Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

2018 Twins Game Logs

Game 135: Minnesota at Texas

24 Comments

And so we enter the last month of the season.  It somehow seems like it should be later in the season than it is.  Maybe it's because football has started, maybe it's because the minor league seasons are nearly over, maybe it's because the Twins have been out of the race for quite a while now.  But the fact is that we still have a month of the season to play.

That's all right.  The off-season is too long as it is--I'm certainly not wishing for it to be longer.  Let's enjoy this last month of the season.  We have Jose Berrios going tonight, and we can hope that he'll actually pitch like Jose Berrios.  The Rangers counter with Yovani Gallardo.  Let's win tonight and give ourselves a chance for a sweep tomorrow.  Go Twins!

2018 Twins Game Logs

Game 131 — Twins at Cleveland

24 Comments

If it's Tuesday must be another series against the soon to be 2018 Central Division Champion Cleveland Baseball Club, Inc. With the Twins' Tragic Number at 18, it's now all about playing the string out for the home town squad; maybe checking in on some prospects and ideas for 2019.

Gibby on the mound for the Twins. He's been decent this year, although his last start, not so much. Same could be said for Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco. Game time at 6:10p.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–August 22

Ned Hanlon (1857)
Howie Camnitz (1881)
Wally Schang (1889)
Happy Felsch (1891)
Carl Yastrzemski (1939)
Bill Burbach (1947)
Doug Bair (1949)
Ray Burris (1950)
Paul Molitor (1956)
Darrin Jackson (1962)
Mike Everitt (1964)
Gary Scott (1968)
Hipolito Pichardo (1969)
Steve Kline (1972)
Jeff Weaver (1976)
Randy Wolf (1976)
Alan Busenitz (1990)

Mike Everitt has been a major league umpire since 1996.

We would also like to wish a very happy anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa S.

Add bio of Bill Burbach

Hall of Famer Paul Leo Molitor played for the Twins from 1996-1998.  Born and raised in St. Paul, he attended the University of Minnesota and was chosen by Milwaukee with the third pick of the 1977 draft. He spent only one year in the minors, hitting .346 with Class A Burlington, before jumping to the big leagues. He was a fixture in the Brewers lineup for the next fifteen years, playing regularly at second base, center field, third base, and designated hitter, as well as playing a little shortstop. He made the all-star team five times in Milwaukee, received MVP consideration five times, finishing as high as fifth in 1987, and twice won the Silver Slugger award. After the 1992 season, Molitor became a free agent and went to Toronto, where he helped the Blue Jays win a world championship in 1993 and finished second in the MVP balloting to Frank Thomas. He made the all-star team in 1993 and 1994, but his average dropped to .270 in 1995, so the Blue Jays allowed him to again go the free-agent route. This time he came to Minnesota, and showed that his bat had plenty of life left. In his first year with the Twins, a year in which he turned forty, Molitor batted .341, led the league in hits, had 113 RBIs, won his fourth Silver Slugger award, and finished thirteenth in the MVP balloting. He played with the Twins for two more seasons before retiring at age 42. As a Twin, Paul Molitor hit .312/.362/.432 in exactly 1700 at-bats, driving in 271 runs. For his career, he batted .306 and had 3,319 hits. He was elected to the major league baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.  He is currently the manager of the Minnesota Twins.

Outfielder Darrin Jay Jackson played in 49 games for the Twins in 1997.  He was born in Los Angeles, went to high school in Culver City, California, and was drafted by the Cubs in the second round in 1981. He was fairly nondescript in the minors, with his best year prior to his major league debut coming in 1984, when he hit .270 with 15 homers at AA Midland. He got a brief cup of coffee with the Cubs in 1985, but then started to pick up the pace a little, and after a solid season with AAA Iowa in 1987 (.274, 23 homers), he spent all of 1988 with Chicago, getting 188 at-bats as a bench player. In August of 1989, he was sent to the Padres in a multi-player deal, and saw his playing time gradually increase, becoming a semi-regular in 1991 and a full-time regular in 1992, the only season in which he got more than 403 at-bats. He was decent that year, but that’s all, .249 with 17 homers and 70 RBIs. Jackson was traded to Toronto at the end of 1993 spring training, and in June the Blue Jays sent him to the Mets for Tony Fernandez. He became a free agent at the end of the season and signed with the White Sox, where he had easily his best season in 1994, batting .312 as a semi-regular. Jackson played for the Seibu Lions in 1995-96, but returned to the United States in 1997, when the Twins signed him as a free agent. He played in 49 games for the Twins, batting .254/.272/.354 with 3 homers and 21 RBIs, before the Twins traded him to Milwaukee in August for the immortal Mick Fieldbinder. He stayed with the Brewers in 1998 before rounding out his career back with the White Sox, batting decently (.275) in a reserve role in 1999. His numbers are not particularly impressive, but he spent parts of 12 years in a big-league uniform, and a guy could do a lot worse. Darrin Jackson is currently a broadcaster for the White Sox radio network.

Third baseman Gary Thomas Scott did not play for the Twins, but was in their minor league system for a short time.  He was born in New Rochelle, New York, went to high school in Pelham, New York, and then attended Villanova.  Scott was drafted by the Cubs in the second round in 1989. He had a couple of solid years in A and AA, and after a tremendous spring training in 1991, he was installed with much fanfare as the regular third baseman with the big club. Unfortunately, he was not up to the task, and was sent back to the minors after hitting only .165 in 31 games. He did poorly in the minors that year, too, hitting only .208 at AAA Iowa. He came back some in 1992, but when promoted to the Cubs late in the season he was awful again, batting .156 in 36 games. The Cubs gave up on Scott and traded him to Florida at the end of the season. He never played for Florida, however, as the Marlins traded him to Cincinnati for Hector Carrasco just prior to the 1994 season. The Reds sent him to AAA Indianapolis, and at the end of June traded him to the Twins for Tom Houk and Alan Newman. He hit .291 at AAA Portland, but it did not convince the Twins of anything, and they let him go after the season. Scott then played at AAA for the Giants, Braves, and Padres with mixed results, but never got another chance in the majors. Overall, he played in 67 big league games and had a batting line of .160/.250/.240, with 3 home runs and 16 RBIs.  At last report, Gary Scott was an oil broker for Compagnie Financiere Tradition in the New York area.

Right-hander Alan Paul Busenitz has played for the Twins in 2017.  He was born in Watkinsville, Georgia, went to high school in Athens, Georgia, attended Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, and was drafted by the Angels in the twenty-fifth round in 2013.  He pitched quite well in the low minors his first two seasons.  He stumbled when he was promoted to AA in 2015 but did quite well there in 2016.  On August 1 of 2016 he was traded to the Twins with Hector Santiago for Ricky Nolasco, Alex Meyer, and cash.  He finished that season in the minors with Minnesota, making five appearances in Chattanooga and six in Rochester.  He started 2017 in Rochester and did very well there.  He came up to Minnesota for about two weeks in June and did very well there, too, but was sent back anyway because the Twins needed "a fresh arm for the bullpen".  He came back in late July and continued to do well.  2018 has not gone as well for him--he has pitched very well in Rochester, but not very well in limited chances in Minnesota.  At this writing, Alan Busenitz is 4-1, 3.04, 1.29 WHIP in forty major league games (47.1 innings).  He turns twenty-eight today.  It's doubtful he'll ever be a star, but he may be able to be a major league reliever for at least a few seasons.

2018 Twins Game Logs

Game 125 — Twins at White Sox

16 Comments

Twins play the White Sox at "The Rate" tonight as they head into the last 6 weeks of the season. Last month I was at Guaranteed Rate Ballpark to see a Sox-Royals game and was pleasantly surprised at the ballpark. It was intimate with many "modern" facilities, open concourses, etc. A much more blue collar crowd than what you would find at Target Field, plus a lot of young, rowdy people. It was a fun Saturday afternoon. Interesting in that it feels like a suburban location. Ample parking, virtually no restaurants or bars in the neighborhood, view of the Interstate.

Jose Berrios up against Michael Kopech tonight. This will be the Major League debut for Kopech and Sox fans are excited. He was the key piece in the Chris Sales trade a couple of years ago and he is a 23-year old flame thrower, touching 100 mph with his fast ball (duh) relatively consistently. Apparently there is video of him hitting 110 mph on a radar gun, but some stories are that was rigged. He walks a ton too, which must be terrifying for a batter. Should be interesting to watch, the White Sox sure hope his debut is better than Gonsalves was last night.

Game at 7:10p Look for HJ in the crowd.

Keeping Track

Where They Stand

We plan to resume daily game reports tomorrow.  In the mean time, here's how the Twins and their affiliates have been doing:

Minnesota is 59-65, second in the AL Central, 13 games behind Cleveland.  The Twins are 6-4 in their last ten games.

Rochester is 56-68, fifth in the IL North, 18 games behind Lehigh Valley.  The Red Wings are 4-6 in their last ten games.

Chattanooga is 58-66.  In the second half the Lookouts are 22-33, fifth in the SL North, 10 games behind Montgomery.  They are 3-7 in their last ten games.

Fort Myers is 61-63.  In the second half the Miracle is 33-23, second in the FSL South, a half-game behind Charlotte.  They are 6-4 in their last ten games.

Cedar Rapids is 67-59.  In the second half the Kernels are 35-22, first in the ML Western, two games ahead of Peoria.  They are 5-5 in their last ten games.

Elizabethton is 32-25, first in the AL West, four games ahead of Bristol and Kingsport.  The Twins are 4-6 in their last ten games.

The GCL Twins are 29-23, third in the GCL South, three games behind the Red Sox.  They are 5-5 in their last ten games.

The DSL Twins are 47-20, tied for first in the DSL South with the DSL Cardinals Blue.  They are 8-2 in their last ten games.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–August 21

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated other than the biography of Ehire Adrianza.

Frank Isbell (1875)
Murray Dickson (1916)
Gerry Staley (1920)
Jim Beauchamp (1939)
Felix Millan (1943)
John Ellis (1948)
John Stearns (1951)
Frank Pastore (1957)
John Wetteland (1966)
Mike Misuraca (1968)
Craig Counsell (1970)
Ismael Valdez (1973)
Akili Smith (1975)
Jason Marquis (1978)
Jesse Chavez (1983)
Melvin Upton (1984)
Ehire Adrianza (1989)

Akili Smith, better known as an NFL quarterback, played for three seasons in the Pittsburgh organization, reaching AA.

Right-hander Frank Enrico Pastore pitched for the Twins in 1986.  He was born in Alhambra, California, went to high school in La Verne, California, and was drafted in the second round by Cincinnati in 1975, Pastore pitched well at every stop along the way in the minors, and made the Reds at the beginning of 1979. He pitched mostly out of the bullpen that year, but became a solid member of the rotation in 1980. That was his best year: he went 13-7 with an ERA of 3.27 in 27 starts. He pitched well in 1981 and 1982, but started to slip after that, and also apparently started to have injury problems. He was primarily a reliever in 1985, became a free agent, and signed with the Twins in April of 1986. The Twins ran through a lot of relief pitchers that year, and Pastore was actually one of the better ones they had: in 33 games, he was 3-1 with a 4.01 ERA and 2 saves, but walked 24 in 49.1 innings and had a WHIP of 1.58. He again became a free agent after the season, and signed with the Texas Rangers, but pitched poorly for AAA Oklahoma City and his career was over. After baseball, Frank Pastore went back to school and obtained degrees in business administration, philosophy of religion and ethics, political philosophy, and American government. He became the host of a radio program, The Frank Pastore Show, which was described by wikipedia as the largest Christian talk show in the United States.  Sadly, Frank Pastore passed away December 17, 2012 as a result of injuries following a motorcycle accident.

Right-hander Michael William Misuraca did not play for the Twins, but he was in their farm system for over seven years.  He was born in Long Beach, California and signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 1988.  A starter for most of his career, he pitched fairly well in the low minors, but never well enough to attract anyone’s attention.  He reached Class A in 1989, but did not advance past there until 1993, when he finally got to AA Nashville.  He reached AAA in 1994, but did not pitch well in Salt Lake, posting ERAs over five each season there.  He was sent to Milwaukee in a conditional deal in June of 1996 and sent to AAA New Orleans.  He did not pitch any better in AAA for the Brewers, but was brought up to the majors for about three weeks in 1997.  It did not go well:  in five appearances (10.1 innings), he put up an ERA of 11.32 and a WHIP of 2.13, allowing five home runs.  His playing career came to an end after that season.  He may not have been in the big leagues for long, but as an undrafted free agent, he beat the odds to get there at all.  He has stayed in baseball, and at last report was the supervisor of scouting in the greater Los Angeles area for the Cincinnati Reds.

Right-hander Jason Scott Marquis made seven starts for the Twins at the beginning of 2012.  He was born in Manhasset, New York, went to high school in Staten Island, and was drafted by Atlanta in the first round in 1996.  He advanced slowly, mostly because he really didn’t pitch all that well.  he had a good year in AA in 2000, though, and ended up spending nearly half the season in the majors.  2001 was his first full year in the majors and was one of his best years there.  He started in the bullpen, but made the rotation by mid-June and ended up posting a 3.48 ERA.  He came nowhere near those numbers in 2002 and was back in the minors for about half of 2003.  That off-season he was traded to St. Louis.  He had a fine year for the Cardinals in 2004, going 15-7, 3.71, though with a WHIP of 1.42.  He was still pretty good in 2005 but had a terrible 2006, leading the league in earned runs allowed and home runs allowed.  He was a free agent after the season and signed with the Cubs.  He was adequate for the Cubs for two seasons, then was traded to Colorado before the 2009 season.  Given that he was pitching in Coors Field, he actually had a pretty good year for the Rockies, but became a free agent again and signed with Washington.  He was on the disabled list much of 2010 and was pretty awful when he did pitch, but he bounced back in 2011 and was having a decent season when he was traded to Arizona at the deadline.  He again was injured and was awful in the three starts he did make for the Diamondbacks.  A free agent again, he signed with Minnesota for 2012.  It was hoped he would bring a veteran presence to the rotation, but his time with the Twins was a disaster:  2-4, 8.47, 1.94 WHIP in 34 innings.  He was released in late May and signed with San Diego the next day.  He was actually fairly good with the Padres the rest of the season and was adequate in 2013 as well, although he issued a lot of walks.  A free agent after that season, he did not sign for 2014 until early June, when he signed with Philadelphia and made nine minor league starts.  Once again a free agent, he signed with Cincinnati for 2015 and made the team, but was pretty bad in nine starts and was released in June.  He pitched for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic in 2017 and said last spring that he was still interested in playing professional baseball.  It appears, though, that no professional baseball team is interested in having him play, as he has not signed with anyone.  It is probably time for Jason Marquis to decide what the next phase of his life is going to be.

Infielder Ehire Enrique Adrianza has been with the Twins since 2017.  He was born in Guarenas, Venezuela and was signed by the Giants as a free agent in 2006.  He spent two years in the Dominican Summer League and was apparently injured for much of 2008, as he played in only eighteen games.  He reached class A in 2009, AA in 2012, and AAA in 2013.  He had a strong year in AAA in 2013, batting .310 with an OPS of .851, and got a September call-up that season.  He spent about half of each season with the Giants from 2014-16, playing mostly second base and shortstop.  He was a reserve most of that time and batted like one, batting .220/.292/.313 for the Giants.  They waived him at the end of January of 2017 and he was claimed by Milwaukee.  A week later Milwaukee waived him and he was claimed by Minnesota.  He started 2017 in AAA but came up in early May and has stayed there ever since.  He was fairly decent as a reserve in 2017, batting .265 with an OPS of .707.  He began 2018 again in a reserve role, but the Twins ran into a shortage of infielders for a variety of reasons, and he became a mostly regular in June.  He did okay in that role, too.  He turns twenty-nine today.  He'll probably never go into spring training with a regular job, but he's someone you can plug in anywhere on the infield for a few weeks and not have him hurt you, and he's even played a handful of games in the outfield.  It would not be surprising if Ehire Adrianza has a fairly decent major league career.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–August 14

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.  That means there is no biography for Jeremy Hazelbaker.  Sorry about that, Jeremy.  We'll try to catch you next year.

Paul Dean (1912)
Earl Weaver (1930)
Joel Horlen (1937)
Bert Cueto (1937)
Mark Fidrych (1954)
Don Carman (1959)
Mark Gubicza (1962)
Mike Cook (1963)
Mark Loretta (1971)
Juan Pierre (1977)
Clay Buchholz (1984)
Jeremy Hazelbaker (1987)
Tim Tebow (1987)

Earl Weaver was the long-time manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Mark Gubicza was an analyst on for FSN on pre-game and post-game shows in 2004.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to sean's son.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–August 14 →