Game 155: Kansas City Royals (77-77) @ Minnesota Twins (83-71)

Saturday September 26, 1987

Royals 7, Twins 4

Jeff Reardon’s scoreless innings streak ended ubruptly and in a big way. The Twins entered the ninth inning in a tie with the Royals, and things looked great with Reardon carrying a 14 1/3-inning scoreless streak to the mound. Three consecutive one out hits, the capper being a three-run home run by Danny Tartabull, did in Reardon and the Twins in a morning game at the Metrodome.

In the short term, the Royals are considering themselves successful. The Twins will not be able to clinch the AL West at home, and the magic number remains at “3″. The Royals were chanting “Nooooooo bubbly in the Metrodome!” after the game, a take off of PA man Bob Casey’s famous no smoking announcement.

Meanwhile, the Oakland A’s lost their fourth straight game, and have lost five of the last six, to fall the third place in the division, a game behind Kansas City.

The Twins were able to jump on the Royals early with a Kirby Puckett two RBI single in the bottom of the first. Throughout the game, the Twins held leads of 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, and 4-3 before the Royals were able to tie the game with a run in the top of the seventh.

The mini-losing streak has caused a tiny bit of second-guessing in the clubhouse. From the Star Tribune:

“You guys all talk like it’s in the bag,” Twins third baseman Gary Gaetti said. “It isn’t. We can’t look at it like that. If we get ahead of ourselves it ain’t going to happen. That’s when you make mistakes.”

Kirby Puckett is cautiously optimistic:

“In my opinion, we haven’t clinched anything yet,” he said. “Since I’ve been here we haven’t clinched anything - period. I don’t care if it’s at home or on the road. It doesn’t matter.

“But we’re still in first place. We’ll be all right. There’s no problem.”

And from Sid Hartman’s column:

The Twins’ two losses to Kansas City have former owner Calvin Griffith concerned that they may blow the Western Division title even though they had a six-game lead. “It is discouraging to see a team leave 21 men on base like the Twins have the past two days,” he said. “A six-game lead can go in a hurry. I recall Gene Mauch having a 6 1/2-game lead with 12 games to play when he managed the Phillies (in 1964), and they blew it. Anything can happen.”

Bert Blyleven will pitch Sunday’s home finale against the Royals on three days rest due to an injury to previously scheduled starter Joe Niekro.

Player of the Game

Danny Tartabull

AL West Standings through 9/26 (Retrosheet)

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                155   83   72    0  .535     -   761  773
Kansas City Royals             155   78   77    0  .503   5.0   680  666
Oakland Athletics              155   77   78    0  .497   6.0   781  747
Texas Rangers                  154   73   81    0  .474   9.5   790  807
Seattle Mariners               154   72   82    0  .468  10.5   718  766
California Angels              155   72   83    0  .465  11.0   726  764
Chicago White Sox              155   71   84    0  .458  12.0   706  734

Tomorrow vs Kansas City: Bert Blyleven 14-11 4.16 vs Charlie Leibrandt (L) 15-10 3.25
Monday-Wednesday @ TEX
Friday-Sunday @ KC

Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: @ MIN (1); vs SEA; vs MIN
Oakland: vs CHW (1); vs CLE; @ CHW

Game 154: Kansas City Royals (76-77) @ Minnesota Twins (83-70)

Friday September 25, 1987

Royals 6, Twins 4

Kansas City used a five run fifth inning to do what has seemed nearly impossible lately: defeating the Twins at the Metrodome. The victory kept Kansas City’s slim hopes for an AL West title alive, though they need to sweep the six games they have against the Twins to have any chance at all.

Despite the loss, the Twins’ magic number managed to find its way down to “3″ because of an Oakland loss. Oakland is now tied in second place with Kansas City.

52,704 fans, billed in the Star Tribune as a record crowd, filled the Metrodome for what seemed to be a celebration of success. The Royals put off the party, however, when they got to Straker in the fifth. Three home runs, one off of Straker and two off of reliever Dan Schatzeder, were enough to change a 4-1 Twins lead into a 6-4 Royals lead, and eventual win. The biggest blow came on a two-run shot by George Brett, who also had an RBI double in the fourth inning to put his team on the board.

The Royals seem to be more motivated to keep the Twins from celebrating than any title aspirations of their own. From the Star Tribune:

“We don’t want the Twins celebrating against us,” said (Jamie) Quirk, who hit a back-breaking pennant race homer against the Twins in 1984 as a member of the Cleveland Indians. “Let them celebrate against somebody else.”

Player of the Game

George Brett 2-, 3 BB, 1 R, 3 RBI

AL West Standings through 9/25 (Retrosheet)

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                154   83   71    0  .539     -   757  766
Kansas City Royals             154   77   77    0  .500   6.0   673  662
Oakland Athletics              154   77   77    0  .500   6.0   779  744
Texas Rangers                  153   73   80    0  .477   9.5   789  805
California Angels              154   72   82    0  .468  11.0   716  753
Seattle Mariners               153   71   82    0  .464  11.5   716  765
Chicago White Sox              154   70   84    0  .455  13.0   703  732

Tomorrow vs Kansas City: Steve Carlton (L) 1-5 7.12 vs Bret Saberhagen 17-10 3.35
Sunday vs KC
Monday-Wednesday @ TEX
10/2-10/4 @ KC

Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: @ MIN (2); vs SEA; vs MIN
Oakland: vs CHW (2); vs CLE; @ CHW

The Much Anticipated CW 2007 Picks

NL East
Pitching will once again be the Mets’ weakness, but they have enough to win the East again. The Phillies ought to give them a good run, however, and are my pick for the NL Wild Card.

1. New York Mets
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Atlanta Braves
4. Florida Marlins
5. Washington Nationals

NL Central
Everybody seems to like the Cubs and the Brewers to improve dramatically and contend for the Central. I like the Brewers, but don’t see Lou Piniella and a few over-priced free agents being able to carry the Cubs much beyond .500. I think this one will be wide open again, with every team being bunched together save the Pirates, who still have the best ballpark in baseball. Last year’s champs don’t make the playoffs.

1. Milwaukee Brewers
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Houston Astros
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Chicago Cubs
6. Pittsburgh Pirates.

NL West
The trendy pick is Arizona, and I can see them making a run in a fairly weak division. The Dodgers lineup is a little on the old side for my taste, but I still see them being the class of the NL West.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Arizona Diamondbacks
3. San Diego Padres
4. San Francisco Giants
5. Colorado Rockies

AL East
Boring. Same order as always.

1. New York Yankees
2. Boston Red Sox
3. Toronto Blue Jays
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Tampa Bay Devil Rays

AL Central
The best division in baseball is a tough one to call. The homer in me wants to see the Twins on top, while Cleveland seems to be the trendy pick. Still, the Tigers have the good young pitchers and the lineup will score just enough to win Detroit the Central, while the Twins narrowly edge out the Indians for the AL Wild Card.

1. Detroit Tigers
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Cleveland Indians
4. Chicago White Sox
5. Kansas City Royals

AL West
If the Angels’ pitching staff can stay healthy, this should be a pretty easy race for them to win.

1 . Los Angeles Angels
2. Oakland A’s
3. Seattle Mariners
4. Texas Rangers

If the two best teams simply went to the World Series without playoffs, it would be the Tigers over the Mets in the fall classic. Instead, we get an eight-team crap-shoot in which any of the teams can win. That’s a good thing for the Twins. I guess I gotta make a prediction though, so here goes:

Twins over Yankees in 5
Tigers over Angels in 3

Mets over Brewers in 4
Phillies over Dodgers in 5

ALCS: Tigers over Twins in 5
NLCS: Mets over Phillies in 7

World Series: Tigers over Mets in 6

Game 153: Texas Rangers (73-78) @ Minnesota Twins (82-70)

Thursday September 24, 1987

Twins 4, Texas 0

The magic number is down to “4″ thanks to a combined shut out by Frank Viola and Juan Berenguer over the Texas Rangers and a second consecutive Oakland loss to Cleveland.

Greg Gagne earned the team some insurance runs in the sixth when he hit a two-run inside-the-park home run to stretch the lead to four. Rangers center fielder Bob Brower attempted to make a shoestring catch on a Gagne line drive. The ball got by him and rolled all the way to the wall in center.

Mark Vancil in the Star Tribune:

The victory gave the Twins their second straight three-game sweep; they started the homestand with three victories over Cleveland. They are six games ahead of Oakland, which lost 4-2 to Chicago; seven ahead of Kansas City, and 9 1/2 in front of Texas. With nine games left and three of those inside the uncommonly friendly confines of the Dome, all eyes are on October.

Tomorrow night’s series opener against Kansas City is already sold out as pennant fever seems to be hitting the state of Minnesota.

Player of the Game

Frank Viola 8 IP 0 R 3 H 10 K

AL West Standings through 9/24 (Retrosheet)

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                153   83   70    0  .542     -   753  760
Oakland Athletics              153   77   76    0  .503   6.0   778  742
Kansas City Royals             153   76   77    0  .497   7.0   667  658
Texas Rangers                  152   73   79    0  .480   9.5   786  793
California Angels              153   72   81    0  .471  11.0   711  746
Seattle Mariners               152   70   82    0  .461  12.5   704  762
Chicago White Sox              153   69   84    0  .451  14.0   701  731

Tomorrow vs Kansas City: Les Straker 8-9 4.37 vs Danny Jackson (L) 8-18 4.01
Saturday-Sunday vs KC
Monday-Wednesday @ TEX
10/2-10/4 @ KC

Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: @ MIN; vs SEA; vs MIN
Oakland: vs CHW; vs CLE; @ CHW

Kirby Puckett plays his last game

March 28, 1996

The concern over Kirby Puckett in the spring of 1996 was starting to change to optimism. Puckett took a Dennis Martinez pitch to the jaw at the end of the 1995 season, and there was some fear among Twins’ fans that Puckett may never be the same.

Spring training 1996 was a chance for Puckett to show that he was the same hitter he had always been. The spring numbers seemed to foreshadow another great season for Puckett. That all changed one day before the team planned to break camp.

On Thursday morning, March 28, Puckett woke up with a strange spot in the middle of his vision on the right side, and everything seemed just a bit blurry. From Jim Souhan’s story a few days later in the Star Tribune:

Puckett sounded doubtful that he will be able to play on Monday, when the Twins will open the season at the Metrodome against the Detroit Tigers.

“My right eye is my dominant eye,” he said. “If it was my left eye, then I think I’d be able to hit. But I need my right eye. I can’t hit right now. I’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Puckett was placed on the 15-day disabled list, and all indication suggested that he would return when that time was up, April 12. As the date approached, it became more clear that Puckett’s vision problem was not going away as soon as expected.

The saga played out through the first half of the Twins’ 1996 season. Puckett was eventually diagnosed with glaucoma, and the severity was such that he ultimately retired from baseball in July.

Sources:

Baseball Library

Souhan, Jim. “Vision problems might keep Puckett from Twins’ opener” Star Tribune 3/29/1996.

Game 152: Texas Rangers (73-77) @ Minnesota Twins (81-70)

Wednesday September 23, 1987

Twins 4, Rangers 2

A Dan Gladden RBI triple in the eighth inning started a two-run rally that was capped by a Don Baylor single on the way to the Twins’ second straight victory over the Rangers. The win, combined with an Oakland loss, dropped the magic number to “6″.

Gladden was also responsible for the home team’s other two runs as well; he hit a two run home run in the sixth inning.

Texas starter Jose Guzman actually took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but ended up taking the loss with all four runs credited to him.

Jeff Reardon tossed his 14th straight scoreless inning in relief, and earned his 30th save of the season. He has now saved four consecutive games. From Mark Vancil’s article in the Star Tribune:

“If everything holds up, I’ll go out there every day until we win it,” Reardon said. “I felt fine, and T.K. (Kelly) just said to tell him if there’s any kind of pain. But it’s awfully hard to say no this time of the year.

“I still feel like I can go out there and do the job even if I don’t have my best stuff. I’ll rest if I feel a twinge in my shoulder or something, but I haven’t felt anything. It’s just like everyone else: You want to go out and do your job every day and try to knock the magic number down.”

Player of the Game

Dan Gladden

AL West Standings through 9/23 (Retrosheet)

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                152   82   70    0  .539     -   749  760
Oakland Athletics              152   77   75    0  .507   5.0   776  738
Kansas City Royals             153   76   77    0  .497   6.5   667  658
Texas Rangers                  151   73   78    0  .483   8.5   786  789
California Angels              153   72   81    0  .471  10.5   711  746
Seattle Mariners               152   70   82    0  .461  12.0   704  762
Chicago White Sox              152   68   84    0  .447  14.0   697  729

Tomorrow vs Texas: Frank Viola (L) 16-9 2.99 vs Charlie Hough 17-11 3.78
Friday-Sunday vs KC
Monday-Wednesday @ TEX
10/2-10/4 @ KC

Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: @ MIN; vs SEA; vs MIN
Oakland: vs CHW (4); vs CLE; @ CHW

GOTW: My Favorite Game from 2006

August 9, 2006
Comerica Park

Minnesota Twins 66-46 3rd AL Central @ Detroit Tigers 76-37 1st AL Central

Pre-Game

The Twins had been about as hot as a team could be. Since June 8 they had put together a 41-13 record, but seemed unable to make up ground in the AL Central. On June 7, they were in fourth place, 11.5 games behind surging Detroit. As the Twins’ incredible streak rolled on through the summer months, the Tigers seemed to be matching them almost win for win. Heading into a three game series in early August, the Twins had made up exactly two games on the AL Central leaders.

It seemed inevitable that the Tigers would finish their run to the AL Central crown in 2006. Just three years before, Detroit was in contention for the worst record in ML history (a record they avoided, in part, by beating the Twins on the last weekend of the season). Now, with Jim Leyland managing, the Tigers were good, on their way to being the best team in baseball. The offense was relentless all year, and were able to score enough runs to win games behind a solid young pitching staff.

With all of the talent the Tigers were sporting in 2006, a lot of the buzz was surrounding a young fire-baller out of the bullpen. Joel Zumaya had hit 100+ on the radar gun on several occasions in 2006, and actually saw a “103″ on the board in the first game of the series against the Twins. Zumaya had been nearly un-hittable, and was sporting a microscopic 1.14 ERA since May 20.

The team in the other clubhouse was likely thinking of their chances to grab the AL Wild-Card, being so far out of the division race behind a red-hot leader. In fact, on August 8, they found themselves only 1.5 games behind the Yankees for the Wild Card lead. More frustrating was the fact that their rookie pitching phenom, Francisco Liriano, was likely to end up on the disabled list by day’s end.

Justin Morneau came into the game with 29 home runs on the season. That number is significant because the Twins had not had a 30 home run hitter in almost 20 years.

The teams split the first two games in a couple of well-played August ball games in front of a hot Detroit crowd. The stage was set for a great pitching match-up in the rubber game.

Managers:
Ron Gardenhire 5th Season (5th with Minnesota)
Jim Leyland 15th Season (1st with Detroit)

Pitchers (ERA/FIP/WHIP):
Johan Santana (L) 12-5 3.22/3.22/1.08 vs
Jeremy Bonderman 11-5 3.81/3.24/1.20

Twins Lineup 5.19 RPG
1. Luis Castillo 2B .284/.342/.371 3 HR
2. Nick Punto 3B .313/.403/.418 0 HR
3. Joe Mauer C .367/.445/.534 10 HR
4. Michael Cuddyer RF .266/.356/.497 16 HR
5. Justin Morneau 1B .323/.377/.600 29 HR
6. Torii Hunter CF .279/.351/.456 15 HR
7. Jason Kubel DH .273/.314/.443 8 HR
8. Jason Tyner LF .316/.362/.327 0 HR
9. Jason Bartlett SS .364/.432/.479 1 HR

Tigers Lineup 5.23 RPG
1. Placido Polanco 2B .298/.330/.365 3 HR
2. Craig Monroe DH .273/.308/.501 19 HR
3. Ivan Rodriguez 1B .307/.332/.447 9 HR
4. Magglio Ordonez RF .300/.348/.476 16 HR
5. Carlos Guillen SS .309/.391/.510 13 HR
6. Marcus Thames LF .273/.346/.587 21 HR
7. Brandon Inge 3B .246/.306/.469 20 HR
8. Vance Wilson C .283/.306/.458 4 HR
9. Brent Clevlen CF .455/.538/1.091 2 HR (14 PA)

The Game

36,339 gathered at Comerica Park for game three of the series. The Twins jumped ahead early in the top of the first when Nick Punto doubled home Luis Castillo with no outs. In the early innings, it looked like that might be enough run support for Johan Santana, who didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning.

Santana and Bonderman exchanged scoreless innings until the bottom of the sixth. Santana’s performance was highlighted by the strikeout (he had seven through the first five innings), while Bonderman seemed to be keeping the Twins’ lineup off balance.

In the Detroit sixth, Brent Clevelan, who had some success off of Santana in his career, led off the inning with a triple. Placido Polanco singled him home to tie the game.

The Twins answered in their half of the seventh. With one out, Jason Kubel drew a walk off of Bonderman. With Josh Rabe pinch-running, Jason Tyner singled to center to send Rabe to second. After a Jason Bartlett “productive out” pushed the runners up, Luis Castillo singled Rabe home to reclaim the lead for Minnesota.

Santana got himself into trouble in the bottom of the seventh with a lead-off walk to Carlos Guillen. It was only his second free pass of the game, but it came around to haunt the Twins when Brandon Inge hit a home run to left field to put the Tigers ahead.

In the top of the eighth, with Joe Mauer at first due to a lead-off walk surrendered by Jamie Walker, Joel Zumaya entered the game for the Tigers. Zumaya promptly struck Michael Cuddyer out on three straight called strikes to set up his match up with Justin Morneau.

Zumaya went with his best pitch, a fast ball, on the first pitch. Justin Morneau did the unthinkable, turning on the pitch and sending out, just inside of the right field foul pole for his 30th home run of the season. More importantly, the Twins were ahead to stay.

Juan Rincon, Denys Reyes, and Joe Nathan retired the final six Tigers in a row to close out the series win for the Twins.

Baseball-reference boxscore and play-by-play

Stars of the Game
1. Johan Santana MIN 7 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 10 K
2. Justin Morneau MIN GW-HR
3. Luis Castillo MIN 4-4 1 R, 1 RBI

Post-Game

The 2006 fate of these two teams split following this series. Here are the AL Central Standings after play on August 9 from Retrosheet:

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Detroit Tigers                 114   76   38    0  .667     -   594  447
Minnesota Twins                113   67   46    0  .593   8.5   585  512
Chicago White Sox              112   66   46    0  .589   9.0   637  549
Cleveland Indians              112   48   64    0  .429  27.0   602  570
Kansas City Royals             113   40   73    0  .354  35.5   517  680

Detroit went 19-29 over their last 48 games, including dropping their last five of the season putting their spot as AL Central champs in a vulnerable position.

The Twins went 29-20 over the same stretch and were able to overtake the Tigers and win an improbable division title.

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                162   96   66    0  .593     -   801  683
Detroit Tigers                 162   95   67    0  .586   1.0   822  675
Chicago White Sox              162   90   72    0  .556   6.0   868  794
Cleveland Indians              162   78   84    0  .481  18.0   870  782
Kansas City Royals             162   62  100    0  .383  34.0   757  971

It was the Tigers who had more post season success, however, defeating both the Yankees and the Tigers in the AL playoffs before falling to St. Louis in the World Series. The Twins, on the other hand, were swept in the first round.

Game 151: Texas Rangers (73-76) @ Minnesota Twins (80-70)

Tuesday September 22, 1987

Twins 6, Rangers 4

The Twins got a decent start out of Joe Niekro (5 1/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER), three home runs from the offense (Puckett, Gagne, and Brunansky, then got 4 2/3 perfect innings from Dan Schatzeder, Keith Atherton, and Jeff Reardon to close out the victory over the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers helped the Twins as well, losing a fly ball in the ceiling in the eighth inning, prompting this curious entry in the Retrosheet play-by-play data.

TWINS 8TH: MOHORCIC REPLACED RUSSELL (PITCHING); Puckett
grounded out (pitcher to first); Gaetti singled to left; Larkin
struck out; Brunansky doubled to shortstop [Gaetti scored];
Lombardozzi struck out; 1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB.  Rangers 4, Twins
6.

Only in the Metrodome.

The win keeps the Twins four games ahead of the A’s in the AL West. The magic number is down to “8″. On the same day, the Twins won to coin toss to host any playoff games in the event of a tie in the division.

Kent Hrbek remains out of the lineup since he suffered an upper respiratory infection last week. He has reportedly lost ten pound since then. It is not clear when Hrbek will return to the lineup.

Player(s) of the Game

The Bullpen

AL West Standings through 9/22 (Retrosheet)

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                151   81   70    0  .536     -   745  758
Oakland Athletics              151   77   74    0  .510   4.0   770  730
Kansas City Royals             152   75   77    0  .493   6.5   658  658
Texas Rangers                  150   73   77    0  .487   7.5   784  785
California Angels              152   71   81    0  .467  10.5   701  740
Seattle Mariners               151   70   81    0  .464  11.0   704  753
Chicago White Sox              151   68   83    0  .450  13.0   691  719

Tomorrow vs Texas: Bert Blyleven 14-11 4.20 vs Jose Guzman 14-11 4.64
Thursday vs TEX
Friday-Sunday vs KC
9/28-9/30 @ TEX
10/2-10/4 @ KC

Other Remaining Schedules (3 games unless noted)
Kansas City: @ SEA (1); @ MIN; vs SEA; vs MIN
Oakland: @ CLE (1); vs CHW (4); vs CLE; @ CHW

A Twins Classic

I was going to use this space to write something about this year’s team, probably about Carlos Silva and how he shouldn’t be in the rotation next week. I discovered last night, however, that FSN was replaying game five of the 1987 ALCS. Since Silva has been discussed at length, I thought I would write some impressions from the stroll down memory lane.

-There’s something about Tiger stadium. I have been to games at both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, but I never got to see Tiger Stadium. That’s a shame, because I would have loved to sit in the upper deck bleachers in the outfield. What’s more: it was a day game. An ALCS day game.

-I forgot how good Bob Costas was at calling a ballgame- easily better than any of the network guys today. In fact, I think I would take him over just about anyone going, save Vin Scully. Throughout the game Costas discussed history. Not history as in who was in the World Series last year history, but relevant facts that related the two teams playing to the past (lots of references to the ‘68 Tigers and the ‘65 Twins). I suppose that wouldn’t play well to today’s FOX audience. He and Tony Kubek were a great team, and neither felt the need to talk when the pictures were telling the story; something lot of broadcasters would do well to learn.

-Man, are those pants tight. I love the socks though. Bert Blyleven should be in the Hall of Fame if only for his stirrups.

-Greg Gagne was my favorite player for a long time, and watching him play short stop in ‘87 reminds me why. He was so slick, made it look almost effortless. Full disclosure: he made an error in the third inning, though on the play he attempted to play a short-hop on a ball on the infield grass- it probably would have been ruled a hit by most official scorers. Kubek and Costas even said it should have been a hit.

-For all of the good numbers he put up since arriving in Detroit in late 1987, Doyle Alexander really unraveled in the post season. That is rarely mentioned in discussions of the merits of the Alexander-for-Smoltz deal of 1987.

-I’m pretty sure that, apart from the grand slam in game six of the ‘87 World Series, Kent Hrbek didn’t have much post season success (Baseball Reference confirms this: .154/.252/.264 in 24 career post season games).

-As good of a hitter as Kirk Gibson was, Kubek and Costas sure didn’t think much of his fielding. Kubek almost burst out laughing considering the notion that Gibson might have had a chance to throw out Dan Gladden at home.

-I missed a big chunk of the middle of the game because the little guy needed a bath. Incidentally, he cried a lot during the game. I’m not sure this is a good sign for the upcoming season.

-It is difficult to watch an older game now that I am so accustomed to having the score, inning, and count on the screen at all times. It takes a while to get used to actually remembering the count (and it is hard to do with a crying kid in the room). I don’t, however, miss the other graphics that come with the modern-day broadcast.

-I hope FSN does this more often. Previous “classic” Twins games have mostly been important games from last year. While baseball is baseball, and I will take what I can get in the off-season, it is nice to see them go a little farther back in team history.

“What a bunch of unlikely champions we are looking at here” - Bob Costas while the Twins were celebrating on the field at Tiger Stadium.

The Franchise 1916

1916 Washington Nationals

Manager: Clark Griffith 16th Season (5th with Washington 423-343-15)
76 W 77 L 6 T 536 RS 543 RA 7th AL 14.5 GB (Boston 91-63-2)
3.37 RPG (AL = 3.68) 2.67 ERA (AL = 2.82)
.695 DER (6th AL)

Franchise (1901-1916) 1033-1351-51

The Nationals started the 1916 season with few changes from the club a year before. The only major move during the off season was the sale of Chick Gandil to the White Sox to make room for rookie Joe Judge at first base. Aside from that move, the lineup and the pitching staff looked basically the same as it has since 1912.

That may have seemed like a good thing. The Nats had four straight winning seasons with that lineup, the only four in the young history of the franchise. They had the best pitcher in baseball to play behind, and probably were thinking pennant at the beginning of the season.

Washington hung around in the race until the end of June, but found themselves in seventh place and below .500 by early August, which is where they finished.

The offense, which has always been the weakness of Griffith’s teams, was getting older. George McBride’s limited hitting skills were growing worse by the year while Clyde Milan seemed to be falling as well. Though Joe Judge would be a good player in Washington for many years, his first season was well below the level of play Griffith got out of Gandil in the previous season. The power situation was so bad, that an August addition, Elmer Smith, led the team in home runs with two, and the team finished dead last in AL slugging percentage (.306) and OPS+ (93). It all added up to another sub-par offensive season, and the pitching, while good, was not good enough to make up for it.

In August, Griffith made a trade that signaled he might be bringing in the new guard. While the players involved in the trade were not particularly notable, it made room for a young pitcher to change positions and start his career in right field.

It is commonly reported that the 1916 Nationals won 16 road game in a row, but that must have involved some creative accounting because a quick glance over the game logs at several sites indicate that the longest road winning streak was four games between June 15 and June 20. (Ed. note: the Nats won 16 straight road games in 1912).

Roster/Stats
Bold = Player new to Washington in 1916

C John Henry .249/.364/.308 0 HR 1.4 BFW 13 WS 25 FRAR 4.8 WARP3
Based on WARP3, this was Henry’s most productive season. He had career highs in most offensive categories, and played in 117 games- 22 more than his previous high. His defense did seem to slip a little, but at the age of 27 he was still among the best in the league.

1B Joe Judge .220/.333/.298 0 HR -0.1 BFW 8 WS 6 FRAR 2.2 WARP3
The 22-year old Judge did not have an ovely impressive debut season as the Nats every day first baseman. It is quite possible that Griffith and Washington fans were regretting the sale of Chick Gandil. Judge would turn it around quickly, however, and hold down first base in Washington for nearly two decades.

Joe Judge

2B Ray Morgan .267/.398/.340 1 HR 0.4 BFW 15 WS 10 FRAR 5.5 WARP3
Back as a regular following the auto accident that cut off most of his 1915 season, Morgan had what is likely his best season at the age of 27. He finished fourth in AL OBP, and was the best hitter on his team.

SS George McBride .227/.271/.283 1 HR 0.3 BFW 13 WS 52 FRAR 5.4 WARP3
While McBride rebounded slightly from a terrible offensive season in 1915, 1916 would be his last season as a regular at short stop. While he never really became an offensive threat, he was able to tread water enough with the bat to keep his great defensive work in the regular lineup. McBride will stay on the roster until 1920, playing a few games here and there. His main job over the next few years will be as Clark Griffith’s right-hand man and heir apparent to the Washington manager.

Perhaps the highlight of McBride’s final season as a regular came in late June when McBride threw his bat at Boston’s Carl Mays after a pitch sailed perilously close to his head.

George McBride career:
.218/.281/.264 7 HR 1.5 BFW 127 WS 484 FRAR 45.9 WARP3

3B Eddie Foster .252/.332/.317 1 HR -1.8 BFW 17 WS 23 FRAR 4.6 WARP3
Once again Foster played a chunk of games at second base, and excelled there defensively, earning 17 out of his 23 FRAR at 2B in just 72 games. Although the 29-year old will be a regular for Washington or Boston through the early 1920’s, he hit his last career home run in 1916. He finished his career with six home runs.

LF Howie Shanks .253/.317/.321 1 HR 0.0 BFW 13 WS 19 FRAR 3.6 WARP3
Shanks’ greatest strength continued to be his versatility in the field. In 1916 he played every position but 2B, C, and P at least once. 1916 was also his best season at the plate so far in his career.

CF Clyde Milan .273/.343/.313 1 HR 0.3 BFW 18 WS 10 FRAR 3.4 WARP3
This is the first year that Milan’s OPS+ fell below 100 since 1909. He will be back above league average again next season.

RF Danny Moeller .246/.335/.300 1 HR -0.1 BFW 6 WS 4 FRAR 1.5 WARP3
Moeller was traded mid-season along with Joe Boehling to Cleveland in exchange for Elmer Smith for outfielder Elmer Smith and infielder Joe Leonard. None of the men involved in the trade had much of an impact for their new team (save Smith’s team lead in the home run standings), but the move made room in right field for:

RF Sam Rice .299/.352/.386 1 HR 0.4 BFW 8 WS 3 FRAR 1.8 WARP3
Rice also pitched 21.3 innings in 1916, but his pitching career ended there (9 G, 1-1, 2.52 ERA, 1.27 WHIP career). Edgar “Sam” Rice started his ML career at the age of 25 due to a stint in the merchant marines and the US Navy. He saw combat aboard the USS New Hampshire off the coast of Mexico in April 1914. Rice was noticed playing semi-pro ball while on leave that August, and purchased from the Navy by the owner of the Portsmouth Truckers. He was purchased by the Nationals in July of 1915.

Sam Rice

SP Walter Johnson 25-20 1.90 ERA 1.01 WHIP 5.2 PW 36 WS 13.4 WARP3
Though his ERA was up slightly from his incredible run in the early part of the decade (his ERA+ was “only” 147), Johnson had yet another dominant year. At the age of 28, Johnson did not allow a single home run in and AL league-leading 369.7 innings pitched. He added 36 complete games and three shutouts to his career totals, and led the AL in strikeout to walk ratio for the fifth straight season.

As an interesting aside, Walter Johnson faced Babe Ruth head-to-head at least five times over the course of the 1916 season.

Date-Location-Outcome
4/16 Fenway Park; Bos 5, Was 1; ended after seven innings due to rain
6/1 Fenway Park; Bos 1, Was 0; Ruth’s second straight shut out
8/15 Fenway Park; Bos 1, Was 0; 13 innings, Johnson allowed only five hits
9/9 AL Park; Bos 2, Was 1; Ruth 4-hitter
9/12 AL Park; Was 4, Bos 3; 10 innings, Johnson’s only win vs. Ruth in 1916

Final Tally: Babe Ruth 4, Walter Johnson 1

SP Harry Harper 14-10 2.45 ERA 1.24 WHIP 1.0 PW 19 WS 6.0 WARP3
The lefty pitched a handful of games in three previous seasons, but 1916 was the 21-year old’s breakout year. Harper will hang around in the starting rotation for a while, have a few solid seasons, but won’t be consistent enough to stay around too long.

SP Bert Gallia 17-12 2.36 ERA 1.33 WHIP 0.1 PW 18 WS 5.1 WARP3
The second straight good season for Gallia, will be traded away after a not-so-good 1917 season.

SP Joe Boehling 9-11 3.09 ERA 1.35 WHIP -0.5 PW 7 WS 2.0 WARP3
As mentioned above, Boehling went to Cleveland in the Danny Moeller deal. The move effectively signaled the end of Boehling’s career, though he would pitch in Cleveland as late as 1920.

RP Doc Ayers 5-9 3.78 ERA 1.43 WHIP -2.0 PW 2 WS -0.8 WARP3
As is true of relievers even today, a small sample size provided a wide variance from season to season for Ayers (though Ayers hovered around 150-200 innings as a reliever, while 80 innings in relief is a lot today). Ayers went from a 134 ERA+ in 1915 to 74 ERA+ in 1916. The totality of his career indicates that he was probably a slightly above average pitcher, but 1916 was easily his worst.

1916 World Series
The Red Sox won their second straight World Series, and the fourth in the history of the franchise when they defeated the Brooklyn Robins four games to one. Once again the Red Sox did it with pitching. Babe Ruth (23-12, 1.75 ERA during the season) pitched 14 innings in game two to earn the 2-1 win.