Tag Archives: Steve Bedrosian

Happy Birthday–December 6

Jocko Conlan (1899)
Tony Lazzeri (1903)
Stan Hack (1909)
Dan Dobbek (1934)
Tony Horton (1944)
Larry Bowa (1945)
Tim Foli (1950)
Chuck Baker (1952)
Gary Ward (1953)
Juan Carlos Oliva (1954)
Steve Bedrosian (1957)
Larry Sheets (1959)
Kevin Campbell (1964)
Kevin Appier (1967)
Jose Contreras (1971)
Kevin Cash (1977)
Chris Basak (1978)
Jason Bulger (1978)
Adam Eaton (1988)

Jocko Conlan played two seasons of major league baseball, but is best known as a National League umpire from 1941-1965.

The younger brother of Tony Oliva, Juan Carlos Oliva was a star pitcher in Cuba and later became a successful pitching coach there.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 6

Happy Birthday–December 6

Jocko Conlan (1899)
Tony Lazzeri (1903)
Stan Hack (1909)
Dan Dobbek (1934)
Tony Horton (1944)
Larry Bowa (1945)
Tim Foli (1950)
Chuck Baker (1952)
Gary Ward (1953)
Juan Carlos Oliva (1954)
Steve Bedrosian (1957)
Larry Sheets (1959)
Kevin Campbell (1964)
Kevin Appier (1967)
Jose Contreras (1971)
Kevin Cash (1977)
Chris Basak (1978)
Jason Bulger (1978)
Adam Eaton (1988)

Jocko Conlan played two seasons of major league baseball, but is best known as a National League umpire from 1941-1965.

The younger brother of Tony Oliva, Juan Carlos Oliva was a star pitcher in Cuba and later became a successful pitching coach there.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 6

Happy Birthday–December 6

Jocko Conlan (1899)
Tony Lazzeri (1903)
Stan Hack (1909)
Dan Dobbek (1934)
Tony Horton (1944)
Larry Bowa (1945)
Tim Foli (1950)
Chuck Baker (1952)
Gary Ward (1953)
Juan Carlos Oliva (1954)
Steve Bedrosian (1957)
Larry Sheets (1959)
Kevin Campbell (1964)
Kevin Appier (1967)
Jose Contreras (1971)
Chris Basak (1978)
Jason Bulger (1978)
Adam Eaton (1988)

Jocko Conlan played two seasons of major league baseball, but is best known as a National League umpire from 1941-1965.

The younger brother of Tony Oliva, Juan Carlos Oliva was a star pitcher in Cuba and later became a successful pitching coach there.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 6

Happy Birthday–December 6

Jocko Conlan (1899)
Tony Lazzeri (1903)
Stan Hack (1909)
Dan Dobbek (1934)
Tony Horton (1944)
Larry Bowa (1945)
Tim Foli (1950)
Chuck Baker (1952)
Gary Ward (1953)
Juan Carlos Oliva (1954)
Steve Bedrosian (1957)
Larry Sheets (1959)
Kevin Campbell (1964)
Kevin Appier (1967)
Jose Contreras (1971)
Chris Basak (1978)
Jason Bulger (1978)

Jocko Conlan played two seasons of major league baseball, but is best known as a National League umpire from 1941-1965.

The younger brother of Tony Oliva, Juan Carlos Oliva was a star pitcher in Cuba and later became a successful pitching coach there.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–December 6

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Fifty-six

MINNESOTA 8, CHICAGO 3 IN CHICAGO

Date:  Monday, September 30.

Batting stars:  Randy Bush was 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, his sixth.  Brian Harper was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.  Pedro Munoz was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer (his sixth), a double, and two runs.  Paul Sorrento was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourth.

Pitching stars:  Tom Edens pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out two.  Steve Bedrosian pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits.

Opposition star:  Matt Merullo was 1-for-2 with a two-run homer, his fourth.

The game:  In the second Harper walked, went to third on a Bush single, and scored on a sacrifice fly to put the Twins up 1-0.  The White Sox got a pair of one-out singles in the third but could do nothing with them.  In the fourth, Munoz doubled, Harper had an RBI single, and Bush followed with a two-run homer, putting the Twins ahead 4-0.

The Twins put it away in the fifth.  Al Newman led off with a single, but a force out put Jarvis Brown at first base instead.  He stole second, Greg Gagne walked, and Munoz hit a three-run homer.  Sorrento made it back-to-back homers and gave the Twins an 8-0 lead.

The White Sox got on the board in the fifth when Lance Johnson led off with a triple and scored on a ground out.  They got a couple more in the ninth when Warren Newson walked and Merullo hit a two-run homer, but never threatened to get back into the game.

WP:  Edens (2-2).  LP:  Alex Fernandez (9-13).  S:  None.

Notes:  As you might suppose the day after clinching the division, it was an unusual lineup.  Brown started in center in place of Kirby Puckett and batted first.  Gagne moved up to the second spot.  Munoz was in left in place of Dan Gladden and batted third.  Paul Sorrento was at first base in place of Kent Hrbek and batted fourth.  Harper was the DH in place of Chili Davis.  Bush was in right field in place of Shane Mack.  Lenny Webster was behind the plate.  Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch.

It should be noted that with the roster restrictions now, teams can no longer do this.  The day after a team clinches, several regulars are still going to have to play, because there won't be enough reserves to fill out the lineup.

The Twins made just one substitution--Scott Leius came in for Gagne at shortstop in the fifth inning.

Harper raised his average to .316.  Bush went up to .312.  Webster was 0-for-4 and was batting .333.  Rick Aguilera allowed two runs in one inning to make his ERA 2.34.

This was the first time Bedrosian had pitched since September 17.  He presumably had some sort of injury or illness that he was dealing with.

A couple of weeks earlier, of course, it had looked like this might be an important series in the last week of the season.  As it turned out, the Twins had clinched the day before, rendering the series meaningless as far as the pennant race was concerned.

This was the thirty-second game of Brown's career, but only his second start.  He was used as either a pinch-runner or a defensive replacement in the other thirty games.  I'm sure he was happy to be in the big leagues at all, and I'm sure he was also happy to be on a championship team.  Still, it must have been just a little frustrating to not get more of a chance to play.  He probably understood it, but it still would be frustrating.

Record:  The Twins were 93-63, in first place in the American League West, nine games ahead of Chicago.

Toronto lost and Boston won, so the Red Sox kept their hopes alive in the East.  The Blue Jays led by 3.5 games.

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Seventeen

MINNESOTA 5, OAKLAND 4 IN MINNESOTA (12 INNINGS)

Date:  Friday, August 16.

Batting stars:  Chuck Knoblauch was 4-for-6 with a double.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-5 with two stolen bases, his ninth and tenth.

Pitching stars:  Steve Bedrosian retired all ten men he faced, striking out four of them.  Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Mike Moore pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out six.  Jaime Quirk was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.  Jose Canseco was 2-for-5 with two home runs, his thirty-second and thirty-third.  Harold Baines was 2-for-5 with a double.

The game:  The Twins took the early lead.  In the second, Brian Harper hit a one-out single and scored from first on a Shane Mack double.  In the third, Dan Gladden reached third on a single-plus error and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

The Athletics tied the game in the fourth.  Canseco led off the inning with a home run.  Baines followed with a double and scored on Quirk's one-out single to even the score at 2-2.  Oakland took the lead in the sixth inning.  Canseco again led off with a home run.  Mark McGwire drew a one-out walk and scored from first on Quirk's double, giving the Athletics a 4-2 advantage.

It stayed 4-2 until the ninth.  Chili Davis led off with a single-plus-error, reaching third base, and scored on a ground out to cut the margin to 4-3.  Still, there was no one on with one out.  Randy Bush then delivered a pinch-hit double and pinch-runner Scott Leius scored on Mike Pagliarulo single to tie it up 4-4.

The Twins had a chance in the tenth when Puckett reached third base with two out, but Davis struck out to end the inning.  Gene Larkin hit a one-out double in the eleventh but did not advance.  In the twelfth, Knoblauch doubled with one out.  Puckett's infield single put men on first and third, and Kent Hrbek delivered an RBI single to win the game for the Twins.

WPAguilera (3-4).  LP:  Gene Nelson (1-4).  S:  None.

Notes:  As noted above, Bush pinch-hit for Mack in the ninth.  Leius then pinch-ran for Bush and Larkin went to right field in the tenth inning.  Al Newman pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the fifth inning, presumably due to an injury to Gagne.  Gagne would miss one game, play one game, then miss two more before returning to the starting lineup.

Puckett raised his average to .324.  Harper was 1-for-5 and 3-for-20.  His average fell to .302.

Kevin Tapani started for the Twins.  He pitched 7.1 innings and allowed four runs on eight hits and three walks and struck out five.  His ERA went to 3.06.  Aguilera's ERA fell to 2.52.

Bedrosian had been struggling coming into this game.  He had allowed at least one run in each of his last four appearances.  His ERA had jumped from 3.54 to 3.97 over that span.  He sure came through in this game, though, and could well be considered the player of the game.

Bush had an awesome year as a pinch-hitter in 1991.  He went 13-for-34 with two doubles and two home runs.  He also walked eight times, giving him a line of .382/.500/.618 as a pinch-hitter.  His pinch-hitting numbers for his career are nowhere near that, but are still not bad for that role.  In 362 pinch-hitting appearances, he batted .242/.346/.353.

Mike Moore had a really good year in 1991, going 17-8, 2.96, 1.34 WHIP.  His best year was probably 1989, when he went 19-11, 2.61, 1.14 WHIP, made the all-star team for the third time, and finished third in Cy Young voting.  He also had solid years in 1985 and 1988.  Other than those years, he was a below average pitcher.  I don't know if he just got lucky, if the defense made a difference, or if he just was able to put it together some years but not others.  For his career he was 161-176, 4.39, 1.42 WHIP.  If you caught him in one of his good years, though, he was a very valuable pitcher.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak.  The White Sox lost the Yankees 6-5, so the Twins gained a game.

Record:  The Twins were 69-48, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Chicago.