SEATTLE 8, MINNESOTA 2 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Sunday, July 7.

Batting stars:  Denny Hocking was 2-for-3.  Jacque Jones hit a home run, his thirteenth.  A. J. Pierzynski hit a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  John Olerud was 2-for-4 with two two-run homers, his fourteenth and fifteenth.  Mark McLemore was 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his thirteenth.  Bret Boone was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  Jones homered with one out in the second to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It didn't last long, though, as Edgar Martinez and Boone led off the bottom of the second with doubles to tie it and a sacrifice fly gave the Mariners a 2-1 lead.  Olerud hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 4-1.  Pierzynski homered in the fifth to cut the lead to 4-2, but the Twins would get no closer.  The Mariners put the game out of reach with four in the eighth, two on an Olerud homer and two on a Dan Wilson double.

WP:  John Halama (4-2).  LP:  Rick Reed (5-6).  S:  Kazuhiro Sasaki (21).

Notes:  Jones batted sixth, with Luis Rivas again in the leadoff spot.  Rivas was 1-for-3 with a walk, a double, and a stolen base, his fourth...Matthew LeCroy was the DH, going 0-for-4 to drop his average to .313...Torii Hunter was given the day off going into the all-star break, with Bobby Kielty in center and Dustan Mohr in right...Kielty was 1-for-3 to make his average .318...Pierzynski was 1-for-4 and was batting .320...Hocking started at short, replacing Cristian Guzman...Reed pitched six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out four...Seattle starter Halama struck out six in 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks...Kazuhiro Sasaki had a brief but excellent major league career.  He had played in Japan for nine years before coming to the Mariners.  He had been a star closer there, twice posting an ERA below one and posting a WHIP of less than one five times.  He came to the Mariners in 2000 at age thirty-two and immediately became their closer.  He was the Rookie of the Year that season and made the all-star team in both 2001 and 2002.  He had injury problems in 2003, injuries he said came when he fell down stairs while carrying a suitcase.  It appears many did not believe this explanation, although I did not quickly see an alternative explanation offered.  2003 would be his last season in the majors.  The Mariners wanted him back for 2004, but he asked for his release to go back to Japan.  His family had stayed behind in Japan when he came to the United States, and this apparently put a strain on his marriage.  Unfortunately, the return did not help him professionally or personally.  He was no longer the pitcher he had once been, and he and his wife ultimately divorced.  He pitched in Japan through 2005, then was done.  He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.  In his four seasons in the United States, he was 7-16, but with 129 saves, an ERA of 3.14, and a WHIP of 1.08.

Record:  The Twins were 50-39, in first place, 7.5 games ahead of Chicago.

MINNESOTA 7, SEATTLE 2 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Saturday, July 6.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 3-for-5 with a home run, his twentieth.  David Ortiz was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fifth), a double, and a hit-by-pitch.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-5 with a two-run homer, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  Kyle Lohse struck out nine in six shutout innings, giving up four hits and five walks.  LaTroy Hawkins struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Mike Jackson pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Mark McLemore was 2-for-3 with two walks.  Edgar Martinez was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Jeff Cirillo was 2-for-2.

The game:  Seattle opened the first with two walks but could not score.  Ortiz made them pay as he hit a two-run homer in the second to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  Each team then missed good chances, as the Mariners stranded five runners in innings two and three and the Twins left four in innings three and four.  The Twins broke through in the fifth, as LeCroy hit a two-run homer to make it 4-0.  Seattle stranded two more runners in the fifth.  Hunter homered in the seventh to increase the lead to 5-0.  In the seventh the Mariners finally got on the board off J. C. Romero.  With the bases loaded and two out, Cirillo singled and Ben Davis walked, cutting the lead to 5-2.  That was as close as Seattle would get, though.  Cristian Guzman doubled home a run in the eighth, the Mariners stranded two more in the bottom of the eighth, and Dustan Mohr had an RBI single in the ninth.  Seattle left sixteen men on base and was 1-for-14 with men in scoring position.

WP:  Lohse (8-5).  LP:  Jamie Moyer (8-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jacque Jones was not in the lineup, as Guzman again batted leadoff.  He was 1-for-5 with a double...Hunter raised his average to .306...LeCroy was again the DH and raised his average to .324...Mohr was 2-for-5 and was batting .300...Brian Buchanan was again in right field rather than Bobby Kielty.  He was 0-for-3...Tom Prince caught in place of A. J. Pierzynski, going 1-for-4...This was Lohse's highest game score of the season so far (68) and would end us as his third highest.  It was the second consecutive game in which he issued five walks...Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.52...Jamie Moyer was thirty-nine at this point in his career.  He would pitch another ten years...The record for men left on base in a game appears to be twenty, set by the Yankees against Boston on September 21, 1956.  They got fifteen hits and drew nine walks.  They also got the benefit of five Red Sox errors.  The Yankees lost 13-7.

Record:  The Twins were 50-38, the first time they'd been twelve games over .500.  They were in first place, leading Chicago by 7.5 games.

SEATTLE 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Thursday, July 4.

Batting star:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Juan Rincon pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Freddy Garcia struck out seven in seven innings, giving up one run on six hits and a walk.  Mark McLemore was 3-for-3 with a triple and a double.  John Olerud was 1-for-3 with a double.

The game:  Another pitchers' duel.  The Twins missed a good chance in the fourth.  Cristian Guzman and Koskie led off the inning with singles.  David Ortiz lined out, but Torii Hunter singled to load the bases.  A wild pitch brought home a run, and Doug Mientkiewicz was intentionally walked to re-load the bases.  The strategy worked, as Dustan Mohr and A. J. Pierzynski both struck out.  The failure to put up a crooked number cost the Twins.  McLemore led off the sixth with a triple and scored on Olerud's sacrifice fly to tie the game.  In the eighth, Edgar Martinez drew a walk and was replaced by Charles Gipson.  Olerud then doubled to left-center, scoring Gipson from first to put the Mariners ahead.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth, and in fact did not get a baserunner after Koskie led off the sixth with a double.

WP:  Arthur Rhodes (5-1).  LP:  Jose Rodriguez (0-1).  S:  Kazuhiro Sasaki (20).

Notes:  Torii Hunter was 1-for-4 to make his average .302...This was the first start of Juan Rincon's career, and it was the best one he would have.  He would start only two more times, both in July of 2002, then spend the rest of his major league career in the bullpen...This was the second game of Jose Rodriguez' career as a Twin.  He came in to start the eighth with the score tied 1-1.  He retired Ichiro Suzuki, then gave up the walk and the double that put Seattle ahead.  He gave an intentional walk to Ruben Sierra before leaving the game.  I assume Gardy was playing match-ups with the left-hander, but it seems strange that he would use Rodriguez in that situation when he had so many better relievers to choose from.

Record:  The Twins were 48-38, in first place, leading Chicago by 6.5 games.

MINNESOTA 2, OAKLAND 1 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Wednesday, July 3.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Brian Buchanan was 1-for-3 with a double.  Bobby Kielty was 1-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Johan Santana struck out eight in 6.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and three walks.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Mulder struck out twelve in a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk.  Jermaine Dye was 2-for-4 with a double.  Olmedo Saenz was 2-for-4.

The game:  Terrence Long led off the third with a single, went to second on a balk, and scored on a Ramon Hernandez single to put Oakland up 1-0.  The Twins came back in the top of the fourth.  Koskie hit a one-out double.  With two out, Kielty doubled and Doug Mientkiewicz singled to put the Twins up 2-1.  At that was it for the scoring.  The Athletics had their chances.  They put men on first and second in the fifth on a pair of walks and in the sixth on a pair of singles.  Dye hit a two-out double in the eighth.  They never got the tying run farther than second base, though.

WP:  Santana (4-1).  LP:  Mulder (9-5).  S: Guardado (26).

Notes:  Denny Hocking was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  He was 1-for-4...Matthew LeCroy was the DH.  He went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .323...Buchanan was in right field and was now batting .319...Kielty shifted to center as Torii Hunter was not in the lineup...Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.56...Guardado got back on track after some rough outings.  He had given up runs in three of his four prior appearances, although twice the Twins won the game anyway...By game scores, this was the best game Mulder had pitched so far this season.  At the end of the year it would tie for second with another game against the Twins, on September 7.  His best game would be September 17 against Anaheim, a twelve-strikeout, complete game shutout.

Record:  The Twins were 48-37, in first place, leading Chicago by 6.5 games.

OAKLAND 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Tuesday, July 2.

Batting stars:  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4 with a double, a home run (his third), and three RBIs.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his seventh.  Dustan Mohr was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Barry Zito pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out three.  Eric Chavez was 2-for-4 with a double.  Olemdo Saenz was 1-for-1 with a two-run homer, his fourth.

The game:  LeCroy hit a two-run homer in the first to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  For a while, it looked like that might be enough.  Oakland got on the board in the fourth on a bases-loaded double play, but the Twins got the run back in the fifth on LeCroy's RBI double.  Mark Ellis homered leading off the bottom of the eighth, but the Twins still led 3-2 with Eddie Guardado ready to pitch the ninth.  This, however, would not be Guardado's day.  Chavez led off the ninth with a double.  Jermaine Dye struck out, but Saenz hit a two-run walkoff homer to give the Athletics the victory.

WP:  Chad Bradford (4-2).  LP:  Guardado (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bobby Kielty led off in place of Jacque Jones.  He went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .317...LeCroy was the DH.  David Ortiz was at first base, with Doug Mientkiewicz out of the lineup.  Ortiz went 1-for-3...Tom Prince caught, in place of A. J. Pierzynski.  He was 0-for-4...LeCroy raised his average to .337...Torii Hunter was 0-for-4 to make his average .302...It was Guardado's third blown save of the season in twenty-eight chances...Ellis' home run was his second of the season.  Surprisingly (to me, anyway) he hit 105 home runs in his career, with a high of nineteen in 2007...Due to a lack of time, our player profiles are going to be on hiatus until probably about the first of the year.

Record:  The Twins were 47-37, in first place, leading Chicago by 5.5 games.

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

Jim Tobin (1912)
Phil Gagliano (1941)
Roy White (1943)
Craig Reynolds (1952)
Jim Leyritz (1963)
Dean Palmer (1968)
Jeff D’Amico (1975)
Jason Repko (1980)
David Aardsma (1981)
Michael Bourn (1982)
Cole Hamels (1983)
Tyler Duffey (1990)

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 27 →

MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, July 1.

Batting stars:  A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double.  Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5.

Pitching stars:  Jose Rodriguez pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  John Mabry was 2-for-3 with a double and a three-run homer, his third.  Eric Chavez was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his third.  Greg Myers was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  David Ortiz singled home a run in the first inning to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  Oakland came back in the second, as Mabry hit a three-run homer to put the Athletics up 3-1.  The Twins tied it with productive outs, getting a sacrifice fly from Doug Mientkiewicz in the third and a run-scoring ground out by Corey Koskie in the fourth.  Oakland regained the lead in the fifth on David Justice's RBI single.  It stayed 4-3 until the seventh, when Mientkiewicz delivered a two-out two-run double to give the Twins a 5-4 advantage.  The Athletics got a man to second base in both the eighth and ninth, but that was where he stayed.

WP:  J. C. Romero (4-1).  LP:  Mike Venafro (2-2).  S:  Guardado (25).

Notes:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 to make his average .306...Bobby Kielty was 1-for-3 with a walk and was batting  .326...Pierzynski raised his average to .330...Twins starter Kyle Lohse pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and five walks and striking out two...Jose Rodriguez made his first appearance as a Twin.  He would make only three more.  The two innings he pitched here were half his total as a Twin...Oakland starter Aaron Harang pitched five innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out three...There will not be a player profile today, and there may not be for a few days.  I don't really have the time, and none of the Oakland players mentioned today is all that interesting to me anyway.  Sorry about that.

Record:  The Twins were 47-36, in first place, leading Chicago by 6.5 games.

MINNESOTA 4, MILWAUKEE 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, June 30.

Batting stars:  Denny Hocking was 3-for-4.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a double.  Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-4.

Pitching star:  Eric Milton struck out eight in eight innings, giving up two runs on four hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Ryan Thompson was 2-for-4 with a double.  Robert Machado was 1-for-3 with a triple.

The game:  In the third, the Twins loaded the bases with two singles and a walk.  LeCroy then delivered a two-run single to put the Twins ahead 2-0.  Machado's two-run triple in the fifth tied it 2-2.  There was no more scoring until the eighth.  The Twins again had the bases loaded, this time with two out.  Dustan Mohr walked to bring home  the go-ahead run and a balk was called on Luis Vizcaino to bring home an insurance run.  The Twins needed it, because in the bottom of the ninth a two-out walk and a double by Thompson made the score 4-3.  Alex Ochoa then struck out to end the game.

WP:  Milton (9-6).  LP:  Glendon Rusch (5-6).  S:  Eddie Guardado (24).

Notes:  Jacque Jones was given the day off.  Luis Rivas moved into the leadoff spot, going 1-for-4...Brian Buchanan was the DH rather than David Ortiz, going 1-for-4...Tom Prince caught in place of A. J. Pierzynski, going 0-for-3...LeCroy was at first base in place of Doug Mientkiewicz.  He raised his average to .337...Hunter raised his average to .305...Bobby Kielty was 0-for-3 with a walk and was batting .326...Milton's game score was tied for his second highest of the season, behind only his first start of the season...This was the last of Ryan Thompson's nine seasons in the majors.  Only one of them was a full season, 1994.  He was drafted by Toronto in the thirteenth round in 1987, but was traded to the Mets late in the 1992 season alone with Jeff Kent for David Cone.  He made his major league debut as a September call-up for the Mets and became the regular center fielder for them in the second half of 1993.  He did okay--not great, not terrible--but enough that he remained the starting center fielder in 1994.  He hit eighteen homers and drew a decent number of walks, but batted just .225 and was injured in mid-August, missing the rest of the season.  He was a part-time outfielder for the Mets in 1995 and was traded to Cleveland for 1996.  He was in AAA most of 1996 and all of 1997, then went to Japan for 1998.  He came back to the United States, playing for Houston in 1999, the Yankees in 2000, and Florida in 2001, getting a handful of games in the majors each season.  He was hitting well in AAA in 2002 when the Brewers called him up in mid-June.  What he did for them seems to have been the pattern for his career--he hit well for a month or so, then tailed off and made a slow slide into mediocrity or worse.  He was in AAA in Tampa Bay in 2003 and Houston in 2004, also spending a little time in the Mexican League.  Again, he did well at times, but for his career he batted .243/.301/.433 with 52 home runs in 1257 at-bats.  He is the father of Trevor Thompson, who played basketball at Ohio State.  He became a youth baseball coach in Indianapolis, but in 2013 was arrested for being part of an identity theft scheme.  I could not find out what happened to his case.

Record:  The Twins were 46-36, in first place, leading Chicago by six games.

MILWAUKEE 10, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 29.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.  Luis Rivas was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Matt Stairs was 3-for-4 with two home runs (his third and fourth) and a double, driving in three.  Richie Sexson was 3-for-4 with a double and a hit-by-pitch, scoring three times.  Alex Sanchez was 4-for-6.

The game:  Milwaukee did not have a big inning, but scored two runs four times and one in two other innings.  The Twins actually led in the first, getting a home run from Koskie to take a 1-0 lead.  The Brewers tied it in the second on Stairs' first homer.  It was still 1-1 after three, but Paul Bako hit a two-run homer to make it 3-1 in the fourth.  Stairs hit his second homer, a two-run shot, in the fifth to increase the lead to 5-1.  The Twins got a run back in the sixth to cut it to 5-2, but any thoughts they had of getting back into the game were quickly squelched when Milwaukee scored two in the seventh and Ryan Thompson hit a two-run homer in the eighth.  Sanchez singled in the game's final run in the ninth.

WP:  Jose Cabrera (4-5).  LP:  Matt Kinney (2-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  Torii Hunter was 0-for-4 and was batting .302...Dustan Mohr was 0-for-4, dropping him to an even .300...A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-3 and fell to .323...This would be Kinney's last appearance for the Twins in 2002.  He made it through six innings, giving up five runs on eleven hits and two walks and striking out three.  He apparently was pitching injured, as he would make rehab starts in the GCL, Fort Myers, and AA New Britain, but would not come back to the Twins, being traded to Milwaukee after the season...Tony Fiore came in and allowed four runs on four hits and a walk in two innings.  He was in the middle of a stretch in which he would give up ten runs in six innings (five games).  His ERA went from 2.12 to 3.59 in that stretch.  I would imagine some people thought he'd turned back into a pumpkin, but he got it going again and pitched well in the second half of the season...Milwaukee's starter, Cabrera, pitched six innings, giving up two runs on three hits and no walks and striking out one...Alex Sanchez was a pretty good major league player for four years.  A native of Cuba, he came to the United States on a raft in 1994 at age eighteen.  He was drafted by Tampa Bay in 1996 and reached the majors in 2001.  2002 was his first full season.  A mostly-regular outfielder, he batted .289/.343/.358.  As you can see from that, he had very little power and never developed any, but he hit for a high average.  He had a similar year in 2003 when he was traded to Detroit in May.  He then kicked it up a notch in 2004, batting .322/.335/.386.  Surprisingly, however, Detroit released him in mid-March of 2005.  He signed with Tampa Bay a few days later, but a couple of weeks after that we found out why Detroit released him--on April 3, 2005, he was suspended for ten games for steroid use.  He came back and was batting .346 when Tampa Bay waived him on June 23.  Nominally it was because of concerns about his defense, but one has to assume that steroid use carried a much higher stigma at the time.  Whatever the reason, he was never the same player after that.  He was claimed by San Francisco but batted just .256 in 19 games and then missed the rest of the season due to injury.  He never played in the  majors again.  He was in the minors for Cincinnati for 2006, for the White Sox in 2007, played in the Atlantic League in 2008, and was in the Mexican League in 2009-2010.  His lifetime numbers are .296/.330/.372 in 1527 at-bats.

Record:  The Twins were 45-36, in first place by five games over Chicago.