MINNESOTA 8, NEW YORK 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, August 23.

Batting stars:  Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his eighth.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a home run (his thirty-sixth), a stolen base (his seventh), and a walk.

Pitching star:  Jim Perry pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Roy White was 2-for-4 with a double.  Lindy McDaniel pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.  Steve Hamilton pitched two perfect innings and struck out one.

The game:  The Twins took care of business in the first inning.  Uhlaender led off with an infield single and was bunted to second.  Oliva had an RBI double and Killebrew hit a two-run homer.  The Twins weren't done,  though, as Rich Reese and Nettles followed with back-to-back doubles and Leo Cardenas delivered a two-out single.  The Twins batted around to take a 5-0 lead.

In the second, the Twins loaded the bases with one out on singles by Cesar Tovar and Oliva and a walk to Killebrew.  Reese fouled out, but the Twins then pulled off a triple steal, with Killebrew stealing second, Oliva third, and Tovar home, making the score 6-0.  They added two more in the third on walks to Johnny Roseboro and Cardenas, a bunt by Perry, and a two-run single by Uhlaender, leaving the Twins with an 8-0 lead.

The Yankees got two on for the first time in the fourth, when White led off with a single and Bobby Murcer drew a one-out walk, but it came to nothing.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the fourth, getting singles from Nettles and Roseboro and a walk to Cardenas, but Perry struck out to end the inning.

New York finally broke through in the sixth.  With two out, Joe Pepitone and Murcer singled and ex-Twin Jimmie Hall hit a two-run triple.  Jerry Kenney then singled him home to cut the lead to 8-3.  That was as good as it would get for the Yankees, though, as they got only one hit the rest of the game.

WP:  Perry (15-5).  LP:  Mel Stottlemyre (16-11).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was again Uhlaender in center, Tovar at second, and Nettles in left.

Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .335.  Oliva's average was .322.  Perry's ERA was 2.96.

The Twins were 5-for-9 with men in scoring position.

Stottlemyre lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs on six hits and no walks with no strikeouts.  He was a star pitcher and had an excellent season in 1969, but the Twins wore him out.  In four games, he was 1-3, 5.11, 1.46 WHIP.  The Twins batted .340/.373/.511 against him, for an .883 OPS.  The best any other team could do was .709 (Boston).  The Twins obviously didn't do that well against him for his entire career, but they did have the second best OPS against him (second, surprisingly enough, to Kansas City).

Record:  The Twins were 74-50, in first place, 2.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

MINNESOTA 6, NEW YORK 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 22.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his sixteenth and seventeenth) and five RBIs.  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Dave Boswell pitched eight shutout innings, giving up seven hits and one walk and striking out two.  Ron Perranoski pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition star:  Mike Kekich pitched a scoreless inning.

The game:  The Twins opened the bottom of the first with singles by Uhlaender and Cesar Tovar but Oliva lined into a double play, leaving just a man on first with two out.  Tovar then went to third on a stolen base-plus-error, Harmon Killebrew then walked and Rich Reese singled, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead.

The Yankees got a pair of singles in the third but could do nothing with them.  In the bottom of the third, Uhlaender singled and Oliva hit a two-run homer, making the score 3-0.

New York missed a chance to get back into the game in the sixth.  Tom Shopay led off with a single and Gene Michael hit a one-out double, putting men on second and third.  Roy White then hit back to the pitcher, who threw Shopay out at the plate.  Joe Pepitone flied out and the inning was over.  They had another chance in the seventh.  Ron Woods and Jerry Kenney singled with one out.  Jake Gibbs struck out, but a wild pitch put men on second and third and ex-Twin Jimmie Hall walked, loading the bases.  Horace Clarke then grounded out to end the inning.

The Twins put it out of reach in the seventh.  Cardenas led off with a single, Tovar drew a two-out walk, and Oliva hit a three-run homer to make the score 6-0.  The Yankees did not get a man on base in either of the last two innings.

WP:  Boswell (13-9).  LP:  Stan Bahnsen (7-12).  S:  Perranoski (23).

Notes:  Uhlaender remained in center and Tovar at second base.  Graig Nettles was the left fielder in this game.

Reese was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting .336.  Oliva raised his average to .321.

Boswell was allowed to bat for himself in the bottom of the eighth.  He was hit by a pitch and then was removed for a pinch-runner.  He did not miss a start, so one assumes the removal was simply precautionary.  The pinch-runner, by the way, was Tom Hall.  It used to be common for pitchers to be used as pinch-runners.  It seems like, with today's short benches, that wouldn't be a bad strategy to use.  Yes, pitchers aren't particularly used to running the bases, but one would think they could learn.  The downside of it, I suppose, is that all it would take is one pitcher getting hurt running the bases for every second-guesser in the world to say, "Why did you have a pitcher pinch-running, you idiot!"  So it probably won't happen.  I still think it would be a good idea, though.

I remember Tom Shopay more as a Baltimore Oriole, which is understandable--he played for them from 1971-1972 and again from 1975-1977.  What's not understandable, really, is why I remember Tom Shopay at all.  He played in parts of seven seasons, but he never had more than 79 plate appearances in any of them.  He was an outfielder, although he was frequently used as a pinch-hitter.  Of his 341 career plate appearances, 116 of them were as a pinch-hitter.  He wasn't particularly good at it, batting .210/.307/.230 as a pinch-hitter.  Those numbers aren't far off his career numbers--.201/.262/.259.  It's hard to say why he kept getting chances in the majors.  His AAA numbers are okay, but nothing to shout about--.284/.348/.408 in 3182 plate appearances.  He really didn't even take advantage of the vagaries of small sample sizes in the majors--other than his first year 1967, he never even approached an OPS of .600.  He was probably a really nice guy--he wouldn't have kept getting chances if he wasn't.  It sounds like he had a successful career in business after baseball.  At last report, he was living in Miami.

Record:  The Twins were 73-50, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.

BOSTON 7, MINNESOTA 6 IN BOSTON

Date:  Wednesday, August 20.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth), two walks, and a stolen base (his thirty-first).  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his thirty-fifth.

Pitching star:  Al Worthington pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  George Scott was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two RBIs.  Tony Conigliaro was 2-for-5.  Syd O'Brien was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and two runs.

The game:  Scott started the scoring in the third with a home run, putting the Red Sox up 1-0.  Scott struck again in the fourth, delivering a two-out single to give Boston a 2-0 lead.  The Red Sox doubled their lead in the fifth, as a walk, an error, and an intentional walk loaded the bases with one out.  A sacrifice fly by Reggie Smith and a Rico Petrocelli single gave Boston a 4-0 advantage.

The Twins got on the board in the fifth.  Rich Reese singled and Graig Nettles doubled, putting men on second and third.  Cardenas singled home a run, but Nettles was thrown out at the plate, leaving the score 4-1.  It went to 6-1 in the bottom of the fifth, as Jerry Moses singled and O'Brien hit a two-run homer.

The Twins came back.  In the seventh, Tovar walked and Killebrew hit a two-run homer, cutting the margin to 6-3.  The home run did not kill the rally, as Tony Oliva doubled and Reese reached on an error to make the score 6-4.  With two out in the eighth, Bob Allison hit a two-out single and Tovar followed with a two-run homer, tying the score 6-6.

But that was as far as it got.  In the bottom of the ninth, Mike Andrews walked and was bunted to second.  Smith was intentionally walked.  Dean Chance came in and struck out Petrocelli, but Conigliaro delivered a game-ending single.

WP:  Sparky Lyle (7-2).  LP:  Ron Perranoski (8-8).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was again at second base, with Uhlaender in center field and Nettles in left.

Reese was 1-for-5 and was batting .336.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .320.

Perranoski gave up two walks (one intentional) and one run in two-thirds of an inning, making his ERA 2.16.  Chance's ERA was now 2.82.

Jim Kaat started for the Twins and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out one.  Mike Nagy started for Boston and pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks and striking out four.

Syd O'Brien was a major league infielder from 1969-1972.  He was mostly used at third by Boston in 1969, but also played in double digit games at second and short.  This was his best offensive season, as he batted .243/.287/.422 with nine home runs in 263 at-bats.  He got the most playing time of his career in 1970 with the White Sox, when he appeared in 121 games and got 467 plate appearances at third and second.  He batted .247, but with an OPS of just .625.  He moved on to the Angels for 1971 and was traded to Milwaukee at the July deadline in 1972.  He played in AAA for Pittsburgh and Detroit in 1973 before his playing career ended.  One assumes he was considered a good fielder, and of course being able to play multiple positions helped him stay in the majors.  His career offensive numbers are .230/.273/.347 with 24 home runs in 1130 plate appearances.  He had a successful business career after baseball and was living in northern California at last report.

Record:  The Twins were 72-50, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 8, BOSTON 6 IN BOSTON

Date:  Tuesday, August 19.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his thirty-fourth) and two walks.

Pitching star:  Dean Chance pitched 2.2 perfect innings of relief, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 2-for-5 with a grand slam (his thirty-second homer), scoring twice.  Dalton Jones was 2-for-5.

The game:  Reese led off the second with a double.  He was still on second with two out, but Johnny Roseboro walked and Jim Perry delivered a two-out single to get the Twins on the board.  The Twins stretched the lead in the third.  Ted Uhlaender singled and scored from first on a Cesar Tovar double.  Tony Oliva doubled to score Tovar and later came around to score on an error, putting the Twins up 4-0.

The lead didn't survive the third inning.  Don Lock and Mike Andrews drew one-out walks.  Jones then singled and Yastrzemski hit a grand slam to tie it 4-4.  The Twins took the lead back in the fourth.  They loaded the bases with one out on walks to Roseboro and Perry and a hit-by-pitch by Uhlaender,  Tovar hit into a forceout at the plate, but a throwing error by catcher Russ Gibson, in an attempt to turn a double play, allowed two runs to score and gave the Twins a 6-4 lead.

The Red Sox cut into the lead in the fifth.  With two out and none on, Yastrzemski and Reggie Smith singled and Rico Petrocelli hit a ground-rule double to make it 6-5.  In the seventh, Jones singled and scored on a Smith triple, tying it 6-6.

In the ninth, however, it was Killebrew to the rescue.  Tovar walked with one out and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins in the lead 8-6.  Chance, who had come on in the seventh after the Smith triple, retired the side in order in the ninth, and in fact retired all eight men he faced.

WP:  Chance (4-2).  LP:  Sparky Lyle (6-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was again at second base and Uhlaender in center.  Charlie Manuel started in left, but was replaced by Rick Renick, who pinch-hit for him in the seventh.  This time, Billy Martin made the defensive move we suggest a few days ago, putting Frank Quilici at second base and moving Tovar to left field, leaving Killebrew to man third base.

Reese raised his average to .339.  Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .321.

Perry pitched six innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out seven.  His ERA went up to 2.96.  Chance's ERA went down to 2.84.

Dalton Jones, who played more games at second and third than anywhere else, was at first base for the Red Sox.  George Scott, who played way more games at first base than anywhere else, was at third.

Bill Lee pitched two-thirds of an inning in this game, giving up a walk.  He was not "the Spaceman" yet, as 1969 was his first season. He had come up in late June and was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen, making one start at the end of the season.  He was only twenty-two, and probably not ready yet--he went 1-3, 4.50, 1.62 WHIP.  He was with the Red Sox for two months in 1970, then missed the rest of the season, presumably due to injury.  He was a pretty good reliever in 1971-1972, then became a starter.  He made his only all-star team in 1973, when he went 17-11, 2.75, 1.23 WHIP.  He was a good starter through 1975, leading the league in innings in 1974 with 320.  He averaged 17 complete games and 290 innings a year over three seasons, and it eventually took its toll.  He struggled through three more seasons with Boston, then was traded to Montreal.  He bounced back with one more good season in 1979, going 16-10, 3.04, 1.24 WHIP for the Expos.  He went back to the bullpen in 1981 and had another pretty good year, going 5-6, 2.94, 1.17 WHIP with 6 saves.  He made seven more appearances in 1982, but then was done as a big-leaguer.  His career numbers are 119-90, 19 saves, 3.62, 1.36 WHIP.  He pitched 1944.1 innings in 416 games, 225 of them starts.

Record:  The Twins were 72-49, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Oakland.

BOSTON 7, MINNESOTA 6 IN BOSTON (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Monday, August 18.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 2-for-4 with a double.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-5.  Rich Reese was 2-for-5.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-3 with a home run, his sixth.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his thirty-third.

Pitching star:   Dave Boswell pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Mike Andrews was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Tony Conigliaro was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixteenth) and four RBIs.  Carl Yastrzemski was 2-for-5 with a double.  Ex-Twin Lee Stange pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and two walks.

The game:  Boswell ran into trouble in the first inning.  He walked Mike Andrews and gave up a triple to Dalton Jones, putting the Red Sox up 1-0 two batters into the game.  He retired the next two batters with Jones still on third, leading to hopes that he would get out of the inning with no further damage.  Then, however, Rico Petrocelli walked, Conigliaro had an RBI single, and George Scott reached on an error, making the score 3-0.

The Twins first nine batters were all retired, but the offense came to life in the fourth.  Cesar Tovar doubled and went to third on a Ted Uhlaender single.  Oliva singled in a run and Killebrew followed with a three-run homer, putting the Twins ahead 4-3.  The home run did not kill the rally, however.  With one out, Nettles homered to make it 5-3.  The rally was still not killed, as with two out Mitterwald doubled and scored on Boswell's single.  The Twins led 6-3 after the inning.

Boswell had been in control after the first inning.  The only threat Boston had was in the fifth, when Andrews singled and was thrown out trying to score on Yastrzemski's double.  With the score still 6-3, however, Bill Zepp came in to start the eighth.  Yastrzemski singled to start the inning and Reggie Smith walked.  Petrocelli struck out, but Conigliaro hit a three-run homer to tie the score 6-6.

Each team put a man in scoring position in the ninth.  Mitterwald singled to start the top of the ninth and was bunted to second.  He went to third on a fly out, but that was as far as he got.  In the bottom of the ninth, Dick Woodson issued one-out walks to Andrews and Syd O'Brien, but Ron Perranoski came in and got a double play to end the inning.

The Twins could manage only a two-out single in the top of the tenth.  In the bottom of the tenth, Smith led off with a walk and was bunted to second.  Conigliaro was intentionally walked, but Scott foiled the strategy with a game-ending double to center.

WP:  Sparky Lyle (6-1).  LP:  Perranoski (8-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second base with Uhlaender in center and Nettles in left.  Mitterwald was behind the plate.

Reese boosted his average to .338.  Oliva was batting .322.  Perranoski's ERA went up to 2.08.

This isn't a second-guess, exactly, because there are a lot of things I don't know that went into the decision.  But it seems strange a) that Boswell was pulled after seven innings and b) that Zepp would have been brought in.  It was Boswell's first appearance since July 31, which may have been the reason he was pulled, but Billy Martin notoriously did not usually worry about things like that.  I don't have a pitch count for him (not that Martin would've worried about that, either), but he had faced twenty-nine batters, not a huge amount.  Zepp was a twenty-two-year-old rookie making his second major league appearance.  He had done well in his first one, but with Perranoski and Al Worthington ready to go, as well as Woodson, I wonder why Zepp was the choice.  Again, I'm sure there are reasons I know nothing about.  I just wonder what they were.

This was after Tony Conigliaro was beaned--1969 was his first year back.  He wasn't as good as he'd been, but he was still a productive player--.255/.321/.427 with 20 homers.  In 1970 he looked like he was back where he'd been--.266/.324/.498 with 36 homers, all numbers that were pretty much in line with his pre-beaning stats.  That was his last good year, though.  He was traded to the Angels after the season, had a poor year in 1971, and retired.  He tried to come back with Boston in 1975, but it simply was not to be.

Record:  The Twins were 71-49, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 4, WASHINGTON 3 IN WASHINGTON (13 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, August 17.

Batting stars:  Ted Uhlaender was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his thirteenth.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-5.  Tony Oliva was 2-for-6 with two walks.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his thirty-second) and two walks.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall pitched eight innings of relief, giving up one run on two hits and three walks and striking out five.  Ron Perranoski pitched three innings, giving up one run on four hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Joe Coleman pitched eleven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and five walks and striking out five.  Frank Howard was 1-for-4 with two walks.  Ken McMullen was 1-for-4 with two walks.

The game:  Not that 4-3 is high-scoring, but it was even more of pitchers' duel than that sounds like.  In the second, Ken McMullen walked and Bernie Allen singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  The Senators scored only once, on a Paul Casanova ground out, to take a 1-0 lead.  Johnny Roseboro opened the Twins third with a walk.  Bob Allison, pinch-hitting for Twins starter Dean Chance, bunted him to second and Uhlaender singled him home to tie the score 1-1.

It stayed 1-1 for quite some time.  Washington loaded the bases in the third.  The Twins put men on first and second in the fourth.  The Senators put men on first and second in the fifth.  The Twins got a man to second in the eighth.  But the game stayed tied 1-1, going into extra innings.

In the eleventh, Oliva hit a one-out single and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-1.  Hall, who had come in to start the third inning, was still in there starting the eleventh, but came out after giving up a single to Howard to start the inning.  Ron Perranoski came in and it still looked good for the Twins.  He walked Mike Epstein, however, and gave up a single to McMullen.  Tim Cullen hit into a double play, making the score 3-2 but putting the Twins one out away from victory.  But Eddie Brinkman singled tying the score 3-3 and they played on.

In the thirteenth, the Twins started with consecutive singles by Tovar, Uhlaender, and Oliva, making the score 4-3.  Killebrew walked, loading the bases with none out.  The Twins could do no more, however, and carried the precarious 4-3 lead to the bottom of the thirteenth.  Cullen got a one-out single, putting the tying run on base.  He did not advance, however, as Brinkman and Casanova each hit into forceouts to end the game.

WP:  Perranoski (8-6).  LP:  Dennis Higgins (9-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was again at second with Uhlaender in center.  Graig Nettles played left.  In the eleventh, after the Twins took the lead, Frank Quilici came in to play third base, with Killebrew moving to first and Reese to left.  Another option would've been to put Quilici at second and Tovar in center.  It seems like that might have been better, although I certainly can't prove it.

Reese was 0-for-5 with a walk, making his average .337.  Oliva was batting .322.  Perranoski's ERA was 2.01.

One assumes Chance was still having injury problems, as there was no apparent strategic reason for taking him out of the game.  He would go to the bullpen after this game, making three relief appearances before returning to the rotation on September 1.

Hall had just pitched a complete game on August 13, so an eight-inning stint wasn't out of the question for him.  I wonder, though, when the last time is someone pitched eight innings of relief in a game.

I also wonder when the last time is that someone pitched eleven innings, the way Coleman did in this game.

The two teams combined to strand twenty runners and went a combined 4-for-23 with men in scoring position.

I don't have time to do a full profile of Coleman, but he was a fine pitcher for Washington from 1968-1970.  He went 32-41 because the Senators had a lousy team, but he had an ERA in the low-to-mid threes each year and pitched over 200 innings a season.  He then went to Detroit, got some run support, and went 62-38 from 1971-1973, winning twenty games twice while being pretty much the same pitcher he had been in Washington.  He struggled for a few years, had a couple of good years as a reliever (1977-1978), and was done after the 1979 campaign.  For about six years, though, he was a really good major league starting pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 71-48, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

WASHINGTON 6, MINNESOTA 5 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Saturday, August 16.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Graig Nettles was 1-for-2 with a home run, his fifth.  Rich Reese was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fifteenth.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched a complete game, allowing six runs on ten hits and two walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4 with a double.  Ed Brinkman was 2-for-4.  Future Twin Brant Alyea was 2-for-4.  Frank Howard was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his thirty-eighth) and a walk.

The game:  The Senators had men on first and second with one out in the second, but did not score.  In the fourth, Ted Uhlaender led off with a double-plus-error and scored on Killebrew's single to put the Twins up 1-0.  Washington led off the fourth with two singles but did not score.  Nettles led off the fifth with a home run, but the Twins wasted Kaat's two-out double.  Still, Minnesota led 2-0.

It didn't last.  With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Del Unser and Brinkman singled and Howard followed with a three-run homer to put the Senators up 3-2.  The Twins tied it in the sixth when Tony Oliva singled, Killebrew walked, and Rick Renick delivered a two-out pinch-hit single to tie it 3-3.

Cesar Tovar hit a two-out double in the seventh and went to third on a wild pitch, but was stranded there.  In the eighth, however, Killebrew singled and Reese hit a two-run homer.  The Twins led 5-3 going to the bottom of the eighth.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Alyea and Cullen singled.  Kaat remained in the game to face Ed Stroud, who tripled in both runs to tie the score.  Kaat remained in the game to face Paul Casanova, who hit a sacrifice fly to give Washington a 6-5 lead.  Leo Cardenas led off the ninth with a single, but was erased on a double play and the Twins could not come back.

WP:  Darold Knowles (6-2).  LP:  Kaat  (11-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  Tovar was at second base, with Uhlaender in center and Nettles in left.

Reese was batting .342.  Oliva was batting .321.

In the sixth and seventh, Kaat gave up just one hit, a single, and immediately got a double play so that he faced just six batters in those two innings.  It would seem that was part of the reason he was left in to pitch the entire eighth.  It's easy to second-guess that, but it's hard to put oneself into the mindset of a manager in 1969.  The game was simply played differently.  It probably would not have been an unusual move to bring in a reliever, but it probably was not that unusual to leave the starter in, either.

Frank Howard was a great batter.  He won the Rookie of the Year award in 1960 with the Dodgers, he finished in the top ten of MVP voting four times, and he made the all-star team four times.  He wore the Twins out in 1969, batting .442/.556/.721 against them in fifty-four plate appearances, for an OPS of 1.276.  For his career he batted .305/.388/.514 against the Twins in 464 plate appearances, for an OPS of .901, and hit twenty-two home runs.

Dick Bosman was the starting pitcher for the Senators.  He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out three.

Record:  The Twins were 70-48, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 2, WASHINGTON 0 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Friday, August 15.

Batting stars:  Rich Reese was 3-for-4.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven shutout innings, giving up seven hits and two walks and striking out one.  Ron Perranoski struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Casey Cox pitched four shutout innings of relief, giving up one hit and one walk and striking out one.  Dennis Higgins pitched two perfect innings, striking out one.  Ed Brinkman was 2-for-4.

The game:  Tovar and Reese each singled to start the game, putting men on first and third.  The Twins only scored once, on Tony Oliva's RBI groundout, but it gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

Each team put men on first and second with one out in the second, but did not score.  In the third, Reese led off with a single, Oliva had a one-out single, and Cardenas delivered a two-out single to put the Twins up 2-0.  The Senators had a man on third with one out in the third, but did not score.  The Twins had men on first and third in the fourth and did not score.  Washington got a two-out double from Del Unser in the fifth and had a man on second with none out in the sixth, but still could not dent the plate.  They also had two singles in the seventh, but a double play took them out of the inning.  After that, the Senators got just a two-out single in the ninth.

WP:  Perry (14-5).  LP:  Jim Shellenback (4-7).  S:  Perranoski (22).

Notes:  With Carew out, Reese moved into the number two slot in the order.  Frank Quilici played second base.  Bob Allison was in left field, and Tom Tischinski was behind the plate.

Reese raised his average to .344.  He was 7-for-8 in his last two games, 16-for-28 in his last seven games, and 24-for-49 in his last sixteen games.

The teams combined for sixteen hits, but just two runs.  All but one of the hits were singles.  The teams combined to go 2-for-17 with men in scoring position, with Washington going 0-for-8.

Shellenback pitched the first three innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three.  He came out of the game for a pinch-runner after singling to start the bottom of the third.  Presumably he was injured, although he came back to pitch just two days later.  He wasn't much of a batter, though (.135/.159/.154), so you probably wouldn't let him bat if you were planning to take him out.

Casey Cox was a pretty good reliever for the Senators from 1966-1969.  In those seasons, he went 23-17, 3.03 in 365.1 innings (176 games, 13 starts).  Despite how well he pitched, he was sent to AAA Buffalo for most of the 1968 season--it's hard to believe Washington had such a stellar bullpen that they couldn't have found room for him.  The Senators converted him to starting in 1970, which didn't work very well--he went 8-12, 4.45.  He did a little better when returned to the bullpen in 1971, but he was never again what he had been.  The now-Texas Rangers traded him to the Yankees at the end of August of 1972 for ex-Twin Jim Roland.  He did little for the Yankees and was released early in the 1973 season.  He then played in AAA with the Cubs and his playing career was over after the 1973 season.  It's hard to know what happened this many years after the fact, but it kind of looks like the Senators didn't know what they had in Cox, started messing around with him, and ultimately the messing around took its toll.

Record:  The Twins were 70-47, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

MINNESOTA 5, NEW YORK 2 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Wednesday, August 13.

Batting star:  Rich Reese was 4-for-4 with two home runs (his thirteenth and fourteenth) and three RBIs.

Batting star:  Tom Hall pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Roy White was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Frank Fernandez was 2-for-4 with a double.  Horace Clarke was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Yankees got three singles in the first inning, but Hall picked Clarke off base and no runs scored.  Reese led off the second with a home run to put the Twins up 1-0.

There was not much more offense until the fifth.  Leo Cardenas and Johnny Roseboro led off with singles.  A bunt moved them to second and third.  Cesar Tovar hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 and Rod Carew delivered an RBI single to make it 3-0.  The Twins opened the sixth with a walk and a single, but a double play took them out of the inning and it remained 3-0.  New York threatened in the sixth, as Gene Michael led off the inning with a walk and White followed with a double, but Michael was thrown out trying to score on the double and the Yankees remained scoreless.

The Twins added to their lead in the eighth, as Harmon Killebrew hit a two-out double and Reese followed with a two-run homer.  New York got on the board in the bottom of the eighth.  Clarke hit a one-out double and with two down White and Fernandez hit back-to-back RBI doubles, bringing the score to 5-2.  Hall retired Bill Robinson on a liner to left and retired the side in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (5-4).  LP:  Mel Stottlemyre (16-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  The double was Killebrew's eighteenth.  He had only two seasons in which he hit more doubles than home runs.  One was 1954, when in thirteen at-bats he hit one double and no homers.  The other was 1973, when in 248 at-bats he hit nine doubles and just five home runs.  For his career he hit nearly twice as many home runs as doubles, 573 to 290.

This was Hall's third complete game of the season.  He would be sent to the bullpen for a couple of appearances after this game, making his next start on August 24.

Carew was 1-for-3 and was batting .352.  Reese raised his average to .338.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .323.

This would be Carew's last game until September 1.  I don't recall, and did not have time to research, whether he was injured or had a National Guard commitment.  He was in a slump, though.  His last multi-hit game was July 29.  Since then, he was 7-for-41, an average of .171.  He had no extra-base hits and had drawn just five walks.  His average fell from .375 to .352.

Frank Fernandez had a six-year career as a part-time/backup catcher.  He got a September call-up in 1967, batting .214 in 28 at-bats.  He was the backup to Jake Gibbs in 1968 and shared the position with him in 1969.  Then a guy named Thurman Munson came along, and the Yankees traded him to Oakland.  He shared catching duties with Dave Duncan in 1970, then started moving around.  The Athletics traded him to Washington in May of 1971 in a trade that brought Darold Knowles to Oakland.  The Athletics bought him back in June, then traded him to the Cubs at the trade deadline.  Through all of that, he got just eighty major league at-bats in 1971 and just three more in 1972.  He never hit--1969 was his best offensive season, when he batted .223/.399/.415 in 229 at-bats.  That high OBP carried through his career--his lifetime numbers are .199/.350/.395.  He has the highest number of both hits and walks for a man who drew more walks than hits in his career (164 to 145).  He also hit more home runs (39) than any other player with a lifetime average of under .200.  OBP was presumably not valued as much then, but even today it's hard to stay in the lineup with an average of .199.  If he could've just hit a few more singles, he probably would've had a much longer career.

Record:  The Twins were 69-47, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Oakland.

NEW YORK 10, MINNESOTA 3 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Tuesday, August 12.

Batting stars:  Jim Kaat was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his second) and a double.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a home run (his eighth) and a walk, scoring twice.

Pitching star:  Bill Zepp retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Horace Clarke was 3-for-4 with a triple and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.  Len Boehmer was 2-for-4.  Gene Michael was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double, scoring twice.

The game:  The Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first.  Clarke singled, Michael doubled, Roy White hit a sacrifice fly, and an error brought home the second run.  It stayed 2-0 until the third, when Cardenas walked and Kaat hit a two-run homer to tie it 2-2.

The Yankees had two on with two out in the third and the fourth, but did not score.  The Twins had two on with one out in the fourth, but did not score.  So, we were still 2-2 going to the seventh.

Cardenas broke the tie with two out in the seventh, hitting a home run to put the Twins up 3-2.  Then the roof fell in (if there had been a roof).  With one out, Clarke walked and Michael tripled, tying the score at three.  White was intentionally walked and Al Worthington came in to pitch.  He faced three batters and walked them all, two of them with the bases loaded, giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead.  Ron Perranoski came in.  He struck out Bobby Cox but gave up singles to Boehmer and Bill Robinson and a triple to Clarke.  Zepp came in to get the last out, but it was 10-3 New York by that time and there it stayed.

WP:  Steve Hamilton (3-3).  LP:  Kaat (11-9).  S:  Lindy McDaniel (3).

Notes:  Rod Carew was back to play second base, with Cesar Tovar returning to center field and Ted Uhlaender going to left.

Carew was 0-for-4 and was batting .352.  Rich Reese was 1-for-4 and was batting .329.  Tony Oliva was 0-for-4 and was batting .326.

Perranoski was charged with two runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.  His ERA went up to 2.02.

Hamilton faced one man to get the win, striking out Carew with men on first and second and one out in the seventh.  The starters were Kaat and Stan Bahnsen.  Kaat pitched 6.1 innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits and five walks, striking out one.  Bahnsen pitched 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks and striking out two.

This was the major league debut for Bill Zepp.  He made four appearances with the Twins in 1969; this was the only one in which he did not allow a run.  He had a fine year for them in 1970, however, going 9-4, 3.22 in 151 innings.  In his twenty starts that season, he was 6-4, 3.68, 1.50 WHIP.  In his twenty-six relief appearances, however, he was 3-0, 2 saves, 1.75, 0.92 WHIP.  It was only thirty-six innings, but that still looks like a darn good reliever, and that was his age twenty-three season.  According to wikipedia, however, Zepp refused to sign a contract for 1971 and threatened to retire unless he was traded to Detroit, where he was from.  The Twins ultimately obliged, trading him for Mike Adams and a player to be named later (Arthur Clifford).  It did not go well for him there.  He went 1-1, 5.12, 1.83 WHIP in 16 appearances and finished the season in the minors.  He later said that he had torn a tendon in his pitching arm.  Rather than have what was then a new and risky "Tommy John" surgery, he chose to retire.

I had no idea that there was once a major league player named "Len Boehmer".  He was primarily a first baseman.  He went 0-for-3 for Cincinnati in 1967, but 1969 was the only year in which he got any noticeable playing time as a backup for Joe Pepitone.  He appeared in forty-five games for the Yankees that year, batting .176/.233/.213 in 108 at-bats.  He would get five more at-bats with the Yankees in 1971, going 0-for-5.  After baseball, he went back to his home town of Flint Hill, Missouri and joined his family's plumbing supply business.  He is retired now, but two of his sons still run the business.

Record:  The Twins were 68-47, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.  They had lost five in a row and six of their last seven.