MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, July 4.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his twenty-first) and a walk.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.  Dan Gladden was 1-for-4 with a double, a run, and a stolen base (his thirteenth).

Pitching stars:  Les Straker pitched seven innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts.  Juan Berenguer pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks with one strikeout.

Opposition stars:  Lee Lacy was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a stolen base (his second).  Larry Sheets was 1-for-3 with a run.  Mark Williamson retired all four batters he faced, striking out one.

The game:  In the first, Gladden doubled, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  The Orioles put together three singles in the third to tie it, but Hrbek hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third to put the Twins back on top 3-1.  The Orioles only threatened once after that, when Eddie Murray got to third with two out in the sixth.  Puckett added an insurance run with an RBI single in the seventh.

Of note:  The Twins' search for a number two hitter continued, with Lombardozzi in the two spot in this game.  He went 0-for-4...Puckett raised his average to .354...Berenguer lowered his ERA to 2.88...Eric Bell started for Baltimore and pitched 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 45-36 and remained tied for first place with Kansas City, which defeated Toronto 9-1.

Notes:  Puckett was at DH for this game, with Mark Davidson in center field and Roy Smalley out of the lineup.

Player profile:  Not really a profile, but I remember a huge deal being made about Straker not pitching any complete games in 1987 (other than the 4.1 inning rain-shortened complete game on June 29).  The feeling seemed to be that he couldn't really be considered a big league starter until he had a complete game, that it would be a huge step forward for him to get one, and that after he did he'd be someone we could really count on going forward.  He finally got a complete game on May 14, 1988, a four-hit shutout of Detroit that lowered his ERA to 2.35  He couldn't get out of the first inning in his next start and made only eight more major league starts in his career, posting an ERA of 5.24 in those eight starts.

MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 5.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Sal Butera was 1-for-3 with a home run, his second.  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-3 with a triple and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on nine hits and four walks with seven strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Larry Sheets was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, scoring once.  Eddie Murray was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifteenth.  Ken Gerhart was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, driving in one.

The game:  Gerhart's RBI double put the Orioles ahead 1-0 in the second, but Lombardozzi hit a two-run triple in the bottom of the second to put the Twins ahead 2-1.  Murray tied it with a home run leading off the fourth, but Butera put the Twins back in front with a home run leading off the fifth.  In the seventh, Rick Burleson hit a one-out double and scored on a pair of wild pitches to tie it 3-3.  It stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth, when Hrbek led off the inning with a walkoff home run.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett went 0-for-4 to make his average .350...Roy Smalley was 0-for-2 with a walk and was batting .320...Baltimore starter Dave Schmidt pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 46-36, still tied for first place with Kansas City, which defeated Toronto 4-3 in ten innings.

Notes:  Puckett took a turn in the second spot in the order in this game...Randy Bush batted third and played right field in place of Tom Brunansky.

Player profile:  1987 was by far the best year of Larry Sheets' career.  He is one of two major league players to come out of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia (Erik Kratz).  He was a second round draft choice of the Orioles in 1978.  He was just eighteen when he signed but reached AA in 1980.  He missed all of 1981, due to "college commitments and his personal indecision about his future" according to b-r.com.  He came back in 1982 and played in Class A, got back to AA in 1983 and to AAA in 1984, getting a September call-up that year.  A left-handed batter, he was often platooned.  He hit well in 1985 and 1986, but 1987 was his year:  he batted .316/.358/.561 with 31 homers.  He never came anywhere close to duplicating that:  his highest batting average after that was .261, in 1990, and his highest home run total after that was ten.  He stayed with the Orioles through 1989, but after two consecutive years of sub-.700 OPS they traded him to Detroit for Mike Brumley.  He bounced back some for the Tigers, batting .261/.308/.403, but he became a free agent after the 1990 season.  It appears that he did not play at all in 1991, played in Japan in 1992, and came back to the United States in 1993, spending most of the year at AAA but getting 20 at-bats with Seattle at the end of the season.  For his career, he hit .266/.321/.437 with 94 homers, almost a third of which came in that 1987 season.  At last report, Larry Sheets was a high school baseball coach in Maryland.  He is a member of the Eastern Mennonite University Athletic Hall of Fame.

MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 5 IN MINNESOTA (11 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, July 3.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 3-for-6 with a triple and a stolen base (his twelfth), scoring once.  Tim Laudner was 2-for-4 with a home run, his tenth.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Jeff Reardon struck out three in three shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Fred Lynn was 3-for-5 with two doubles, scoring once and driving in one.  Eddie Murray was 1-for-4 with a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in two.  Cal Ripken was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.

The game:  Hrbek singled in two in the first to take a 2-1 lead.  In the fifth, Laudner homered and Al Newman delivered an RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch, giving the Twins a 5-1 advantage.  The Orioles came back with two in the sixth to make it 5-3.  Juan Berenguer, who had come on to relieve starter Mike Smithson in the sixth, was still in to start the ninth and walked Eddie Murray.  That brought in, not closer Reardon, but Dan Schatzeder, who allowed a double to Lynn that put men on second and third.  Reardon then came in and retired the next two batters, but Larry Sheets singled to tie the game at 5-5.  It remained tied until the eleventh.  Tom Brunansky led off with a double and Laudner walked.  Greg Gagne popped up a bunt and Gladden struck out, but Steve Lombardozzi singled off Tom Niedenfuer, who had been in since the start of the ninth, to win it for the Twins.

Of note:  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-5 with a run and was batting .349...Roy Smalley was 0-for-4 with a walk and was batting .323...Smithson pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts...The three shutout innings lowered Reardon's ERA below six for good, as it stood at 5.66...Mike Boddicker pitched eight innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and four walks with five strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 44-36, tied for first place with Kansas City, which swept a doubleheader from Toronto.

Notes:  Newman played second base and batted second, with Lombardozzi out of the lineup.  Lombardozzi entered the game in the tenth inning after Randy Bush pinch-hit for Newman.

Player profile:  Tom Niedenfuer had a longer career than I remembered.  Born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, he was signed as an amateur free agent by the Dodgers in 1980 and made his big league debut in mid-August of 1981.  He pitched well then and continued to pitch well for several years.  A relief pitcher his entire career, he was never "the closer" for the Dodgers, always sharing the job with someone like Steve Howe or Jay Howell.  Still, he got nine saves in 1982 and was in double digits every year from 1983-86.  He started to slip in 1986 and in 1987 was traded to Baltimore in May for Brad Havens and John Shelby.  He did okay for the Orioles, but was nothing particularly special.  A free agent after the 1988 season, he pitched for Seattle in 1989 and St. Louis in 1990, ending his playing career after that season.  For an undrafted free agent, he did pretty well:  10 years in the big leagues, 484 games, 36-46, 97 saves, 3.29 ERA, 1.27 WHIP.  He was in the World Series as a rookie in 1981 and his team made the LCS two other times.  He is the brother-in-law of actress Audrey Landers.  At last report, he was living in Sarasota, Florida.

KANSAS CITY 10, MINNESOTA 3 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Thursday, July 2.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run.  Tim Laudner was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his ninth.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-4 with a double and a run.

Pitching star:  Dan Schatzeder struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Bret Saberhagen pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks with five strikeouts.  Jim Eisenreich was 2-for-4 with a home run and a double, scoring twice and driving in four.  Angel Salazar was 2-for-4 with a stolen base (his third), scoring once and driving in two.

The game:  The Royals got one in the third, four in the fourth, and Eisenreich hit a three-run homer in the fifth to make it 8-0.  The Twins finally got on the board on an RBI double by Randy Bush in the sixth and Laudner hit a two-run homer in the seventh, but the game was gone by then.

Of note:  Puckett raised his average to .352...Smalley raised his average to .330...Joe Niekro started and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up five runs (three earned) on seven hits and no walks with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 43-36, in first place, a half-game ahead of Kansas City.

Notes:  Randy Bush batted second and was the DH.  Smalley played third base with Gary Gaetti out of the lineup.

Player profile:  Some of you may remember that much was made of Saberhagen pitching well in odd numbered years and poorly in even numbered years.  There's truth in it, but not as much as was made of it at the time.  The odd numbered years were better, but the difference was much more profound in his won-lost record than in the other stats.  1985, his second season in the majors, was excellent, and 1986 was not as good (although it looks like he had some bad luck as well), but after that he was a consistently good pitcher through 1995.  In 1989 he was incredible, leading the league in wins, winning percentage, ERA, complete games, innings, ERA+, FIP, WHIP, and K/W ratio.  Unsurprisingly, he won his second Cy Young award that season.  He started having injury problems in 1990, and had only one more season where he made thirty starts (1998).  He missed all of 1996, but came back and was pretty good with Boston in 1998-99, although not the dominant pitcher he had been.  For his career he was 167-117, 3.34, 1.14 WHIP in just over 2500 innings.

KANSAS CITY 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Wednesday, July 1.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 3-for-5 with a run.  Kirby Puckett was 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  Tom Brunansky was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Frank Viola struck out seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  George Brett was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his sixth) and a walk.  Kevin Seitzer was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Jim Eisenreich was 1-for-1 with a pinch-hit double and an RBI.

The game:  Brett's homer in the third put the Royals ahead 3-0.  The Twins came back, as Puckett delivered a two-run single in the fifth and Randy Bush singled home the tying run in the eighth.  In the ninth, however, Steve Balboni reached on an error and pinch-runner Buddy Biancalana scored from first on an Eisenreich single to win the game.  The Twins out-hit Kansas City 13-7 but stranded 11.

Of note:  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a walk...Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5 with a double...Puckett was now averaging .350...Roy Smalley was 1-for-2 with two walks and was batting .326...Bob Stoddard was the starting pitcher for Kansas City.  He went 4.1 innings, giving up two runs on ten hits and a walk with one strikeout.

Record:  The Twins were 43-35, in first place, 1.5 games ahead of Kansas City.

Player profile:  This would be the last start of Bob Stoddard's major league career.  He was drafted by Seattle in the tenth round in 1978 and reached the majors in 1981 as a September call-up, pitching well in five starts.  He was in AAA Salt Lake City for most of 1982 but came up in mid-August and again pitched well in nine starts.  At this point in his career, he was twenty-five years old, had made fourteen starts, and had gone 4-3, 2.47, 1.08 WHIP.  Seattle fans probably thought they had a star in the making.  He began 1983 in the starting rotation, but was taken out after three months when he was 4-10, 5.18.  He stayed with the Mariners all season and started 1984 with them as well, pitching out of the bullpen, but went back to AAA half-way through the season.  He started 1985 in AAA, was released, signed with Detroit, and pitched ineffectively out of the bullpen there.  He signed with Oakland for 1986, was released in mid-April, signed with San Diego, and spent six weeks in the big leagues actually pitching well in relief for the Padres.  He signed with Kansas City for 1987 and was called up from AAA about a week and a half before this game.  He stayed with the Royals the rest of the season as a reliever, but didn't do very well and was released after the season.  He was in AAA for Oakland and Milwaukee in 1988 and again for Milwaukee in 1989, but never made it back to the big leagues.  He apparently made a comeback attempt in 1995, pitching in three AAA games for the Mets, but then his playing career was over.  His final career numbers are 18-27, 4.03, 1.38 WHIP in 433.1 innings.  He appeared in 119 games, 45 of them starts.  At last report, Bob Stoddard was the owner of Stods Baseball, a baseball instructional facility in Bellevue, Washington.

MINNESOTA 3, KANSAS CITY 1 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Tuesday, June 30.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run, his fourteenth.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Dan Gladden was 2-for-5 with an RBI.

Pitching star:  Bert Blyleven pitched 8.2 innings, giving up an unearned run on six hits and one walk with two strikeouts.

Opposition stars:  Kevin Seitzer was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Steve Farr struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  With the bases loaded and one out in the second, a ground out, and a Gladden single put the Twins up 2-0.  Puckett added a home run in the third.  The Royals did not get on the board until the ninth.  Blyleven retired the first two batters, then gave up a pair of singles.  An error brought home a run and Blyleven, one assumes to his displeasure, was removed for Jeff Reardon.  Willie Wilson got an infield single to load the bases, but Seitzer grounded out to end the game.

Of note:  Al Newman was again at second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi and batted second.  He went 2-for-4...Puckett raised his average to .351...Charlie Liebrandt started for Kansas City, going 5.2 innings and giving up three runs on nine hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins were 43-34, in first place, two games ahead of Oakland.

Notes:  Gene Larkin was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek...Mark Davidson played center field, with Puckett at DH and Roy Smalley out of the lineup.

KANSAS CITY 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN KANSAS CITY (5 INNINGS--RAIN)

Date:  Monday, June 29.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Al Newman was 1-for-3 with a double, scoring once and driving in one.  Greg Gagne was 1-for-2 with a stolen base (his fourth) and a run.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Bo Jackson was 1-for-2 with a home run, his sixteenth.  Frank White was 2-for-2 with a run.  Jim Eisenreich was 1-for-2 with a double and a run.

The game:  With two out in the third and Gagne on second, Newman delivered a run-scoring double followed by a Mark Davidson RBI single to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.  It held until the fifth, when White led off with a single and Eisenreich doubled to put men on second and third.  A balk brought home one run, a passed ball tied the score, and Jackson homered to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.  The next batter, Angel Salazar, flied out and the game was called at that point.

Of note:  Puckett raised his average to .349...Roy Smalley was 0-for-4 to make his average .324...Gene Larkin played but did not bat, so he was still at .300..Twins starter Les Straker pitched a 4.1 inning complete game, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk with no strikeouts...Kansas City starter Danny Jackson pitched a five inning complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.

Record:  It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Twins, who fell to 42-34.  They remained in first place, leading Oakland by one game.

Notes:  Newman once again led off and played second base.  Steve Lombardozzi, who had not played since the first game of the June 27 doubleheader, would not play again until July 1.  Dan Gladden was in the lineup but batted sixth...Davidson was in right field, with Tom Brunansky at DH, Roy Smalley at third base, and Gary Gaetti out of the lineup.  Gaetti would be back at third base the next day...Kent Hrbek was picked off second base in the fourth inning and was apparently injured in the process, as Larkin came in to play first in the bottom of the inning.  He would miss one day, but be back in the lineup July 1.

TEXAS 6, MINNESOTA 3 AT TEXAS

Date:  Sunday, June 28.

Batting stars:  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twentieth.  Randy Bush was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Scott Fletcher was 2-for-2 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, scoring twice.  Oddibe McDowell was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his eighth.  Jose Guzman pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

The game:  The Twins led 2-0, but Texas scored four in the fourth, capped by McDowell's two-run homer.  Bush homered in the sixth to make it 4-3, but a two-run Texas eighth put the game out of reach.

Of note:  Puckett raised his average to .346...Gene Larkin was 1-for-4, making his average an even .300...Mike Smithson pitched seven innings but allowed six runs on six hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Record:  The Twins lost their fourth straight, getting swept by Texas.  Their record was 42-33, still good for first place by a game over Oakland.

Notes:  Al Newman played second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi and batted first, going 0-for-4 and dropping his average to .192...Bush batted second and was in right field, with Tom Brunansky in left and Dan Gladden out of the lineup...Larkin was the DH, with Roy Smalley at third base and Gary Gaetti out of the lineup.

Player profile:  Right-hander Jose Guzman signed with Texas as a free agent in 1981.  He reached the majors as a September call-up in 1985 and pitched very well in five starts.  He struggled in his first couple of years in the majors but had a fine 1988, going just 11-13 but posting a 3.70 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP and pitching just over two hundred innings for the second straight year.  Then, however, he suffered a serious shoulder injury and missed the next two seasons.  He came back in 1991 to have the best season of his career, going 13-7, 3.08 in 25 starts and winning Comeback Player of the Year.  He continued to be a good pitcher in 1992 with the Rangers and in 1993 with the Cubs, with whom he signed as a free agent.  Then, however, the shoulder problems returned.  He made four poor starts for the Cubs in 1994, tried to come back in both 1995 and 1996, and tried again in 2001-02, pitching for independent Fort Worth.  He worked as a Spanish language broadcaster for the Rangers from 2004-09.  He operates the Guzman23 Foundation, whose goal is "to provide assistance to families to enable them to care for their loved ones in the own homes as long as possible.  The foundation is also committed to help fund research and development to help find a cure and to improve Alzheimer`s facilities,making them a place where families know their loved ones will be cared for with compassion."