Tag Archives: vowels

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game One Hundred Twenty-two

WASHINGTON 5, MINNESOTA 4 IN MINNESOTA (10 INNINGS)

Date:  Saturday, August 22.

Batting stars:  Jim Kaat was 2-for-2 with a double.  Danny Thompson was 2-for-5.  Harmon Killebrew was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his thirty-eighth) and two walks.  Leo Cardenas was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer (his tenth) and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out six in four innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.

Opposition stars:  Frank Howard was 2-for-3 with two home runs (his thirty-third and thirty-fourth) and two walks.  Tim Cullen was 2-for-4.  Rick Reichardt was 2-for-5 with a double.  Tom Grieve was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.  George Brunet pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Darold Knowles pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and a walk and striking out one.  Horacio Pina pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out one.

The game:  With one out in the first, Wayne Comer walked, went to second on a pickoff error, and stole third.  Frank Howard then walked, and a force out scored Comer.  Aurelio Rodriguez doubled to put men on second and third, and Grieve delivered a two-run single to make it 3-0 Senators before the Twins came to bat.

The Twins came back.  With one out in the second Jim Holt doubled and Cardenas followed with a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.  With one out in the third Tony Oliva singled and Killebrew followed with a two-run homer to put the Twins in front 4-3.

The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, but Thompson hit into a double play to end the inning.  It cost them, as Howard homered in the fifth to tie the score 4-4.  Washington went on to put two on with one out, but a pair of ground outs ended the inning.  The Twins had two on with one out in the eighth but another double play, this one hit into by Cardenas, ended the inning.  Cesar Tovar hit a two-out double in the ninth, but nothing came of it.

Howard led off the tenth with his second home run to put the Senators up 5-4.  Killebrew walked with one out in the bottom of the tenth, but a pair of forceouts ended the game.

WP:  Pina (4-1).

LP:  Hall (6-5).

S:  None.

Notes:  Thompson remained at second base in place of Rod Carew.  Holt was in center, with Tovar in left.  Rick Renick pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field, with Tovar moving to center.  Bob Allison pinch-ran for Killebrew in the tenth.

Oliva was 1-for-5 and was batting .319.  Hall had an ERA of 2.85.

Kaat pitched well after the first inning, but his line was still six innings, four runs. eight hits, and four walks.  He struck out two.

I understand why you would pinch-run for Killebrew in the tenth, but I don't know why you would use Allison.  Allison had some speed when he was younger--Dazzle would've said "he can run a little bit"--but he was thirty-five by this time, and whatever speed he had was basically gone.  Certainly Frank Quilici would've been a better pinch-runner, plus he could've gone to third base if the Twins had tied the score.  In addition, while Allison wasn't the hitter he had once been, he'd have been a better pinch-hitter than Quilici if the game had continued.  I don't understand this one.

Jim Hannan was the Washington starter.  He lasted just 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, with no walks and no strikeouts.

I've probably pointed this out before, but Aurelio Rodriguez has all the vowels in his first name and all but one in his last name.

Record:  The Twins were 73-49, in first place in the American League West, five games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Seventy-two

MINNESOTA 5, KANSAS CITY 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, July 2.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a home run (his twenty-second) and a walk.  Leo Cardenas was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his sixth), a double, and two runs.  Cesar Tovar was 1-for-4 with a home run, his eighth.

Pitching star:  Tom Hall pitched seven innings, giving up one run on two hits and a walk and striking out six.

Opposition stars:  Eliseo Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs.  Aurelio Monteagudo pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

The game:  Killebrew got the first hit of the game, a home run leading off the bottom of the second.  Rich Reese followed with a single, and with one out Cardenas hit a two-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0.

Neither team had another hit until the fifth, when Cardenas doubled and went to third on a wild pitch.  George Mitterwald walked and Hall hit into a double play, scoring Cardenas.  Tovar followed with a home run to make it 5-0 Twins.

Rodriguez got the first Royals hit in the sixth, a leadoff triple, and scored on Jackie Hernandez' sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.  Cookie Rojas got a leadoff double in the seventh and got as far as third base with two out, but he got no farther.  In the eighth Rodriguez and Ed Kirkpatrick led off with singles, putting men on first and third with none out.  Pat Kelly drew a one-out walk to load the bases and Rojas hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2, but that was all Kansas City could get.  The Royals went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Hall (4-2).

LP:  Al Fitzmorris (4-3).

S:  Stan Williams (6).

Notes:  Danny Thompson was at second in place of Rod Carew.  Rick Renick was in left field in place of Brant Alyea.  Herman Hill came in to play center in the eighth as part of a double switch, with Tovar moving to left and Renick coming out of the game.  Frank Quilici came in to play second base in the ninth, with Thompson moving to third and Killebrew leaving the game.

Tony Oliva was 0-for-3 and was batting .323.  Killebrew was batting .313.  Tovar was batting .305.  Hall had an ERA of 2.05.  Stan Williams gave up a run in two innings and had an ERA of 1.81.

Thompson was 0-for-4 and was batting .174.  Hill was 0-for-1 and was batting .125.

Hall had given up two runs in 13.2 innings in two starts.  He would make one more start, then return to the bullpen.  Bill Rigney apparently thought he was more valuable there, despite his success as a starter.

Hill was very fast, stealing 58 bases in the minors in 1967, and was considered an excellent defender.  Unfortunately, as we've observed before, none of the other "five tools" mean much if you can't hit, and he couldn't.  He did hit .300 in Denver in 1969, but a) it was Denver, and b) he still only had an OPS of .744.  He admittedly didn't get much of a chance in the majors, but he batted just .083 in 24 major league at-bats.

Aurelio Monteagudo had all the vowels in his first name, and all but one of the vowels in his last name.  Maybe he's who Hrbek could've bought a vowel from.

Record:  The Twins were 47-25, in first place in the American League West, four games ahead of California.

Keeping Track

1970 Rewind: Game Five

CALIFORNIA 3, MINNESOTA 2 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Thursday, April 16.

Batting stars:  Harmon Killebrew was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks.  Tony Oliva was 1-for-3 with a triple and a walk.  Brant Alyea was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Tom Hall struck out three in 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits.  Stan Williams pitched two shutout innings, walking one and striking out one.

Opposition stars:  Aurelio Rodriguez was 2-for-4 with a triple.  Joe Azcue was 2-for-4.  Rudy May pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and five walks and striking out six.  Ken Tatum struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

The game:  Each team had two on in the first.  Rodriguez hit a two-out triple in the second.  The Twins had two on in the third and again in the fourth.  But there was no scoring until the bottom of the fourth.  Jay Johnstone led off with a double, Roger Repoz walked, and Azcue got an infield single to load the bases.  An error brought home one run, a double brought home another, and Sandy Alomar's RBI single made it 3-0.

The Twins got a man to second in the fifth and in the sixth but did not score.  The Angels opened the sixth with two singles but did not score.  In the eighth Killebrew singled and scored on Oliva's triple.  Alyea walked, putting the tying run on base, but Leo Cardenas hit into a double play.  A run scored, making it 3-2, but there was no one on and a strikeout ended the inning.  Charlie Manuel hit a one-out single in the ninth but never moved past first base.

W:  May (1-0).

L:  Dave Boswell (0-1).

S:  Tatum (2).

Notes:  Rick Renick and Manuel were used as pinch-hitters for pitchers.  Jim Holt pinch-ran for Alyea in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field.  Jim Kaat was used as a pinch-runner for Manuel in the ninth.

Alyea was batting .538.  Killebrew was batting .400.  Oliva was batting .348.  Mitterwald was 0-for-4 and was batting .300.

Rich Reese was 0-for-3 and was batting .111.

Hall and Williams each had an ERA of zero.

Boswell pitched 3.2 innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks and striking out two.  His ERA was 2.45.

There were plenty of missed opportunities on both sides.  Each team stranded nine men.  The Twins were 0-for-10 with men in scoring position.  California was 2-for-10 in those situations.

It was the first time all season the Twins played on back-to-back days, and also their first loss.

Ken Tatum was the Angels' closer (to the extent closers were a thing at that time) in 1969 and 1970.  He did very well in that role, but was traded over the off-season to Boston in a trade for Tony Conigliaro.  He was never a closer again, although he did pick up thirteen more saves to give him a career total of 52.  The story goes that he was never the same pitcher after breaking Paul Blair's nose with a pitch, but that happened on May 31 of 1970 and he was still a pretty good pitcher the rest of that season.  He was involved in trades for some pretty big names for that era.  In addition to Tony Conigliaro, he was also involved in a trade that included Reggie Smith, Bernie Carbo, and Rick Wise.  After baseball, he became a school administrator in the Birmingham area and later retired there.

Aurelio Rodriguez has all the vowels in his first name.  It would be really cool if there was a player named Aurelio Figueroa.

Record:  The Twins were 4-1.  By percentage points, there were in first place in the American League West, but they were a half-game behind the 6-2 Angels.