Tag Archives: random rewind

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1962, Game One Hundred Twenty-seven

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MINNESOTA 6, BOSTON 4 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, August 20.

Batting stars:  Rich Rollins was 3-for-4.  Vic Power was 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs.  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his thirty-third) and two runs.

Pitching star:  Frank Sullivan pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Carl Yastrzemski was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Pete Runnels was 2-for-3 with a walk.  Lou Clinton was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

The game:  The Twins took a 3-0 lead in the first inning.  Power walked and Rollins reached on an error.  With two out, Bob Allison hit a run-scoring double and Earl Battey delivered a two-run single.

The Twins put men on first and third with none out in the third but failed to add to their lead.  It cost them, because the Red Sox came back.  In the fourth Eddie Bressoud doubled and Yastrzemski singled to make it 3-1.  In the fifth, two singles and a double play grounder made it 3-2.  In the sixth, Yastrzemski led off with a walk and Clinton followed with a two-run homer, putting Boston in front for the first time at 4-3.

Not to worry.  In the bottom of the sixth Rollins singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins back in front 5-4.  With two out in the seventh Power doubled and Rollins singled him home to make it 6-4.

And there it stayed.  The Red Sox threatened in the eighth, putting men on first and second with one out, but Sullivan came in to retire the side on a couple of fly balls.  They got a two-out single in the ninth from Gary Geiger, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Bressoud popped up to end the game.

WP:  Dick Stigman (8-3).  LP:  Don Schwall (6-14).  S:  Sullivan (5).

Notes:  The Twins used their standard lineup for 1962.  The only substitution, other than a pitching change, came in the eighth, when Johnny Goryl pinch-ran for Killebrew.  Bill Tuttle replaced Goryl and went to center field, with Lenny Green moving to left.

The only Twins .300 hitter in this game was Rollins, who was batting .313.  He would finish at .298.  The Twins did not end up with a .300 in 1962 unless you count Tony Oliva, who went 4-for-9 in a September call-up, or reliever Ted Sadowski, who was 2-for-4.

The Twins starter was Dick Stigman.  He pitched 7.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and five walks and striking out five.  The Twins had three fine starters in Jim Kaat, Camilo Pascual, and Jack Kralick, but struggled to find a fourth.  Others to make more than five starts were Stigman (15), Joe Bonikowski (13), Don Lee (9), and Lee Stange (6).  Stigman took over the fourth starter role in mid-July and did well, going 9-3, 3.82 in fifteen starts.  If he had been the fourth starter all season, the Twins might have won the pennant.

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

Record:  The Twins were 71-56, in third place in the American League, five games behind New York.  They would finish 91-71, in second place, five games behind New York.

The Red Sox were 58-67, in eighth place in the American League, 17 games behind New York.  They would finish 76-84, in eighth place, 19 games behind New York.

 

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2004, Game Eight

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MINNESOTA 10, CLEVELAND 6 IN CLEVELAND

Date:  Wednesday, April 14.

Batting stars:  Henry Blanco was 4-for-4 with a home run (his third), two doubles, three runs, and three RBIs.  Doug Mientkiewicz was 2-for-4 with a double.  Nick Punto was 2-for-5.  Corey Koskie was 1-for-5 with a home run, his second.

Pitching stars:  Aaron Fultz pitched two perfect innings.  J. C. Romero pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Casey Blake was 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs.  Matt Lawton was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Omar Vizquel was 2-for-5.  Victor Martinez was 1-for-4 with a home run, his second.

The game:  The Indians got on the board first, scoring once in the second inning on singles by Blake, Travis Hafner, and Ben Broussard.  The Twins came right back to take the lead in the third.  Michael Ryan led off with a single and Blanco followed with a two-run homer.  Cristian Guzman then tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.

They added to the lead in the fifth.  Blanco led off with a single.  He was caught stealing (!), but an error allowed him to get to second anyway.  Guzman then doubled him home and later scored on a fly out-plus-error, making the score 5-1.

Cleveland chipped away at the lead.  In the bottom of the fifth Coco Crisp doubled and scored on Lawton's single.  In the sixth Blake singled, Hafner walked, and a couple of productive outs brought home a run, cutting the margin to 5-3.

The Twins got one of the runs back in the seventh on doubles by Blanco and Shannon Stewart.  They put the game out of reach in the eighth.  Mientkiewicz doubled and Jose Offerman walked.  RBI singles by Jacque Jones and Lew Ford followed, and a run-scoring double by Blanco gave the Twins a 9-3 advantage.  Koskie homered in the ninth to make it 10-3.

It wasn't quite over, though.  Martinez led off the ninth with a home run and Broussard walked.  The next two batters went out, but RBI singles by Lawton and Omar Vizquel narrowed the Twins lead to 10-6 before Blake struck out to end the game.

WP:  Carlos Silva (1-0).  LP:  Jeff D'Amico (1-1).  S:  Juan Rincon (1).

Notes:  Punto was at second base in place of Luis Rivas.  Stewart was in left, but injuries would limit him to just 71 games there--Ford actually played more in left, with 81 games.  Ryan was in center field in place of Torii Hunter, who missed a few weeks in April.  This was the year Joe Mauer missed most of the season, so Blanco was the regular catcher.

Offerman had the most games at DH, but the Twins really didn't have a regular DH.  Offerman was there 39 times, Matthew LeCroy 30, Ford 26, Stewart 21, Justin Morneau 11, Hunter 10, Ryan 10, and 11 others had a single-digit number of games there.

Ford came in to play center field in the seventh inning, replacing Ryan.

This early in the season there are some extreme batting averages.  Punto was batting .412--he would finish at .253.  Mientkiewica was batting .317--he would finish at .246.  Blanco was batting .364--he would finish at .206.  Offerman was batting .333--he would finish at .256.  Stewart was also batting .333--he would finish at .304.

On the other end, Koskie was batting .167--he would finish at .251.  Ryan was batting .167--he would finish at .239.

This was Silva's second start of the season, and it was his first year as a starter.  He pitched five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out one.

This was Joe Nathan's first year as the Twins' closer.  He had pitched three scoreless innings coming into this game, but here he allowed three runs on three hits and two walks in two-third of an inning and was bailed out by Rincon.  Nathan would not give up another run until June 6.

Cleveland had three runs advance due to defensive indifference in the ninth inning.  I don't know if they keep records like that, but I would think that has to be fairly close to the record.

Record:  The Twins were 4-4, tied for third place in the American League Central, 2 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 92-70, in first place, 9 games ahead of Chicago.

The Indians were 3-6, in fifth (last)place in the American League Central, 3.5 games behind Detroit.  They would finish 80-82, in third place, 12 games behind Minnesota.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1995, Game Seventy

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MINNESOTA 11, NEW YORK 4 IN NEW YORK

Date:  Friday, July 14.

Batting stars:  Pedro Munoz was 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs.  Marty Cordova was 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs.  Jeff Reboulet was 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and four runs.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-4 with a triple, a stolen base (his twenty-first), a walk, and two runs.  Dan Masteller was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base, his third.

Pitching stars:  Mark Guthrie pitched three shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.  Dave Stevens pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Jim Leyritz was 2-for-5 with a home run, his fifth.  Luis Polonia was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Don Mattingly was 2-for-4.

The game:  In the first inning Reboulet reached on an error, went to second on Puckett's single, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.  It lasted until the bottom of the first.  Polonia singled and scored on a double by Dion James.  James went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.  The Twins tied it in the top of the second on singles by Scott Leius and Matt Walbeck and another sacrifice fly, but New York again took the lead in the bottom of the second when Leyritz led off the inning with a home run.

The Twins wasted a leadoff triple by Knoblauch in the third.  In the fourth, however, Cordova led off with a double, went to third on a ground out, and scored on Masteller's single to tie it 3-3.  The Twins took the lead in the fifth when Knoblauch singled, Reboulet was hit by a pitch, and Munoz delivered a two-run double.  The Yankees cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth when Wade Boggs doubled and scored on a Paul O'Neill single.

The Twins took control of the game in the sixth.  Walbeck led off with a single, but was still on first with two out.  Knoblauch walked.  Reboulet had an RBI single, Puckett hit a run-scoring double, Munoz drove in a run with a single, and Cordova hit a two-run double.  It was 10-4 Twins.

The Twins got their last run in the eighth on singles by Reboulet, Munoz, and Cordova.  The Yankees did not threaten to get back into the game.

WP:  Brad Radke (6-7).  LP:  Sterling Hitchcock (3-6).  S:  None.

Notes:  Masteller was at first base.  Twins first basemen in 1995 included Scott Stahoviak (69 games), Masteller (48), Ron Coomer (22), David McCarty (18), Reboulet (17), and Jerald Clark (11), along with four others who played less than ten games there.  It was Coomer's rookie season, and he did not come up until August 1.  it's saying something that he would be the best player out of that group.

Reboulet was at shortstop in place of Pat Meares.  Reboulet played all over the infield in 1995--39 games at shortstop, 22 at third base, 17 at first base, and 15 at second base.  This was his best season in the majors:  .292/.373/.398 in 246 plate appearances.

Knoblauch was leading the team in batting at .319.  He would finish at .333.  Munoz was batting .303.  He would finish at .301.

Radke pitched five innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and one walk and striking out none.  It was his rookie season, and at age 22 he was not ready, going 11-14, 5.32 in 28 starts.  That was actually above average for Twins starters in 1995, though--others who had a significant number of starts were Kevin Tapani (6-11, 4.92), Mike Trombley (4-8, 5.62), Frankie Rodriguez (5-6, 5.38), Scott Erickson (4-6, 5.95), and Jose Parra (1-5, 7.95).  The Twins had thirteen pitchers start games in 1995--other than Tapani, the only one to have an ERA below five was Rich Robertson, who only made four starts.

Hitchcock pitched just four innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits, with no walks and no strikeouts.  Other Yankee pitchers were Scott Bankhead, Dave Pavlas, and Bob MacDonald.  Ah, the good old days.

The 1995 season did not start until late April due to a strike or a lockout, I forget which.  Thus, the Twins were only on their seventieth game on July 14.

Record:  The Twins were 23-47, in fifth (last) place in the American League Central, 25.5 games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 56-88, in fifth place, 44 games behind Cleveland.

The Yankees were 32-37, in fourth place in the American League East, 7.5 games behind Boston.  They would finish 79-65, in second place, seven games behind Boston, but winning the wild card.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1994, Game Thirty

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MINNESOTA 9, TEXAS 7 IN TEXAS

Date:  Saturday, May 7.

Batting stars:  David McCarty was 3-for-5 with a triple and a double.  Scott Leius was 2-for-3 with a double, two walks, a stolen base, and three runs.  Shane Mack was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, a walk, two runs, and two RBIs.  Chuck Knoblauch was 2-for-5 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs.

Pitching star:  Pat Mahomes pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks and striking out four.

Opposition stars:  Bill Ripken was 4-for-5 with two doubles.  Will Clark was 2-for-4 with a home run (his fourth), a walk, and two runs.  Doug Strange was 2-for-4.  Manny Lee was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.  Juan Gonzalez was 2-for-5.

The game:  Doubles by Knoblauch and Mack put the Twins ahead 1-0 in the first inning.  In the second Leius doubled, went to third on a McCarty single, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

The Rangers got on the board in the second when Clark walked, Gonzalez singled, a bunt moved them to second and third, and a ground out scored Clark.  Clark homered leading off the fourth to tie it, but Mack homered leading off the fifth to make it 3-2 Twins.  It went to 4-2 in the sixth when Leius walked, went to second on an error, and scored on McCarty's double.

The Twins appeared to take control in the seventh.  Alex Cole singled and Mack walked.  RBI singles by Pedro Munoz, Leius, and Matt Walbeck put the Twins up 7-2.  Texas scored in the bottom of the seventh on doubles by Ripken and Lee, but the Twins got the run back in the eighth when Knoblauch doubled, went to third on a bunt, and scored on a sacrifice fly.  The Rangers scored in the bottom of the eighth on singles by Gonzalez, Ripken, and Lee, but the Twins again got the run back in the ninth when Leius walked, stole second, and scored on an error.

The Twins had a comfortable 9-4 lead going to the bottom of the ninth.  Rick Aguilera came in, presumably just to get an inning of work.  it was work, all right.  Chris James opened the inning with a single-plus error and scored on a Jose Canseco single.  The next two batters were retired, but singles by Doug Strange, Junior Ortiz, and Ripken made the score 7-5 and brought the deciding run to the plate in Lee.  He grounded out to Aguilera, and the victory was finally preserved.

WP:  Mahomes (2-1).  LP:  Kenny Rogers (2-3).  S:  None.

Notes:  McCarty was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek, who was out due to injury.  Munoz was in right, with Kirby Puckett at DH and Dave Winfield out of the lineup.

Mack had missed the first month of the season, so this was only his fourth game.  He started with a bang, as he was batting .538 after this game.  He would finish at .333.  Cole was batting .340.  He would finish at .296.  Puckett was batting .331.  He would finish at .317.

Twins pitchers were not off to a particularly good start, or at least the ones used in this game were not.  After the game, Mahomes had an ERA of 6.12.  He would finish at 4.73.  Mark Guthrie was at 10.00.  He would finish at 6.14.  Carl Willis was at 7.40.  He would finish at 5.92.  Aguilera was at 6.94.  He would finish at 3.63.

Texas starter (and future Twin) Kenny Rogers pitched 6.1 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on eight hits and four walks and striking out seven.

The Rangers had some thump in the middle of their lineup:  Canseco, Clark, and Gonzalez.  They also had Ivan Rodriguez, who wasn't exactly a banjo hitter.  Despite that, they were sixth in the league in home runs.  Clark hit just 13 homers that year, and Canseco just 19.  Canseco was the only one to hit more than twenty homers that season--he had thirty-one.

It should also be pointed out that this was a strike season.  The season ended on August 10, and there was no post-season.

This was the first game of a stretch in which the Twins won four in a row and eleven of twelve.

Record:  The Twins were 12-18, in fifth (last) place in the American League Central, five games behind Chicago.  They would finish 53-60, in fourth place, fourteen games behind Chicago.

The Rangers were 12-15, in first place (!) in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Seattle.  They would finish 52-62, in first place (!) in the American League West, one game ahead of Oakland.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1990, Game One Hundred Fifty-two

TEXAS 2, MINNESOTA 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, September 21.

Batting star:  Pedro Munoz was 1-for-3.

Pitching stars:  Kevin Tapani pitched five innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out two.  Juan Berenguer pitched four innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Bobby Witt pitched a complete game, giving up one run on two hits and four walks and striking out eight.  Jack Daugherty was 3-for-4 with two RBIs.  Rafael Palmeiro was 2-for-4.  Ruben Sierra was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second.  Brian Harper and Paul Sorrento drew two-out walks and Munoz had an RBI single.  The Twins left the bases loaded, however, and it would cost them, as they never got a man into scoring position again.

In the fourth, singles by Julio Franco, Palmeiro, and Daugherty tied the score 1-1.  In the sixth, singles by Palmeiro, Sierra, and Daugherty put the Rangers ahead 2-1.

The Twins only had two hits in the game, Munoz' RBI single and a sixth-inning single by Kent Hrbek.

WP:  Witt (17-9).  LP:  Berenguer (8-5).  S:  None.

Notes:  Al Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.  Newman's primary position in 1990 was second base, but Nelson Liriano played second in this game.  Second base was pretty much a blank space in 1990, with Newman, Liriano, and Fred Manrique trying their best but failing to fill the position.  In 1991, of course, Chuck Knoblauch would solve this problem.

Munoz was in right field.  Shane Mack, who played all over the outfield in 1990, was in center, and Kirby Puckett, who of course was normally in center, played left.  The Twins really didn't have a regular right fielder in 1990.  Johnny Moses played the most games there, with fifty-two.  Mack had fifty-one, Gene Larkin forty-seven, Randy Bush thirty-one, Carmelo Castillo twenty, and Munoz nineteen.  Puckett played nine games there, and Jim Dwyer was out there for one.

Sorrento was the DH in this game.  That's another position at which the Twins did not have a regular.  Larkin was there for forty-three games, Castillo thirty-five, Bush twenty-seven, Sorrenty twenty-three, Dwyer twenty-two, Hrbek twenty, Harper eleven, and Moses ten, with eight other players serving in the role for single digits.

Bush pinch-hit for Mack in the eighth.  He remained in the game in right field, with Munoz moving to left and Puckett coming out of the game.

Mack was leading the team in batting at .318.  He would finish at .326.  No one else was over .300, although Puckett and Harper were in the .290s.

On the other end of the scale, Sorrento was batting .190.  He would finish at .207 in 135 plate appearances.

I don't know why Tapani only pitched five innings and threw just seventy-six pitches.  He was coming off three poor outings in a row, so possibly Tom Kelly decided to take the five good innings and not push any farther.  I also don't know why Berenguer pitched four innings.  The bullpen was not overtaxed, and there'd have been September call-ups anyway.  It was not as uncommon for relievers to go multiple innings back then, so maybe Kelly just saw no reason to take him out as long as he was pitching well.  The fact that this was a meaningless game in a lost season may have had to do with both decisions, also.

This was Bobby Witt's best season:  17-10, 3.36.  For his career he was not all that good--142-157, 4.83, 1.57 WHIP--but he was good in 1990.  I remembered him as a Twins killer, and I was right.  For his career he was 17-7, 3.63 against our boys.

Record:  The Twins were 68-84, in seventh (last) place in the American League West, twenty-nine games behind Oakland.  The would finish 74-88, in seventh place, twenty-nine games behind Oakland.

The Rangers were 80-70, in third place in the American League West, sixteen games behind Oakland.  They would finish 83-79, in third place, twenty games behind Oakland.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1970, Game Fifty-two

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MINNESOTA 5, BOSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, June 12.

Batting stars:  Leo Cardenas was 4-for-4.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-2 with three walks.

Pitching stars:  Jim Perry pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and two walks and striking out four.  Ron Perranoski pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.

Opposition stars:  Tom Satriano was 2-for-3 with a home run.  Mike Andrews was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the second when Brant Alyea reached on an error, Cardenas singled, and Perry delivered an RBI single.  The Twins loaded the bases in the third on two walks and a single, but could not add to their lead.  That changed in the fifth.  Tony Oliva singled with one out.  With two down, Alyea had an RBI double and Cardenas hit a run-scoring single, making it 3-0 Twins.

The Red Sox got on the board in the sixth when Satriano led off with a home run.  Rico Petrocelli led off the seventh with a single.  He was still on first with two out, but Satriano singled and Mike Fiore had an RBI single.  The Twins lead was down to 3-2 and the tying run was on third, but Andrews struck out to end the inning.

The Twins got control again in the eighth.  Jim Holt walked, Cardenas singled, and George Mitterwald had an RBI single.  With two out, Rod Carew delivered a run-scoring double to build the lead back to three at 5-2.

The Red Sox managed only a one-out single in the ninth.  The game ended, oddly enough, when Jerry Moses popped up a bunt, which was caught by Perranoski.

WP:  Perry (8-5).  LP:  Gary Peters (3-7).  S:  Perranoski (14).

Notes:  Rick Renick was the third baseman in this game, with Killebrew moving to first.  Killebrew was primarily a third baseman in 1970, with Rich Reese the regular at first.  Others who played a decent number of games at third, often coming in for defense, are Danny Thompson and Frank Quilici.

Carew was the second baseman in this game.  Between injuries and military service, he was able to play only forty-five games at second base, with Thompson and Quilici handling most of the second base duties.

Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the fifth and remained in the game in left field.  Charlie Manuel pinch-hit for Perry in the sixth, even though Perry was batting .313 and Manuel was batting .214.  Reese pinch-hit for Renick in the seventh and went to first base, with Killebrew moving to third.  Quilici pinch-ran for Killebrew in the ninth and remained in the game at third base.

Carew was leading the team in batting at .371.  He would finish at .366 in 204 plate appearances.  Oliva was batting .333.  He would finish at .325.  Killebrew was batting .315.  He would finish at .271.  Perry was batting .313.  He would finish at .247.

All the Twins pitchers had ERAs under 3.00.  Perry was at 2.81.  He would finish at 3.04.  Stan Williams was at 2.21.  He would finish at 1.99.  Perranoski was at 2.00.  He would finish at 2.43.

Record:  The Twins were 35-17, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of California.  They would finish 98-64, in first place, nine games ahead of Oakland.

The Red Sox were 26-27, in fourth place in the American League East, 9.5 games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 87-75, in third place, twenty-one games behind Baltimore.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1986, Game Eight

OAKLAND 8, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, April 15.

Batting star:  Steve Lombardozzi was 2-for-2 with two doubles and two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Pete Filson pitched 3.1 innings of relief, giving up one run on six hits and no walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Moose Haas pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out five.  Alfredo Griffin was 4-for-5 with a stolen base and two runs.  Dwayne Murphy was 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch and two RBIs.  Tony Phillips was 2-for-4 with a walk.  Bill Bathe was 2-for-5 with a double, two runs, and two RBIs.  Dusty Baker was 2-for-5.  Carney Lansford was 2-for-5.

The game:  Jose Canseco doubled leading off the second.  An error and a double play put the Athletics up 1-0.  With one out in the bottom of the second Mark Salas and Gary Gaetti singled and the two of them pulled off a double steal, putting men on second and third.  Lombardozzi then delivered a two-out ground-rule double to put the Twins up 2-1.

That was as good as it got for the Twins.  With one out in the fifth Griffin singled and scored from first on Bathe's double to tie it.  Phillips then singled and a sacrifice fly gave the Athletics a 3-2 lead.  Oakland took control in the sixth.  Canseco walked and Griffin hit a two-out single, putting men on first and second.  The Athletics then had four consecutive RBI singles, by Bathe, Phillips, Murphy, and Baker, to take a 7-2 advantage.

The Twins did not get a man past first base after the second inning.  Oakland added a run in the ninth on singles by Bruce Bochte and Lansford and an infield out.

WP:  Haas (2-0).  LP:  Bill Latham (0-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  Mickey Hatcher was in left field.  Randy Bush was the primary left fielder, playing ninety games there.  Billy Beane had sixty-four, Hatcher had forty-five, and Mark Davidson had twenty.

Jeff Reed pinch-hit for Lombardozzi in the eighth.  Ron Washington pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the eighth.  In the ninth Reed went behind the plate, Washington went to second base, Chris Pittaro came in to play shortstop, and Salas came out of the game.

This early in the season there were extreme batting averages on both ends.  Roy Smalley led the team at .379--he finished at .246.  Gary Gaetti was batting .357--he finished at .287.  Kent Hrbek was at .345--he finished at .267.

On the other end of the scale, Gagne was batting .045--he would finish at .250.  Hatcher was batting .050--he would finish at .278.  Lombardozzi was batting .125--he would finish at .227.  Salas was batting .138--he would finish at .233.

Latham started the game for the Twins.  He pitched 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and a walk and striking out two.

The Twins pitchers on this day were Latham, Dennis Burtt, and Filson.  If anyone has memories of any of those pitchers, please contribute them, because I don't.  I remembered that Filson came over in a trade with the Yankees, but that's it.

This was the last game of a four-game losing streak for the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 3-5, in sixth place in the American League West, two games behind Seattle.  They would finish 71-91, in sixth place, twenty-one games behind California.

The Athletics were 4-4, tied for fourth place in the American League West, one game behind Seattle.  They would finish 76-86, tied for third, sixteen games behind California.

 

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1982, Game One Hundred Fifteen

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MINNESOTA 3, SEATTLE 1 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Friday, August 13.

Batting stars:  Ron Washington was 2-for-4.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-3 with a walk.

PItching stars:  Bobby Castillo pitched a complete game, giving up one run on three hits and one walk and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Gaylord Perry pitched an eight-inning complete game, giving up three runs (two earned) on eight hits and a walk and striking out five.  Bruce Bochte was 2-for-3.

The game:  Joe Simpson led off the game with a triple and scored on Bochte's single to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.  The Twins put men on first and third in the bottom of the first but did not score.

No one got a man past first in innings two through five.  In the sixth, however, the Twins got consecutive one-out singles from Tom Brunansky, Hrbek, Gary Ward, and Gary Gaetti, plating two runs and giving the Twins a 2-1 lead.  The Twins added a run in the eighth when Washington singled, then was picked off first but reached second on an error.  Hrbek was intentionally walked.  Ward hit a potential double play ball, but the throw to first was wild and Washington came in to score, making it 3-1 Twins.

Castillo was in total control.  He gave up only one hit after the first inning, a two-out single by Bochte in the fourth.  He retired the last ten batters he faced.

WP:  Castillo (6-9).  LP:  Perry (7-10).  S:  None.

Notes:  Washington was the shortstop in this game.  Lenny Faedo is listed as the Twins starting shortstop in 1982, but Washington actually played slightly more games there (92 to 88).

Randy Johnson was the Twins DH.  He's listed as the Twins starting DH in 1982, and he got more time there than anyone, but it was only 66 games.  Others who spent significant time at DH were Jesus Vega (39 games), Mickey Hatcher (29), Randy Bush (26), and Dave Engel (20).

Hrbek was the only Twins above .300, at .315.  He would finish at .301.  This was the only time Hrbek was named to the all-star team.  He deserved more appearances, but after a snub early in his career he said that he was not interested in going.

This was one of the two best seasons of Castillo's career, and his best as a starter.  He was 13-11, 3.66, 1.28 WHIP.  His other good season was when he was a reliever for the Dodgers in 1980.  By game scores, this was his best game of the season.  He did, however, have six complete games in 1982.  He would have three the next season, and those were the only complete games he had in his career.

Perry was in his age forty-three season in 1982.  He was obviously not what he once was, but he was still decent--10-12, 4.40, 1.38 WHIP.  He would pitch one more season before calling it quits.

Record:  The Twins were 40-75, in seventh (last) place in the American League West, 26.5 games behind California.  They would finish 60-102, in seventh place, thirty-three games behind California.

The Mariners were 56-58, in fourth place in the American League West, ten games behind California.  They would finish 76-86, in fourth place, seventeen games behind California.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 1977, Game Fifty

BOSTON 5, MINNESOTA 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, June 4.

Batting star:  Larry Hisle was 3-for-4 with a home run (his twelfth) and a double.

Pitching star:  Tom Burgmeier pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Bill Lee pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks and striking out one.  Denny Doyle was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base (his second), and two runs.  Bernie Carbo was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Fred Lynn was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  Carlton Fisk was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his fifth.

The game:  The Twins had men on first and third with none out in the second, but Butch Wynegar hit into a 6-2-5-3-6 double play to take them out of the inning.  The Red Sox got on the board in the third when Doyle doubled and Fred Lynn singled.  They made it 2-0 in the fourth when Carl Yastrzemski tripled and Carbo singled.

The Twins got on the board in the fourth when Hisle homered.  Boston got the run back in the fifth on two-out singles by Fisk and George Scott and a wild pitch.  They added a run in the seventh when Doyle singled, stole second, and scored on Lynn's single.  They got one more in the eighth when Carbo doubled, was bunted to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Twins got their second and last run in the eighth when Wynegar doubled and scored on a pair of ground outs.

WP:  Lee (3-1).  LP:  Paul Thormodsgard (3-2).

Notes:  The only change from their regular lineup is that Jerry Terrell was at third base in place of Mike Cubbage.  Terrell, who had a .295 OBP, was batting leadoff for some reason.  His career OBP was .288, so it's not like he was just in a temporary slump.  What makes it worse is that Lyman Bostock, who was batting .331 with an OBP of .399, was batting seventh.  I know some people say batting order doesn't make a lot of difference, but it seems like you should still try to take advantage of whatever little difference it makes.

Rod Carew was leading the team in batting at .376, despite going 0-for-4 in this game.  He would finish at .388.  For as great a hitter as he was, I don't remember Carew ever having a really long hitting streak.  My memory is that he tended to get his hits in bunches.  Obviously, when you bat .388 you're not getting a lot of 0-for-4s, but I suspect it was not as uncommon as one might expect.

Hisle was batting .328.  He would finish at .302 and lead the league in RBIs with 119.

Roy Smalley was batting just .210, and he would finish the season at only .231.  He was twenty-four in this season, and had not yet established himself as a batter.  He would bat .273 in 1978 and would go on to be a productive batter through 1983.

Thormodsgard pitched 5.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk and striking out one.  This was his only full season as a rotation starter.  He went 11-15, 4.62, 1.38 WHIP.  For a twenty-three-year-old who had been jumped from A ball, that's not awful.  It was as good as it would get for him, though.  He started 1978 in the rotation, but in twelve starts he went 1-6, 5.05, 1.49 and was sent back to AAA.  He pitched well in AAA for the Twins in 1978 and 1979 and for Philadelphia in 1980, but he never got another chance at the majors.  I'm sure there were reasons, but it seems like he did enough to deserve more of a chance than he got.  As we've observed many times, life and baseball are not always fair.

Carlton Fisk had 128 stolen bases in his career.  His high was seventeen, which he did twice, in 1982 and again in 1985, when he was thirty-seven.

Record:  The Twins were 31-19, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.  They would finish 84-77, in fourth place, 17.5 games behind Kansas City.

The Red Sox were 26-23, in third place in the American League East, two games behind Baltimore.  They would finish 97-64, tied for second, 2.5 games behind New York.

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2010, Game Fifty-eight

MINNESOTA 7, KANSAS CITY 3 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Tuesday, June 8.

Batting stars:  Danny Valencia was 3-for-4 with two runs.  Jason Kubel was 2-for-4 with a home run (his seventh) and a double.  Michael Cuddyer was 2-for-4.  Denard Span was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

Pitching star:  Kevin Slowey pitched seven shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks and striking out three.

Opposition stars:  Jose Guillen was 2-for-4 with a double.  Mike Aviles was 2-for-4.

The game:  The Twins jumped out for three runs in the first inning.  With one out, Matt Tolbert walked and Joe Mauer singled.  With two out, Cuddyer delivered an RBI single and Kubel hit a two-run double, putting the Twins up 3-0.  They added two more in the fourth.  Delmon Young and Valencia singled, they were bunted to second and third, and Span came through with a two-run single to make it 5-0.

It went to 6-0 in the fifth when Kubel homered.  In the sixth Valencia singled, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Tolbert single.

The Royals scored some late runs to make the final score look better.  In the eighth singles by Mitch Maier and Yuniesky Betancourt and a sacrifice fly brought home their first run.  In the ninth, Billy Butler reached on an error and scored on Guillen's double.  Aviles singled him home to make the final score 7-3.

WP:  Slowey (7-3).  LP:  Zack Greinke (1-8).  S:  Matt Guerrier (1),.

Notes:  As we've discussed before, this was the year Justin Morneau had his season end just before the all-star break, which caused Cuddyer to go to first and Kubel to right field.  At this point, though, Morneau was still at first, Cuddyer in right, and Kubel at DH.  The main DH this season was Jim Thome.

Tolbert was at second base in place of Orlando Hudson, who was out due to injury.  Nick Punto was at shortstop in place of J. J. Hardy, who was out due to injury.

Morneau was leading the team in batting at .362.  He was batting .345 with an OPS of 1.055 when his season ended.  Valencia was batting .333.  He would finish the season at .311.  We thought we really had something.

Mauer was batting .312.  He would finish at .327.

Tolbert, who was in the number two spot in the order, was batting .160 with an OPS of .345.  He would finish at .230, which was also his career batting average.

According to game scores, this was only the fourth-best game for Slowey in 2010.  His best was July 31, when he pitched eight shutout innings against Seattle.  His second best was seven no-hit innings against Oakland on August 15.  He was also higher on April 20, when he gave up one run in eight innings and struck out nine against Cleveland.

This was the year after Zack Greinke's Cy Young year.  He did not have a good year, but it was not as bad as I remembered it, and I think it's not as bad as it was claimed to be at the time.  He went 10-14, 4.17, 1.25 WHIP.  That's not great by any means--it's certainly not Cy Young caliber--but it's not awful, either.  It's an average to slightly-above-average season.

Record:  The Twins were 34-24, in first place in the American League Central, 3.5 games ahead of Detroit.  They would finish 94-68, in first place, six games ahead of Chicago.

The Royals were 24-35, in fourth place in the American League Central, 10.5 games behind Minnesota.  They would finish 67-95, in fifth (last) place, twenty-seven games behind Minnesota.