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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1971, Game Ninety-two

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WASHINGTON 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN WASHINGTON

Date:  Monday, July 19.

Batting star:  Rich Reese was 1-for-1.

Pitching star:  Stan Williams pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Jackie Brown pitched five innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk and striking out one.  Paul Lindblad pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Frank Howard was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Don Mincher was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.  Del Unser was 2-for-3 with two runs.  Dick Billings was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his third.

The game:  It was cruising along in a scoreless tie until the third.  Brown and Unser led off with singles and a pickoff error moved the runners to second and third.  Mincher's sacrifice fly brought home the first run, Howard doubled in another, and Billings hit a two-run homer to make it 4-0 Senators.

The Twins were limited to three singles over the first five innings.  In the sixth, however, Reese and Cesar Tovar led off with singles and Rod Carew reached on an error, loading the bases with none out.  Jim Holt struck out, but Harmon Killebrew delivered a two-run single, cutting the deficit in half at 4-2.  With men on first and third the Twins had a chance for more, but Leo Cardenas grounded out and Jim Nettles popped up, ending the threat.

The Twins had only one hit the rest of the game.  Washington added a run in the seventh when Unser walked and scored from first on Mincher's double.

WP:  Brown (3-2).  LP:  Jim Perry (12-9).  S:  Lindblad (6).

Notes:  Nettles started the game in center in place of Holt.  Tony Oliva was either injured or ill, because he came out of the game in the second inning.  The game log does not reveal a play that would appear likely to have caused an injury, but he had missed some time recently, so without going back to check the write-ups of the game it's hard to say.  At any rate, Holt entered the game in left field, with Tovar moving from left to right.

Danny Thompson pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth and stayed in the game at third base, with Steve Braun moving from third to left field.  Reese and George Thomas pinch-hit for pitchers.

Oliva was batting .377.  He would finish at .337.  Nettles was batting  .314.  He would finish at .250.  Carew was at .284, but would finish at .307.  Tovar was at .295 but would finish at .311.

Perry lasted just five innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out two.  Perry led the team in starts with 39.  Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat made 38.  After that it was Steve Luebber (12), Ray Corbin (12), and Tom Hall (11).  As we discussed recently, Hall was the best of the three, but it was felt that he was needed in the bullpen.

The Twins had an awful July, going 9-17.  The month included a six-game losing streak and two three-game losing streaks.  This loss was the fifth game of a stretch in which they would lose eight of ten.

Record:  The Twins were 42-50, in fourth place in the American League West, 16 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-86, in fifth place, 26.5 games behind Oakland.

The Senators were 37-54, in sixth (last) place in the American League East, 20.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 63-96, in fifth place, 38.5 games behind Baltimore.

Random record:  The Twins are 35-28 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1977, Game One Hundred Eighteen

MINNESOTA 13, BALTIMORE 9 IN BALTIMORE

Date:  Monday, August 15.

Batting stars:  Dan Ford was 3-for-5 with a double, a stolen base (his sixth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Larry Hisle was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, a stolen base (his eighteenth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Craig Kusick was 2-for-4 with two home runs (his ninth and tenth) and five RBIs.  Bob Gorinski was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his second).  Bobby Randall was 2-for-5 with two runs.

Pitching star:  Ron Schueler pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Ken Singleton was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his eighteenth), a walk, and two runs.  Eddie Murray was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  Lee May was 2-for-4 with a home run, his ninteenth.  Al Bumbry was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Andres Mora was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his eighth and ninth) and three RBIs.

The game:  Roy Smalley led off the game with a walk, was bunted to second, went to third on a ground out, and scored on Hisle's single to put the Twins up 1-0.  The Orioles took the lead in the bottom of the second when Bumbry and Singleton singled, May walked to load the bases, and Murray delivered a two-run single.  The Twins went back in front in the second when Butch Wynegar walked and Gorinski followed with a two-run homer.  It was 3-2 Twins after an inning and a half.

Baltimore took the lead back in the third when Singleton walked and Mora hit a two-run homer.  They added to their lead in the fourth when Dave Skaggs singled and scored on Bumbry's double-plus-error.  But in the fifth, Randall singled, Hisle walked, and Kusick hit a three-run homer to put the Twins ahead 6-5.

The Orioles loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth, but did not score.  It cost them, as the Twins scored five times in the sixth.  The first two batters went out, but then Smalley walked, Randall doubled, Ford had a two-run single, Hisle had an RBI double, and Kusick hit a two-run homer, making the score 11-5.

Baltimore tried to get back into it.  Singleton hit a two-run homer in the sixth and Mora a solo shot in the seventh to cut the lead to 11-8.  But the Twins got a run in the eighth when Ford doubled and scored on a Rod Carew single and one more in the ninth Lyman Bostock doubled and scored on a Bud Bulling single.  May homered in the ninth to complete the scoring, but the Orioles did not get the tying run even to the on-deck circle.

WP:  Schueler (5-4).  LP:  Rudy May (13-11).  S:  None.

Notes:  Kusick, normally the DH, was at first base in place of Carew.  Bulling was in the lineup at DH.  Jerry Terrell was at third in place of Mike Cubbage.  Bostock, normally in center, was out of the lineup, with Hisle moving from left to center and Gorinski in left.

Carew pinch-hit for Kusick in the eighth and stayed in the game at first base.  Cubbage pinch-hit for Terrell in the eighth and stayed in the game at third base.  Bostock pinch-hit for Gorinski in the ninth and stayed in the game in left.

Oddly, Bostock played 90 games in center and 60 in left, while Hisle played 71 games in left and 63 in center.  I don't remember, but it appears Gene Mauch couldn't make up his mind which way his defense would be stronger.  On the other hand, knowing Mauch, he may have based it on the field they were playing in, which way the wind was blowing, whether his pitcher was a groundball or a flyball pitcher, or any of a hundred other factors.

Carew was leading the team in batting at .380.  He would finish at .388.  Bostock was batting .334.  He would finish at .336.  Hisle would also finish over .300, at .302.  Unsurprisingly, the Twins led the league in batting average at .282.

Hisle led the team in homers with 28.  Carew and Bostock each hit 14.  Kusick has 12, Ford 11, and Wynegar 10.  The Twins were eleventh in the league in home runs.

Dave Goltz started for the Twins.  He had a good year in 1977, but you couldn't tell it from this game.  He lasted just four innings, allowing five runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out three.  By game scores, it was tied for his second-worst game of the season.  For the season, he was their best starting pitcher, and in fact their only reliable starting pitcher, going 20-11, 3.36.  The others were Paul Thormodsgard (11-15, 4.62), Geoff Zahn (12-14, 4.68), and Pete Redfern (6-9, 5.18).  It was pretty much a four-man rotation all year, as no one else made more than seven starts.  Reliever Tom Johnson was second on the team in wins, going 16-7, 3.13.  He also had 15 saves.

This was one of three games Bulling had at DH, and one of fifteen games he played as a Twin.  He was normally a catcher.

This was the only season of Gorinski's major league career.  The home run he hit was one of three in his career.  He had hit 28 home runs at AAA Toledo in 1976, and was one of a long line of "next Killebrews" before the Twins finally realized that you can't just create a "next Killebrew".

The Twins had three regulars out of the lineup, two of who were batting well over .300, and yet scored thirteen runs.  That's baseball.

Record:  The Twins were 68-50, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 84-77, in fourth place, 17.5 games behind Kansas City.  The Royals went 38-10 after this date.

The Orioles were 67-49, in second place in the American League East, 3.5 games behind Boston.  They would finish 97-64, tied for second with Boston, 2.5 games behind New York.  The Yankees went 34-12 after this date.

Random Record:  The Twins are 35-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1961, Game Six

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MINNESOTA 3, BOSTON 2 IN BOSTON

Date:  Tuesday, April 18.

Batting stars:  Lenny Green was 4-for-4 with a stolen base, his second.  Jim Lemon was 2-for-4 with a home run and a double.

Pitching stars:  Jim Kaat pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks and striking out six.  Bill Pleis pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Dave Hillman pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk.  Pumpsie Green was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

The game:  In the first, Green singled, went to third on a stolen-base-plus-error, and scored on a Bob Allison single to put the Twins up 1-0.  In the third, Zoilo Versalles singled, was bunted to second, and scored on a Don Mincher single to make it 2-0 Twins.  It stayed there until the sixth, when Lemon homered to make it 3-0.

The Twins loaded the bases in the seventh but did not score.  Still, the Red Sox had only one hit to this point, and the lead looked secure.  In the eighth, however, Green doubled and Rip Repulski singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  A ground out scored a run, Gary Geiger walked, and Jackie Jensen was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with two out.  Frank Malzone grounded to short, but the ball was booted by Versalles, allowing a run to score and cutting the margin to 3-2 with the bases still loaded and Carl Yastrzemski up to bat.  He flied to center, however, ending the inning.

The Twins again left the bases loaded in the ninth, so the lead remained just one.  Green drew a one-out walk, but Lou Clinton fanned and Chuck Schilling popped to short to end the game.

WP:  Kaat (1-0).  LP:  Billy Muffett (0-1).  S:  Pleis (1).

Notes:  Mincher was at first base in place of Harmon Killebrew, who missed a couple of weeks.  Billy Gardner was the starting second baseman at this point in the season, but would be replaced later by Billy Martin, who the Twins acquired in a trade for Billy Consolo.  Reno Bertoia was the starting third baseman at this point, but would be traded for Bill Tuttle, who would take his place at third.

The only non-pitcher substitute was Dan Dobbek, going in to replace Lemon in left field in the eighth inning.

This early in the season there are always extreme batting averages.  Versalles was batting .429--he would finish at .280.  Allison was batting .375--he would finish at .245.  Green raised his average to .304--he would finish at .285.  Earl Battey, who was batting just .211 at this point, would lead the team with an average of .302.

On the other end, Bertoia was batting .150.  He would leave the Twins with an average of .212.

Killebrew would lead the team in home runs with 46.  Allison was second with 29, followed by Battey (17) and Lemon (14).  The Twins were fourth in home runs in the ten-team league.

The Twins rotation in 1961 was Pedro Ramos (11-20, 3.95), Camilo Pascual (15-16, 3.46), Jack Kralick (13-11, 3.61), and Kaat (9-17, 3.90).  Ray Moore led in saves with 14.  Ramos, who led the team in starts with 34, also had two saves.

Muffett, who started for Boston, pitched six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out none.  He would go on to go 3-11, 5.67.  He played from 1957-1962.  He had good years in 1957 (3-2, 2.25, 1.09 WHIP in 23 relief appearances (44 innings)) and 1960 (6-4, 3.24, 1.22 WHIP in 11 starts and 27 relief appearances (112.2 innings)).  In the other years, though, he was not good at all.  His next lowest season ERA was 4.93 in 1958 and his next lowest WHIP was 1.47 in 1961.  For his career, he was 16-23, 4.33, 1.43 WHIP.  He was in 125 games, 32 of them starts, and pitched 376.1 innings.  He went into coaching after that, and continued to be a major league coach through 1994.

The Twins were off to a fine start in their inaugural season.  I suspect this fueled some high hopes, which were ultimately to be dashed.

Record:  The Twins were 5-1, in first place in the American League, one game ahead of Cleveland.  They would finish 70-90, in seventh place, 38 games behind New York.

The Red Sox were 2-2, in fifth place in the American League, two games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 76-86, in sixth place, 33 games behind New York.

Random Record:  The Twins are 34-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1976, Game One Hundred Forty-one

MINNESOTA 3, TEXAS 1 IN TEXAS (7 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Lyman Bostock was 4-for-4 with a triple, a double, and two runs.  Larry Hisle was 2-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base, his twenty-ninth.

Pitching star:  Steve Luebber pitched a seven inning complete game, giving up one run on seven hits and no walks and striking out none.

Opposition stars:  Tommy Boggs pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and three walks and striking out none.

The game:  The Twins put men on first and third in the second inning but did not score.  The Rangers did score in the second, on a home run by Tom Grieve, but they also had the bases loaded with one out and were turned aside by a 1-2-3 double play, leaving the score 1-0.

The Twins tied it in the fourth.  Bostock singled, Hisle walked, and Butch Wynegar had an RBI single.  They still had men on first and second with none out, but could do more damage, leaving the score 1-1.  In the fifth, however, Steve Braun led off with a single, moved to third on a pair of outs, and scored on Bostock's triple.  Hisle delivered a run-scoring single to make it 3-1 Twins.

That was pretty much it.  Texas got a single in the fifth and another in the seventh, but did nothing with them.  The eighth started well for the Twins:  Bostock doubled and Hisle singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  But the game was called at that point.

WP:  Luebber (4-4).  LP:  Boggs (1-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Braun was the designated hitter and batted leadoff.  He and Craig Kusick mostly shared the DH job, with Kusick playing a few more games there (79 to 71).  Tony Oliva, in his last season, played 32 games at DH.

The Twins made no substitutions.  You could say that neither team did, really.  Reliever Craig Skok was apparently announced into the game two batters into the eighth inning, but the game was called before he could pitch to a batter.  Apparently he got credit for a game played, as he shows up in the box score and it's in his game log.

Bostock led the team in batting at this point at .331.  Carew was right behind him at .328.  Carew would overtake Bostock by season's end, winning the team batting championship .331 to .323.  This snapped a string of four consecutive league batting crowns by Carew, as George Brett took the crown at .333 and Hal McRae was right behind him at .332.  You may recall that there was kerfuffle at the end of the season, with McRae alleging that Twins outfielder Steve Brye had purposely allowed a Brett fly ball to fall for a hit so that Brett would win the batting title rather than McRae, and alleging that Gene Mauch had purposely made that happen for racial reasons.  Nothing ever came of the allegations.

The Twins home run leader was Disco Dan Ford with 20.  Hisle had 14, Kusick 11, and Wynegar 10.  A Bomba Squad they were not.  Surprisingly, they hit more homers than four other American League teams.

This was one of two complete games Luebber had in his career, and both were in 1976.  The other came on August 2, when he shut out Oakland.  Bert Blyleven was the ace of the staff until he was traded; then it was probably Dave Goltz (14-14, 3.36).  Pete Redfern had his one good year as a starter, going 8-8, 3.51.  Bill Singer pitched well after the trade, going 9-9, 3.77.  Other starters included Luebber (4-5, 4.00), Jim Hughes (9-14, 4.98), and Eddie Bane (4-7, 5.11).  The leader in wins, however, was reliever Bill Campbell, who went 17-5, 3.01 with 20 saves.  He pitched 167.2 innings of relief over 78 games.

There were no strikeouts in the game for either team.  Even granting that it was a seven-inning game, that's pretty unusual.

I assume the game was rained out in the top of the eighth, but the game log does not actually say that.

Record:  The Twins were 71-70, in third place in the American League West, 9.5 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 85-77, in third place, 5 games behind Kansas City.

The Rangers were 63-75, in fourth place in the American League West, 16 games behind Kansas City.  They would finish 76-86, tied for fourth with California, 14 games behind Kansas City.

Random Record:  The Twins are 33-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1972, Game Eleven

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MINNESOTA 5, NEW YORK 4 IN NEW YORK (GAME 2 OF DOUBLEHEADER)

Date:  Sunday, April 30.

Batting stars:  George Mitterwald was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Bobby Darwin was 2-for-3 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch.  Danny Thompson was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Rod Carew was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Dick Woodson pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out five.  Dave LaRoche struck out two in two innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits.

Opposition stars:  Mike Kekich pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on ten hits and two walks and striking out four.  John Ellis was 2-for-4 with a home run.  Roy White was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The game:  The Twins loaded the bases in the first inning but did not score.  In the second, Ellis hit a one-out homer to get the Yankees on the board.  Later in the inning Jerry Kenney walked and Kekich hit a two-out triple to make the score 2-0 New York.

The Twins tied it in the fourth.  Darwin and Steve Brye led off the inning with singles.  With one out Mitterwald hit a ground-rule double to put the Twins on the board.  With two out, Cesar Tovar was hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Thompson walked to force in a run.  With the bases still loaded the Twins had a chance to take the lead, but Carew struck out to end the inning.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth, however, when Tovar singled and scored on a double-plus-error by Thompson.  The lead lasted until the bottom of the sixth, when White homered to tie it 3-3.

In the eighth, Mitterwald singled, Danny Monzon reached on an error, and Tovar was hit by a pitch to load the bases with none out.  Thompson struck out, but Carew delivered a two-run single to give the Twins a 5-3 lead.  The Twins had a chance for a bigger lead, loading the bases with two out, but a ground out ended the inning.

The lead held up, but it wasn't easy.  With one out in the ninth Felipe Alou doubled and scored on Ellis' single-plus-error, cutting the margin to 5-4.  The tying run was on second, but Thurman Munson fouled out and Ron Swoboda was caught looking to end the game.

WP:  Woodson (2-0).  LP:  Fred Beene (0-1).  S:  LaRoche (4).

Notes:  Mitterwald shared time behind the plate with Phil Roof and Glenn Borgmann, with Rick Dempsey playing a handful of games.  Borgmann did not come up until mid-season (it was his rookie year), and he took over the starting job at that point.

Rich Reese pinch-ran for Harmon Killebrew in the eighth and remained in the game at first base.

Darwin was batting .439 in the young season.  He would finish at .267.  Mitterwald was batting .375.  He would finish at .234.  Thompson was batting .311.  He would finish at .276.  Carew, who was batting just .227, would end up leading the team in batting at .318.  The Twins finished fourth in the league in batting average at just .244.

Killebrew would lead the team in home runs with 26.  Darwin would hit 22 and Eric Soderholm, who would become the starting third baseman, had 13.

1968 was The Year of the Pitcher, but 1972 was a pretty good year for pitchers, too.  Here are the Twins' starters:  Bert Blyleven:  17-17, 2.73; Woodson, 14-14, 2.72; Jim Perry, 13-16, 3.35; Ray Corbin, 8-9, 2.62; Jim Kaat, 10-2, 2.06; Dave Goltz, 3-3, 2.67.  The designated hitter would come in the next year to try to generate more offense in the American League.

LaRoche was pretty much the co-closer with Wayne Granger.  Granger had 19 saves and LaRoche 10.

Despite Kekich's RBI triple, he was not a good batter.  He was not even a good batter for a pitcher.  His career numbers are .120/.140/.134.  This was the only triple of his major league career.  He also had just one double, in 1969, and no home runs.

The Twins lost the first game of the doubleheader, snapping a six-game winning streak.  The win in the second game would start a five-game winning streak.  The Twins were 23-12 at the end of May, but would not have another month in which they were over .500.

This was a strike/lockout year, so the season did not begin until April 15.  That's why, on April 26, the Twins were only playing their eleventh game.

Record:  The Twins were 8-3, in first place in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.  They would finish 77-77, in third place, 15.5 games behind Oakland.

The Yankees were 4-8, in fifth place in the American League East, 3.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 79-76, in fourth place, 6.5 games behind Detroit.

Random record:  The Twins are 32-27 in Random Rewind games.

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: 1971, Game Sixty-five

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MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 18.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 3-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, his fourth.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and two runs.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched two perfect innings.

Opposition stars:  Carlos May was 2-for-4 with a triple and a double.  Lee Richard was 2-for-4.  Lee Maye was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.  Terry Forster struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Bart Johnson pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  Perry gave a foreshadowing of Brad Radke, giving up two runs in the first inning when Richard reached on an error and Maye homered.  The Twins put men on second and third with none out in the first inning but did not score.  Cardenas got them on the board in the second, leading off the inning with a home run to make the score 2-1 Chicago.

It stayed 2-1 until the fourth.  Cardenas reached on an error and Jim Holt singled, putting men on first and third with none down.  With one out, Perry laid down a squeeze bunt to tie the score.  Cesar Tovar then put the Twins ahead with an RBI double and Carew provided an insurance run with a run-scoring single, making the score 4-2 Minnesota.

The White Sox came back in the sixth.  With two out May tripled and scored on Jay Johnstone's double.  The tying run was in scoring position, and a Tom Egan walk put the go-ahead run on base, but Mike Andrews fouled to the catcher to end the threat.  Chicago got only one hit after that and did not advance a man past first base.

WP:  Perry (10-5).  LP:  Tom Bradley (6-6).  S:  Perranoski (4).

Notes:  Harmon Killebrew was at third base in this game, with Rich Reese at first.  That happened quite often, but Killebrew was more often at first base, with Steve Braun generally manning third.

Oliva was leading the team in batting at .381.  He would finish at .337.  This was the year Oliva suffered the knee injury that would curtail his career.  He was only thirty-two--one can only imagine what he might have done otherwise.

Tovar was also above .300, at .308.  He would finish at .311.

Carew was batting just .239 at this point in the season.  It would be interesting to know what was written about that at the time.  He would get straightened out, and would finish at .307.

Reese was batting just .173 at this point, which may be why Killebrew was spending more time at first base.  Reese would finish at just .219 with a .623 OPS.  He'd had an outstanding year in 1969, a decent year in 1970, but then was pretty much done.

Perry had a down year, although he was not awful by any means:  17-17, 4.23, 1.35 WHIP.  The Twins had two fine starters in Bert Blyleven (16-15, 2.81) and Jim Kaat (13-14, 3.32), but struggled to find a fourth.  Steve Luebber was awful and Ray Corbin was not very good.  Tom Hall was the best of the bunch, but the Twins thought he was more valuable in the bullpen.

They may have been right, because Perranoski, who had been excellent for the Twins from 1968-1970, struggled mightily in 1971.  He was 1-4, 6.75, 2.06 WHIP before being waived in July.  He never had a good season again.  He was thirty-five at this point, and apparently all those seasons of over 100 relief innings finally took their toll.

Tom Bradley started for the White Sox.  He pitched 3.2 innings, giving up four runs (one earned) on seven hits and a walk and striking out three.  He wasn't a great pitcher, but he had two excellent years (1971-1972) with the Sox and one good year (1973) for the Giants.  He threw 764.2 innings in those three years, which may be why he was done at age twenty-seven.

At least I kind of remembered that there had been a pitcher named Tom Bradley.  I have no memory whatsoever of Lee Richard.  It's understandable, because this is the only season he got a decent amount of playing time.  An infielder, he had 260 at-bats and batted .231 with an OPS of .590.  Presumably he was a good fielder.  And to be fair, he was only twenty-two, so Chicago probably assumed he would improve.  He didn't.  He played in parts of four more seasons, but was never more than a futility infielder.  For his career he batted .209/.259/.270 in 535 plate appearances.  I've quoted this line before, but as some old scout said about the five tools, none of the others mean much if you can't hit.

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

Record:  The Twins were 33-32, in third place in the American League West, 10 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-86, in fifth place, 26.5 games behind Oakland.

The White Sox were 22-37, in sixth (last) place in the American League West, 18 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 79-83, in third place, 22.5 games behind Oakland.

Random Record:  The Twins are 30-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1985, Game One Hundred Fifty-three

TEXAS 2, MINNESOTA 0 IN TEXAS

Date:  Thursday, September 26.

Batting star:  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4.

Pitching star:  Mike Smithson pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and four walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Jose Guzman pitched 8.2 scoreless innings, giving up six hits and a walk and striking out five.  Gary Ward was 3-for-3 with a stolen base, his twenty-second.  Pete O'Brien was 1-for-1 with a home run (his twenty-first) and three walks.  I guess they should've walked him the other time, too.

The game:  The Twins put man on second and third with two out in the first inning but did not score.  That was as close as the Twins would come to scoring all night.

The Rangers didn't get anything accomplished in the first three innings, either, but in the fourth O'Brien hit a one-out homer to give Texas a 1-0 lead.  They added a run in the seventh on singles by Ward and Bob Jones, a walk to Duane Walker, and an infield out.

The Twins put one more threat together in the ninth, when Kent Hrbek and Tom Brunansky singled with two out.  Dwayne Henry came in and struck out Mark Salas to end the game.

WP:  Guzman (2-2).  LP:  Smithson (14-13).  S:  Henry (2).

Notes:  Jeff Reed, who was a September call-up, started behind the plate in place of Salas.  Salas mostly platooned with Tim Laudner in 1985.

Roy Smalley was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Smalley was used at DH more than any other position, but he still played a significant number of games at short in 1985.  Salas was the DH in this game.

Dave Engle pinch-hit for Reed in the eighth and stayed in the game behind the plate.  Gagne replaced Smalley at shortstop in the eighth.  Smalley would miss the next couple of games--perhaps he tweaked something.  If not, it seems odd to make a defensive substitution in a game you're losing by two runs.

Salas was batting .301.  He would be the team's lone .300 hitter, at least of players with a significant number of at-bats, as he finished at exactly .300.

The team leader in home runs was Brunansky at 27.  Hrbek had 21 and Gary Gaetti 20.  Also in double figures were Smalley (12), Randy Bush (10), and Tim Teufel (10).

Smithson had eight complete games in 1985.  From 1983-1986 he had 36 complete games and led the league in starts in two of those seasons.  That may be why he was pretty much done after 1986.

This was the year Bert Blyleven came back to the Twins in early August.  He was easily the team's best starter the rest of the season.  Other starters were Smithson, Frank Viola, John Butcher, and Ken Schrom.  Viola was the best of the rest, going 18-14, 4.09, 1.32 WHIP.

Even though he shut them down in this game, the Twins did pretty well most of the time against Guzman.  He was 5-6, 4.25, 1.45 WHIP against them.  This was only the fourth start of his major league career, as he came up as a September call-up.

Texas really didn't have a closer in 1985.  Seven different pitchers had saves, with Greg Harris leading with eleven.  Henry was in his rookie year, coming up in mid-August.

Record:  The Twins were 70-83, in sixth place in the American League West, 16.5 games behind California and Kansas City.  They would finish 77-85, tied for fourth with Oakland, 14 games behind Kansas City.

The Rangers were 58-94, in seventh (last) place in the American League West, 28 games behind California and Kansas City.  They would finish 62-99, in seventh place, 28.5 games behind Kansas City.

Random record:  The Twins are 29-27 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1968, Game One Hundred Forty-three

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 2, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Saturday, September 7.

Batting stars:  Ron Clark was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Graig Nettles was 2-for-4 with two home runs, his second and third.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits and three walks and striking out four.  Al Worthington pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Pat Dobson pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and three walks and striking out four.  Mickey Stanley was 3-for-5.  Don Wert was 1-for-4 with a home run, his twelfth.

The game:  The Tigers had men on second and third with none out in the first, but a line drive double play took them out of the inning.  They had men on first and second with one out in the fourth, but the next two batters could not get the ball out of the infield and they were again turned aside.

Detroit got on the board in the fifth when Wert led off the inning with a home run.  Again, however, they missed a chance to get more, as they loaded the bases with two out and could not add to their lead.  It cost them, because in the next half-inning Nettles hit a two-out home run to tie it 1-1.

The Tigers got a man to second with two out in the seventh, and the Twins did the same in the eighth, but the score remained tied until the ninth, when Nettles led off the inning with a home run to give the Twins their first lead of the game at 2-1.  The Tigers got a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth, but did not advance the man past first base.

WP:  Worthington (4-5).  LP:  Dobson (5-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Bruce Look was behind the plate in place of Johnny Roseboro.  This was Look's only season in the majors.  He batted .246 with an OBP of .353, pretty good numbers for 1968.  Granted, it was 139 plate appearances, but still, you'd think he might have gotten another chance.  Instead, he went to AAA Denver in 1969, batted .223, and played just two more season, both in AAA, before his career came to an end.

Rich Reese was at first base in place of Harmon Killebrew.  This, or course, was the year Killebrew was injured in the all-star game.  He came back in September but was mostly used as a pinch-hitter, never playing a full game the rest of the season.

Frank Quilici was at second base in place of Rod Carew, who missed a few games.  Clark was at shortstop.  Jackie Hernandez played the most games at short in 1968 with 79, but Clark was second with 44.  Rich Rollins was at third base.  Cesar Tovar played the most games at third in 1968 with 77, but Rollins was second at with 56.  Tovar was in center field in place of Ted Uhlaender, who missed a couple of weeks.  Nettles was in right field in place of Tony Oliva, whose season ended on August 31.

To sum up, of the eight regular listed by b-r.com, the only one to start the game at his regular position was left fielder Bob Allison.

Killebrew pinch-hit for Perry in the seventh.  Rick Renick came into the game at shortstop in the ninth inning, with Clark moving to third and Rollins coming out of the game.  Frank Kostro came into the game in left field and Jim Holt came into the game in right field, replacing Nettles and Allison.

Oliva led the team in batting at .289.  Uhlaender batted .283 and Carew it .273.  Of players used in this game, Tovar had the highest batting average at .272.

Allison led the team in home runs with 22.  Oliva had 18 and Killebrew had 17.

Perry was essentially the fifth starter in a four-man rotation, getting starts because of doubleheaders or injuries.  He had a tremendous season, though, going 8-6, 2.27, 1.00 WHIP.  The Twins' starters numbers sound impressive:  Dean Chance (16-16, 2.53, 0.98), Jim Kaat (14-12, 2.94, 1.12), Jim Merritt (12-16, 3.35, 1.09), and Dave Boswell (10-13, 3.32, 1.24.  On the other hand, the league ERA was 2.98, and the league WHIP was 1.19, so those numbers are perhaps not as impressive as they sound.  There's a reason they call it The Year of the Pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 68-75, in seventh place in the American League, 22 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 79-83, in seventh place, 24 games behind Detroit.

The Tigers were 90-53, in first place in the American League, 8 games ahead of Baltimore.  They would finish 103-59, in first place, 12 games ahead of Baltimore.

Rewind record:  The Twins are 29-26 in 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.