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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1962, Game One Hundred Thirty-two

KANSAS CITY 12, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 24.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 2-for-4.  Bernie Allen was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Georges Maranda struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.  Frank Sullivan pitched two scoreless innings, giving up three walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Orlando Pena pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits and five walks and striking out three.  Billy Bryan was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his second) and a walk.  Norm Siebern was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Jerry Lumpe was 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Bobby Del Greco was 2-for-4 with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and two runs. Gino Cimoli was 2-for-5 with a double, two runs, and four RBIs.  Wayne Causey was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Ed Charles was 2-for-6.

The game:  Del Greco led off the game with a base hit, went to second on a passed ball, and scored on Lumpe's single.  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the second, but nothing came of it.

Then came the third.   Del Greco and Charles singled.  An error brought home a run.  Siebern had a two-run double.  That chased starter Bill Pleis and brought in Lee Stange.  He gave up a two-run single to Cimoli, a single to George Alusik, an RBI single to Causey, and a three-run homer by Bryan.  The first eight batter reached base, all scored, and it was 9-0 Athletics.

That was pretty much it.  The Twins scored in the fifth when Versalles singled, Don Mincher walked, a force out put men on first and third, and Vic Power hit a sacrifice fly.  Kansas City added three in the eighth when Lumpe and Siebern singled, Cimoli hit a two-run double, and Causey had an RBI single.

WP:  Pena (2-1).  LP:  Pleis (2-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins used their standard lineup at the time.  Jerry Zimmerman caught the ninth to give Earl Battey a break.  Mincher, Johnny Goryl, and George Banks were used as pinch-hitters for various pitchers.

Rollins was the only batter over .300, at .308.  He would finish at .298.  He was a good batter in 1962 and 1963, still fairly good in 1964, but then just stopped hitting.  I think injuries may have been involved, but I really don't remember.  He would continue to play through 1970, but he really was not very good for his last several seasons.

Pleis lasted just two innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits and one walk and striking out three.  This was the last of four starts he would make in 1962 and one of only ten in his career.  He did have some good years out of the bullpen.

Orlando Pena had a very long career, pitching through 1975, when he was forty-one.  He was a reliever in 1958-1960, a starter through 1964, and then went back to the bullpen to stay, other than an occasional spot start.  If I had more time I'd give more of a biography--it looks like it would be fairly interesting.  He pitched for eight different teams.  It doesn't look like he was ever a team's main short reliever, but he was usually an important part of the bullpen.  His career numbers:  58-77, 3.71, 40 saves, 1.27 WHIP.  Nothing great, but not too shabby, either.  He appeared in 427 games and pitched 1202 innings.  A very respectable career.

The Twins were in a pennant race in 1962, so a loss to the lowly Athletics was costly.  It was their third straight loss, but they would go on to win eight of their next ten and ten of their next thirteen.

Record:  The Twins were 79-52, in third place in the American League, 5.5 games behind New York.  They would finish 91-71, in second place, five games behind New York.

The Athletics were 60-70, in ninth place in the American League, seventeen games behind New York.  They would finish 72-90, in ninth place, twenty-four games behind New York.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1979, Game One

MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Friday, April 6.

Batting stars:  Ron Jackson was 2-for-4.  Roy Smalley was 1-for-3 with a walk.  Ken Landreaux was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Dave Goltz pitched 8.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Mickey Klutts was 2-for-3 with a double.  Dave Revering was 2-for-4 with a double.  Dave Heaverlo retired all eight men he faced.

The game:  The Twins put men on first and second in the first, but did not score.  In the second, Revering hit a one-out double and Tony Armas delivered a two-out RBI single to make it 1-0 Athletics.

The pitchers then took over for a while, as neither team got a hit in innings three through five.  In the sixth, Mike Cubbage led off with a single, was bunted to second, and went to third on a ground ball.  Jackson then tied it with an RBI single.  Glenn Adams followed with a run-scoring double and scored on a Butch Wynegar single.  The Twins led 3-1.  They got a couple more in the seventh.  Willie Norwood hit a one-out triple and Jose Morales was hit by a pitch.  A fielder's choice scored Norwood and Smalley's RBI single put the Twins up 5-1.

Oakland got a run back in the bottom of the seventh.  Singles by Jeff Newman and Revering put men on first and third and a force out made it 5-2.  A double play took them out of the inning.  They threatened again in the ninth.  Mitchell Page tripled and Newman walked, bringing the tying run to the plate.  Mike Marshall came in to pitch for the Twins.  Revering hit into a force out, cutting the lead to 5-3.  It was the second out, however, and Mike Edwards then struck out to end the game.

WP:  Goltz (1-0).  LP:  Rick Langford (0-1).  S:  Marshall (1).

Notes:  Opening day of 1979.  This was a period where it seemed like every year the Twins opened the season on the west coast.

Cubbage opened the season as the Twins' third baseman.  He held the job until the middle of May, when he was replaced by John Castino.  Castino would go on to win the Rookie of the Year award.

The Twins' outfield on opening day was Landreaux, Norwood, and Rick Sofield, with Adams at DH.  Landreaux was a good player, but the Twins were shuffling various mediocre players in the other outfield spots with, understandably, mediocre results.  In addition those mentioned above, Hosken Powell, Dave Edwards, and Bombo Rivera saw significant time in the outfield in 1979.  Adams was a decent batter but was more suited to DH.  The highest OPS among the others was Powell at .739.

Wilfong was in a platoon with Bobby Randall at second base.  As the left-handed batter, Wilfong got the majority of at-bats and actually had a pretty good year, batting .313.

Ron Jackson was a pretty mediocre first baseman, but "Papa Jack" is a great nickname.

Record:  The Twins were 1-0, tied for first place in the American League West with Kansas City and Seattle.  They would finish 82-80, in fourth place, six games behind California.

The Athletics were 0-1, tied for fifth place in the American League West with Chicago and California.  They would finish 58-104, in seventh (last) place, thirty-four games behind California.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1986, Game One Hundred Fifty-eight

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CLEVELAND 12, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, October 1.

Batting star:  Randy Bush was 2-for-4 with a triple and a stolen base, his fifth.

Pitching star:  Keith Atherton struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Tom Candiotti struck out twelve in a complete game, giving up three runs on eight hits and no walks.  Julio Franco was 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs.  Pat Tabler was 3-for-5 with a triple and a double.  Chris Bando was 2-for-4.  Otis Nixon was 2-for-5 with a stolen base (his twenty-third), two runs, and two RBIs.  Joe Carter was 1-for-5 with a three-run homer, his twenty-ninth.

The game:  Nixon led off the game with a single, stole second, and scored on Franco's single.  In the second Tabler singled, Brook Jacoby reached on an error, and Jay Bell hit a two-run double to make it 3-0.  In the third Franco singled and scored on Tabler's double to make it 4-0.

The Twins got on the board in the third when Kirby Puckett doubled and scored on a Gary Gaetti single.  But it was all downhill from there.  In the fifth Brett Butler doubled, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on a balk.  The Indians put the game out of reach with four runs in the sixth.  Jacoby singled, Bell walked, and Bando singled to load the bases.  Nixon had a two-run single, Butler had a sacrifice fly, and Franco had an RBI single.  Cleveland led 9-1.

With two out in the eighth Butler was hit by a pitch, Franco singled, and Carter hit a three-run homer.  The Twins got a couple of runs in the ninth.  Mickey Hatcher singled, Bush tripled, and Ron Washington had an RBI ground out.

WP:  Candiotti (15-12).  LP:  Allan Anderson (3-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  A meaningless game at the end of a lost season.  Ray Miller was fired as manager in mid-September, with Tom Kelly taking over.  The Twins had long since been eliminated from the playoffs by this time.

Puckett was still a leadoff batter at this point.  Hatcher played first base in place of Kent Hrbek.  Jeff Reed was behind the plate, with Mark Salas at DH and Roy Smalley out of the lineup.  The Twins used three catchers about evenly in 1986:  Salas (69 games), Laudner (68), and Reed (64).  Alvaro Espinoza was at second base in place of Steve Lombardozzi.

The Twins made numerous substitutions.  Washington replaced Gaetti at third base in the seventh.  Mark Davidson replaced Tom Brunansky in right field in the seventh.  Laudner replaced Reed at catcher in the eighth.  Lombardozzi went to second in the eighth, with Espinoza moving to short and Greg Gagne coming out of the game.  Billy Beane went to left field in the eighth, with Bush moving to right, Davidson to center, and Puckett coming out of the game.

Anderson was the Twins' starter.  He lasted only three innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and no walks and striking out two.  Other pitchers used in the game were Roy Lee Jackson, Bill Latham, Atherton, and Ray Fontenot.  This was Anderson's rookie season.  He made 10 starts and 11 relief appearances, going 3-6, 5.55, 1.61 WHIP in 84.1 innings.  When you look at his ERA title in 1988, it really looks like a fluke--his ERA was 2.45 that year, 3.80 in 1989, and well over four in every other season.  He got a lot of criticism for sitting out the last game in 1988 to preserve his ERA title, but it's really the only thing he accomplished in his career, so I say good for him.

The leading batter for the Twins was Puckett at .329.

Record:  The Twins were 68-90, in sixth place in the American League West, twenty-three games behind California.  They would finish 71-91, in sixth place, twenty-one games behind California.

The Indians were 81-78, in fifth place in the American League East, fifteen games behind Boston.  They would finish 84-78, in fifth place, 11.5 games behind Boston.

 

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1989, Game One Hundred Twenty-five

MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 7 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, August 23.

Batting stars:  Greg Gagne was 4-for-5 with two doubles.  Kent Hrbek was 3-for-4 with two two-run homers (his nineteenth and twentieth) and three runs.  Tim Laudner was 2-for-4 with a double.  Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with two runs.

Pitching star:  Juan Berenguer struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Ozzie Guillen was 3-for-4.  Ivan Calderon was 3-for-5 with a home run (his twelfth) and two runs.  Carlos Martinez was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Carlton Fisk was 2-for-5 with a three-run homer, his tenth.  Sammy Sosa was 2-for-5.

The game:  The White Sox got two singles and a walk in the second but did not score.  In the bottom of the second, consecutive singles by Hrbek, Dan Gladden, Carmelo Castillo, and Laudner as well as a sacrifice fly by Al Newman put the Twins ahead 3-0.  In the third Harper singled and Hrbek hit a two-run homer, to make it 5-0.

Chicago put their first two men on in the fourth but did not score.  In the sixth, however, they got back into the game.  Calderon led off the inning with a home run.  With one out, consecutive singles by Martinez, Sosa, Steve Lyons, and Guillen and a run-scoring ground out produced three more runs, cutting the lead to 5-4.

The Twins increased their lead in the seventh when Harper singled and again Hrbek hit a two-run homer to make it 7-4.  They added a run in the eighth when John Moses singled, went to third on a ground out-plus-error, and scored on Gagne's single, making the score 8-4.

They needed them all.  With one out in the ninth, Scott Fletcher and Calderon singled and Fisk hit a three-run homer to cut the lead to 8-7.  The next two batters flied out, however, and the Twins held on to win.

WP:  Roy Smith (10-4).  LP:  Greg Hibbard (3-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Newman was at second base, as regular Wally Backman was given the day off.  Castillo was in right field in place of Randy Bush.  Bush was used as a pinch-hitter and stayed in the game in right field until the eighth, when Moses pinch-hit and then went to right field.  Laudner was the DH.  Jim Dwyer got the most games at DH with 73 and Gene Larkin had 41.  Others with double-digit games at DH were Harper (19), Laudner (19), Hrbek (18) and Castillo (16).

The Twins leading batter was Kirby Puckett at .333.  He would finish at .339.  Harper was batting .321.  He would finish at .325.  This was the first time Harper was actually given a starting job, at age twenty-nine, and he certainly made the most of it.

Smith started for the Twins and pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out one.  He had pitched very well for the first five innings, but threw ninety-eight pitches.  1989 was his first full season, and it was his best:  10-6, 3.92, 1.34 WHIP.  He would play for two more seasons, but would not come close to matching those numbers.  He was a fairly big guy, 6'3", 200 pounds, but as I recall he did not throw very hard.  He struck out 4.7 betters per nine innings throughout his career, which would seem to support that memory.

Reardon had not pitched since August 19, and then faced just one batter, and so was presumably just brought in to get him some work.  It nearly backfired, as he gave up the three runs in the ninth.  The play-by-play indicates that the next batter hit a long fly ball, so he came close to allowing the tying run.  He did not have a particularly good season in 1989, going 5-4, 4.07, although with a WHIP of 1.10.  He had thirty-one saves, but with eight blown saves.

Hrbek would lead the team with twenty-five home runs.  Gaetti was second with nineteen.  Bush was the only other Twin in double figures, with fourteen.

White Sox starter Hibbard lasted just 1.2 innings.  He allowed three runs on six hits and no walks with no strikeouts.  Bill Long pitched five innings of relief, allowing three runs on six hits and no walks and striking out three.

Record:  The Twins were 61-64, in fifth place in the American League West, sixteen games behind Oakland.  They would finish 80-82, in fifth place, nineteen games behind Oakland.

The White Sox were 53-73, in sixth (last) place in the American League West, 24.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 69-92, in sixth place, 29.5 games behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1999, Game Twenty-two

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BOSTON 9, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Wednesday, April 28.

Batting stars:  Javier Valentin was 3-for-4 with a double.  Ron Coomer was 3-for-5 with a double.  Todd Walker was 2-for-5 with two doubles.  Corey Koskie was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Dan Perkins pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Pat Rapp pitched six innings, giving up one run on six hits and two walks and striking out one.  Brian Daubach was 2-for-3 with a double.  Darren Lewis was 2-for-4.  Nomar Garciaparra was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Trot Nixon was 1-for-1 with a home run (his second), three walks, and four runs.

The game:  Lewis led off the third with a single and Nixon walked.  A wild pitch moved the runners up and a pair of productive outs gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.  Daubach led off the fourth with a double and went to third on a wild pitch.  He was retired trying to score on a grounder to first, however, and when the next batter was retired it looked like the Twins might get out of the inning.  But Nixon walked and Jose Offerman hit a two-run triple to put Boston up 4-0.

The Twins got on the board in the sixth on singles by Torii Hunter, Coomer, and Koskie.  The Red Sox put the game out of reach in the seventh.  Nixon walked, John Valentin singled, and Reggie Jefferson walked to fill the bases.  Garciaparra had a two-run single and, following a walk to Mike Stanley, Jason Varitek hit a two-run single, giving Boston an 8-1 lead.  Nixon homered leading off the eighth to make it 9-1.

The Twins scored a few late runs to make the final score look better.  In the eighth Coomer doubled and scored on Koskie's single.  Later in the inning singles by Chad Allen and Valentin scored Koskie.  In the ninth Walker doubled and scored on a pair of productive outs.

WP:  Rapp (1-1).  LP:  Mike Lincoln (0-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  This was Coomer's all-star season.  One of the many odd things about that is that if you look at the 1999 Twins on b-r.com, he is not listed as a regular.  He played 71 games at first, 57 games at third, and 7 games as the DH.  Doug Mientkiewicz is listed as the regular first baseman and Koskie is the regular third baseman.

In this game, however, Coomer was at first and Brent Gates at third, with Koskie as the DH.  Marty Cordova was the regular DH, as injuries limited him to 29 games in the outfield.  Javier Valentin was the catcher, with Terry Steinbach given the day off.

Koskie was the leading batter in the young season, at .333.  He would finish at .310.  Coomer was batting .328.  In the first part of May he went on a hot streak that would carry him all the way to .366, which is why he was named to the all-star team.  Well, that and the fact that someone from the Twins had to go.  He ended the season at .263.  Matt Lawton was batting .301.  He would finish at .259.

Despite his batting average, Koskie would play just 117 games and had just 392 plate appearances.  Twenty-five of his games were in right field, with just seventy-nine at third base.  Part of the reason for that is that Tom Kelly absolutely loved Brent Gates.  We talk about how Ron Gardenhire loved futility infielders, but Kelly had his flings with them, too.  In two seasons with the Twins, Gates played in 217 games and had 723 plate appearances, with a batting line of .252/.326/.330.  Yes, the Twins weren't very good then, but players like Koskie, Mientkiewicz, and David Ortiz either sat the bench or were left in AAA while Kelly wasted all those at-bats on Gates.

Starter Mike Lincoln pitched four innings, allowing four runs on six hits and three walks and striking out none.  Lincoln would not have a very good career, but he did have a couple of good years pitching out of the Pittsburgh bullpen.  Apparently on the strength of that, he pitched in the majors for parts of nine seasons, putting up a line of 17-30, 5.33, 1.51 WHIP.  His last three seasons were with Cincinnati, who put him into 102 major league games while he was going 4-6, 5.73, 1.53 WHIP.  Yet another player who got chance after chance long after he'd established that he was not a good major league pitcher.

Record:  The Twins were 9-13, in fourth place in the American League Central, seven games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 63-97, in fifth (last) place, thirty-three games behind Cleveland.

The Red Sox were 11-10, in third place in the American League East, three games behind New York.  They would finish 94-68, in second place, four games behind New York, but winning the wild card.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2000, Game Forty

SEATTLE 9, MINNESOTA 5 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Tuesday, May 16.

Batting stars:  Ron Coomer was 3-for-4 with a home run (his seventh) and two RBIs.  Jacque Jones was 2-for-5 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Travis Miller struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Bob Wells pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  Hector Carrasco pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.  Eddie Guardado pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two walks and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Gil Meche struck out eight in 6.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks.  Edgar Martinez was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Alex Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs.  David Bell was 2-for-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Jay Buhner was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his eighth) and a walk.

The game:  The Twins put two on with two out in the first, but nothing came of it.  Twins starter Sean Bergman retired the first two Mariners, but then Rodriguez singled, John Olerud walked, Martinez hit a two-run double, and Buhner hit a two-run homer, putting Seattle up 4-0 after one inning.

The Twins got on the board in the third, but missed a chance for a big inning.  Cristian Guzman walked and Jay Canizaro doubled, putting men on second and third with none out.  Matt Lawton hit a sacrifice fly, but that was all the Twins could do, and it was 4-1.  The Mariners immediately got the run back in the bottom of the third when Bell singled, Olerud walked, and Martinez had an RBI single.

Seattle put it away in the fourth.  Raul Ibanez walked and for some reason was bunted to second.  Mike Cameron singled, putting men on the corners, and Mark McLemore walked to load the bases.  Bell then hit a two-run double and Rodriguez a two-run single.  It was 9-1 Mariners.

The Twins did get a few runs to make the final score look better.  In the seventh Butch Huskey and Jones led off with back-to-back doubles.  Denny Hocking singled to bring home another run.  Coomer homered in the eighth to make it 9-4 and his RBI single in the ninth brought us to the final total of 9-5.

WP:  Meche (1-4).  LP:  Bergman (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  The Twins had soured on Todd Walker at this point, so Canizaro was the regular second baseman.  They really didn't have a regular catcher.  Matthew LeCroy and Jensen each caught 49 games, Chad Moeller 48, a young A. J. Pierzynski 32, and Danny Ardoin 15.  Huskey started the season as the DH, but didn't hit much and was eventually replaced by David Ortiz.

Bergman allowed nine runs on eight hits and five walks in 3.1 innings.  This was his last year in the majors.  He's another guy who stayed around a long time without doing much.  He really only had one good year, 1998, when he was 12-9, 3.72, 1.31 WHIP with Houston.  He was adequate in San Diego in 1996, going 6-8, 4.37, 1.34 WHIP.  In his six other major league seasons, his lowest ERA was 5.12 and his lowest WHIP was 1.56.  Yet, he pitched 750.1 innings, made 117 starts, and appeared in 196 games.  After this game he was allowed to make five more starts, four of which were awful, and one awful relief appearance before the Twins finally released him.  He was picked up by Florida, Tampa Bay, Colorado, Florida again, and Baltimore before his playing career ended in 2004.  He also spent a couple of seasons in Japan, where he wasn't particularly impressive, either.  I assume he's a pretty nice guy.

Lawton was the leading batter at .349.  He would finish at .305 and would make his only all-star appearance that season.  Jones was batting .339.  He would finish at .285.  Midre Cummings, who was used as a pinch-hitter, was batting .326.  He would finish at .277.  He would also finish in Boston, traded there at the August deadline for Hector De Los Santos.

This team was a strange mix of young players rushed to the majors, a couple of veterans, and guys who would never be anything.  The weren't awful on offense, although they had little power.  Jones led the team with 19 homers, Coomer had 16, Lawton 13, and Ortiz 10.  The best starter they had was Brad Radke, who led the league in losses (12-16, 4.45, 1.38 WHIP.  The only other somewhat competent starters were Eric Milton, 13-10, 4.86, 1.25 WHIP, and Mark Redman, 12-9, 4.76, 1.41 WHIP.  No one else had an ERA below 5.50.

It seems like random.org is giving us a lot of games against the Mariners.

Record:  The Twins were 17-23, in fourth place in the American League Central, six games behind Chicago.  They would finish 69-93, in fifth (last) place, twenty-six games behind Chicago.

The Mariners were 20-17, in first place in the American League West, a half game ahead of Oakland.  They would finish 91-71, in second place, a half-game behind Oakland, but would win the wild card by a game over Cleveland.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2004, Game One Hundred Seven

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ANAHEIM 8, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, August 5.

Batting stars:  Torii Hunter was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth) and a double.  Michael Cuddyer was 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Jesse Crain struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Aaron Fultz pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.  J. C. Romero struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Aaron Sele pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on five hits and two walks and striking out one.  Garret Anderson was 4-for-5.  Josh Paul was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs.  David Eckstein was 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs.

The game:  The first two innings passed by quietly.  Then in the third, Tim Salmon and Paul singled and Eckstein walked, loading the bases with none out.  Chone Figgins was retired on a short fly ball, but Anderson and Vladimir Guerrero each hit an RBI single and a sacrifice fly made it 3-0.  The Angels had another big inning in the fourth.  Robb Quinlan singled and scored from first on Paul's one-out double.  Eckstein followed with an RBI single.  With two out Anderson singled, an error loaded the bases, and Jose Guillen delivered a two-run single to make the score 7-0.

The Twins offense had done very little to this point, getting only one hit through the first four innings.  Hunter changed that with a home run to lead off the fifth.  Corey Koskie had a one-out single, Matthew LeCroy walked, and with two out Shannon Stewart singled home a run to make it 7-2.

That was as close as the Twins would come.  Each team scored a run in the seventh, but neither threatened to put together a big inning.  The Twins took an 8-3 defeat.

WP:  Sele (7-0).  LP:  Terry Mulholland (3-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Justin Morneau had only recently become the regular first baseman with the trade of Doug Mientkiewicz.  Stewart had injury problems in 2004 and was the DH in this game, with Lew Ford in left field.

Cuddyer pinch-hit for Jacque Jones in the fifth and stayed in the game in right field.  LeCroy pinch-hit for Henry Blanco in the fifth and stayed in the game behind the plate.

Jason Bartlett was at shortstop in place of Cristian Guzman.  This was the second major league game and first start for Bartlett.  He would be sent down after the game, but would come back as a September call-up and would begin 2005 as the team's starting shortstop.

Stewart was the batting average leader at .312.  He would finish at .304.  Ford was batting .301.  He would finish at .299.

Mulholland pitched just 3.2 innings, allowing seven runs (five earned) on nine hits and a walk and striking out one.  It was not his worst start of the season--that would come on August 26, when he would again allow seven runs in 3.2 innings, but all the runs would be earned.  He was forty-one, and was really not a good pitcher anymore.  He really hadn't been very good for some time, but teams kept sending him out there.  I assume it was a case where, as Bill James once put it, he would pitch well just often enough to fool teams into pitching him some more.

Despite Sele's 7-0 record, he didn't have all that good a year.  At this point he was 7-0 with an ERA of 4.60.  He would finish 9-4, 5.05, 1.62 WHIP.  He started his career well, but after 1995 he only had one season with an ERA of lower than 4.20 and six seasons with an ERA of over 5.00.  Despite that, he pitched until he was thirty-seven and had a fifteen-year major league career.  It's always amazing to me how some guys keep getting chance after chance, long after they've proven they're not good enough, and other guys dominate AAA and at most get one brief shot.

The Twins had won four in a row and eight out of nine coming into this game.

Record:  The Twins were 61-46, in first place in the American League Central, six games ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, nine games ahead of Chicago.

The Angels were 58-50, in third place in the American League West, three games behind Texas.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, one game ahead of Oakland.

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.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1982, Game Thirty-three

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MINNESOTA 10, BOSTON 6 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 11.

Batting stars:  Gary Ward was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third) and three runs).  Bobby Mitchell was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Butch Wynegar was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  John Castino was 2-for-5 with a double and three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Dwight Evans was 3-for-5 with two triples and three RBIs.  Dave Stapleton was 2-for-5 with three RBIs.  Tony Perez was 2-for-5 with a double.  Carney Lansford was 2-for-5.

The game:  The Twins took the lead in the second.  Kent Hrbek led off the inning with a single and Ward had a one-out single-plus-error, putting men on second and third.  A wild pitch scored one run and a sacrifice fly scored another, putting the Twins up 2-0.

The Red Sox got on the board in the fourth, but missed a chance for a big inning.  Jim Rice reached on an error, and singles by Perez and Lansford loaded the bases with one out.  Stapleton delivered an RBI single, but Twins starter Brad Havens escaped further damage by retiring Glenn Hoffman and Gary Allenson on foul popups and striking out Reid Nichols.  It appeared to be just a temporary reprieve, however, as Boston scored three in the fifth to take the lead.  Jerry Remy led off with a single, and with one out Rice walked and Perez had an RBI double.  Lansford struck out, but Stapleton came through with a two-run single, giving the Red Sox a 4-2 advantage.

But the Twins came right back in the bottom of the fifth.  Wynegar led off with a double, Mitchell had a one-out RBI single, and Castino delivered a two-out run-scoring double, tying it 4-4.  The Twins took the lead in the sixth.  Their first two batters were retired, but they then put together six consecutive singles, by Ward, Wynegar, Randy Bush, Mitchell, Ron Washington, and Castino, producing five runs and giving the Twins a 9-4 advantage.  Ward hit a solo homer in the seventh to make it 10-4.

Boston must have been stunned.  They scored a pair of runs in the eighth, when Rick Miller and Remy walked and Evans hit a two-run triple, but that was it.  The Twins took the 10-6 victory.

WP:  Bobby Castillo (1-1).  LP:  Bob Ojeda (1-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  It was kind of a strange lineup for the Twins.  Washington was at second base, with Castino playing left field, one of five times in his career that he played there.  The DH was Jesus Vega.  Mitchell had taken over center field from Jim Eisenreich.  Ward, normally in left, moved to right.

Havens pitched 5.2 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on nine hits and two walks and striking out four.  Red Sox starter Ojeda pitched 5.2 innings as well, allowing six runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out five.

Bush pinch-hit for Lenny Faedo in the sixth inning.  He then went to left field, with Castino moving to second base and Washington going to shortstop.

The leading batter in the Twins lineup was Vega, who was batting .349.  He would end the season at .266.  Hrbek was batting .314.  He would end at .301.  Washington was batting an even .300.  He would finish at .291.

On the other end of the scale, Mitchell was batting .164.  He would finish at .249.  Faedo was batting .196.  He would end up at .243.

Ojeda was not the Bob Ojeda he would become.  He was twenty-four, but had still not had a full season in the majors.  He would finish this season 4-6, 5.63, 1.58 WHIP in 22 games, 14 starts.  He'd had ten solid starts in 1981, which had gotten him third place in the Rookie of the Year voting (behind Dave Righetti and teammate Rich Gedman).  He would improve from 1982, but would not really become a star until his trade to the Mets after the 1985 season.

The Twins win snapped a five-game losing streak.  They had lost nine of ten before this game.

Record:  The Twins were 11-22, in sixth (not last) place in the American League West, 9.5 games behind California.  They would finish 60-102, in seventh (last) place), thirty-three games behind California.

The Red Sox were 21-10, in first place in the American League East, three games ahead of Detroit.  They would finish 89-73, in third place, six games behind Milwaukee.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2010, Game Twenty-six

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MINNESOTA 10, DETROIT 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, May 3.

Batting stars:  Wilson Ramos was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  J. J. Hardy was 2-for-4 with a double.  Justin Morneau was 2-for-4.  Denard Span was 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs.  Michael Cuddyer was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his fourth), a walk, and two runs.

Pitching star:  Scott Baker pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Brad Thomas pitched 3.2 scoreless innings of relief, giving up four hits and striking out one.  Austin Jackson was 3-for-5 with a triple and a double.  Miguel Cabrera was 2-for-3.  Brennan Boesch was 2-for-4 with a double.

The game:  The Twins took control of this one early.  With one out in the first, Orlando Hudson singled, Morneau walked, Jim Thome had an RBI single, and Cuddyer hit a three-run homer, giving the Twins a 4-0 lead.  In the second Ramos singled, Nick Punto walked, Span hit a two-run triple, and an RBI ground out made the score 7-0 Twins.

The Tigers tried to get back into it.  In the fourth Cabrera singled and scored from first on Boesch's double.  In the fifth Ramon Santiago walked, Jackson singled, a wild pitch moved them to second and third, and a pair of RBI ground outs made it 7-3.

That was as close as Detroit would come.  With one out in the fifth Cuddyer and Jason Kubel walked, Hardy had an RBI single, Ramos hit a run-scoring double, and Punto contributed a sacrifice fly, giving the Twins a 10-3 advantage.

The final Tigers run came in the ninth, when Santiago walked and scored on Jackson's two-out triple.

WP:  Baker (3-2).  LP:  Max Scherzer (1-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  This was the second game of Ramos' career.  With a 3-for-4 day, his batting average dropped from .800 to .778.  He was playing due to an injury to Joe Mauer.  He would play just seven games for the Twins, go back to AAA, and then be traded in late July with Joe Testa for Matt Capps.

Kubel was in left, with Cuddyer in right and Morneau at first base.  Morneau would be injured and miss the second half of the season, so the regular alignment would then be Cuddyer at first, Kubel in right, and Delmon Young in left.

Punto was still the regular third baseman, as Danny Valencia would not be called up for another month.

Morneau was leading the team in batting at .356.  He would be at .345 when he got hurt.  Cuddyer was batting .308.  He would finish at .271.  Hudson was batting .306.  He would finish at .268.

Scherzer lasted just 4.1 innings and allowed all ten runs on eight hits and four walks and struck out one.  He was just twenty-four, and in his second full season.  He was not what he would become, but he was still a solid pitcher already.  He went 12-11, 3.50, 1.25 WHIP in 2010.  By game scores, this would by far be the worst game he had this season.

Record:  The Twins were 17-9, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Detroit.  They would finish 94-68, in first place, six games ahead of Chicago.

The Tigers were 16-11, in second place in the American League Central, 1.5 games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 81-81, in third place, thirteen games behind Minnesota.