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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: 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

1991 Rewind: Game One Hundred Nine

CALIFORNIA 8, MINNESOTA 1 IN CALIFORNIA

Date:  Wednesday, August 7.

Batting star:  Chili Davis was 1-for-3 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Jim Abbott pitched 8.1 innings, giving up one run on three hits and four walks and striking out five.  He threw 124 pitches.  Wally Joyner was 2-for-2 with two home runs (his fifteenth and sixteenth) a walk, and five RBIs.  Dave Parker was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his tenth.  Luis Polonia was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two runs.

The game:  Nobody did much for the first two innings, but the Angels got it going in the third.  Dick Schofield was hit by a pitch and Polonia singled.  Donnie Hill's RBI single started the scoring, a sacrifice fly brought home a second run, and Dave Parker hit a two-run homer to make the score 4-0.  Joyner homered in the fifth to increase the lead to 5-0.  In the seventh, walks to Polonia and Hill preceded Joyner's three run homer and made the score 8-0.

Meanwhile the Twins did very little on offense.  They had only one hit through eight innings, a two-out single by Dan Gladden in the third.  The only time they had two on was in the seventh, when Davis and Shane Mack drew one-out walks.  The Twins managed to avoid a shutout in the ninth.  Chuck Knoblauch led off with a double and scored on Davis' one-out single.  But that was that.

WP:  Abbott (10-8).  LP:  Jack Morris (13-9).  S:  None.

Notes:  Junior Ortiz was behind the plate in place of Brian Harper.  Al Newman was at shortstop in place of Greg Gagne.

Kirby Puckett was 0-for-4 and was batting .326.  Terry Leach gave up a run in 1.2 innings to make his ERA 2.91.

Morris pitched five innings and allowed five runs on six hits and one walk and struck out two.  It was his third poor outing in his last four starts.  In those four starts he had allowed 18 runs in 17.1 innings.  His ERA jumped from 3.39 to 4.02.

There have been nine major league players with the last name "Abbott".  Two of them played in this game, Jim for the Angels and Paul for the Twins.  In case you're wondering, there have been two major league players named "Costello".  None of them was on first much--Fred Abbott played fifteen games there, Kurt Abbott eight, and Dan Costello one.

1991 was Jim Abbott's best year on the mound.  He went 18-11, 2.89, 1.21 WHIP and finished third in Cy Young voting behind Roger Clemens and Scott Erickson.  You can make a good argument that he should have finished ahead of Erickson.

The White Sox beat the Yankees 10-2 and so gained a game on the Twins.

Record:  The Twins were 65-44, in first place in the American League West, 2.5 games ahead of Chicago.