Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Chick Fewster (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
Tag Archives: Kenny Rogers
Happy Birthday–November 10
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
Happy Birthday–November 10
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-two
MINNESOTA 9, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY
Date: Friday, August 15.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs. Corey Koskie was 3-for-5 with a double. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a walk. Luis Rivas was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifth) and two runs. Dustan Mohr was 2-for-5 with a double. Torii Hunter was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his twenty-second.
Pitching star: Kenny Rogers pitched eight innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and a walk and striking out seven.
Opposition star: Mendy Lopez was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
The game: The Twins opened the second with two singles but did not score. In the third, the first two batters went out. Then, however, Rivas singled, Koskie hit an RBI double, LeCroy walked, Jones had a run-scoring single, and Hunter hit a three-run homer, putting Minnesota up 5-0. It went to 8-0 in the fifth. LeCroy singled, Jones doubled, and A. J. Pierzynski was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Guzman delivered a single-plus-error that cleared the bases.
The Royals got on the board in the fifth when Joe Randa reached on an error and scored on a Lopez single. The Twins got the run back in the sixth when Rivas homered. Kansas City got their final run in the ninth when Raul Ibanez doubled and scored on another Lopez single.
WP: Rogers (10-6). LP: Jimmy Gobble (2-1). S: None.
Notes: LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz. Shannon Stewart was in left, Mohr in right, and Jones at DH. Michael Restovich pinch-hit for Jones in the eighth.
Restovich was 1-for-1 and was batting .325. Jones raised his average to .311. Stewart was 0-for-6 and was batting .310. Koskie raised his average to .301.
By game scores this was the best game Rogers had in 2003. The only one that came close was when he threw eight shutout innings in Detroit on April 17.
J. C. Romero gave up a run in an inning to make his ERA 5.06.
This was the third start of Jimmy Gobble's career. He had done really well in the first two, giving up just one run in 12.1 innings. Obviously, that came crashing down in this game, as he allowed five runs on eight hits and a walk in three innings. He's another pitcher who kept getting chances long after it was clear that he wasn't good enough. In seven seasons he had two in which his ERA was under five and two in which it was over seven. He had just one year in which his ERA was under four. He was a reliever that year, and his WHIP was 1.47, so the chances are he was allowing a lot of other people's runs to score. For his career he was 22-23, 5.29, 1.49 WHIP. He pitched 435.2 innings in 247 games, 43 of them starts.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and moved the Twins back to two games above .500.
Record: The Twins were 62-60, in third place in the American League Central, three games behind Kansas City. They were one game behind second-place Chicago.
2003 Rewind: Game Eighty-nine
TEXAS 4, MINNESOTA 1 IN TEXAS
Date: Wednesday, July 9.
Batting star: Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 with a home run, his thirteenth.
Pitching star: LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.
Opposition stars: Joaquin Benoit pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks and striking out five. Ryan Ludwick was 2-for-3 with a double. Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-second) and a walk. Mark Teixiera was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twelfth).
The game: Teixiera homered in the second inning to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The Twins did not mount a threat until the fifth, when Dustan Mohr hit a one-out double. He got to third with two down, but was stranded there. In the sixth, however, Hunter hit a two-out homer to tie it 1-1.
That was as good as it got for the Twins. In the bottom of the sixth, Donnie Sadler walked and Rodriguez followed with a two-run homer. In the seventh, Ludwick doubled and scored on a Michael Young single. The Twins got a man to second in the seventh and eighth, but did not bring the tying run up to bat.
WP: Benoit (4-4). LP: Kenny Rogers (7-5). S: Ugueth Urbina (26).
Notes: Mohr remained in left and Bobby Kielty in right in the continued absence of Jacque Jones. Justin Morneau was the DH.
The Twins had no one batting over .300 in their lineup. The highest average was Doug Mientkiewicz at .296.
Rogers didn't pitch badly other than the home runs. His line was seven innings, four runs, seven hits, three walks, and one strikeout.
Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.79.
By stifling the Twins offense, Benoit lowered his ERA to 5.27. A month later he would be out of the rotation. By 2005 he became a full-time reliever, and he had some very good years out of the bullpen. For his career, he was 14-19, 6.06, 1.58 WHIP as a starter. As a reliever, he was 44-30, 53 saves, 2.06, 1.12 WHIP. He only had one season when he was the closer, 2013 for Detroit, but was a valuable member of major league bullpens for several years. I think we can say he found his niche.
The Twins had lost four in a row and eight of nine. They fell below .500 for the first time since April.
Record: The Twins were 44-45, in second place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Kansas City. They remained one game ahead of third-place Chicago.
2003 Rewind: Game Fifty-nine
MINNESOTA 7, SAN DIEGO 5 IN SAN DIEGO (11 INNINGS)
Date: Friday, June 6.
Batting stars: Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Cristian Guzman was 3-for-6. Chris Gomez was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs. Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.
Pitching stars: Kenny Rogers pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out four. LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Ex-Twin Brian Buchanan was 3-for-6 with a double. Mark Kotsay was 2-for-5 with a double. Mark Loretta was 2-for-5 with a walk. Future Twin Rondell White was 2-for-6 with a double. Jake Peavy pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out five.
The game: In the second, Mientkiewicz led off with a double, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on a ground out to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. The Padres put men on first and second with two out in the fourth but did not score. In the fifth Rogers walked, went to second on a Guzman single, and scored on Corey Koskie's double to make it 2-0 Twins. The Padres got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Lou Merloni singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Loretta single.
It stayed 2-1 until the seventh. Jacque Jones walked, Guzman got an infield single, and Torii Hunter got a two-out RBI single. The Twins added another run in the eighth. With two out Gomez singled, Matthew LeCroy reached on an error, and Jones hit an RBI single to make it 4-1 Twins.
Eddie Guardado came in to pitch the ninth, and the game looked secure. But Buchanan led off with a double and Xavier Nady singled. The next two batters went out, but back-to-back doubles by Gary Matthews and Ryan Klesko brought home three runs and tied it 4-4.
Each team scored once in the tenth. A. J. Pierzynski singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Jones single. But White doubled, Buchanan got an infield single, a bunt moved the runners to second and third, and a two-out wild pitch by J. C. Romero tied the score 5-5.
But the Twins prevailed in the eleventh. Mientkiewicz was hit by a pitch and was on second with two out. Pierzynski was intentionally walked, but it backfired when Gomez delivered a two-run double. In the bottom of the tenth San Diego got two-out singles from Miguel Ojeda and White. But Buchanan grounded out to end the game.
WP: Romero (2-0). LP: Rod Beck (0-1). S: None.
Notes: Gomez was again at second in place of Luis Rivas. Kielty was in right field, as there was no DH.
LeCroy and Dustan Mohr were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers. Denny Hocking came in to play third in place of Koskie in the seventh.
Jones raised his average to .312. Hocking was 0-for-2 and was batting .174.
Rogers' game score was only 66, perhaps due to a mediocre strikeout total. Still, it was his second highest game score of the season to date, and he would top it only once after this, on August 15. Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.27. Guardado gave up three runs in an inning to raise his ERA to 2.70. This was one of only two times all season that he would give up three runs in a game.
We noted Rondell White and Brian Buchanan as Padres with Twins connections. Others with Twins connections who appeared in this game were Sean Burroughs and Jesse Orosco.
The Twins stranded 14, but were still 6-for-17 with men in scoring position. San Diego stranded 11 and was 5-for-18 with men in scoring position.
Record: The Twins were 34-25, in first place in the American League Central, five games ahead of Kansas City.
Happy Birthday–November 10
Jim Whitney (1857)
Cy Morgan (1878)
Del Gainer (1886)
Chick Fewster (1895)
Jimmie Dykes (1896)
Birdie Tebbetts (1912)
Johnny Lipon (1922)
Cal Ermer (1923)
Gene Conley (1930)
Norm Cash (1934)
Mike Vail (1951)
Larry Christenson (1953)
Larry Parrish (1953)
Paul Thormodsgard (1953)
Bob Stanley (1954)
Jack Clark (1955)
Keith Lockhart (1964)
Kenny Rogers (1964)
Butch Huskey (1971)
Shawn Green (1972)
Brian Dinkelman (1983)
Matt Magill (1989)
2003 Rewind: Game Fifteen
MINNESOTA 6, DETROIT 0 IN MINNESOTA
Date: Thursday, April 17.
Batting stars: Chris Gomez was 3-for-4. Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk. Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-3 with a triple, a walk, and two runs. Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4 with two home runs, his second and third. Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a home run and two runs.
Pitching stars: Kenny Rogers struck out nine in eight shutout innings, giving up seven hits and no walks. Tony Fiore pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Eugene Kingsale was 2-for-3. Omar Infante was 2-for-4.
The game: The Twins did not have a big inning, but just eased out to a comfortable lead. In the first, a single by Cristian Guzman and a double by Hunter led to a run. Kielty homered leading off the second to make it 2-0. Koskie homered with one out in the third to make it 3-0. In the fourth, Cuddyer led off with a triple and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
I don't know if there's ever been a game in which a team scored exactly one run in each inning, and sadly this would not be one. The score remained 4-0 until the eighth. The Tigers had a threat in the fifth when Infante led off with a double and Kingsale had an infield single with one out. A strikeout and a ground out ended the threat, and Detroit would not threaten again.
The Twins got their final two runs in the eighth. Kielty again lead off the inning with a home run. With one out Cuddyer walked, went to third on a Gomez single, and scored on a sacrifice fly.
WP: Rogers (2-0). LP: Jeremy Bonderman (0-3). S: None.
Notes: Gomez was at second base in place of Luis Rivas. Kielty was in center field, with Hunter at DH. Cuddyer was in right field. The Twins made no position player substitutions.
Gomez was batting .467. Kielty was batting .387. Guzman was batting .347. Jacque Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .333. Koskie was batting .306.
Rogers lowered his ERA to 3.50. That was as low as it would get all season. By game scores this was his second-best game of the season, topped only by a game in Kansas City in mid-August.
Six of the Tigers' starters had batting averages below .200: Eric Munson (.175), Infante (.167), Carlos Pena (.167), Dean Palmer (.118), Brandon Inge (.091), and Hiram Bocachica (.045).
Jeremy Bonderman started for Detroit. He pitched six innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on ten hits and a walk and striking out four.
This was the fifth consecutive series sweep the Twins were involved in at the start of the season. They had been on the winning end of three and the losing end of two. I don't know what the record is. Of course, the year the Orioles started 0-21, they must have been on the losing end of several sweeps.
Record: The Twins were 9-6, tied for second in the American League Central with Chicago, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.
2003 Rewind: Game Ten
MINNESOTA 6, TORONTO 4 IN TORONTO
Date: Friday, April 11.
Batting stars: Luis Rivas was 3-for-4 with a triple, a stolen base, and two runs. Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a double. Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit. J. C. Romero struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk. Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning.
Opposition star: Shannon Stewart was 3-for-5 with a triple, two doubles, and two RBIs.
The game: It was scoreless until the third. Tom Wilson led off with a double and Mike Bordick drew a one-out walk. Stewart then delivered an RBI double and Frank Catalanotto added a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 Blue Jays. The lead lasted just a half inning. Jacque Jones and Guzman started the inning with singles. Corey Koskie then hit a two-run double to tie it up. The next two batters went out, but LeCroy hit a two-out run-scoring double to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.
Toronto came back in the fifth. Bordick singled and Stewart hit an RBI triple to tie the score. Catalanotto then singled to put the Blue Jays back in front at 4-3.
The Twins went into the lead to stay in the seventh. Michael Cuddyer drew a one-out walk and scored on a Rivas triple to tie it 4-4. Jones then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 Minnesota. They added a run in the ninth. Singles by Cuddyer and Rivas put men on the corners with none out, but Cuddyer was thrown out at the plate when Jones hit a grounder to second. A Guzman infield single loaded the bases, and Koskie hit an RBI ground out. Toronto got only one hit after the sixth, a one-out seventh inning double by Stewart.
WP: Kenny Rogers (1-0). LP: Cory Lidle (1-2). S: Guardado (3).
Notes: Cuddyer remained in right field. He was replaced by Dustan Mohr in the ninth inning. That was the only positional substitution the Twins made.
Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .333. He was the only regular over .300.
On the negative side, the Twins still had four regulars below .200. Torii Hunter went 0-for-5 and was batting .111. Cuddyer was 1-for-3 to raise his average to .167. LeCroy went up to .179. Rivas was up to .192.
Rogers pitched six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out five. It was really a fairly typical performance for him in 2003. He wasn't awful, but he wasn't really good, either. He was generally good enough to keep the team in the game if they scored a decent number of runs.
Lidle pitched 6.1 innings for Toronto, allowing five runs on seven hits and a walk. He struck out nine. 2003 was the worst year of his career, as he finished 12-15, 5.75, 1.43 WHIP. It was his only year as a Blue Jay. He never really had a good year after leaving Oakland, although he had a couple of not-terrible ones and pitched well for Philadelphia down the stretch in 2004.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for the Twins. Could they get a winning streak going? We shall see. They did, at least, move up one spot in the standings.
Record: The Twins were 4-6, in third place in the American League Central, five games behind Kansas City, which had started the season 8-0.
2003 Rewind: Game Five
TORONTO 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)
Date: Saturday, April 5.
Batting stars: Jacque Jones was 3-for-6 with a double. Bobby Kielty was 2-for-5 with a double, a stolen base, and two RBIs. Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana pitched two shutout innings, giving up two walks and striking out one. LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two walks and striking out one. J. C. Romero pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and two walks and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Roy Halladay pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out three. Carlos Delgado was 3-for-5 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs. Shannon Stewart was 2-for-3 with a double, three walks, and two runs. Chris Woodward was 2-for-5 with a double. Josh Phelps was 1-for-5 with a home run, his second.
The game: Stewart led off the game with a double and Delgado hit a two-out RBI single to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. They had the bases loaded in the second but could not score. It looked like that would cost them, because the Twins scored two in the bottom of the second. Koskie singled and scored from first on a Doug Mientkiewicz double. Kielty followed with an RBI single and the Twins led 2-1.
Toronto again loaded the bases in the third and did not score. In the fourth, however, Stewart hit a one-out single, was balked to second, and scored on Vernon Wells' ground-rule double. Delgado followed with a run-scoring single and the Blue Jays led 3-2.
Then came a lot of missed opportunities. The Twins had two on in the fifth and a leadoff double in the sixth. The Blue Jays had two on in the seventh. The Twins had a two-out triple in the seventh. Still, the score remained 3-2 until the eighth, when Koskie walked and again scored from first on a double, this one by Kielty, tying the score 3-3.
The Twins could not cash in a leadoff double in the ninth. Toronto loaded the bases in the tenth to no avail. In the eleventh, however, Phelps hit a one-out home run to put the Blue Jays in the lead to stay. The Twins went down in order in the bottom of the eleventh.
WP: Pete Walker (1-0). LP: Eddie Guardado (0-1). S: Kelvim Escobar (1).
Notes: Tom Prince was behind the plate in place of A. J. Pierzynski. Denny Hocking was on second in place of Luis Rivas. Bobby Kielty was in right field in place of Dustan Mohr.
Pierzynski pinch-hit for Prince in the eighth and remained in the game at catcher. Michael Cuddyer pinch-hit for Hocking in the eleventh.
Kenny Rogers started for the Twins and pitched just four innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out two. The Twins bullpen really came through, throwing six shutout innings before the Phelps home run in the eleventh.
The real story of the game, as you may have gathered, was missed opportunities. The Twins stranded eleven and went 2-for-14 with men in scoring position. The Blue Jays stranded fifteen and went 3-for-13 with men in scoring position. The deciding run, of course, was not on a hit with men in scoring position.
There were three Blue Jays who either had or would play for the Twins: Orlando Hudson, Greg Myers, and Shannon Stewart.
Record: The Twins were 3-2, in second place in the American League Central, two games behind Kansas City.