Tag Archives: Leo Cardenas

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 17

Cy Falkenberg (1879)
Ray Jablonski (1926)
Cal Ripken (1935)
Jerry Adair (1936)
Leo Cardenas (1938)
Bob Ojeda (1957)
Marvell Wynne (1959)
Curtis Pride (1968)
Alex Cintron (1978)
Chase Utley (1978)
Fernando Abad (1985)
Taylor Rogers (1990)
Brent Headrick (1997)

Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988.  He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 17 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 17

Cy Falkenberg (1879)
Ray Jablonski (1926)
Cal Ripken (1935)
Jerry Adair (1936)
Leo Cardenas (1938)
Bob Ojeda (1957)
Marvell Wynne (1959)
Curtis Pride (1968)
Alex Cintron (1978)
Chase Utley (1978)
Fernando Abad (1985)
Taylor Rogers (1990)

Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988.  He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 17 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Eighty-one

MINNESOTA 5, CALIFORNIA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Saturday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 3-for-5 with a home run (his eighth), two doubles, and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his twenty-fifth.

Pitching stars:  Bill Zepp pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out two.  Tom Hall struck out five in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Alex Johnson was 3-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.  Jim Fregosi was 2-for-4.  Future Twin Dave LaRoche struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

The game:  Neither team did much until the bottom of the fourth.  Then, Fregosi and Johnson singled and Jim Spencer hit a sacrifice fly, giving the Angels a 1-0 lead.

The Twins came right back in the top of the fifth.  Cardenas tied it with a leadoff home run.  Tom Tischinski walked and was bunted to second, but he was still there with two out.  An error then produced a run and Killebrew hit a two-run homer, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.

Johnson homered in the sixth to make it 4-2.  The Twins got the run back in the eighth when Cardenas doubled and scored on a Jim Holt single.

California threatened in the ninth.  Johnson led off with a single and Ken McMullen hit a one-out single, bringing the tying run to the plate.  But Ron Perranoski came in to retire Jarvis Tatum and Tom Egan to end the game.

WP:  Zepp (5-0).

LP:  Clyde Wright (12-6).

S:  Perranoski (21).

Notes:  Danny Thompson was at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Bob Allison was in left in place of Brant Alyea.  Tischinski was behind the plate in place of George Mitterwald.  Holt came in to play left in the seventh as part of a double switch.  Frank Quilici went in to play second base in the eighth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew leaving the game.

Killebrew was batting .322.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was also batting .322.  Tovar was batting .313.  Cardenas was batting .300.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.58.  Hall had an ERA of 2.03.  Perranoski retired both men he faced and had an ERA of 1.63.

Allison was 0-for-2 and was batting .195.

This would be the only time all season Cardenas would bat .300.  He fell off substantially in the second half, batting just .188 after the all-star break.

Angels catcher Joe Azcue was hit by a pitch in the third inning.  Egan replaced him starting the fourth.

The was LaRoche's first year in the majors.  He was with California for two years, played for the Twins in 1972, spent two years with the Cubs, went to Cleveland in 1975, was traded back to the Angels in mid-1977, and played for the Yankees from 1981-1983.  He made two all-star teams.  For his career, he was 65-58, 3.53, 1.31 WHIP.  He had 156 saves, with a high of twenty-five in 1978.  A pretty solid career.

Wright pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks and striking out three.  Both hits he gave up were home runs.

With this game, we have reached the half-way point of the season.

Record:  The Twins were 54-27, in first place in the American League West, six games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 17

Cy Falkenberg (1879)
Ray Jablonski (1926)
Cal Ripken (1935)
Jerry Adair (1936)
Leo Cardenas (1938)
Bob Ojeda (1957)
Marvell Wynne (1959)
Curtis Pride (1968)
Alex Cintron (1978)
Chase Utley (1978)
Fernando Abad (1985)
Taylor Rogers (1990)

Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988.  He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 17 →

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Fifty-seven

WASHINGTON 3, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, June 17.

Batting star:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat struck out eight in eight innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks.  Bill Zepp pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  George Brunet struck out ten in eight innings, giving up one run on four hits and three walks.  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4 with a stolen base.

The game:  Ed Stroud led off the game with a double, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on an error to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied it in the second when Rick Renick singled, went to third on a Cardenas double, and scored on a ground out.

There was only one base runner in innings three through five, and that was on an error.  In the sixth, Washington went back into the lead.  Frank Howard walked, went to third on Rick Reichardt's single and scored on a ground out to make it 2-1.  They got an insurance run in the seventh.  Paul Casanova and Cullen singled and Brunet reached on an error to load the bases with none out.  All they got out of it was a sacrifice fly, but it made the score 3-1.

The Twins threatened in the eighth.  With one out Cesar Tovar doubled and Rod Carew followed with a bunt single, putting men on first and third with Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva coming up.  It looked good, but they both struck out and the inning ended.  All the Twins could get in the ninth was a two-out single by Cardenas.

WP:  Brunet (4-5).

LP:  Kaat (5-5).

S:  Darold Knowles (13).

Notes:  Renick was again at third base, with Killebrew moving to first.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Brant Alyea in the seventh inning and remained in the game in left field.  Bob Allison pinch-hit for Kaat in the eighth.

Carew was 1-for-4 and was batting .364.  Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .329.  Killebrew was 0-for-2 and was batting .316.  Zepp had an ERA of 2.89.

In his last eleven games, Cardenas was 18-for-43 (.419).  He had raised his average from .260 to .292.

Brunet was near the end of a long career, and was not having a particularly good season.  His ERA after this game was 5.17.  This was his second-best start (by game scores) of the season, bested only by a game in mid-July.  He would be traded to Pittsburgh at the August deadline and pitched very well for them out of the bullpen in September.

After all the Senators players with Twins connections in yesterday's game, there were none in today's game.

The Twins would next go on an eleven-game road trip, going to Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Chicago.  Those teams were in fifth, sixth, and fourth place in the AL West, respectively.

Record:  The Twins were 38-19, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Twenty-five

MINNESOTA 7, CLEVELAND 6 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Friday, May 8.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his eighth) and two runs.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his ninth) and two walks.  George Mitterwald was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his second.

Pitching star:  Stan Williams pitched 3.2 innings, giving up one run on one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Vada Pinson was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Larry Brown was 2-for-4.  Roy Foster was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his second.

The game:  In the first Brown singled and Pinson tripled, putting the Indians up 1-0.  In the third, Jim Kaat and Tovar singled and Carew hit a two-run single-plus-error, putting the Twins up 2-1.  The Twins then got two walks, loading the bases with two out, but did not score again in the inning.

In the bottom of the third Cleveland started the inning with three singles, loading the bases, but could only score on a sacrifice fly, tying the score 2-2.  The Twins took the lead back in the fifth when Carew singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer.  The Twins put men on second and third with one out in the sixth, but failed to add to their lead.

It cost them, as the Indians went back in front in the sixth.  Pinson doubled and Tony Horton hit an RBI single, making it 4-3.  Ray Fosse singled, and with one out Foster hit a three-run homer, giving Cleveland a 6-4 advantage.

But in the eighth, Bob Allison led off with a single and Mitterwald hit a two-run homer, tying it 6-6.  With one out Tovar singled, stole second, went to third on a ground out, and scored on a Tony Oliva single to put the Twins ahead to stay.  Cleveland did not get a baserunner after the Foster homer.

WP:  Williams (3-0).

LP:  Barry Moore (3-2).

S:  None.

Notes:  Allison was at first base in place of Rich Reese.  Reese replaced him at first in the eighth inning.  Jim Holt replaced Brant Alyea in right field in the ninth inning.

Carew was batting .365.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .346.  Killebrew was batting .327.  Alyea was 1-for-4 and was batting .324.  Tovar was batting .311.  Williams had an ERA of 1.10.  Kaat gave up five runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings and had an ERA of 2.86.

Allison was 1-for-3 and was batting .154.  Mitterwald was batting .197.

The first five men in the Twins' batting order were all over .300.  Two of the next three were below .200.

Cardenas was 7-for-16 and 14-for-37, raising his average from .191 to .263.

Cleveland's starter, Moore, pitched 7.2 innings, allowing seven runs on eleven hits and six walks and striking out seven.

This was Foster's rookie year.  He batted .268/.357/.468 with twenty-three home runs and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Thurman Munson.  Foster actually had the better offensive year--Munson batted .302, but had just six homers and had an OPS of .801 to Foster's .824.  That was as good as it would get for Foster, though.  In 1971 he batted just .245/.314/.439 with eighteen homers.  In 1972 he lost his starting job to Alex Johnson and Buddy Bell, and he never got back to the majors after that.

Record:  The Twins were 17-8, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of California.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–December 17

Cy Falkenberg (1879)
Ray Jablonski (1926)
Cal Ripken (1935)
Jerry Adair (1936)
Leo Cardenas (1938)
Bob Ojeda (1957)
Marvell Wynne (1959)
Curtis Pride (1968)
Alex Cintron (1978)
Chase Utley (1978)
Fernando Abad (1985)
Taylor Rogers (1990)

Cal Ripken was in the Orioles organization for many years, managing in the minors from 1961-1974, coaching in the majors from 1976-1986 and 1989-1992, and managing the big club from 1987-1988.  He had a son, also named Cal, who had a fairly decent major league career.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 17 →