Tag Archives: random rewind

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1967, Game Forty-one

1 Comment

MINNESOTA 3, NEW YORK 0 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Tuesday, May 30.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 3-for-4 with a double.  Cesar Tovar was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching star:  Jim Merritt struck out eleven in a complete game, giving up two hits and no walks.

Opposition star:  Hal Reniff pitched three shutout innings, giving up only a walk and striking out two.

The game:  With one out in the first, Rod Carew doubled.  Zoilo Versalles drove him in with a single and went to second on an error.  Killebrew drove him in with a single and went all the way to third on an error.  Tony Oliva drove him in with a single and the Twins had a 3-0 lead.

And there it stood the rest of the game.  The Yankees never threatened.  Horace Clarke got a leadoff single in the second but never got past first base.  He reached on an error in the third but again stayed at first.  Bill Robinson reached on an error in the fifth and had a similar fate.  Charley Smith hit a one-out double in the seventh and went to third on a ground out, but stayed there.

WP:  Merritt (3-0).  LP:  Fritz Peterson (0-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Earl Battey was injured much of 1967, catching only forty-one games, so Jerry Zimmerman was the regular catcher.

Tovar was in center field in this game in place of Ted Uhlaender.  As you probably know, Tovar could play pretty much anywhere on the diamond.  In 1967 he played 72 games at third base, 64 in center field, 35 at second base, 10 in left field, 9 at shortstop, and 6 in right field.  I can't tell you how good he was defensively, but he was good enough that his managers kept making sure he was in the lineup someplace.  In 1967 he led the league in games played with 164 (I assume there were a couple of games that were called for weather as ties or something), plate appearances at 726, and at-bats at 649.

This was Merritt's best year in the majors.  He went 13-7, 2.53, 0.99 WHIP.  Some might say his best years were 1969-1970, when he went a combined 37-21 for Cincinnati (winning twenty games and making the all-star team in 1970), but his ERA, his WHIP, and his FIP are all substantially lower in 1967.  This was one of four shutouts he pitched that year--he had no more than one in any other season and nine for his career.  This was only his second start of the season--he had started the year in the bullpen.  His first start, on May 26, was a shutout of Kansas City.

I like the good old days, when the Twins could beat the Yankees.

Record:  The Twins were 20-21, in sixth place in the American League, 6.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 91-71, tied for second place, one game behind Boston.

The Yankees were 17-22, in ninth place in the American League, 8.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 72-90, in ninth place, twenty games behind Boston.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1961, Game One Hundred Six

2 Comments

NEW YORK 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Saturday, August 5.

Batting stars:  Zoilo Versalles was 1-for-2 with two walks.  Bob Allison was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching star:  Jack Kralick pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up two runs on nine hits and three walks and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jim Coates pitched a complete game, giving up one run on four hits and five walks and striking out three.  Elston Howard was 3-for-4.  Bill Skowron was 2-for-2 with a double and a walk.  Mickey Mantle was 2-for-4 with a triple.

The game:  The Twins got on the board in the first inning.  Versalles led off the game with a walk.  With one out, Harmon Killebrew and Allison had consecutive singles, putting the Twins up 1-0.

That was as good as it would get.  The Yankees tied it in the second.  Howard singled and scored on Skowron's two-out double.  New York threatened to take the lead in the fifth, putting men on second and third with one out, but Bobby Richardson lined into a double play.  Each team got two on in the sixth, but neither scored.

The Yankees took the lead in the eighth.  With one out, Roger Maris singled and Mantle tripled, making it 2-1.  The Twins threatened to tie it in the ninth.  Joe Altobelli had a pinch-hit triple and Ted Lepcio walked.  But Bill Tuttle popped up to second, and the game was over.

WP:  Coates (7-3).  LP:  Kralick (10-7).  S:  None.

Notes:  The only variation from the standard lineup is Lepcio, who was at second base in place of Billy Martin.  Lepcio appears to have replaced Martin as the regular second baseman from late July to mid-August, with Martin eventually getting the job back.  Both were veteran infielders at the end of their careers, and offensively there's not a lot to choose between them.  Martin hit for a higher average but with less power in 1961, but for their careers their slash lines are pretty similar.

Julio Becquer pinch-hit for Jim Lemon in the ninth.  Altobelli pinch-hit for Earl Battey in the ninth.  In both cases it was a left-hander pinch-hitting for a right-hander to face the right-handed Coates.

This was Altobelli's third game as a Twin.  All were as a pinch-hitter.  He would make his first start the next day, but would be replaced in the second inning, presumably due to a minor injury.  He would finally play his first full game on August 12.

Other than Altobelli, who was 1-for-2, the leading average on the Twins belonged to Killebrew, who was batting .313.  He would finish at .288, which was the highest average in his career for a full season.  Lenny Green was batting .302.  He would finish at .285.

From 1960-1964, Kralick was a fine pitcher.  He made the all-star team in 1964, when he was with Cleveland.  After that, he fell apart--one suspects an injury may have been involved, but I really don't know.  His career was over in 1967, when he was in a bad car accident that left him with double vision.  It did not clear up for over a year, and by the time it did he decided to move on with his life.  But for five years, he was a pitcher any team would've been happy to have in its rotation.

Jim Coates had about three years where he was a good pitcher.  He pitched very well out of the bullpen for the Yankees in 1959, then had a couple of good seasons in which he both started and relieved.  He made the all-star teams in 1960, when he went 13-3 despite an ERA of 4.28.  He struggled after that, but came back to have some decent partial seasons with the Angels in 1965-1966.  One gets the impression that when he was on, he was really on, and when he was not, he was really not.  For his career, he was 43-22, 4.00, 1.37 WHIP in 683.1 innings (247 games).

It might be fun to do a rewind of the 1961 Twins, just to learn more about the first Twins team.  They weren't all that good, as is shown below, but there are a lot of interesting players.

It also might be fun to do the 1924 Washington Senators, the Twins' predecessor.  There'd be all kinds of players to learn about on that team.

Record:  The Twins were 46-60, in ninth place in the American League, twenty-three games behind New York.  They would finish 70-90, in seventh place, thirty-eight games behind New York.

The Yankees were 69-37, in first place in the American League, 1.5 games ahead of Detroit.  They would finish 109-53, in first place, eight games ahead of Detroit.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1971, Game Thirty

10 Comments

MINNESOTA 6, WASHINGTON 5 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Sunday, May 9.

Batting stars:  Jim Holt was 3-for-4 with two triples, a walk, and three runs.  Tony Oliva was 3-for-4 with two doubles.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-5 with a home run, his second.

Pitching star:  Ray Corbin struck out four in four shutout innings of relief, giving up no hits and one walk.

Opposition stars:  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs.  Del Unser was 1-for-5 with a home run, his second.

The game:  Unser led off the game with a home run, putting the Senators up 1-0.  In the second, walks to Joe Foy and Jim French and a single by Cullen loaded the bases with none out.  A 1-2-3 double play kept Washington off the board momentarily, but Denny McLain hit a two-run triple to give the Senators a 3-0 lead.

The Twins came back in the fourth.  Cardenas led off the inning with a home run.  Oliva doubled, followed by a run-scoring single-plus-error by Harmon Killebrew.  Holt then tripled to tie the score and Brant Alyea hit a sacrifice fly to put the Twins up 4-3.

The Senators went back in front in the sixth.  French singled, Cullen tripled, and Toby Harrah hit a sacrifice fly to give them a 5-4 advantage.  The lead only lasted until the Twins came up to bat, because Holt hit a one-out triple and Alyea followed with his second sacrifice fly to tie it 5-5.

It stayed tied until the tenth.  The first two Twins batters went out.  Holt and Alyea then singled, putting men on first and third.  Rich Reese was intentionally walked to load the bases and bring up George Mitterwald.  Mitterwald came through with an RBI single and the Twins won 6-5.

WP:  Corbin (3-1).  LP:  McLain (3-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Killebrew was at third base in this game, with Reese at first.  Killer played both first and third in 1971, with Steve Braun usually playing third when Harmon was at first.

Alyea was in left in place of Cesar Tovar, who missed a few days, presumably with a minor injury or illness.  Tom Tischinski caught in place of Mitterwald.

Paul Ray Powell pinch-ran for Oliva in the eighth.  He stayed in the game in center field, with Holt moving to right.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Tischinski in the ninth, with Mitterwald entering the game to catch in the tenth.

Despite using three pitchers, the Twins did not pinch-hit for any of them.  Stan Williams batted twice (0-for-2) and Corbin batted twice (0-for-2).

There were four triples in this game.  While I'm sure that's nowhere near a record, it's still a lot of triples, especially when you think of the number of games that can go by where you don't even see one.  I imagine the record was set back in the dead ball era, and I'm sure it's a lot more than four, but four is still remarkable.

Holt hit two of the triples.  He had three for the season and ten in his career.  Cullen had four triples for the season and nine in his career.  This was one of two triples McLain had in his career.

Astonishingly, McLain pitched a complete game.  I know men were men back then, but it's not exactly like he was mowing them down.  He allowed six runs on thirteen hits and two walks.  His game score was forty-four.  They don't give pitch counts for games that old, but it had to be a lot.  It's not like their bullpen was terrible--they had Joe Grzenda (5-2, 1.92), Paul Lindblad (6-4, 2.58), Denny Riddleberger (3-1, 3.23), and Horacio Pina (1-1, 3.59).  After his two Cy Young seasons, 1968-1969, McLain fell off sharply and never had a good year again.  This was his last full season in the majors, and he went 10-22, 4.28, 1.41 WHIP.

1971 is somewhat analogous to 2011.  It's not a perfect analogy by any means, but in both cases you had a team that had been good for a while suddenly fall off a cliff.  The Twins had won the division in 1969 and 1970, and as is seen below, were nowhere close in 1971.

Record:  The Twins were 15-15, in fourth place in the American League West, five games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-86, in fifth place, 26.5 games behind Oakland.

The Senators were 13-16, in fifth place in the American League East, six games behind Boston.  They would finish 63-96, in fifth place, 38.5 games behind Baltimore.

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

2 Comments

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

1 Comment

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

1 Comment

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.