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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1999, Game Twenty

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MINNESOTA 6, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 26.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-3 with a grand slam (his third homer), a walk, and five RBIs.  Ron Coomer was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Terry Steinbach was 1-for-2 with two walks.

Pitching stars:  Brad Radke pitched six innings, giving up one run on eight hits and one walk and striking out four.  Mike Trombley struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks.

Opposition stars:  Damon Buford was 2-for-4.  Reggie Jefferson was 2-for-5 with a home run.  Nomar Garciaparra was 2-for-5 with a double.  Kip Gross pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

The game:  With Radke pitching, the Red Sox naturally scored in the first inning.  Jose Offerman led off the game with a single and John Valentin followed with an RBI double, putting Boston ahead 1-0 two batters into the game.  That was all they could do, though, and it stayed 1-0 until the fourth.

Matt Lawton led off the fourth inning with a walk and Coomer singled.  A wild pitch moved men to second and third with none out, but the next two batters fanned.  Chad Allen walked to load the bases and Hunter unloaded them with a grand slam, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.

The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but Jason Varitek was retired on a short fly to right and Trot Nixon struck out to end the threat.  The Twins extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth.  Coomer led off the inning with a double and went to third on a passed ball.  Steinbach walked, and with two out Hunter and Denny Hocking had RBI singles to put the Twins up 6-1.

Boston again loaded the bases in the seventh, this time with two out, but Troy O'Leary grounded out.  They added a run with two out in the ninth when Jefferson homered, but that was all they could do.

WP:  Radke (2-2).  LP:  Tim Wakefield (1-3).  S:  Trombley (1).

Notes:  Hocking was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  One assumes Tom Kelly thought that, with Wakefield pitching, it would be a good time to give the rookie a day off.

Coomer was at third base.  Corey Koskie would eventually become the regular third baseman in 1999, but early in the season Coomer saw a lot of time there, with Koskie either on the bench, at DH, or in right field.

The Twins did not make any substitutions in their lineup in this game.

Lawton was leading the team in batting at .329 after this game.  He would finish at .259.  Marty Cordova was batting .317.  He would finish at .285.  Koskie would end up leading the team in batting at .310.

Coomer would lead the team in home runs with 16.  Others in double figures were Cordova (14), Koskie (11), and Allen (10).  The Twins pretty much missed out on the home-run happy late 90s.  They were dead last in the league at 105 home runs, forty behind the next lowest team (Tampa Bay).

Radke was easily the best starter on the team, going 12-14, 3.75.  The only others who were even competent were Eric Milton (7-11, 4.49) and Joe Mays (6-11, 4.37).  Others who made double-digit starts were LaTroy Hawkins (10-14, 6.66), Mike Lincoln (3-10, 6.84), and Dan Perkins (1-7, 6.54).  When Radke did not win, there was a good chance the Twins were headed for a losing streak.

Rick Aguilera was still the closer at this point, but rather than use him in a non-save situation Kelly opted to give Trombley the three-inning save.  Aguilera would be traded on May 21 and Trombley would become the closer for the only time in his career.  He did very well in the role, but he did not have classic closer stuff, so he never got another chance to do it.

The Red Sox stranded 12 runners and went 1-for-9 with men in scoring position.  They had to feel like this was one they let get away.

The Twins victory snapped a five-game losing streak.

Record:  The Twins were 8-12, in fourth place in the American League Central, six games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 63-97, in fifth (last) place, 33 games behind Cleveland.

The Red Sox were 10-9, in fourth place in the American League East, three games behind New York.  They would finish 94-68, in second place, four games behind New York.  They would, however, win the wild card by seven games and go to the playoffs.

Random Record:  The Twins are 31-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2007, Game Fifty-one

MINNESOTA 9, CHICAGO 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 29.

Batting stars:  Justin Morneau was 3-for-4 with a home run (his sixteenth), two doubles, a walk, and four RBIs.  Michael Cuddyer was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and three runs.  Luis Castillo was 3-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base, his third.  Jason Bartlett was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Jeff Cirillo was 2-for-5 with a double.  Jason Kubel was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer (his second), a walk, and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Boof Bonser pitched 6.2 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on seven hits and three walks and striking out six.  Carmen Cali pitched a perfect inning.  Ramon Ortiz pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Alex Cintron was 2-for-5.  Boone Logan pitched 1.2 perfect inning.

The game:  The White Sox scored first.  In the first inning Darin Erstad and Jim Thome singled and Jermaine Dye walked, loading the bases with one out.  Paul Konerko hit a sacrifice fly to put Chicago up 1-0.

The Twins took over from there.  With two out in the second, Jason Kubel walked and Bartlett and Castillo each singled to tie it 1-1.  Cuddyer led off the third with a double and Morneau hit a two-run homer.  That worked so well the Twins did it again later in the inning:  with two out Cirillo doubled and Kubel hit a two-run homer to give the Twins a 5-1 lead.

The Twins added a run in the fourth when Cuddyer singled, Morneau doubled, and Torii Hunter walked, loading the bases, and Mike Redmond hit a sacrifice fly.  They put it away in the fifth.  With two out and none on Castillo and Nick Punto singled, Cuddyer walked, a wild pitch brought home a run, and Morneau doubled home two more.  It was a 9-1 lead for the Twins.

The White Sox made one last attempt to get back in the game in the seventh.  Juan Uribe hit a one-out single, Andy Gonzalez reached on an error, and Cintron singled, loading the bases.  Dye drew a two-out walk to make it 9-2, but that was all Chicago could do.  Their last seven batters were retired.

WP:  Bonser (4-1).  LP:  John Danks (3-5).  S:  None.

Notes:   Redmond was behind the plate in place of Joe Mauer, who was out with an injury.

Cirillo was the DH.  The Twins did not have a regular DH in 2007, with eight players seeing double digit games there.  Kubel had the most with 36.  Others were Jason Tyner (26), Cirillo (24), Mauer (19), Rondell White (19), Redmond (18), Morneau (14), and Garrett Jones (13).

Lew Ford pinch-hit for Hunter in the seventh and stayed in the game in center field.  Chris Heintz pinch-ran for Redmond in the eighth and stayed in the game at catcher.

Castillo was the leading batter for the Twins at .335.  He finished at .304 as a Twin; he actually finished as a New York Met, traded there at the July deadline.  Redmond was batting .320--he finished at .294.  Hunter was batting .314--he finished at .287.

On the other hand, Ford was batting just .184.  He finished at .233.  This would be his last year as a Twin.  He bounced around, played independent ball for a while, and battled his way back to play 25 games for Baltimore in 2012.

Morneau hit 31 homers to lead the team and Hunter 28.  Cuddyer had 16 homers and Kubel 13.  They still were next-to-last in team home runs with 118.

Bonser did not have a good year in 2007.  He did well in this game, but for the season he was 8-12, 5.10, 1.53 WHIP.  The Twins had a pretty good rotation:  Johan Santana (15-13, 3.33), Matt Garza (5-7, 3.69), Carlos Silva (13-14, 4.19), and Scott Baker (9-9, 4.26).  The struggled to find a fifth starter, though, with Kevin Slowey doing the best of the rest at 4-1, 4.73.

This was the third of a five-game winning streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 26-25, in fourth place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 79-83, in third place, 17 games behind Cleveland.

The White Sox were 24-23, in third place with Minnesota in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 72-90, in fourth place, 24 games behind Cleveland.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1996, Game One Hundred Forty-four

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OAKLAND 7, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 10.

Batting star:  Chuck Knoblauch was 1-for-2 with two walks and a stolen base, his thirty-ninth.

Pitching star:  Scott Klingenbeck struck out two in two shutout innings.

Opposition stars:  Dave Telgheder pitched a complete game shutout, giving up three hits and three walks and striking out seven.  Mike Bordick was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his fifth.  Brian Lesher was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Tony Batista was 2-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base, his sixth.  Jason Giambi was 2-for-5.  Ernie Young was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his seventeenth.

The game:  The Twins put two on in the first, but a double play took them out of the inning.  The Athletics started the scoring in the second when Lesher singled, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on a Bordick double.  Oakland increased its lead in the fourth.  Singles by Giambi, Bordick, and Tony Batista plated one run, Scott Brosius walked to load the bases, and a sacrifice fly made it 3-0.

Todd Walker doubled leading off the fourth but did not advance. The Athletics put the game away in the fifth.  They opened the inning with walks to Terry Steinbach and Lesher, and with one out Young hit a three-run homer to give Oakland a 6-0 lead.  They added one more in the sixth when Steinbach walked and Lesher and Giambi singled.

The Twins had only three hits.  Their last came in the sixth, when Rich Becker singled.  He got as far as third base, but that was it.

WP:  Telgheder (3-6).  LP:  Rich Robertson (7-14).  S:  None.

Notes:  Matt Walbeck was the catcher.  He shared catching duties with Greg Myers in 1996, with Myers playing in the majority of games.

Walker was the third baseman.  Dave Hollins was the regular third baseman most of the season, but he was traded at the August deadline.  Walker came up and was immediately given the third base job for the rest of the season.  He would, of course, play second base for most of his major league career.

Brent Brede went to right field in the eighth in place of Matt Lawton.  Mike Durant went behind the plate in the eighth in place of Walbeck.  Chip Hale pinch-hit for Pat Meares in the eighth.  Denny Hocking then went in to play short in the ninth.

Walker, in limited at-bats, was batting .343.  He would finish at .256.  Paul Molitor, at age thirty-nine, was batting .340.  He would finish at .341.  Knoblauch was batting .339.  He would also finish at .341.  Marty Cordova was batting .306.  He would finish at .309.  Part-time outfielder Roberto Kelly would bat .323 in 322 at-bats.

So with all those .300 hitters, did the Twins have an exceptional offense in 1996?  Not really.  They were tied for second in team batting average at .288, but only eighth in runs scored with 877.  The biggest reason, as you may have guessed, was a lack of power.  They finished dead last in the league in home runs with 118.  The team leader was Cordova with 16.  They had five others in double figures:  Scott Stahoviak (13), Knoblauch (13), Hollins (13), Becker (12), and Ron Coomer (12).

Robertson lasted 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and six walks and striking out two.  He would finish 7-17, 5.12.  Of their five most used starters, only one, Brad Radke, had an ERA under five.  The others were Frankie Rodriguez (5.05), Scott Aldred (5.09), and Rick Aguilera (5.42).  Aguilera had re-signed with the Twins on the condition that they give him the chance to start.  Dave Stevens was the closer at the start of the year.  When he couldn't do the job, they went closer by committee for a while and finally gave the job to Mike Trombley at the end of the season.

This was the only shutout of Dave Telgheder's career.  It was also the only complete game of his career.  As a starter for his career, he was 14-18, 5.39, 1.58 WHIP.  That's the pitcher who shut down the Twins in this game.  Yes, it's baseball, and it happens, but it happens to you a lot more when you're not very good.

Record:  The Twins were 72-72, in third place in the American League Central, 13.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 78-84, in fourth place, 21.5 games behind Cleveland.

The Athletics were 71-75, in third place in the American League West, 13 games behind Texas.  They would finish 78-84, in third place, 12 games behind Texas.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1976, Game Twenty-seven

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CALIFORNIA 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Sunday, May 16.

Batting stars:  Butch Wynegar was 2-for-2 with two walks.  Dave McKay was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Don Kirkwood pitched a complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and two walks and striking out five.  Bill Melton was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Andy Etchebarren was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the second inning, as Danny Thompson singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on McKay's single.  That was as good as it would get for the Twins.

The Angels took the lead in the third.  Dave Chalk and Ron Jackson led off the game with a single.  Jerry Remy laid down a sacrifice bunt, but an error scored Chalk and put men on  second and third with none out.  All California could get out of it was a sacrifice fly by Bobby Bonds, but the Angels led 2-1.

It stayed 2-1 until the seventh, when California scored two runs without a hit.  With one out Chalk walked and Jackson was hit by a pitch.  With two out, Rusty Torres walked to load the bases, Bonds was hit by a pitch to force home a run, and Leroy Stanton walked to bring home another run.  The Angels added a run in the ninth when Bill Melton tripled and scored on Etchebarren's single.

The Twins did not get a man past first base after the second inning.

WP:  Kirkwood (1-3).  LP:  Jim Hughes (0-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Danny Thompson was at shortstop.  Roy Smalley would be the regular shortstop for most of the season, but he had not been traded from Texas yet.

Lyman Bostock, normally the center fielder, was given the day off.  Larry Hisle moved over from left to play center, with Steve Braun taking over left.

The lone Twin over .300 who played in this game was Rod Carew, at .311.  He would finish at .331.  Bostock, at this point in the season, was batting .349 and would finish at .323.

The Twins did not hit a home run, which was a fairly common occurrence in 1976.  Dan Ford led the team in homers with twenty.  Others in double figures were Hisle (14), Craig Kusick (11), and Wynegar (10).

Twins starter Jim Hughes pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and three walks and striking out two.  Older fans may remember Hughes for throwing a palmball.  Hughes had gone 16-14, 3.82 as a rookie in 1975, leading Twins fans to think they might have something.  It was the only good year he would have.  It could be that the workload got to him--he pitched 249.2 innings in 1975 at age twenty-three.  Or, it could be that he wasn't that good in the first place--even in 1975, his WHIP was 1.47.  He stayed in the 1976 rotation until early August, mostly because the Twins didn't have much for alternatives.  He would make two relief appearances in 1977 and then would never pitch in the big leagues again.

Hisle batted leadoff in this game, one of eight times he did that in 1976.  The fact that Bostock was out of the lineup probably had to do with that.  Hisle batted all over the lineup in 1976, starting double digit games at every spot except first, eighth, and ninth, and starting at least a few games at every spot except ninth.  Gene Mauch did love to play with the batting order.

The Twins were in the middle of a stretch where they won five of six.  As randomness would have it, this was the one loss.

Record:  The Twins were 14-13, in third place in the American League West, 3.5 games behind Texas.  They would finish 85-77, in third place, five games behind Kansas City.

The Angels were 12-22, in sixth (last) place in the American League West, 10 games behind Texas.  They would finish 76-86, tied for fourth with Texas, 14 games behind Kansas City.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1980, Game Eighty-one

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MINNESOTA 6, SEATTLE 3 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Friday, July 11.

Batting stars:  Rick Sofield was 3-for-4 with a home run (his seventh) and two runs.  Rob Wilfong was 3-for-4 with a triple, a walk, and two runs.  Ken Landreaux was 2-for-5 with a home run (his fourth) and three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Darrell Jackson struck out eight in 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks.  Doug Corbett pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit.

Opposition stars:  Leon Roberts was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his seventh), a stolen base (his fifth), and a walk.  Larry Milbourne was 1-for-3 with a walk.

The game:  The Twins got a run in the first when Wilfong tripled and scored on a Landreaux single.  In the second Glenn Adams singled, was bunted to second, went to third on an error, and scored on a squeeze bunt (yes, Gene Mauch was the manager) to make it 2-0.

The Mariners loaded the bases with two out in the third but did not score.  It stayed 2-0 until the sixth, when Milbourne singled, Bruce Bochte hit an RBI double, and Roberts delivered a two-run homer, putting Seattle up 3-2.  The lead only held until the first batter of the seventh, when Sofield hit an inside-the-park home run to tie it 3-3.

The Twins took the lead back in the eighth, when Wilfong walked and Landreaux hit a two-run homer to make it 5-3.  They added one more in the ninth when Sofield singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Wilfong single.  The Mariners got only one hit after their three-run sixth.

WP:  Jackson (7-4).  LP:  Glenn Abbott (7-4).  S:  Corbett (9).

Notes:  Pete Mackanin was at shortstop, replacing Roy Smalley, who was apparently out with a minor injury.  Mike Cubbage, who played third most of his career, was apparently part of a platoon at first base with Ron Jackson.  Glenn Adams was the DH as part of a platoon with Jose Morales.

Morales pinch-hit for Adams in the eighth and Jackson pinch-hit for Cubbage in the eighth.  Dave Edwards pinch-ran for Morales in the eighth.

Jackson was 5'10", 150 pounds.  Herb Carneal's partner at the time, Joe McConnell, used to refer to him as "the little lefthander".  This was by far the best season of his career--he went 9-9, 3.87, 1.34 WHIP.  He had injury troubles after that and never had a good year again.

The Twins really didn't have a bad rotation in 1980.  In addition to Jackson, they had Jerry Koosman (16-13, 4.03), Geoff Zahn (14-18, 4.41), and Roger Erickson (7-13, 3.25).  It's not the 1990s Braves, but it's not bad.  They struggled for a fifth starter, with Pete Redfern (5-5, 4.56) and Fernando Arroyo (6-6, 4.68) usually filling the role.  We think of the Twins not having any pitching at that time, or at least I do, but that's not an awful rotation at all.

They sure didn't have any power, though.  The team hit just ninety-nine home runs in 1980.  The team leaders was John Castino, with thirteen.  Smalley was the only other batter in double figures, with twelve.  Their cleanup batter in this game was Wynegar, who finished the season with five home runs.

I recall Sofield being fairly highly touted as a future star.  Obviously, it didn't happen.  He hit .328 with 27 homers in 1977 in Class A Visalia, but that was the only year he showed any power.  He was the Twins' starting right fielder in 1979 on the strength of a solid but not outstanding year in AA.  He was batting just .241 with an OPS of .582 (although with an OBP of .323) when he was sent down in mid-May.  He came back as a September call-up and batted .400 in 42 plate appearances.  He was again in the starting outfield in 1980, his only full season in the majors.  He batted .247 with an OPS of .661.  He was with the Twins as a reserve for most of 1981, but didn't hit.  The inside-the-park home run in this game may well have been the highlight of his career.

The Twins leading batter at this point of the season was Morales at .347.  He would finish at .303.  Adams was batting .315.  He would finish at .286.

This was the fourth game of a six-game winning streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 37-44, in fourth place in the American League West, 11.5 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 77-84, in third place, 19.5 games behind Kansas City.

The Mariners were 35-47, in sixth place, fourteen games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 59-103, in seventh (last) place, thirty-eight games behind Kansas City.