 4-3.  But a strikeout and a fly out ended the game with the Twins still on the right side of the score.

WP:  Santana (6-3).  LP:  Maroth (6-16).  S:  Guardado (26).

Notes:  Stewart was in left with Restovich in right.

Restovich was 1-for-3 and was batting .333.  Stewart raised his average to .320.  Pierzynski raised his average to .302.  Corey Koskie was 0-for-3 and was batting .300.

In his last two starts, Santana pitched fourteen innings and gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and six walks, striking out twelve.  His season ERA was 3.19.

The Twins once again edged one game over .500.  Would they be able to stay over .500 this time?

Record:  The Twins were 58-57, in third place in the American League Central, three games behind Chicago.  They were 2.5 games behind second-place Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Five

BALTIMORE 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, July 29.

Batting stars:  Luis Rivas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third), a walk, and three RBIs.  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Michael Restovich was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  James Baldwin pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jay Gibbons was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth), a walk, and three RBIs.  Tony Batista was 2-for-4 with a home run, his nineteenth.  Jeff Conine was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Luis Matos was 2-for-5 with a stolen base (his thirteenth) and two runs.

The game:  The Orioles jumped out to a lead in the first inning.  Matos singled and scored from first on Conine's double.  Gibbons hit a two-out two-run homer, and it was 3-0 Baltimore before the Twins even came to bat.

The Twins got on the board in the third when Stewart hit a two-out double and Rivas followed with a two-run homer.  Batista homered leading off the fourth to make it 4-2.  The Twins got that run back in the bottom of the fourth but missed a chance for more.  Torii Hunter led off with a double and went to third on A. J. Pierzynski's single, but Jacque Jones hit into a double play.  It scored the run but took the Twins out of the inning, leaving the Orioles ahead 4-3.

The Twins tied it in the fifth when Chris Gomez singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Rivas single.  But Baltimore went right back into the lead in the sixth when Matos singled, stole second, and scored on a Gibbons single.  The Twins tied it again in the seventh when Restovich led off with a double and scored on Cristian Guzman's single.

But in the eighth the Orioles went into the lead to stay.  Singles by Conine and Batista put men on first and third and a wild pitch scored a run.  They added an insurance run in the ninth on singles by Larry Bigbie and Deivi Cruz and an error.  The Twins put men on first and second with none out in the eighth and with two out in the ninth, but did not score.

WP:  Hector Carrasco (1-2).  LP:  LaTroy Hawkins (8-3).  S:  Jorge Julio (24).

Notes:  Gomez remained at third in place of Corey Koskie.  Stewart was in left, with Restovich in right and Jones as the DH.

Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Jones in the eighth but did not bat.  A pitching change prompted Ron Gardenhire to then bat Todd Sears for LeCroy.

This was Restovich's season debut.  He had appeared in eight games for the Twins in 2002.  After this game, he was batting .500.  Stewart raised his average to .311.  Jones was 0-for-3 and was batting .310.

Johan Santana's transition to the rotation was not going as hoped.  In four starts, he had allowed 14 runs in 24.1 innings.  In this game, he allowed five runs on six hits and no walks in 5.2 innings.  He did strike out seven.

Baldwin lowered his ERA to 2.00.  Hawkins gave up a run in one inning and had an ERA of 2.63.

Stewart was staying hot.  In his last ten games he was 20-for-42 with four doubles, a home run, and five walks.  He raised his average from .289 to .311.

Baltimore players with Twins connections included Tony Batista, Hector Carrasco, and Rick Helling.

The Twins had lost three games in a row and continued to sink more deeply into third place.

Record:  The Twins were 51-54, in third place in the American league Central, 6.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were 3.5 games behind second-place Chicago.

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 Sixty-five

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MINNESOTA 3, ARIZONA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 13.

Batting star:  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out seven in seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Brandon Webb struck out eight in six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk.  Eddie Oropesa struck out two in two perfect innings.

The game:  The Diamondbacks got two on with one out in the first inning but did not score.  That was the only threat until the sixth, when the Diamondbacks got on the board.  Tony Womack was hit by a pitch, Alex Cintron singled, a bunt moved the runners up, and Junior Spivey hit a sacrifice fly to put Arizona ahead 1-0.

The Twins came back in the bottom of the sixth.  With one out Jacque Jones and Guzman singled.  With two out, Justin Morneau had an RBI single, and on the throw home runners went to second and third.  Torii Hunter then delivered a two-run single, making it 3-1 Twins.

And that was it.  All the scoring came in the sixth inning.  The Diamondbacks opened the eighth with two singles, and a bunt moved the runners to second and third, but a popup and a strikeout ended the inning.  Arizona brought the tying run to the plate with two out in the ninth following a strikeout/wild pitch, but a fly out ended the game.

WP:  Santana (4-1).  LP:  Webb (3-2).  S:  Guardado (19).

Notes:  Denny Hocking was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Bobby Kielty was in right field.  Morneau was the DH.

Morneau was 1-for-3 and was batting .545.  Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .311.

Hocking was 0-for-3 and is batting .167.

Santana lowered his ERA to 2.32.  Hawkins went to 2.27.  Guardado went to 2.51.

Santana, after two excellent starts, was sent back to the bullpen for another month, finally joining the starting rotation to stay on July 11.  At this point in the season, the Twins' rotation was Brad Radke (5-6, 5.61), Kyle Lohse (6-4, 2.91), Kenny Rogers (5-2, 4.67), Rick Reed (3-6, 4.37), and Joe Mays (7-3, 5.21).  I understand that some of those guys are veteran starters.  But with a rotation like that, you can't find starts for Johan Santana?  Reports were that Santana was upset about being sent back to the bullpen, and one can certainly understand why.

This must have been one of the few good games Eddie Oropesa had in the majors.  He was with Philadelphia in 2001 and went 1-0, 4.74, 1.74 WHIP in 30 games.  And he wasn't a young guy they were hoping would get better--he was 29 in his rookie year.  In 2002, with Arizona, he appeared in 32 games and went 2-0, 10.30, 2.13 WHIP.  He was back with the Diamondbacks in 2003 and went 3-3, 5.82, 1.68 WHIP in 47 games.  He moved on to San Diego in 2004 and went 2-1, 11.00, 2.11 WHIP in 16 games.  Add it all together and you get career numbers of 8-4, 7.34, 1.86 in 125 games.  He did not make it back to the majors, but pitched in Mexico in 2005, in the Northern League in 2006, and in the Netherlands in 2007.  You'd think that would be the end, but he came back in 2014 to pitch in 12 games in the Netherlands.  He's a testament to the proposition that if you're a left-handed pitcher, someone will almost always give you a chance.  I also assume that he's probably a really nice guy, because if he was a jerk he wouldn't have kept getting chances, left-handed or not.

Record:  The Twins were 38-27, in first place in the American League Central, five games ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Sixty

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MINNESOTA 6, SAN DIEGO 2 IN SAN DIEGO

Date:  Saturday, June 7.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his seventh and eighth) and a walk.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his second.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out seven in six innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk.  Micheal Nakamura struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit.

Opposition stars:  Mark Loretta was 2-for-3 with a home run (his fifth), a double, and a walk.  Scott Linebrink pitched 4.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on six hits and a walk and striking out three.

The game:  Jones led off the game with a home run to put the Twins up 1-0.  The Padres put their first two batters on base, but a double play took them out of the inning.  In the second Dustan Mohr walked, stole second, and scored on a Luis Rivas single.  Jones led off the third with a home run to make it 3-0 Twins.  Later in the inning, with two out, Torii Hunter walked, Mientkiewicz singled, and Mohr walked to load the bases.  Pierzynski then delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 5-0.

San Diego got a leadoff double from Loretta in the fourth but could do nothing with it.  The Twins added another run in the sixth.  Mohr doubled and Pierzynski had an RBI single to put the Twins up 6-0.

The Padres finally got on the board in the sixth when Loretta hit a two-out home run.  They put two on in the seventh on a hit batsman and a walk but did not score.  In the eighth Gary Matthews and Rondell White walked and Brian Buchanan hit a two-out RBI single to make it 6-2.  Nakamura then entered the game and struck out Dave Hansen to end the inning.  San Diego got only a harmless single in the ninth.

WP:  Santana (3-1).  LP:  Carlton Loewer (1-2).  S:  Nakamura (1).

Notes:  Santana was 1-for-3 and was batting .333.  Jones raised his average to .316.  Mohr was 1-for-2 and was batting .300.

This was Santana's second start of the season.  He would take one more turn in the rotation, then would go back to the bullpen until mid-July.

This was the major league debut for Micheal Nakamura.  It was also his only career save.  There can't be a lot of guys who got a save in their major league debut, and there have to be a lot fewer for whom it was their only career save.  If someone with more time and/or initiative than I have wanted to look that up, I would be grateful.

Mientkiewicz had four stolen bases in 2003.  That was his career high in a season.  For his career, he had 14 stolen bases in 29 tries.

Santana's ERA was 2.49.

Loewer started for the Padres and lasted just 2.2 innings.  He allowed five runs on five hits and three walks and struck out two.

Record:  The Twins were 35-25, in first place in the American League Central, 4.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Thirty-four

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MINNESOTA 5, BOSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, May 9.

Batting stars:  Todd Sears was 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out three.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  J. C. Romero pitched a perfect inning.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jason Shiell struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.  Jason Varitek was 1-for-2 with a walk.

The game:  Jones and Guzman opened the game with singles.  With one out, Sears singled to put the Twins up 1-0 in the first.

In the second, A. J. Pierzynski led off with a double and scored on a one-out single by Jones.  Guzman followed with a single.  With two out, Sears delivered a three-run homer to make it 5-0 Twins.

And that was it.  The Red Sox had some threats.  Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-out triple in the first.  Bill Mueller had a two-out double in the second.  With two out in the fourth, Shea Hllenbrand singled and Miller reached on an error.  But none of them came to anything, and the last ten Boston batters were retired.

WP:  Santana (2-0).  LP:  Pedro Martinez (3-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Sears was the DH.  There were no in-game lineup substitutions.

Jones raised his average to .338.  Sears was batting .308.

Luis Rivas was 1-for-4 and was batting .191.

Santana's ERA was 1.13.  Hawkins' ERA was 1.38.  Guardado's ERa was 0.66.

I remember that Sears hit a mammoth home run in his short career.  I'm wondering if this might have been it.  He only hit one other homer, so there's a fifty percent chance.  Memory tells me that it took out some lights on the scoreboard or something.  It was a big home run in the game, whether it was a monster homer or not.

Martinez pitched five innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out five.  He only lost four games in 2003, so this was an unusual thing.  He went 14-4, 2.22, 1.04 WHIP.  He led the league in winning percentage, ERA, FIP, WHIP, hits per nine, homers per nine, and strikeouts per nine.  He finished third in Cy Young voting, behind Roy Halladay and Esteban Loaiza, and while both of them have fine seasons you can make an argument that Martinez should have won it.  The one thing that probably hurt him is that he only made 29 starts and pitched just 186.2 innings.  Nothing wrong with that, but Halladay made 36 starts and pitched 266 innings, and eighty more innings makes a difference.  On the other hand, Halladay's ERA was a full run higher and Martinez actually struck out two more batters even though he pitched eighty fewer innings.  At any rate, Martinez was an excellent pitcher, and it was quite a thing to beat him.

This was Santana's first start of the season.  He was taking the place of Rick Reed, who missed a start due to injury.  Despite his strong start, he would go back to the bullpen.  His next start came on June 7, and he would not join the rotation until July 11.

The Twins had won consecutive games by a 5-0 score.  They had won nine of out of ten.

Record:  The Twins were 19-15, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Nine

NEW YORK 2, MINNESOTA 0 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Thursday, April 10.

Batting stars:  Chris Gomez was 2-for-4.  A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-1 with two hit-by-pitches.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched four innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks and striking out two.  Johan Santana struck out eight in four shutout innings of relief, giving up four hits.

Opposition stars:  David Wells pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and striking out six.  Hideki Matsui was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Bernie Williams was 3-for-4.  John Flaherty was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Yankees had men on first and second with two out in the first and second and third with one out in the second, but did not score either time.  That changed in the third.  With one out, Jason Giambi walked and went to third on Williams' single-plus-error.  Matsui then delivered a two-run double to give New York a 2-0 lead.

And that was it for the scoring.  The Twins got a one-out double from Gomez in the fourth, but he was stranded on second.  They put two on with two out in the fifth and did nothing with them.  They did not get a man past first after that, managing only a pair of singles over the next four innings.

WP:  Wells (2-0).  LP:  Reed (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes;  Gomez was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Dustan Mohr was in left in place of Jacque Jones.  Michael Cuddyer was in right.

Gomez was batting .364.

The Twins had five starters in this game with batting averages below .200.  At the bottom was Rivas at .091.  Matthew LeCroy was batting .125.  Torii Hunter was batting .129.  Cuddyer was batting .143.  Mohr was batting .158.

The Twins made no lineup substitutions.

I don't know why Reed came out after just four innings.  He had thrown seventy pitches, which is a lot for four innings but doesn't seem like a lot for a game.  He would not miss his next start.  Santana obviously did an excellent job, which didn't help in this game but did save the rest of the bullpen for the next one.

You probably remember that Wells threw a perfect game against the Twins.  For his career, he was actually better against them than Mussina was:  19-6, 2.34, 1.01 WHIP in 200.1 innings (38 games, 25 starts).

After sweeping Detroit to start the season, the Twins had now been swept by Toronto and New York.  In the Yankee series, they were outscored 11-4.  In the losing streak they were outscored 30-10.  They would next travel to Toronto to take another shot at the Blue Jays.

Record:  The Twins were 3-6, in fourth place in the American League Central, five games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–March 13

Frank "Home Run" Baker (1886)
Patsy Gharrity (1892)
Alejandro Oms (1895)
C. Arnholt Smith (1899)
Doug Harvey (1930)
Bill Dailey (1935)
Steve Barber (1948)
Randy Bass (1954)
Terry Leach (1954)
Yoshihiko Takahashi (1957)
Luis Aguayo (1959)
Mariano Duncan (1963)
Will Clark (1964)
Jorge Fabregas (1970)
Scott Sullivan (1971)
Johan Santana (1979)
Mike Aviles (1981)

Outfielder Alejandro Oms was a star in Cuba and in the Negro Leagues.

C. Arnholt Smith was the original owner of the San Diego Padres.

Doug Harvey was a National League umpire from 1962-92.

Infielder Yoshihiko Takahashi has the longest hitting streak in Japanese professional baseball.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–March 13 →

2013 Twins Game Log

2013 Father’s Day Game: Tigers at Twins

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I have been to one Father's Day game in my life.

My memory lies, it turns out. The game in question was definitely against the Padres, and it was on Father's Day, 2005. However, I thought I remembered Johan getting ejected early in the game, allowing Jake Peavy to cruise to an easy win. However, Peavy didn't even pitch, while Darrell May cruised to a win. Johan gave up one run in the sixth, then a bases-clearing double with two outs in the seventh that got him pulled. The Padres went on to win, 5-1, and who has two thumbs and didn't see a Johan Santana win in person in Minnesota, ever? THIS guy! (I did, however, attend this game at Safeco, where two guys behind me were bemoaning the fact that they were "getting shut down by a no-name pitcher." A writer in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer essentially repeated that statement the next day, displaying an utter lack of respect for his own work).

As for that Padres game, I was to go with a nine-month-old Skim as well as the Milkmaid. It was Father's Day, Johan was pitching, we all had the day free and I hadn't yet started running Spookymilk Survivor so my schedule didn't revolve around it. However, the Milkmaid ended up being called in to work by her ruthless douchebag bosses, who told her Father's Day wasn't an important enough holiday for her to miss and they needed to add her to the schedule (I was not consulted for comment on their opinion). I watched the game with Skim and folks around us marveled at how quiet she was - a trend that she continued all throughout early childhood, where people would get up after dinner or event and remark that they had no idea they were sitting near a child.

The game sucked, though, and it was rainy afterward. And, me being me, I couldn't remember where the f*&^ I had parked. I knew it was in one of the ramps, but I hadn't written it down, since at 27 years old I was still trusting my never-good sense of direction and memory for landmarks. I walked around with Skim, who barely complained despite the light rain. Once the rain cleared, it got hot. Brutally hot. She still didn't complain but I felt like a heel. She fell asleep in the Baby Bjorn as I spent over two hours combing a four-block area (this is who I am) looking for my car. Finally, I found it in the first parking garage I'd searched, on a floor I'd walked at least twice. I laughed at my own uselessness in the arena of finding things and we drove home.

The Milkmaid, for her part, had only been on at work for two hours. They cut her when the rush died down, a further insult to our day. She asked if the game had gone ridiculously long. It was a rather short one, at 2:23, so I amused her with the postgame story. If she'd been with us, there would have been no problem. The way I remember the spelling of words and names is the way she remembers directions and landmarks.

I don't know how the rest of the day went, but as stupid as everything was, it remains my strangest Father's Day, and it was also my first.