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Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2009, Game Sixty-two

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OAKLAND 4, MINNESOTA 3 IN OAKLAND

Date:  Thursday, June 11.

Batting stars:  Justin Morneau was 2-for-4.  Delmon Young was 2-for-4.  Joe Crede was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his tenth.

Pitching star:  Nick Blackburn pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on six hits and three walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Jack Hannahan was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Adam Kennedy was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer (his fifth), a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.  Trevor Cahill pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out two.  Brad Ziegler struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

The game:  The Twins started the second with two singles, but nothing came of it.  In the fourth Morneau singled with one out.  Jason Kubel walked and Crede followed with a three-run homer, putting the Twins ahead 3-0.

That's all the Twins did on offense, but for a while it looked like that would be enough.  Blackburn appeared to be in control, giving up just three hits through seven innings.  With one out in the eighth, however, Hannahan tripled, Orlando Cabrera had an RBI single, and Kennedy hit a two-run homer, tying the score at 3-3.

We went to the bottom of the ninth.  Sean Henn started the inning and walked Jason Giambi.  Matt Guerrier came in and hit Kennedy with a pitch, moving the deciding run to second.  A bunt moved the runners up and Rajai Davis singled, ending the game in Oakland's favor.

WP:  Ziegler (1-1).  LP:  Henn (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Brian Buscher was at first base, with Morneau at DH.  Kubel, who played the majority of games at DH, was in right field.  Michael Cuddyer, normally in right, was in center.  Carlos Gomez, normally in center, was given the day off.

Matt Tolbert was at second base in place of Alexi Casilla.  Casilla was in the process of losing the second base job, and would have lost it by now had the Twins had a decent alternative.  As his competition was Tolbert and Punto, he still managed to play the most games at the position, 72.

Brendan Harris was at shortstop.  He and Nick Punto shared the shortstop spot until the end of July, when the Twins traded for the above-mentioned Orlando Cabrera.

Gomez came in to run for Kubel in the eighth.  He then went to center, with Cuddyer moving to right.

Mauer, whose season didn't start until the first of May, was batting .410.  He would finish at .365.  Morneau was batting .340--he would finish at .274.  Kubel was batting .311--he would finish at .300.  Denard Span, who did not play in this game, batted .311.  He was essentially a regular, but is not listed as one because he did not play the most games at any one position.  He played 84 games in center, 74 in left, and 39 in right.

At the other end of the batting scale, Tolbert was batting .183.  For some reason, he led off in this game.  He would finish at .232.  Buscher was batting.195.  He would finish at .235.  The Twins were still third in batting in 2009 at .274.  Los Angeles led with .285.

Cuddyer led the team in home runs with 32.  Morneau was right behind at 30 and Mauer and Kubel were not far back at 28.  Crede contributed 15 and Young 12.  The Twins were ninth in home runs with 172.  New York led with 244.

Blackburn had a solid year for the Twins, going 11-11, 4.03.  He led the starters in ERA and was tied for the most starts with Scott Baker, who led the team in wins.  He went 15-9, 4.37.  From there it got kind of ugly.  Francisco Liriano 5-13, 5.80 and Glen Perkins was 6-7, 5.89.  Kevin Slowey went 10-3 despite a 4.86 ERA, and Carl Pavano was 5-4, 4.64 in 12 starts.  Anthony Swarzak also made 12 starts and went 3-7, 6.25.

The Twins did have a pretty solid bullpen.  Joe Nathan saved 47 games and had a 2.10 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP.  Guerrier, although he did not pitch well in this game, had an ERA of 2.36 and a WHIP of 0.97.  Jose Mijares appeared in 71 games, posting an ERA of 2.34 and a WHIP of 1.18.  Also contributing were Jon Rauch (1.72 ERA, 1.21 WHIP in 17 games) and Ron Mahay (2.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP in 16 games).

The starters, though, dragged the Twins down to eleventh in ERA at 4.50.  Seattle led with 3.87.  They were sixth in WHIP at 1.38.  Seattle led that, too, at 1.30.

There were several "oh, yeah" Twins in this game:  Tolbert, Harris, Crede, Buscher, Henn.  The main thing I remember about Crede is the Twins Territory ad that referred to him as "Home Run Greedy Crede".

Oakland players with a Twins connection are Cabrera and Kurt Suzuki.

Hannahan's triple was one of five he had in his career.

The Twins were in a stretch where they won four out of five.  This was their only loss.

Record:  The Twins were 30-32, in second place in the American League Central, four games behind Detroit.  They would finish 87-76, in first place, one game ahead of Detroit.

The Athletics were 27-32, in fourth (last) place in the American League West, seven games behind Texas.  They would finish 75-87, in fourth place, 22 games behind Los Angeles.

Random record:  The Twins are 40-40 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1990, Game Seventy-six

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MINNESOTA 4, BALTIMORE 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, July 1.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Al Newman was 2-for-3 with a stolen base (his sixth) and two walks.  Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his eleventh) and a walk.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Roy Smith pitched six innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out five.  Rick Aguilera struck out five in two shutout innings, giving up two walks.

Opposition stars:  Cal Ripken was 3-for-5 with a home run (his ninth) and two RBIs.  Steve Finley was 2-for-4 with a home run and a walk.  Joe Orsulak was 2-for-5.  Pete Harnisch pitched six innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and a walk and striking out five.

The game:  The Twins loaded the bases with two out in the third but did not score.  They put two on with two out in the fourth but did not score.  Instead, the Orioles started the scoring in the fifth when Finley hit a one-out home run.

The Twins answered back in the fifth.  This time they put two on with none out, as Gene Larkin and Puckett started the inning with singles.  Hrbek then hit a three-run homer to put the Twins up 3-1.  Ripken homered with one out in the sixth to cut the lead to 3-2.

It stayed 3-2 until the eighth.  Then Orsulak led off with a double and Ripken had an RBI single, and the game was tied 3-3.  The Twins put men on first and third with two out in the bottom of the eighth, but to no avail.

The Orioles could only manage a one-out walk to Mickey Tettleton in the top of the ninth.  In the bottom of the ninth, Puckett led off with a walk and Hrbek singled, putting men on first and second.  A force out put men on first and third, and Brian Harper delivered an RBI single, giving the Twins the victory.

WP:  Aguilera (2-1).  LP:  Gregg Olson (4-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  John Moses was in left in place of Dan Gladden.  Larkin was in right field.  Paul Sorrento was the DH.

The Twins really didn't have a regular right fielder.  Moses played the most games there with 52, but Shane Mack was right behind at 51.  Larkin played 47 games in right, Randy Bush 31, Carmelo Castillo 20, and Pedro Munoz 19.

The Twins also didn't really have a regular DH.  Larkin had the most games there with 43, with Castillo second at 35.  Bush was the DH for 27 games, Sorrento for 23, Jim Dwyer 22, Hrbek 20, Harper 11, and Moses 10.

Puckett was batting .308.  He would finish at 298.  Harper was batting .301.  He would finish at .294.  Among those who had at least 300 at-bats, Mack was the only .300 hitter, batting .326.  The Twins would bat .265 on the season, good for fourth place in the league.  Boston led at .272.

Hrbek led the team in home runs with 22.  Gary Gaetti hit 16 and Puckett 12.  The Twins hit just 100 home runs, tied for last with Kansas City.  Detroit led the league with 172.

Smith had a good enough game here, but he did not have a good season, going 5-10, 4.81, 1.55 WHIP.  My recollection of him is that he was a fairly big guy (6'3", 200 lbs.), but he did not throw hard at all.  He'd had a good year in 1989 (10-6, 3.92), but that was the only good year he ever had in the majors.

The Twins' rotation was not very good in 1990.  Allan Anderson led the team in starts with 31, but he went 7-18, 4.53.  Kevin Tapani made 28 starts, going 12-8, 4.07, 1.21 WHIP.  David West made 27 starts and went 7-9, 5.10, 1.50 WHIP.  Mark Guthrie battled injuries but did okay when healthy, going 7-9, 3.79, 1.33.  Scott Erickson made the jump from AA to the majors in late June and did okay, going 8-4, 2.87, 1.41 WHIP.

The Twins had three solid relievers in Rick Aguilera (5-3, 2.76), Terry Leach (2-5, 3.20) and Juan Berenguer (8-5, 3.41).  John Candelaria also did well out of the bullpen (7-3, 3.39), but he was traded to Toronto at the July deadline.

The Twins were eleventh in team ERA at 4.12; Oakland led with 3.18.  The Twins were eighth in WHIP at 1.39; Oakland led there, too, at 1.22.

The Twins really struggled to find a second baseman.  Newman got the most playing time there, 89 games, but he batted just .242 with a .582 OPS, and Tom Kelly preferred to use him as a utility man anyway.  They acquired Fred Manrique early in the season, but he batted just .237 and was released in August, having played 67 games at second.  Nelson Liriano was acquired in the Candelaria trade and played 50 games at second, batting .254.  The next year, Chuck Knoblauch would take over at second.

This was the "worst" part of the worst-to-first connection for the Twins.  Kelly never liked that phrase.  He said something to the effect of "we finished last, but we weren't the worst".  He had a point:  the Yankees actually had the worst record in the league at 67-95, and the Twins were only a game and a half behind Kansas City.  Plus, the Twins' record that year was among the best that a last-place team has ever had, as they lost fewer than 90 games.

This game snapped a four-game losing streak for the Twins.  They would go on to win four of the next five.

Record:  The Twins were 36-40, in fifth place in the American League West, 12 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 74-88, in seventh (last) place, 29 games behind Oakland.

The Orioles were 34-42, in fifth place in the American League East, 10.5 games behind Boston.  They would finish 76-85, in fifth place, 11.5 games behind Boston.

Random record:  The Twins are 40-39 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2005, Game Ninety-eight

DETROIT 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN DETROIT

Date:  Sunday, July 24.

Batting stars:  Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4.  Joe Mauer was 1-for-4 with a home run, his seventh.

Pitching star:  Matt Guerrier pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Jeremy Bonderman pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out six.  Magglio Ordonez was 3-for-4 with two doubles and a walk.  Chris Shelton was 3-for-5 with two doubles.  Curtis Granderson was 2-for-3 with a home run (his second), a triple, a walk, and two RBIs.  Ivan Rodriguez was 2-for-4.  Carlos Guillen was 2-for-5 with a home run, his third.

The game:  With two out in the first, Shelton singled and scored from first on Ordonez' double, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead.  The Twins tied it in the third when Michael Cuddyer tripled and scored on a Stewart single.

Detroit went back in the front in the fourth when Rodriguez singled and Granderson delivered a two-out RBI triple.  The Tigers extended their lead in the fifth.  Guillen led off the inning with a home run, Shelton followed with a double, and Ordonez had a run-scoring single, making the score 4-1.  Granderson homered leading off the sixth, increasing the lead to 5-1.

The Twins did very little offensively from the fourth through the seventh.  They put two men on with one out in the eighth, but a pair of strikeouts ended the threat.  Mauer led off the ninth with a home run.  Torii Hunter then singled and Jacque Jones walked, bringing the tying run to the plate.  But Matthew LeCroy hit into a double play and Justin Morneau grounded out, and the game was over.

WP:  Bonderman (13-6).  LP:  Kyle Lohse (7-9).  S:  Kyle Farnsworth (5).

Notes:  Bret Boone was at second base in one of the fourteen games he played for the Twins.  Luis Rivas started the season at second, but the Twins had lost patience with him by this point and he lost the job.  Nick Punto played the most games at second, with 73.  Rivas had 53, Luis Rodriguez 40, Brent Abernathy 17, Boone 14, and Michael Cuddyer 11.

Juan Castro was at shortstop.  He was the regular there for the first half of the season, but at this point he was just about to lose the job to Jason Bartlett.  Castro played a few more games at short, 73 to 68.  Punto played 34 games there and Rodriguez 10.  One of those ten is this game, as will be seen below.

Lew Ford pinch-hit for Castro in the eighth.  Rodriguez then entered the game at shorstop.

Mauer was batting .311.  He would finish at .294.  The Twins did not have a .300 hitter unless you count players with fewer than 150 at-bats.  The Twins batted .259, which was next-to-last in the league.  Boston led at .281.

Jones led in home runs with 23, with Morneau right behind at 22.  LeCory hit 17, Hunter 14, Cuddyer 12, and Stewart 10.  The Twins were 12th in the league in home runs with 134.  Texas led with 260.

Lohse pitched 5.2 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on eleven hits and three walks.  He struck out two.  Johan Santana was clearly the staff ace, going 16-7, 2.87, 0.97 WHIP.  Along with Brad Radke (9-12, 4.04, 1.18) and Carlos Silva (9-8, 3.34, 1.17), the Twins had three pretty good starters.  Lohse wasn't awful as a fourth, going 9-13, 4.18, 1.43.  Joe Mays was the fifth starter pretty much all season even though he was awful, going 6-10, 5.65, 1.56 WHIP.  There were only three other pitchers who started games for the Twins, Scott Baker with nine, Francisco Liriano with four, and Dave Gassner with two.  The Twins were fifth in the league in ERA at 3.71; Cleveland led at 3.61.  They were second in WHIP at 1.23; Cleveland led at 1.22.

The Twins had a very good bullpen, with three relievers with ERAs under three, Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain, and Juan Rincon.  Two more were under four, Guerrier and J. C. Romero.  I know ERA isn't all that in evaluating relivers, but still, that's pretty good.

Chris Shelton had a couple of pretty good years as a part-time first baseman, batting .299/.360/.510 in 388 at-bats in 2005 and .273/.340/.466 in 373 at-bats in 2006.  Despite that, the Tigers chose to go with Sean Casey (.296/.353/.393) at first base in 2007.  Shelton spent the entire 2007 season in Toledo and never did get another real chance in the majors.

This game started a stretch in which the Twins would lose eight of nine.

Record:  The Twins were 53-45, in second place in the American League Central, 11.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 83-79, in third place, 16 games behind Chicago.

The Tigers were 49-49, in fourth place in the American League Central, 15.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 71-91, in fourth place, 28 games behind Chicago.

Rewind Record:  The Twins are 39-39 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2010, Game Seventy-six

DETROIT 7, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, June 28.

Batting stars:  Jim Thome was 2-for-3 with a home run (his seventh), a triple, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Justin Morneau was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Delmon Young was 2-for-4.  Orlando Hudson was 2-for-5 with a double.

Pitching star:  Jesse Crain struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

Opposition stars:  Ramon Santiago was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Miguel Cabrera was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and two RBIs.  Austin Jackson was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and three runs.  Danny Worth was 2-for-4.  Gerald Laird was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.

The game:  The Tigers jumped out early, scoring four runs in the first before a man was retired and never trailing after that.  Jackson was hit by a pitch.  Singles by Santiago and Ryan Raburn loaded the bases, and Cabrera and Brandon Boesch each hit a two-run double, giving Detroit a 4-0 lead.

The Twins got one back in the bottom of the first when Denard Span was hit by a pitch, went to third on Hudson's double, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  One was all they got, though, and the Tigers moved their lead back to four in the second when Jackson singled, stole second, went to third on Santiago's single, and scored on a ground out.

The Twins started getting back into it in the fourth.  Michael Cuddyer led off with a single, Thome tripled, and Young singled, cutting the lead to 5-3.  In the sixth Thome homered, narrowing the margin to 5-4.

In the seventh Jackson singled, was bunted to second and scored on a Raburn single.  The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the seventh when Hudson singled, went to second on a pickoff error, and scored on Jason Kubel's single, bringing the margin again down to one at 6-5.

But that was as good as it got for the Twins.  Laird homered in the eighth to make it 7-5.  The Twins went down in order in both the eighth and the ninth and went down to defeat.

WP:  Jeremy Bonderman (4-5).  LP:  Francisco Liriano (6-6).  S:  Jose Valverde (18).

Notes:  Justin Morneau was at first base.  As you probably recall, he was having an awesome year until he was injured in early July, bringing his season to a premature end and affecting his entire career.  Cuddyer actually played the most games at first base that season, 84 to 77.

Nick Punto was at shortstop in place of J. J. Hardy, who was out due to injury.  Cuddyer was at third base in place of Danny Valencia, who was out for a few games.

The Twins did not make any position player substitutions.

Morneau was batting .350.  He would end the season at .345.  Mauer was batting .300.  He would finish at .327.  Valencia batted .311.  The Twins were third in batting at .273.  Texas led the league at .276.

Thome led the team with 25 home runs.  Kubel and Young were tied for second with 21.  Others in double figures were Morneau (18) and Cuddyer (14).  The Twins were ninth in home runs with 142.  Toronto led the league with 257, which was 46 more than the second place team (Boston).

Liriano pitched six innings and allowed six runs on nine hits and two walks.  He struck out six.  He had a fine year in 2010, even if you couldn't tell it from this game:  14-10, 3.62, 1.26 WHIP.  He and Carl Pavano (17-11, 3.75) were clearly a step above the others in the rotation:  Scott Baker (12-9, 4.49), Kevin Slowey (13-6, 4.45), and Nick Blackburn (10-12, 5.42).  Brian Duensing joined the rotation in late July and did very well--as a starter he was 7-2, 3.05.  The Twins were fifth in the league in ERA at 3.95--Oakland led at 3.56.  They were fourth in WHIP at 1.29--Tampa Bay led there, at 1.26.

Detroit used two pitchers with connections to the Twins, Brad Thomas and Joel Zumaya.  Thomas was in his second act in MLB.  He had last pitched in the majors with the Twins in 2004.  He then went to Japan and to Korea before making it back to the big leagues with Detroit in 2010.  He made the most of the opportunity, going 6-2, 3.89 in 49 apperaances (69.1) innings.  It was the only good year he would have.  He kept pitching, though, going to his native Australia and to Taiwan before ending his playing career in 2014.  He has going back to Australia and appears to have a number of successful business interests there, some related to baseball and some not.

This was the middle of a three-game losing streak for the Twins.  They were in a stretch where they would win just two of eight.  This game was a battle for first place in the division at the time, as you'll see below.

Record:  The Twins were 41-35, in second place in the American League Central, a half game behind Detroit.  They would finish 94-68, in first place, six games ahead of Chicago.

The Tigers were 41-34, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Minnesota.  They would finish 81-81, in third place, 13 games behind Minnesota.

Rewind Record:  The Twins are 39-38 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2014, Game Twenty-eight

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MINNESOTA 6, BALTIMORE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 3.

Batting stars:  Joe Mauer was 3-for-4 with a home run (his second), two runs, and four RBIs.  Brian Dozier was 3-for-4 with a home run (his eighth) and three runs.  Kurt Suzuki was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Correia pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out three.  Casey Fien pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.  Jared Burton pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  J. J. Hardy was 2-for-4 with a double.  Nick Markakis was 2-for-4 with a double.  Wei-Yin Chen pitched five innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out five.

The game:  In the first inning Mauer hit a one-out single and scored from first on Trevor Plouffe's double.  The Orioles tied it in the second when Adam Jones reached on a strikeout-plus-wild pitch, stole second and scored on a Hardy single.  Dozier led off the third with a home run, putting the Twins back up 2-1.

The Twins got an insurance run in the fifth when Dozier got to second on a single-plus-error and scored on a Mauer single.  They put it away in the seventh.  Pedro Florimon and Dozier led off with singles and Mauer hit a three-run homer, giving the Twins a 6-1 lead.  Baltimore did not threaten to get back into the game.

WP:  Correia (1-3).  LP:  Chen (3-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Florimon began the season as the starting shortstop, but when he predictably didn't hit he was replaced by Eduardo Escobar.  Jason Kubel was in left in place of Josh Willingham, who was injured.  Sam Fuld was in center field.  Aaron Hicks, who started the year as the regular in center, was apparently out with a minor injury.  Danny Santana would eventually take over in center field.  Chris Colabello was in right field, as Oswaldo Arcia was out due to injury.

Josmil Pinto was the DH.  The Twins didn't have a regular DH in 2014.  Kennys Vargas played the most games there with just 40.  Kendrys Morales had 26, PInto 21, Mauer 19, Colabello 13, and Willingham 13.  Fourteen others were at DH at least once, including such sluggers as Florimon and Doug Bernier.  In fairness, I suspect players like that were used as pinch-runners and so technically became the DH.

The only substitution the Twins made was that Chris Herrmann pinch-ran for Colabello in the seventh and stayed in the game in right field.

The Twins had no one batting over .300 at this stage of the season.  The only one who would end up over .300 is Santana, who batted .319.  They did have two batters below .200--Pinto (.198) and Florimon (.121).  The Twins would finish seventh in batting at .253.  Detroit led the league at .277.

Dozier led the team in home runs with 23.  Arcia was not far behind with 20.  The only others in double figures were Plouffe (14) and Willingham (12).  The Twins were eleventh in home runs with 128.  Baltimore led the league with 211.

Correia was not good for the Twins, but unfortunately did not particularly stand out.  Phil Hughes was easily the best starter at 16-10, 3.42.  Kyle Gibson was adequate at 13-12, 4.47.  After that it was Ricky Nolasco (6-12, 5.38) and Correia (5-13, 4.94).  They never really did settle on a fifth starter, with Yohan Pino making the most starts out of that slot with 11.  He was 2-5, 5.07.  Others who made at least five starts were Trevor May, Samuel Deduno (and his magical zoomball), Mike Pelfrey, and Tommy Milone.  The Twins were dead last in ERA at 4.57--Seattle led at 3.17.  They were twelfth in WHIP at 1.39--Oakland led at 1.15.

This team had a lot of "oh yeah" Twins, as in "oh yeah, I remember that we had that guy".  Some of them will eventually be forgotten Twins, but not enough time has passed.  I would put Correia, Florimon, Fien, Fuld, Morales, Pino, and Milone all in that category, and maybe a few others.

Players with Twins connections who played for Baltimore in this game were Nelson Cruz, J. J. Hardy, Steve Pearce, and Jonathan Schoop.

This win broke a four-game losing streak and started a three-game winning streak.

Record:  The Twins were 13-15, in third place in the American League Central, 4.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 72-90, in fifth (last) place, 20 games behind Detroit.

The Orioles were 15-13, in second place in the American League East, a half game behind New York.  They would finish 96-66, in first place, 12 games ahead of New York.  It hardly seems possible that Baltimore was that good that recently, but there you go.

Random record:  The Twins are 39-37 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1993, Game One Hundred Thirty-eight

CLEVELAND 15, MINNESOTA 8 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, September 8.

Batting stars:  Shane Mack was 3-for-5.  Pat Meares was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.  Dave Winfield was 2-for-4.  David McCarty was 2-for-5.  Pedro Munoz was 1-for-2 with a home run, his tenth.

Pitching stars:  Mike Hartley pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two walks.  Rick Aguilera struck out two in a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Kenny Lofton was 4-for-4 with a walk, two stolen bases (his fifty-ninth and sixtieth), and two runs.  Felix Fermin was 3-for-4 with a triple, a double, and six RBIs.  Wayne Kirby was 3-for-5 with two runs.  Candy Maldonado was 1-for-1 with a three-run homer, his fifth.  Sandy Alomar was 1-for-5 with a home run, his sixth.

The game:  Mack led off with a single, went to third on Chuck Knoblauch's single, and scored on a ground out to put the Twins up 1-0.  The Twins loaded the bases later in the inning, but did not score.

From there, it got ugly in a hurry.  In the bottom of the first, Lofton singled, stole second, and scored on a bunt single-plus-error.  A single and a walk loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly put the Indians ahead, a walk reloaded the bases, and Fermin hit a three-run double to give Cleveland a 5-1 lead after one inning.

The Twins got one back in the second when Pat Meares singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a pickoff error-plus-error.  The Indians countered with two in their half of the inning.  Alomar led off with a home run.  Lofton singled, stole second, and scored on a pair of fly balls, making the score 7-2 Cleveland.  In the third a single and a walk put men on first and second with one out.  Fermin, Lofton, and Kirby then hit RBI singles to give the Indians a 10-2 lead.  It went to 12-2 in the fourth on two hit batsmen and Fermin's two-run triple.  In the sixth, a pair of two-out singles were followed by Maldonado's three-run homer to make it 15-2.

The Twins had a big eighth inning to make the final score look better.  Munoz led off with a home run.  Winfield singled and Lenny Webster walked.  McCarty had an RBI single.  Terry Jorgensen walked to load the bases.  Meares had a two-run single, Mack singled to load the bases again, and Chip Hale hit a two-run single to cut the lead to 15-8.  There were still none out in the inning, but Eric Plunk then came in to retire the next three batters.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Jose Mesa (10-10).  LP:  Greg Brummett (3-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Jorgensen was at third base.  Mike Pagliarulo was the regular third baseman, but he was traded to Baltimore in mid-August.

Mack was in center, with Kirby Puckett at DH.  Winfield, who was the regular DH, was in right.  McCarty was in left, with Munoz starting the game on the bench.

in a blowout game, the Twins made a number of substitutions.  Hale went to second base in the fifth, replacing Knoblauch.  Munoz came in to play left in the fifth, with McCarty going to first base and Kent Hrbek coming out of the game.  Bernardo Brito pinch-hit for Puckett in the seventh.  Webster came in to catch in the eighth in place of Brian Harper.  Jeff Reboulet pinch-hit for Brito in the eighth.

Harper was batting .311.  He would finish at .304 and was regular the only Twin to bat over .300.  Hale was batting .308 and would finish at .333 in 186 at-bats.  Puckett would finish at .300 and would finish at .296.  The Twins were ninth in batting at .264.  New York led the league at .279.

Hrbek led the team in home runs with 25.  Puckett was not far behind at 22.  Winfield contributed 21.  Others in double digits were Munoz (13), Harper (12), and Mack (10).  The Twins were twelfth in the league in home runs with 121.  Texas led with 181.

This was only the second start Brummett made for the Twins, and was easily the worst.  He lasted just two innings and allowed seven runs on six hits and two walks.  He struck out one.  His record is listed as 3-4 because he had pitched for the Giants earlier in the sesaon.  He was the player to be named later in the trade that sent Jim Deshaies to the Giants.

The Twins rotation was not uniformly awful, but it wasn't very good, either.  Kevin Tapani made the most starts but went 12-15, 4.43.  Scott Erickson was awful, going 8-19, 5.19.  Willie Banks was actually the most effective starter, going 11-12, 4.04.  Deshaies, before being traded, was 11-13, 4.41, Eddie Guardado was 3-8, 6.18 in his rookie season, and Mike Trombley was 6-6, 4.88 (although as a starter he was 3-5, 5.86).  The Twins were next-to-last in ERA at 4.71 and twelfth in WHIP at 1.46.  Chicago led in ERA at 3.70 and Boston led in WHIP at 1.33.

Record:  The Twins were 59-79, in sixth place in the American League West, 19.5 games behind Chicago.  They would finish 71-91, tied for fifth with California, 23 games behind Chicago.

The Indians were 66-73, in sixth place in the American League East, 11.5 games behind Toronto.  They would finish 76-86, in sixth place, 19 games behind Toronto.

Random record:  The Twins are 38-37 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1995, Game Sixteen

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OAKLAND 13, MINNESOTA 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, May 13.

Batting stars:  Marty Cordova was 3-for-5 with a two-run homer (his third), a double, and a stolen base (his second).  Chuck Knoblauch was 3-for-5 with a double.  Scott Leius was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Jerald Clark was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.

Pitching star:  Mo Sanford pitched 3.1 innings, giving up one run on three hits and three walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Stan Javier was 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs.  Mark McGwire was 2-for-4 with a home run (his sixth), two walks, three runs, and three RBIs.  Terry Steinbach was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs.  Rickey Henderson was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second) and a walk.  Geronimo Berroa was 2-for-5 with a walk and three runs.  Ruben Sierra was 2-for-6 with a two-run homer (his third) and two runs.  Jim Corsi pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Mark Acre pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and three walks and striking out one.

The game:  McGwire walked leading off the second and Sierra followed with a two-run homer, giving the Athletics a 2-0 lead.  Henderson led off the third with a home run to make it 3-0.  Later in the third Berroa walked, Sierra singled, and Steinbach hit a two-out two-run double to make the score 5-0 Oakland.

The Twins got back into the game in the bottom of the third.  Knoblauch led off with a double and scored on an Alex Cole triple.  Kirby Puckett followed with an RBI single.  Clark singled, Scott Stahoviak drew a one-out walk to load the bases, and Leius walked to force in a run, making the score 5-3.  The Twins still had the bases loaded with just one out, but Matt Walbeck struck out and Pat Meares flied to left to end the inning.

Javier led off the fourth with a home run to increase the Athletics' lead to 6-3.  Oakland then loaded the bases, but could do no more damage.  The score stayed 6-3 through six.

In the seventh Steinbach doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Javier's single to make it 7-3.  The Twins stayed in it in the bottom of the seventh, though, as Clark hit a one-out double and Cordova followed with a two-run homer to reduce the margin to 7-5.

That was as good as it got, though.  Brent Gates opened the eighth with a walk.  Singles by Berroa and McGwire followed, bringing home a run.  A sacrifice fly scored another, and an RBI double by Scott Brosius made the score 10-5.  The Athletics added three more in the ninth.  Henderson singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Berroa's single.  McGwire then hit a two-run homer, bringing the final score to 13-5.

WP:  Acre (1-0).  LP:  Pat Mahomes (0-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Cole was in center.  He was the more-or-less regular centerfielder at the start of the season, but was apparently injured at the end of May.  Rich Becker would take over the centerfield job.

Clark was in right.  Kirby Puckett, the regular right fielder was moved to DH.  Pedro Munoz made the most starts at DH with 77.  Puckett was there for 28 games, Chip Hale 27, Matt Merullo 13, and Kevin Maas 12.

Cole may actually have hurt himself in this game.  He came out after grounding out to shortstop in the sixth.  David McCarty replaced him and went to right field, with Clark moving to left and Cordova to center.  There's no apparent reason to do that other than injury or illness.

Hale pinch-hit for Clark in the ninth.

The Twins' leading batter in the young season was Clark at .387.  He would finish at .339 but would play only 36 games due to injuries.  Stahoviak was batting .350--he would finish at .266.  Cole was batting .327--he would finish at 342 but would play only 28 games due to injuries.  The Twins' leading batter would be Knoblauch at .333.  Puckett batted .314 and Munoz batted .301.  The Twins were fourth in batting average at .279.  Cleveland led at .291.

Cordova led the team with 24 homers.  This was the season he won Rookie of the Year, batting .277/.352/.486 to narrowly beat out Garret Anderson.  Anderson had a higher batting average, a higher slugging percentage, and tied Cordova in OBP, but did play 31 fewer games.  Puckett was second on the team with 23 homers, Munoz hit 18, Meares 12, and Knoblauch 11.  The Twins were next-to-last in home runs with 120, beating out Kansas City by one.  Cleveland led with 207.

Mahomes started but lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks and striking out two.  The Twins' rotation left a lot to be desired, to put it mildly.  The only starter with an ERA under five was Kevin Tapani, and he was just barely under at 6-11, 4.92.  Brad Radke made the most starts, 28, but went 11-14, 5.32 in his rookie season.  Mike Trombley was 4-8, 5.62; Frankie Rodriguez was 5-6, 5.38; Scott Erickson was 4-6, 5.95 before being traded to Baltimore in July.  Jose Parra was 1-5, 7.95.  The Twins were, of course, terrible in 1995, but looking at that rotation, it's surprising they weren't even worse.

What a group of forgettable (and sometimes forgotten) Twins were in this game.  Kevin Campbell.  Jerald Clark.  Alex Cole.  Chip Hale.  Vince Horsman.  Mo Sanford.  Scott Stahoviak.  Other Twins that played in 1995 include Steve Dunn, Riccardo Ingram, Kevin Maas, Dan Masteller, Matt Merullo, Oscar Munoz, Brian Raabe, Erik Schullstrom, Dave Stevens, and Scott Watkins.  Good grief.

1995 featured a strike at the beginning of the season, which is why the Twins' sixteenth game was played on May 13.

This was the sixth game of a stretch in which the Twins lost six of seven.

Record:  The Twins were 5-11, in fifth (last) place in the American League Central, 5.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 56-88, in fifth place, 44 games behind Cleveland.  Their winning percentage figures out to a record of 63-99 over 162 games.

The Athletics were 8-9, in third place in the American League West, two games behind Seattle.  They would finish 67-77, in fourth (last) place, 11.5 games behind Seattle.

Random record:  The Twins are 38-36 in Random Rewind games.

 

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1973, Game One Hundred Twenty-eight

MILWAUKEE 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

DateL  Sunday, August 26.

Batting star:  Jim Holt was 2-for-4 with a double.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven struck out eleven in 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and no walks.  Bill Hands retired all four men he faced, striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Jim Slaton pitched 8.2 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and a walk and striking out none.  Bob Coluccio was 2-for-4 with a double and a stolen base, his tenth.  Pedro Garcia was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer, his eleventh.

The game:  The Brewers put men on second and third with none out in the first, but Blyleven came back to strike out Johnny Briggs and George Scott before retiring Don Money on a liner to left.  In the second, however, Tim Johnson hit a two-out single and Garcia followed with a two-run homer, putting Milwaukee ahead 2-0.

Holt had a leadoff double in the third but did nothing came of it.  That was the only time either team got a man past first base until the sixth, when Coluccio doubled and Money delivered a two-out single to make it 3-0.

Brewers starter Slaton appeared to be in complete control.  In the ninth, however, Larry Hisle led off with a triple and Tony Oliva singled him home, making the score 3-1 and bringing the tying run up to bat.  Mike Adams came in to run for Oliva and got as far as second with two out.  Chris Short came in to face Steve Braun, but when Bobby Darwin pinch-hit he was intentionally walked.  That was the only man Short would face, as Carlos Velazquez came in to face pinch-hitter Eric Soderholm.  Soderholm delivered an RBI single, cutting the margin to 3-2 and putting the tying run on third.  Jerry Terrell fouled out to third, however, and the game was over.

WP:  Slaton (9-11).  LP:  Blyleven (15-14).  S:  Velazquez (2).

Notes:  Phil Roof caught in place of George Mitterwald, presumably because it was a day game after a night game.

Rich Reese was at first base, one of only four games he started for the Twins.  He was at the end of his career, having been released by Detroit a couple of weeks earlier, and was apparently brought back to the Twins out of sentiment.  Harmon Killebrew was still the primary first baseman, but he missed a couple of months due to injury.  Joe Lis played the most games at first in 1973, with 96.

Terrell shared the shortstop position with Danny Thompson.  Both were pretty much dead weight offensively.  Terrell was a little better, at .265/.297/.315.  Thompson batted .225/.259/.282.  Thompson played more games at short, 95 to 81.

Darwin was the regular right fielder, but was given the day off.  Holt, who played the most games in left (80), was in right, with Hisle in left.  Hisle also played quite a bit of center field, but Steve Brye played the most games there and was there in this game.

All the substitutions came in the ninth inning and are mentioned above.

Carew, not surprisingly, was leading the team in batting at .347.  He would finish at .350 and be the team's only .300 hitter.  The Twins would actually lead the league in batting at .270.  Carew was obviously a big part of that, but Holt batted .297, Oliva .291, and Braun .283.  Soderholm also batting .297 in 111 at-bats.

Darwin led the team in home runs with 18.  Mitterwald and Oliva each had 16, Hisle 15, and Holt 11.  The Twins were seventh in home runs with 120.

Blyleven, of course, was the ace of the pitching staff, going 20-17, 2.52.  Dick Woodson was 10-8, 3.95; Jim Kaat was 11-12, 4.41; Joe Decker was 10-10, 4.18.  Others to make double digit starts were Hands (7-10, 3.49) and Dave Goltz (6-4, 5.25).  Hands' record is deceiving.  In his fifteen starts he went 5-7, 4.55.  Moved to the bullpen, he was excellent, going 2-3, 1.34, 1.09 WHIP, and two saves in 47 relief innings.

The Twins didn't really have a closer.  Ken Sanders started the year as the closest thing to one, but he often was used for two or three innings.  He had eight saves, but also had an ERA of over six when he was waived in early August.  Ray Corbin took over the closer role and actually was fairly good, getting 14 saves.  The Twins preferred to have him in a longer role, so Bill Campbell was eventually made the closer near the season's end.

This was Bob Coluccio's rookie year.  He was a regular for Milwaukee for two seasons but couldn't get his batting average out of the .220s.  Presumably he was considered a fine fielder.

This was also Pedro Garcia's rookie year.  He batted .245/.296/.395, which was good enough to place him second in Rookie of the Year voting behind Al Bumbry.  That was as good as it would get for him, though.  He slumped to .199 the next year and was never a regular again.  His was a second baseman, and presumably was not all that good in the field, because while he spent a few seasons as a reserve he was never used at another position.

This was the end of a stretch in which the Twins lost eight out of nine.  They would win seven of the next nine.

Record:  The Twins were 60-68, in third place in the American League West, 16.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 81-81, in third place, 13 games behind Oakland.

The Brewers were 62-65, in fifth place in the American League East, 12.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 74-88, in fifth place, 23 games behind Baltimore.

Random record:  The Twins are 38-35 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1978, Game Thirty-eight

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KANSAS CITY 6, MINNESOTA 3 IN KANSAS CITY

Date:  Saturday, May 20.

Batting stars:  Rod Carew was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his fourth.  Roy Smalley was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Willie Norwood was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his twelfth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Freddie Patek was 4-for-4 with two stolen bases, his eighth and ninth.  Hal McRae was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Amos Otis was 2-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base, his eighth.  George Brett was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.  Clint Hurdle was 2-for-4 with a double.  Rich Gale pitched 7.1 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out one.

The game:  Dan Ford drew a two-out walk in the first and scored from first on a Mike Cubbage double, putting the Twins up 1-0.  That would be their only lead of the game.

The Royals loaded the bases in the second and did not score.  In the third, however, Willie Wilson led off with a single, stole second, and scored on McRae's single.  McRae went to second on the throw home and later scored on an Otis single, giving Kansas City a 2-1 lead.

The Twins got two singles and a walk in the fourth but failed to produce a run with them.  It stayed 2-1 until the sixth, when Hurdle doubled and scored on Patek's single to make it 3-1.  The Royals then took over in the seventh. McRae singled, George Brett doubled, and Al Cowens singled to make it 4-1.  Otis walked to load the bases and Hurdle singled to give Kansas City a 5-1 advantage.

The Twins tried to get back into it in the eighth.  Norwood singled and Carew hit a two-run homer, cutting the lead to 5-3.  But the Twins gave a run back in the bottom of the sixth when Patek singled, stole second, and scored on McRae's double.  In the ninth Jose Morales walked and Smalley doubled, bringing the tying run to the plate with none out.  It came to nothing, however, as the next two batters fanned and a popup to the pitcher ended the game.

WP:  Gale (4-0).  LP:  Paul Thormodsgard (1-6).  S:  Al Hrabosky (5).

Notes:  Rob Wilfong was at second base.  He platooned with Bobby Randall, kind of, but the right-handed Randall still got more playing time.  One assumes Randall was considered the better defender, because there's not a lot to choose from offensively.

The Twins made liberal use of their bench, although it doesn't seem to have helped much.  Rich Chiles pinch-hit for Wilfong in the eighth, with Randall coming in to play second.  Larry Wolfe pinch-hit for Cubbage in the eighth and stayed in the game at third.  Morales pinch-hit for Glenn Adams in the ninth.  Bombo Rivera pinch-hit for Hosken Powell in the ninth.  Craig Kusick pinch-hit for Randall in the ninth.

Carew was batting .397.  He would falter, finishing the season at .333.  Rivera was batting .341.  He would finish at .271.  Morales was batting .333.  He would finish at .314.  Cubbage was batting .321.  He would finish at .282.  The Twins finished fifth in batting at .267.

Smalley led the team in home runs with 19.  The only other Twin in double figures was Dan Ford at 11.  The Twins cleanup hitter in this game was Cubbage, who finished the season with 7 homers and a slugging average of .401.  The Twins were dead last in home runs with 82, fifteen behind the next-to-last team.

Thormodsgard started and pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and a walk and striking out one.  The Twins' rotation wasn't bad:  Roger Erickson (14-13, 3.96), Geoff Zahn (14-14, 3.03), Dave Goltz (15-10, 2.49), and Gary Serum (9-9, 4.10).  Thor was the odd man out at (1-6, 5.05), but he would be replaced by Darrell Jackson (4-6, 4.48).

It was kind of fun hearing the names of those great Royals players of the seventies.

Clint Hurdle is regarded as a first-round bust, and I guess he was, but it was because of injuries, not a lack of ability.  In 1980, his age twenty-two season, he batted .294/.349/.458.  He then suffered a back injury and was never again the same player.  He was never able to play more than 78 games in a season and never had more than 184 plate appearances.  Had it not been for the back injury, he could have had a tremendous career.

This was the fifth game of a stretch in which the Twins won seven of eight.  Random.org gave us their only loss in that stretch.

Record:  The Twins were 14-24, in fifth place in the American League West, 9.5 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 73-89, in fourth place, 19 games behind Kansas City.

The Royals were 19-16, in third place in the American League West, 3 games behind Oakland.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, 5 games ahead of California and Texas.

Random record:  The Twins are 38-34 in Random Rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2019, Game Forty-four

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MINNESOTA 7, SEATTLE 1 IN SEATTLE

Date:  Friday, May 17.

Batting stars:  Ehire Adrianza was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third), two runs and two RBIs.  Max Kepler was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.  Marwin Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with two runs.

Pitching stars:  Martin Perez struck out seven in 6.2 innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks.  Matt Magill struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a walk.  Mike Morin pitched a scoreless inning.

Opposition stars:  Austin Adams retired all six men he faced, striking out four.  Edwin Encarnacion was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Dee Gordon was 2-for-4 with a stolen base, his twelfth.  Mitch Haniger was 0-for-1 with three walks.

The game:  The Mariners put men on second and third with one out in the first, but a pair of strikeouts ended the inning.  The Twins started the scoring in the third on Adrianza's solo home run.  In the fourth, the Twins opened the inning with consecutive singles by Gonzalez, C. J. Cron, Willians Astudillo, and Kepler, making the score 2-0.  They added one more on Adrianza's sacrifice fly to take a 3-0 lead.

The Twins built their lead some more in the fifth.  Jorge Polanco and Gonzalez singled and Cron walked, loading the bases with one out.  Astudillo hit a sacrifice fly, and an error moved everyone up a base.  Kepler then delivered a two-run single, making it 6-0 Twins.

Seattle got their lone run in the bottom of the fifth.  With two out Gordon singled, Haniger walked, and Encarnacion had an RBI single.  They had only one hit after that, a two-out double by J. P. Crawford in the sixth.  The Twins added a run in the ninth when Adrianza singled and scored from first on a two-out double by Jonathan Schoop.

WP:  Perez (6-1).  LP:  Marco Gonzales (5-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  Astudillo was the catcher in this game, one of 21 games he caught.  Mitch Garver and Jason Castro split the catching duties almost evenly, with Garver catching 82 games and Castro 78.

Adrianza was at third base.  Miguel Sano, who would become the third baseman, was just getting back from injury.  This was his second game of the season, and he was the DH.  Nelson Cruz, the regular DH, missed a few weeks due to injury.

Gonzalez was in left field in place of Eddie Rosario, who was apparently just given the day off.

The Twins did not make any position player substitutions.

Polanco was leading the team in batting at .331.  He would finish at .295.  Luis Arraez, who had not been brought up yet, would lead the team in batting at .334.  Cruz would be the only other .300 hitter, at .311.  The Twins were second in the league in batting at .270.

Cruz would lead the team in home runs with 41.  The Twins would have eleven batters who hit double-digit home runs:  Kepler (36), Sano (34), Rosario (32), Garver (31), Cron (25), Schoop (23), Polanco (22), Gonzalez (15), Castro (13), and Byron Buxton (10).  As you know, the Twins would set a new record for home runs in a season with 307.

Perez was 6-1, 2.89 at this point of the season.  Unfortunately, he couldn't sustain that, and ended up at 10-7, 5.12.  The Twins had three solid starters:  Jose Berrios (14-8, 3.68), Jake Odorizzi (15-7, 3.51), and Michael Pineda (15-11, 4.01).  They struggled after that, though, with Perez and Kyle Gibson (13-7, 4.84).  When Pineda was suspended they really struggled, which led to Randy Dobnak making a start in the playoffs.

The Twins used 31 pitchers in 2019.  So they won't be forgotten, let's tip our cap to Andrew Vasquez, Chase DeJong, Jorge Alcala, and Austin Adams, each of whom pitched one or two games for the Twins last season.

This was the fourth game of a five-game winning streak for the Twins.  After a loss they would win six more in a row, meaning they won eleven of twelve.

Record:  The Twins were 29-15, in first place in the American League Central, 5.5 games ahead of Cleveland.  They would finish 101-61, in first place, 8 games ahead of Cleveland.

The Mariners were 22-25, in fourth place in the American League West, nine games behind Houston.  They would finish 68-94, in fifth (last) place, 39 games behind Houston.

Rewind Record:  The Twins are 38-33 in Random Rewind games.