Tag Archives: Michael Ryan

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game One Hundred Thirty-seven

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ANAHEIM 10, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, September 1.

Batting star:  Michael Ryan was 3-for-4 with a home run and a double.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  John Lackey pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four.  Shawn Wooten was 2-for-4.  Bengie Molina was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourteenth) and two RBIs.  Scott Spiezio was 1-for-2 with a grand slam (his fifteenth homer).  Garret Anderson was 1-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-ninth) and two runs.

The game:  Molina got the game's first hit, a home run, with two out in the second to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.  In the third, a strikeout-plus-wild pitch and two walks loaded the bases and Spiezio hit a two-out grand slam to make it 5-0 Anaheim.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the third when Ryan homered.  In the fourth, Corey Koskie walked and Matthew LeCroy singled.  A wild pitch moved the runners up and Dustan Mohr hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 5-2.

But that was as good as it got.  Ryan led off the fifth with a double and A. J. Pierzynski and Ryan hit one-out singles in the seventh, but nothing came of them.  The Angels put it out of reach in the eighth.  Anderson led off the inning with a home run.  Later in the inning a single and two walks loaded the bases and Wilson Delgado hit a two-run single to make it 8-2.  Anaheim added two in the ninth to bring the final score to 10-2.

WP:  John Lackey (9-13).  LP:  Kenny Rogers (11-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Denny Hocking was at short in place of Cristian Guzman.  Shannon Stewart was in left with Ryan in right and Jacque Jones at DH.

Mohr replaced Torii Hunter in center field in the third inning.  Hunter would start the next day but again exit early.  He would be back full-time after that.  Rob Bowen replaced Pierzynski behind the plate in the ninth.  Michael Cuddyer pinch-hit for Hocking in the ninth.  Chris Gomez pinch-hit for Stewart in the ninth.

Rogers pitched seven innings but allowed six runs on six hits and two walks, striking out five.

Ryan hit his first major league home run in this game.  He would hit five for the season and seven for his career.

This was the major league debut for Rob Bowen.  He would play in parts of five seasons, spending time with the Twins, San Diego, the Cubs, and Oakland.  He appeared in 216 games, had 378 at-bats, and batted .209/.300/.309.

This was Adam Johnson's first game for the Twins this season.  He gave up two runs (one earned) in one inning.  He would make one other appearance this season, and that would be the last of his major league career.

After climbing to within a half game of first place, the Twins had now dropped two in a row.  The White Sox were idle and Kansas City lost.

Record:  The Twins were 71-66, tied for second with Kansas City in the American League Central, two games behind Chicago.

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 Nineteen

CLEVELAND 9, MINNESOTA 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, August 12.

Batting stars:  Shannon Stewart was 3-for-5 with a double.  Matthew LeCroy was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Travis Hafner was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.  Ryan Ludwick was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth), a walk, three runs, and three RBIs.  Jody Gerut was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Jhonny Peralta was 2-for-4.  Casey Blake was 2-for-5 with a home run, his thirteenth.  Ben Broussard was 2-for-5 with a double.  Angel Santos was 1-for-4 with a home run, his third.  Rafael Betancourt struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Hafner hit a two-run double in the second to put the Indians up 2-0.  The Twins tied it in the third on a two-run strikeout.  With men on second and third, Doug Mientkiewicz struck out.  The ball was not held, and on the throw to first Cristian Guzman scored from third.  The throw from the first baseman was wild, allowing Stewart to score from second and tie it up 2-2.

Cleveland got the lead back in the fourth on Peralta's RBI single.  The Twins took their first and only lead of the game in the fifth when LeCroy hit a two-out two-run homer to put MInnesota up 4-3.

The Indians tied it in the sixth when Ludwick homered.  They went into the lead to stay in the seventh.  Santos led off with a homer, Blake hit a one-out homer, and Ludwick hit a two-out, two-run homer to make it 8-4 Cleveland.

That was pretty much it.  Each team scored in the ninth.  The Indians got an RBI single by Broussard and the Twins got a two-run single by Mientkiewicz.  The Twins had the tying run up to bat with one out, but Corey Koskie fouled out and A. J. Pierzynski fanned to end the game.

WP:  Betancourt (2-1).  LP:  James Baldwin (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  LeCroy was behind the plate in place of Pierzynski.  Pierzynski pinch-hit for him in the ninth.  Stewart was in left, Dustan Mohr in right, and Michael Restovich at DH.

Michael Ryan pinch-hit for Guzman in the ninth.  Jacque Jones pinch-hit for Luis Rivas in the ninth.  Chris Gomez pinch-ran for Jones in the ninth.

This was Ryan's first game with the Twins in 2003.  He had played seven games in the majors in 2002.

Ryan was 1-for-1 and was batting 1.000.  Stewart was batting .320.  Restovich was 1-for-3 and was batting .314.  Jones did not have an official at-bat and was batting .305.  Koskie was 1-for-4 and was batting .302.  Pierzynski was 0-for-1 and was batting .300.

Joe Mays started.  He pitched five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.  His ERA went down to 6.38.

Billy Traber started for Cleveland.  He pitched three innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out three.  This was his rookie season, and the only season in which he pitched more than fifty innings.  He threw 111.2 innings and went 6-9, 5.24, 1.54 WHIP.  He was in 33 games, 18 of them starts.  He had started the season in the bullpen but went into the rotation in early June.  He did substantially better as a reliever:  2-1, 3.52 versus 4-8, 5.68 as a starter.  He then was injured and didn't make it back to the majors until 2006, with Washington.  For his career he was 12-14, 5.65, 1.59 WHIP.

Record:  The Twins were 61-58, in third place in the American League Central, 2.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were two games behind second-place Chicago.