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Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Ninety-four

MINNESOTA 6, OAKLAND 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 17.

Batting stars:  Jacque Jones was 3-for-4 and was hit by a pitch.  A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Torii Hunter was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fifteenth), two runs, and two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mark Ellis was 3-for-4.  Chris Singleton was 2-for-4.

The game:  The all-star break was apparently what the Twins needed, as they scored five runs in the first inning to put this one away early.  With one out Cristian Guzman reached on an error and Jones singled, putting men on first and second.  Then came three more singles, producing four runs:  Hunter had an RBI single, Pierzynski drove in two with a single, and Doug Mientkiewicz had a run-scoring single.  Another run scored on a ground out to make it 5-0 after one inning.

The Athletics got on the board in the second on consecutive two-out singles by Terrence Long, Ellis, and Singleton.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the second when Hunter homered.

And that was pretty much it.  Oakland got one more run, scoring in the sixth when Miguel Tejada singled and scored on a Ramon Hernandez double.  Hernandez was thrown out trying to go to third, however, and the Athletics did not mount another threat the rest of the game.

WP:  Reed (5-9).  LP:  Tim Hudson (7-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Chris Gomez was at third base in the continuing absence of Corey Koskie.

Jones raised his average to .306.  Pierzynski was batting .300.

Much was made of the Twins debut of Shannon Stewart in this game, but he went 0-for-5 as the DH.  More important was the return of Jones to the lineup, as he had three hits and scored a run.  Stewart would eventually see time in left field, with Jones either in right or at DH.  The playing time of people like Justin Morneau and Matthew LeCroy would be substantially reduced, with Morneau eventually being sent back to AAA simply because there was not a spot for him.

It really was a big deal to Twins fans when they acquired Stewart.  I still remember finding out about it.  I had been at a local ball game that night, and turned on ESPN while getting ready for bed.  The bottom line crawl said that Stewart had been traded, and my thought was "Oh.  I wonder who got him."  Then the crawl said it was the Twins, and I just went, "Wow!"  I was stunned that they would pull off a trade like that.

Hawkins lowered his ERA to 2.51.

Hudson pitched seven innings for Oakland, giving up six runs (four earned) on eleven hits and one walk and striking out two.  He was having what was probably the best season of his career.  He would finish 16-7, 2.70, 1.08 WHIP and would finish fourth in Cy Young voting.   He could've finished better--I'm not saying it was injustice, just that his numbers are pretty much in line with the top three that year (Roy Halladay, Esteban Loaiza, and Pedro Martinez).

The win snapped an eight-game losing streak, and was the first win for the Twins since the fourth of July.  Their drop to third place turned out to be brief.

Record:  The Twins were 45-49, in second place in the American League Central, 7.5 games behind Kansas City.  They were a half game ahead of third-place Chicago.

Keeping Track

2003 Rewind: Game Seventy-one

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MINNESOTA 16, KANSAS CITY 2 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Thursday, June 19.

Batting stars:  Corey Koskie was 4-for-5 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth), a walk, three runs, and six RBIs.  Cristian Guzman was 4-for-6 with a stolen base (his fourth) and four runs.  Torii Hunter was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Jacque Jones was 3-for-5 with a home run (his ninth), three runs, and three RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-6 with a double and two RBIs.  Luis Rivas was 2-for-6 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Joe Mays pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks and striking out two.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Raul Ibanez was 2-for-4.  Kris Wilson pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on five hits and striking out one.

The game:  The Twins opened the game with three singles to score one run and a ground out plated another, making it 2-0 Twins in the first.  In the third, back-to-back RBI doubles by Justin Morneau and Hunter made it 4-0.  In the fourth Jones hit a two-run homer and Koskie had an RBI single to put the Twins up 7-0.

If it wasn't out of reach already, it was after the fifth inning.  The Twins scored seven runs.  Hunter doubled and Dustan Mohr walked, but they were on first and second with two out.  The next seven batters reached base.  Rivas doubled home a run.  Jones singled one in.  Guzman singled in another.  Koskie hit a three-run homer.  It didn't kill the rally.  Morneau walked and Hunter singled.  Mientkiewicz had an RBI double.  The score was 14-0 after five innings.

Koskie homered in the seventh to make it 15-0.  The Royals got on the board in the bottom of the seventh when Carlos Beltran doubled and Ibanez singled.  In the eighth Brent Mayne walked and Desi Relaford doubled to cut the margin to 15-2.  Mientkiewicz singled home a run in the ninth to end it at 16-2.

WP:  Mays (8-4).  LP:  Kyle Snyder (1-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Morneau was the DH.

With a blowout game, the Twins made numerous substitutions.  Lew Ford replaced Hunter in center field in the sixth.  Bobby Kielty replaced Jones in the sixth but went to right, with Mohr moving from right to left.  Matthew LeCroy pinch-hit for Morneau in the ninth.  Tom Prince pinch-hit for A. J. Pierzynski in the ninth and stayed in the game at catcher.

Ford was 1-for-2 and was batting .429.   Morneau was 1-for-4 and was batting .355.  Jones raised his average to .311.  Mientkiewicz raised his average to .308.  Koskie raised his average to .305.  LeCroy was 1-for-1 and was batting .303.  Pierzynski was 1-for-5 and was batting .300.

Mays had his best game since April by game scores.  It was his first game score over fifty in a month.  His ERA was still at 5.48.

Snyder started for Kansas City.  He pitched four innings, allowing seven runs on ten hits and no walks and striking out two.

The Twins certainly broke their losing streak in a big way.  Offense, however, hadn't been a problem in the streak: they had scored 2, 8, 8, 7, and 6 runs in the losses, an average of over six runs.  The trouble was that they had given up an average of over ten runs in those five losses.

Record:  The Twins were 39-32, in first place in the American League Central, two games ahead of Kansas City.