Tag Archives: random rewind

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1976, Game One Hundred Forty-one

MINNESOTA 3, TEXAS 1 IN TEXAS (7 INNINGS)

Date:  Wednesday, September 8.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1972, Game Eleven

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

Date:  Sunday, April 30.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1999, Game Twenty

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MINNESOTA 6, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 26.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Twins victory snapped a five-game losing streak.

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1971, Game Sixty-five

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MINNESOTA 4, CHICAGO 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 18.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1985, Game One Hundred Fifty-three

TEXAS 2, MINNESOTA 0 IN TEXAS

Date:  Thursday, September 26.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1968, Game One Hundred Forty-three

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MINNESOTA 2, DETROIT 1 IN DETROIT

Date:  Saturday, September 7.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rewind record:  The Twins are 29-26 in rewind games.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2007, Game Fifty-one

MINNESOTA 9, CHICAGO 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, May 29.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1996, Game One Hundred Forty-four

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OAKLAND 7, MINNESOTA 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, September 10.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2011, Game Thirty-two

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BOSTON 9, MINNESOTA 5 IN BOSTON

Date:  Sunday, May 8.

Batting stars:  Jason Kubel was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Danny Valencia was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third), a stolen base (his second), and three RBIs.

Pitching stars:  Alex Burnett pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Joe Nathan struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Adrian Gonzalez was 3-for-5 with a home run (his fourth), two runs, and two RBIs.  Jacoby Ellsbury was 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his tenth).  Kevin Youkilis was 2-for-4 with a double and four runs.  David Ortiz was 2-for-4.

The game:  It started well.  Denard Span led off with a single and Trevor Plouffe walked.  With one out Kubel had an RBI single.  A ground out moved men to second and third, and Valencia delivered a two-run single to put the Twins up 3-0.

It wouldn't stay that way for long.  The Red Sox got on the board in the second when Youkilis led off with a double and scored on a pair of ground outs.  They took the lead in the third.  Carl Crawford led off with a triple and scored on a ground out, making it 3-2.  Ellsbury singled, Dustin Pedroia walked, and Gonzalez singled in a run to tie it.  An RBI ground out put Boston ahead, Ortiz singled, and J. D. Drew had a run-scoring single to give the Red Sox a 5-3 lead.

The Twins got a run back in the fourth when Valencia led off with a home run.  In the fifth, however, Gonzalez homered to make it 6-4, Youkilis and Ortiz singled, and another RBI ground out increased the Red Sox lead to 7-4.

Boston put the game away with two in the seventh.  Gonzalez singled, Youkilis reached on an error, and Jed Lowrie hit a two-run double.  The Twins scored one more in the eighth when Plouffe doubled and scored on a Kubel single, but the Twins did not threaten to get back into the game.

WP:  Daisuke Matsuzaka (3-3).  LP:  Carl Pavano (2-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  Joe Mauer was injured much of the season, so Drew Butera was the regular catcher.

The Twins used a variety of players at shortstop, none of whom really got the job done.  Tsuyoshi Nishioka played the most games there (66), as he held the job for most of the second half of the season.  Plouffe, who was the shortstop in this game, played 45 games there.  Others to see time there were Alexi Casilla (36 games) and Matt Tolbert (31).

Span was the centerfielder when healthy, but he also missed a lot of the season due to injury, so Ben Revere played the most games there.  In this game Span was in center, with Revere in left.  Delmon Young played the most games in left.  Michael Cuddyer was in right.

Kubel was the DH.  Jim Thome played the most games at DH with 59--Kubel was second at 37.  The Twins used a total of 18 different players at DH for at least one game.

Tolbert came in to play shortstop in place of Plouffe in the ninth.  Rene Tosoni pinch-hit for Butera in the ninth.

Kubel was batting .351.  He would finish at .273.  Plouffe was batting .300--he would finish at .238.  Among players with a significant number of at-bats, Mauer led the team at .287.  Cuddyer led the team in home runs with twenty.

Pavano started and pitched five innings.  He allowed seven runs on ten hits and a walk and struck out none.  Pavano was very up-and-down in 2011, and this was obviously one of his down stretches.  His ERA at this point of the season was 6.44, but it would end up at 4.30.

This was the second of a nine-game losing streak for the Twins.  They would go 8-19 in May.

Record:  The Twins were 12-20, in fourth place in the American League Central, 9.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 63-99, fifth (last) in the American League Central, 32 games behind Detroit.

The Red Sox were 16-18, in third place in the American League East, four games behind New York.  They would finish 90-72, in third place, seven games behind New York.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2000, Game Sixty-three

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MILWAUKEE 5, MINNESOTA 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, June 11.

Batting stars:  Matt Lawton was 2-for-2 with a triple and three walks.  Denny Hocking was 2-for-4 with a double.  Midre Cummings was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Pitching star:  LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Geoff Jenkins was 3-for-5 with a double, two stolen bases (his second and third), and two RBIs.  Marquis Grissom was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third), a stolen base (his eleventh), a walk, three runs, and two RBIs.  Mark Sweeney was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Raul Casanova was 2-for-4.

The game:  Ronnie Belliard led off the game with a single and Grissom followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins in a 2-0 hole two batters into the game.  The Twins got one back in the bottom of the first when Cristian Guzman drew a one-out walk and scored on Lawton's triple.  The Brewers had men on first and third with none out in the second and first and second with one out in the third, but were denied both times, leaving the score 2-1 through three.

The Twins took their first (and only) lead of the game in the fourth.  Cummings led off with a double but only made it as far as third with two out.  Hocking then got an RBI single to tie the score.  Singles by Jacque Jones and Guzman produced another run, and the Twins led 3-2.

The lead lasted until the next half-inning.  In the fifth, Grissom singled, stole second, went to third on a fly ball, and scored on a fielder's choice, tying it 3-3.  Charlie Hayes walked to put men on first and second and Sweeney had a run-scoring single to give Milwaukee a 4-3 advantage.

The Twins threatened in the sixth when Hocking led off with a double, but he could only get as far as third.  The Brewers added an insurance run in the seventh when Grissom reached on a two-base error and scored on a Jenkins single.  The Twins had one more threat in the ninth.  Lawton led off with a single, David Ortiz had a one-out single, and Cummings walked, loading the bases.  A hit would have tied the score, but Matthew LeCroy hit into a double play and the game was over.

WP:  John Snyder (1-2).  LP:  Brad Radke (3-8).  S:  Bob Wickman (7).

Notes:  Hocking was at second base in place of Jay Canizaro.  Jacque Jones was in center.  Torii Hunter played the most games in center, but he was sent down for a couple of months in the middle of the season after batting just .207.  He would hit very well the last couple of months and end at .280.  Lawton, who played quite a bit in both right and left, was in left in this game, with Cummings in right.

The only non-pitcher substitution was that Brian Buchanan pinch-ran for Ortiz in the ninth.  I understand that, if the game went extra innings, Buchanan was probably the best choice to replace Ortiz as DH.  I also don't have time to go back and look at who was on the roster in that game or what their health situation was.  But it's hard to believe the Twins didn't have a better pinch-running candidate than Buchanan, especially when he represented the tying run.  It didn't matter, as it turned out, but that still seems like a strange move.

Lawton was batting .346 at this stage of the season, and the Twins' front office was promoting him as a superstar.  Well, I guess they had to promote someone.  He would finish at .305, which of course is still very good.  Jones was batting .322.  He would finish at .285.  On the other end of the scale, LeCroy was batting .180.  He would finish at .174.

Catcher was pretty much a black hole for the Twins in 2000.  LeCroy and Marcus Jensen each caught 49 games, the most on the team.  Jensen batted just .209.  Chad Moeller caught 48 games.  He would go on to have a long career, but he batted just .211 in 2000.  Danny Ardoin caught 15 games and batted .125.  Finally, in August, A. J. Pierzynski came up and took over the catcher's job, batting .307.

Radke started, and as you can see he had trouble in the first inning.  He lasted six innings, giving up five runs (four earned) on ten hits and two walks and striking out three.  For his career, Radke had a 5.05 ERA in the first inning, compared to his overall ERA of 4.22.  In 2000 he went 12-16, 4.45.

I don't know how many times Geoff Jenkins stole two bases in the same game, but it can't be very many.  He had 32 stolen bases for his career.  2000 was the only season when he had more than five--he had 11 in this season.  It was 11-for-12, so he was picking his spots well.  For his career he was 32-for-46.

Record:  The Twins were 28-35, in fourth place in the American League Central, ten games behind Chicago.  They would finish 69-93, in fifth (last) place, 26 games behind Chicago.

The Brewers were 25-37, in fifth place in the National League Central, nine games behind St. Louis.  They would finish 73-89, in third place, 22 games behind St. Louis.