Taking my mind off the Twins

A musical selection that puts the end of the 2007 playoff hopes into perspective.

*This is from Flight of the Conchords - my new favorite television show.

Back to baseball on Monday.

1987 World Series DVD: Game 4

This was the game in which the Cardinals turned the tables on the Twins and used a six-run fourth inning to run away and hide early. The Card’s win tied the series at two game a piece after it looked as though the Twins might win in a laugher. This is also the game that made Tom Lawless a star.

Let’s get the Tim McCarver-isms out of the way.

Bottom of the 3rd Inning after the pitcher Greg Mathews grounded out to short on the first pitch of the inning: “that is the first time he has made an out this post season. He is 2-for-2 with two sacrifices.” I’m not sure if this was a slip or just the facts based on the way the sacrifice is revered in baseball. The fact that a sacrifice = an out seems to be lost not just on McCarver, but on many others who enjoy small ball.

Later that same inning after Ozzie Smith scored from third on a Jim Lindeman single (Smith initially reached by walking): “it’s amazing how many walks score, as opposed to guys who have to battle their way on base.” We’ll forget the fact that study after study has indicated that a player who reaches first via single, hit by pitch, catcher’s interference, etc, is no more or less likely to score than a player that was walked (most of that research was probably done since 1987). What bothers me more is that a former major league hitter doesn’t seem to think that it requires all that much skill to draw a walk. There are guys who battle their way on base, and guys who get there by walking apparently.

Alright, now on to Lawless. His home run off of Frank Viola in the fourth inning is infamous in Minnesota, mostly for the way he trotted up the line and flipped his bat. The announcers that day (and others since) love to make a big deal about Lawless’ .080 average that season and the fact that he didn’t hit a single home run the entire regular season. Well, as it turns out, the entire regular season meant 25 at-bats to Lawless, who was on the roster the entire season as a third catcher (Jim Palmer mentioned that early in the game) and didn’t get much playing time. There are plenty of great hitters that have gone numerous stretches of 2-for-25 with no home runs, so it isn’t really that remarkable that Lawless would find the bleachers at some point - even Al Newman and Jason Tyner have gone deep once in their careers. It just so happened for Lawless that the time came in the World Series.

In regards to the bat flip, I can see why it got under the skin of players and fans at the time, but it really wasn’t any worse than what Juan Berenguer did in the ALCS that year. How was Lawless supposed to know how to act after hitting a home run anyways?

The only other item of note from the broadcast of Game 4 was the conversation around George Frazier when he entered the game in the later innings. Paul Molitor implied in his “Inside Pitch” segment that Frazier was known to throw wet pitches. When Frazier struck the mighty Lawless out in the seventh, McCarver quickly chimed in about how the pitch “looked like a wet one” to him. Palmer quickly corrected McCarver, saying that it was actually a hanging breaking ball that caught Lawless looking.

It is also worth mentioning that the Twins showed some life after the Cardinals’ big inning, and looked to be rallying in the top of the fifth until Ozzie Smith and Vince Coleman made back-to-back great defensive plays on balls hit by Gaetti and Brunansky to end the inning with only one run across.

At the rate I am going, I probably won’t finish Game 5 until the holidays.

Born August 30, 1979
Luis Rivas
He was a starter in the AAA All-Star Game this year.

Born August 30, 1956
Roger Erickson

GOTW: 8.29.1982

Sunday August 29, 1982
Metrodome

Cleveland Indians (61-64) @ Minnesota Twins (47-82)

1982 is generally considered one of the worst seasons in franchise history, but today is more often regarded with a certain fondness. In essence, it was year one of the rebuilding phase that ultimately led to the success the franchise realized in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

The Twins’ roster was full of now familiar names who were, at the time, young prospects. The Hrbeks, Gaettis, Violas, and Brunanskys would all have to endure a 102-loss season before they realized the success of 1987.

Still, the team did manage to win from time to time in 1982, and actually put together a series sweep or two. One of those came at home late in the season against the Cleveland Indians. The Twins took the first two games 5-3 and 10-0; the latter being the only shut out in the career of Jack O’Connor. 8,926 fans gathered in the newly opened Metrodome for the series finale.

   Cleveland Indians             Minnesota Twins                      
1. M Dilone             LF    1. M Hatcher            RF
2. M Hargrove           1B    2. J Castino            2B
3. T Harrah             3B    3. T Brunansky          CF
4. A Thornton           DH    4. K Hrbek              1B
5. V Hayes              RF    5. G Ward               LF
6. R Hassey             C     6. G Gaetti             3B
7. R Manning            CF    7. R Bush               DH
8. A Bannister          2B    8. S Butera             C
9. L Milbourne          SS    9. L Faedo              SS 

   E Whitson            P        B Castillo           P

Things didn’t start of well for the Twins and starting pitcher Bobby Castillo, who allowed a three-run home run to Andre Thornton in the first inning. Castillo settled down after the first, however, and didn’t allow another hit over the next seven innings after giving up four in the first frame.

The Twins first got to Ed Whitson in the second inning when short stop Lenny Faedo drew a bases-loaded walk to push across and unearned run (Gary Ward had reached on an error earlier in the inning). The score remained 3-1 until the sixth inning, when Randy Bush’s sacrifice fly cut the Indians’ lead to one.

The game turned around when Whitson was removed after the seventh inning. Ed had allowed just two runs on five hits over seven innings pitched, but was still pulled in favor of Dan Spillner. It was probably the right move, considering that Spillner was one of the better pitchers on the Cleveland staff, but the Twins displayed what ended up being a small glimpse into their future to spoil Spillner’s outing.

Brunansky started the inning with a double. He reached third when rookie Kent Hrbek hit an infield single. Ward’s single to right scored Brunansky for the tie; and another infield single, this time off the bat of Gaetti, loaded the bases with no outs. Randy Bush’s ground out to short plated the go-ahead run, while Sal Butera added some insurance with a one-out, two RBI single to center.

Castillo finished his complete game, working around a ninth inning single, the only hit he gave up after the first, to retire the Indians and complete the sweep.

Stars of the Game
1. Bobby Castillo MIN 9 IP 5 H 3 R
2. Andre Thornton CLE 3-R 1st inning HR
3. Gary Ward MIN 2-for-3, 2 R, RBI

BOX

The relentless attack that led to the comeback was not a common occurrence for the team in 1982, but it certainly would be in the years to come.

Born August 29, 1971
Henry Blanco
Check out the “Hank White” fan club.

The Franchise 1933

1933 Washington Nationals

Manager: Joe Cronin 1st Season (1st with Washington 99-53-1)
99 W 53 L 1 T 850 RS 665 RA 1st AL 7.0 GA (New York 91-59-2)
5.56 RPG (AL = 5.00) 3.82 ERA (AL = 4.28)
.708 DER (1st AL)

All Stars: 2 (Joe Cronin, General Crowder)

Franchise (1901-1933) 2396-2541-76; 8-11 WS

Joe Cronin

Though the franchise had a lot of success with Walter Johnson as manager, they still never really came close to a pennant. When the star pitcher of the past was fired following the 1932 season, Clark Griffith turned to his star short stop of the present, Joe Cronin, to manage the team in 1933 and beyond. The move was very reminiscent of another managerial change that Griffith had made about a decade earlier when he named Bucky Harris manager before the 1924 championship season.

There may have been more to the Cronin hiring, however. At some point during his time with Washington, Cronin married Clark Griffith’s niece. Different sources list events at different times, but suffice to say that it is entirely possibly that there were family considerations involved in Griffith’s decision to go with Cronin as manager.

Griffith and Cronin weren’t content standing pat with a 90-win team, and pulled off two huge trades on the same day. On December 14th, the Nats traded away four regular players, including CF Sam West and RP Firpo Marberry. In return, Griffith got, among others, SP Earl Whitehill, CF Fred Schulte, and a returning Goose Goslin, who predicted he would be back in Washington the day he heard that Walter Johnson was no longer manager.

Though the new players were big contributers from the beginning, early in the season it looked as though 1933 was going to be the same story in a different season. On June 7, Washington had a 27-21 record, a good mark, but only enough to be six game behind the Yankees. From June 8 to June 26, Washington won 15 of 17 games, which was even more remarkable considering that only two of those 17 games were at home. By the end of that stretch, Washington was atop the American League, a position that the team would hold until the end of the season. In 1933 the tables were turned, and it was the Yankees that won 91 games but found themselves seven games out of first place at the end of the year.

99 wins was the most the team would ever see in Washington, and the .651 winning percentage still stands as the best mark ever for the franchise. Unfortunately, the regular season success did not extend into the World Series. The Nats lost 6 of their last 10 regular season games, and the slump extended into the series with the New York Giants, where the Nats lost in five games.

Roster/Stats
Bold = Player new to Washington in 1933

C Luke Sewell .264/.335/.357 2 HR 0.0 BFW 16 WS 21 FRAR 3.2 WARP3
Sewell came in a catcher swap when Griffith sent Roy Spencer to Cleveland during the off season. Washington clearly got the better end of the trade, as Spencer went .203/.282/.242 in limited time with Cleveland. Sewell was 32-years-old and hadn’t caught more than 120 games since 1928, but appeared in 141 games for the Nats. His numbers weren’t overwhelming (84 OPS+), but he provided more offense from the catcher position than Washington had since Muddy Ruel was a regular in the previous decade. Sewell didn’t repeat his busy season with Washington, and was traded to the White Sox after playing only 50 games behind the plate in the 1934 season.

1B Joe Kuhel .322/.385/.467 11 HR 0.2 BFW 26 WS 19 FRAR 7.1 WARP3
1933 was Kuhel’s best season at the plate so far. He led the team in home runs (though his total indicates how unimportant the long ball was to the success of the team) and slugging percentage.

2B Buddy Myer .302/.374/.436 4 HR 1.8 BFW 23 WS 31 FRAR 6.7 WARP3
Myer had an interesting season in 1933, aside from the fact that it was probably his best so far. In a late April game against the Yankees, Myer stepped on Lou Gehrig’s foot during a play at first base. The Yankees waited a few days, and retaliated on April 25 when Ben Chapman slid into second spikes first at Myer. The game is delayed for 20 minutes plus as the two teams exchanged pleasantries. Both Myer and Chapman were suspended for five games. A few weeks later, Myer was carried off the field unconscious after being hit in the head by a Whit Wyatt pitch. Despite all of this, Myer still managed to appear in 131 games.

SS Joe Cronin .309/.398/.445 5 HR 3.9 BFW 34 WS 53 FRAR 11.0 WARP3
Aside from being the new manager, Cronin still remained the team’s best player. This was the fourth consecutive season that Cronin knocked in more than 100 RBI, and he represented the team at the inaugural All Star Game in Chicago (he went 1-for-3 with a run scored).

3B Ossie Bluege .261/.338/.325 6 HR -2.1 BFW 12 WS 22 FRAR 2.8 WARP3
Though there was a lot of team success in 1933, Bluege took a step backwards at the plate from his career norm. After bottoming out in an injury-shortened 1934 season, the 32-year-old would rebound. Bluege is one of only two Senators who was a regular in all three Washington World Series appearances (Goose Goslin was the other).

LF Heinie Manush .336/.372/.459 5 HR 0.5 BFW 27 WS 7 FRAR 5.1 WARP3
During the late summer of the year, Manush rattled off a 33-game hitting streak. Though he was still a liability in the field, he remained one of the team’s best offensive performers. For the second straight season, Manush finished third in the AL MVP voting (behind MVP Jimmie Foxx and teammate/manager Joe Cronin).

CF Fred Schulte .295/.366/.402 5 HR 0.6 BFW 21 WS 28 FRAR 5.6 WARP3
Schulte came as part of the Goose Goslin trade, and was essentially swapped for Sam West. Though Goslin was the big name, it turned out that the 32-year-old Schulte may have been the biggest acquisition. He was a very good defender, and hit just about the league average for a center fielder. Schulte was the only member of the team to hit consistently in the World Series, going .333/.364/.524 with a home run and four RBI in his only career World Series appearance.

RF Goose Goslin .297/.348/.452 10 HR 0.4 BFW 20 WS 18 FRAR 5.0 WARP3
It is interesting to speculate what Goslin’s career numbers may have looked like had he spent less time hitting at Griffith Stadium. Goslin had 127 home runs in 12 seasons with Washington, or about a home run every 44 plate appearances. During his time in St. Louis, he had a home run in about every 25 plate appearances. Goslin’s performance in 1933 was a bit disappointing to Griffith, and it was clear that Goose did not like the managing style of Joe Cronin, so his second stint with the Senators lasted only one season. Goslin was traded to Detroit following the World Series.

SP Alvin Crowder 24-15 3.97 ERA 1.31 WHIP 1.2 PW 21 WS 5.7 WARP3
1933 is Crowder’s last best season. After a horrible start in 1934 (4-10, 6.79 ERA), Washington let him go. He was eventually selected off of waivers by the Detroit Tigers, and had a good season in 1935, but retired after the 1936 season. Crowder was only with Washington for three full seasons (and parts of two others) between 1930 and 1934, but he won 87 games over that time period (98 total wins if you count his stint with the team from 1926-1927).

SP Earl Whitehill 22-8 3.33 ERA 1.37 WHIP 2.7 PW 23 WS 5.8 WARP3
Whitehill was acquired from the Detroit in exchange for Firpo Marberry and Carl Fischer. Prior to the trade, Whitehill had spent all of his 10 major league seasons with the Tigers. He had some very good seasons over the years, but 22 wins was his career high - he never won more than 17 in any other season. He was the winning pitcher in the only team victory in the 1933 Series, a 4-0 shut out of the Giants.

SP Lefty Stewart 15-6 3.82 ERA 1.24 WHIP 0.6 PW 14 WS 3.0 WARP3
Stewart was also a part of the Goose Goslin trade. He was a 20-game winner with the fifth place Browns in 1930, and had a solid season for Washington in 1933. A poor showing in 1934 meant that Stewart’s stay with Washington wouldn’t last long.

SP Monte Weaver 10-5 3.25 ERA 1.31 WHIP 1.2 PW 12 WS 3.2 WARP3
The professor missed more than a month of the season with a sore arm, but when he played he was probably the best pitcher Washington had. There were rumors that the Yankees offered Red Ruffing in a trade for Weaver, but Griffith wouldn’t go for it. This was probably the peak of Weaver’s career, and there was trouble ahead.

RP Jack Russell 12-6 2.69 ERA 1.21 WHIP 3.1 PW 15 WS 4.9 WARP3
Russell was a mediocre to bad major league starter when he arrived in Washington prior to the 1933 season. Over seven seasons with Boston and Cleveland, Russel compiled a 41-91 record (though his ERA over that time wasn’t too far below league average). For some reason, Russell responded to his new role in Washington, and had by far the best season of his career. It is probable, however, that his season will be remembered more for giving up the game-winning home run in the final game of the 1933 Series, but he did have a sparkling 0.87 ERA in 10 1/3 World Series innings.

RP Tommy Thomas 7-7 4.80 ERA 1.47 WHIP -1.1 PW 5 WS 0.1 WARP3
After Russell, the Washington bullpen wasn’t much to speak of. Thomas started 14 games, but just didn’t have the endurance to be a full time starter anymore, so he made most of his appearances out of the pen.

RP Bobby Burke 4-3 3.23 ERA 1.48 WHIP 0.6 PW 5 WS 1.5 WARP3
Burke improved on his numbers from 1932 and was a decent option for Cronin late in games.

Kralick’s No-Hitter

Sunday August 26, 1962
Metropolitan Stadium

There had been four previous no-hit games pitched in 1962, so a rarity was almost becoming commonplace for baseball fans. Not so for Calvin Griffith, whose franchise had not seen a no-hitter since Bobby Burke did it in 1931.

Jack Kralick seemed like an unlikely candidate to toss the team’s first no-hitter in 31 years. He was signed by the White Sox in 1955 but was released soon after by the Sox who felt that he didn’t have major league potential. In 1958, after a few years playing semi-pro ball in Michigan, Dick Wiencick, a scout for the Senators, saw Kralick pitch a no-hitter for the Grand Rapids Sullivans and convinced Calvin Griffith to sign the lefty.

Kralick was known more for his fidgeting on the mound than any results he got in his first few seasons in the majors, and was called “Jittery Jack Kralick” in The Sporting News on more than a few occasions. After a tough debut season in Washington, Kralick quietly put up some solid numbers for the team in 1960 and 1961 (the latter season in Minnesota), but pitched in near obscurity partially due to the rest of the pitching talent on the early Twins teams (Pascual, Kaat).

August 26 was Kralick’s day, however, and his was the fifth no-hitter in the majors that year. The Sporting News called Kralick’s the “most thrilling” of the five due to the fact that Kralick was just two outs away from pitching the first perfect game in the majors in almost 40 years. A walk issued to pinch-hitter George Alusik, who had homered against Kralick a few weeks earlier, was the only blemish on Kralick’s gem.

What was even more impressive was that Kralick’s feat was accomplished against the Kansas City A’s, one of baseball’s better offenses in 1962. Just two days earlier the same A’s team scored 12 runs off of the Twins.

The Twins wouldn’t have to wait 31 years to see another no-no. Actually, it was just one day short of five years to the day when the franchise would see another.

Born August 27, 1970
Jim Thome
Not a Twin, but a Twins Killer. In 153 games against the Twins, Thome is hitting .313/.408/.630 with 48 HR (most against any franchise).

The Franchise 1932

1932 Washington Nationals

Manager: Walter Johnson 4th Season (4th with Washington 350-264-3)
93 W 61 L 840 RS 716 RA 3rd AL 14 GB (New York 107-47-2)
5.45 RPG (AL = 5.23) 4.16 ERA (AL = 4.48)
.703 DER (1st AL)

Franchise (1901-1932) 2305-2488-75; 7-7 WS

1932 marked the end of Walter Johnson’s run as manager of his home team, the Washington Nationals. His 350-264 record was a very good one, but it never really made the team a contender in the era of Philadelphia-New York dominance, and it was clear from the moves made that Clark Griffith was ready to take the team in a new direction following the season.

The 1932 season was a good one for Washington, and the team won 90+ games for the third straight season. It wasn’t good enough for Johnson to keep his job, and after 26 years with the Washington organization, he was fired and out on his own. Johnson managed Cleveland for three years before he was out of major league baseball.

In October, Griffith named star shortstop Joe Cronin as the new manager of the Nats. Shortly after, Cronin and Griffith made several big moves, the biggest of which brought Goose Goslin back to Washington (unfortunately for Walter Johnson, that may have been one of the biggest reasons he was removed as manager- Goslin did not want to play for the former pitching star).

Roster/Stats
Bold = Player new to Washington in 1932

C Roy Spencer .246/.301/.284 1 HR -2.0 BFW 6 WS 12 FRAR 0.2 WARP3
The Nats had a glaring weakness behind the plate in 1932. Spencer, at age 32, had his worst season in the majors, and would be gone after the season. His main back up, Moe Berg, was an even worse hitter (.236/.266/.303).

1B Joe Kuhel .291/.353/.415 4 HR -0.9 BFW 10 WS 10 FRAR 2.6 WARP3
Kuhel improved slightly on his 1931 numbers, but he has another year to wait for his break out season.

2B Buddy Myer .279/.360/.426 5 HR -0.4 BFW 20 WS 15 FRAR 4.6 WARP3
Almost identical numbers to his 1931 campaign, with just a touch more slugging. Like a lot of Senators, Myer was a year away from a big season.

SS Joe Cronin .318/.393/.492 6 HR 3.8 BFW 31 WS 51 FRAR 10.7 WARP3
By 1932 it had become expected in Washington that Joe Cronin would have a great season. He did not disappoint, and once again was the best player on the team. By October of 1932 he will take over as manager of the team.

3B Ossie Bluege .258/.367/.347 5 HR 0.3 BFW 18 WS 42 FRAR 6.4 WARP3
Very few ground balls found their way through the left side of the Washington infield. Bluege equaled his best season according to FRAR (he also had 42 FRAR in 1927). On July 18, 1932, Bluege walked five times in a game against Detroit.

LF Heinie Manush .342/.383/.520 14 HR 1.9 BFW 28 WS 9 FRAR 6.7 WARP3
Manush easily led the team in home runs with 14, a number that also equaled his career high.

CF Sam West .287/.345/.412 6 HR 0.6 BFW 19 WS 32 FRAR 5.6 WARP3
After the season, West was traded to St. Louis in the deal that brought Goose Goslin back to Washington. Like Goslin, West will find his way back to Washington before his career his over.

RF Carl Reynolds .305/.332/.475 9 HR -0.1 BFW 13 WS 15 FRAR 3.6 WARP3
Reynolds came in the December 1931 trade that sent Bump Hadley and Sam Jones among others to the White Sox. Reynolds didn’t last long as a replacement for Sam Rice in right field, he was shipped to St. Louis after the season in the Goose Goslin trade.

OF Sam Rice .323/.391/.438 1 HR 0.5 BFW 11 WS 6 FRAR 2.6 WARP3
Rice was used as a back up, but still put up some pretty good numbers at the age of 42.

SP Alvin Crowder 26-13 3.33 ERA 1.21 WHIP 3.8 PW 30 WS 8.7 WARP3
Crowder really enjoyed playing the White Sox in 1932. He earned eight of his AL-best 26 wins against the Sox. 1932 was the best season in Crowder’s 11-year major league career. He also led the league in innings pitched, and was second in WHIP.

SP Monte Weaver 22-10 4.08 ERA 1.49 WHIP 0.8 PW 19 WS 4.4 WARP3
Monte Weaver seemingly came out of nowhere to win 22 games for the Nats in 1932. One of the few ballplayers in history to earn a master’s degree before he played, Weaver earned his in mathematics from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. While he was earning his MS, Weaver taught geometry, earning him the nickname “professor”. From Weaver’s biography at SABR’s BioProject:

Weaver’s Master’s thesis was titled “The companion to the litnus: the curve whose vectorial angle is proportional to the square of the arc length.” Inevitably, sportswriters would connect this topic to the curveball, no matter how many times he explained that it was an investigation of curves on railroad tracks.

He appeared in three games for Washington in the 1931 season, and had his best season in his official rookie year of 1932. Starting on July 4th, Weaver won eight straight decisions.

SP Lloyd Brown 15-12 4.44 ERA 1.45 WHIP -0.9 PW 12 WS 2.1 WARP3
Brown’s final season in Washington was his worst, and he became a throw-in of sorts in the Goose Goslin trade.

SP Tommy Thomas 8-7 3.54 ERA 1.37 WHIP 1.3 PW 10 WS 3.3 WARP3
Thomas had been the workhorse for the Chicago White Sox from 1926-1929, pitching in the 250+ innings each season (including 308 innings in 1927). By 1930, the work had caught up with Thomas, who could barely make it past the fifth inning. After a rough start with Chicago in 1932, Thomas was sold to Washington on June 11. His numbers down the stretch were encouraging, but he wouldn’t pitch more than 135 innings in any of his three seasons with Washington.

RP Firpo Marberry 8-4 4.01 ERA 1.39 WHIP 0.3 PW 16 WS 3.3 WARP3
1932 would mark Firpo’s 10th, and really his final season in Washington (though he will return for five games in his final season of 1936). Marberry started as one of the first bullpen aces, and may have been one of the more valuable members of the franchise’s only World Championship so far. Later in his career he shifted to the starting rotation and had a lot of success there as well. His final line with Washington (including the five appearances in 1936):

117-71 3.59 ERA (117 ERA+) 11.8 PW 145 WS 41.8 WARP3

Firpo will be traded to Detroit after the season.

RP Bobby Burke 3-6 5.14 ERA 1.56 WHIP -0.6 PW 3 WS 0.8 WARP3
Aside from Marberry, there really wasn’t much else in the 1932 Washington bullpen. Burke may have been the most reliable option, which tells why most of the non-Firpo relief appearances came from members of the starting staff.

1932 World Series
The Yankees swept the Cubs, scoring 37 runs in four games. The hero was Lou Gehrig, who hit .529/.600/1.118 with 3 HR.

Kent Hrbek debuts

Monday August 24, 1981

The Twins spent the bulk of the 1981 season platooning Ron Jackson and Danny Goodwin at first base. Both players had come to the team from California in the Dan Ford trade after the 1978 season, the same year that scout Angelo Giuliani signed a young Kent Hrbek to a Twins contract. When the Twins traded Jackson to Detroit for a player to be named later (Tim Corcoran), it opened a roster spot for a local kid who had been putting up some impressive numbers in single A Visalia.

The California League was a hitter’s league at the time, and Hrbek was hardly the only player to put up gaudy-looking numbers; but the Bloomington native stood out enough from the rest to be named league MVP even though he missed the last two weeks of the season due to his call up to Minnesota.

The Bloomington native was penciled in to manager Billy Gardner’s lineup batting eighth in a game at Yankee Stadium. After flying out in his first at-bat, Hrbek found success in the bottom of the fifth when he knocked in the Twins first run with an RBI infield single. Then, with the score tied at two in the 12th inning, Hrbek led off with a solo home run, which ultimately became the winning run.

“I should have slowed down my home run trot, so it would have lasted longer,” Hrbek said, “Right now it’s like I’m dreaming, like I don’t know where I am. It will take a while to sink in.” -Hrbek quoted by Patrick Reusse in TSN

Manager Gardner was at a loss for words:

“I had to get some smelling salts first,” Gardner said, “A home run… we don’t see many of those in this dugout.” -quoted by Patrick Reusse in TSN

Born August 23, 1973
Casey Blake
It would be nice to have a guy like Casey Blake around this season…

GOTW: 8.22.1991

Thursday August 22, 1991
Metrodome
Minneapolis, MN

Seattle Mariners (64-57) @ Minnesota Twins (73-49)

The Twins were sitting pretty, 5.5 games above the second place White Sox in the AL West. They were trying to complete a three-game sweep against the Seattle Mariners, a team that the Twins were already 8-4 against during the season. The Thursday afternoon game represented the final game of the season series.

Additionally, the Seattle series came at the end of an 11-game home stand in which the Twins were a disappointing 4-4 in the first eight games (they lost three of four to California and took three of four from Oakland), but the series sweep against Seattle would make the overall feel of the home stand a successful one.

   Seattle Mariners              Minnesota Twins                      
1. E Martinez           3B    1. C Knoblauch          2B
2. H Reynolds           2B    2. R Bush               DH
3. K Griffey            CF    3. K Puckett            CF
4. P O'Brien            1B    4. K Hrbek              1B
5. J Buhner             RF    5. B Harper             C
6. A Davis              DH    6. S Mack               LF
7. G Briley             LF    7. G Larkin             RF
8. D Cochrane           C     8. M Pagliarulo         3B
9. O Vizquel            SS    9. A Newman             SS 

   R DeLucia            P        J Morris             P

The Twins dug themselves an early hole in front of 35,874 who gathered for the Thursday matinée. Down 4-1 with one out in the ninth, Chuck Knoblauch later commented that you “could hear a pin drop” in the Metrodome. Seattle had the lead thanks to their rookie starting pitcher, Rich DeLucia, who pitched 6 1/3 innings of very good baseball against a formidable Twins offense that had averaged almost six runs per game since the All Star break.

Seattle reliever Mike Schooler came into the game to start the ninth with a three-run lead. Schooler had missed some time with injury, but had not blown a save dating back to July 12 of 1990. Since that time, Schooler had recorded 12 saves and his ERA so far in 1991 was 1.72.

Schooler started off the inning in form with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Dan Gladden. The next batter, Al Newman, coaxed a walk from Schooler, and Chuck Knoblauch’s infield single pushed Newman to second. Enter Randy Bush (from Jeff Lenihan’s account in the Star Tribune):

A year ago, Bush hit a three-run, 13th-inning homer off Schooler in Seattle. The pitch he hit then was a slider, Schooler’s best pitch, so Bush figured the reliever would start him with a fastball this time. He was right.

“All I really wanted to do was hit the ball hard and get on base for Puckett and Herbie,” Bush said. “There was no way I was thinking I had to go up there and jerk one. It was one of those situations when you just try to relax and let your instincts take over. . . . I just reacted to the pitch.”

Bush’s past three homers have come in the ninth inning. The one before that came in the eighth inning. One month ago, his ninth-inning homer off Boston’s Jeff Reardon tied a game that the Twins won in 11 innings.

Bush’s home run tied the game, but Schooler managed to retire Puckett and Hrbek to get out of the inning. After Aguilera retired the Mariners in order to start the tenth, Schooler remained in the game for his team’s half of the inning. He was able to erase a Junior Ortiz single with a ground ball double play off the bat of Shane Mack, but he was not so lucky against Scott Leius.

Leius, who entered the game in the top of the 10th, is less well-known for clutch homers. Yesterday’s homer was his fifth as a major leaguer and the rookie said he could not remember hitting an extra-inning homer to win a game at any level. He had faced Schooler twice this month, striking out and grounding out on sliders. But the 0-1 slider Schooler fed him yesterday was, according to Leius, “lazy.”

Leius took little credit. “There was nothing in it for me personally,” said Leius. “The rest of the guys played 10 innings. I was just fortunate to get a pitch I could hit.”

Stars of the Game
1. Randy Bush MIN 2-for-4, 3-run, game-tying HR
2. Rich DeLucia SEA 6.3 IP, 6 H 1 ER
3. Scott Leius MIN game-winning HR

With the win the Twins maintained the best record in baseball, six games better than anybody else in the AL West. They did not look back over the last month-plus of the season, and clinched the AL West comfortably with more than a week left to play.

Born August 22, 1956
Paul Molitor
Molitor spent the last three years of his Hall of Fame career playing for his home town Minnesota Twins. Though none of the Twins teams he played for had a winning record (the dream of having Molitor and Puckett in the same lineup vanished when Puckett was forced to retire prior to the 1996 season), he did earn his 3,000th hit in a Twins uniform.

The Rat’s top games

As part of the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the 1987 Twins team, Gary Gaetti was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame this past weekend. Here are some of his most memorable games with the Twins in chronological order:

9/20/1981: In his first major league at-bat, Gary Gaetti hit a home run off of Charlie Hough at Arlington Stadium.

4/6/1982: Gaetti opened the Metrodome in style, going 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs in front of 52,279 who gathered for the first ever indoor baseball game in Minnesota.

8/1/1982: With the Twins ahead by one in the top of the ninth in Oakland, Gaetti hit a two-run home run to give the team some cushion. It would turn out to be important, as the A’s rallied to score twice in their half of the ninth, but the Twins held on to win 8-7. Gaetti also hit a triple in the game, and finished 3-for-5.

9/23/1986: In a game against Kansas City, Gaetti knocked in a career-high six RBI in a 9-2 Twins win. He homered twice in the game.

10/7/1987: Gaetti’s first trip to the post season was memorable. He hit a home run in each of his first two plate appearances. He finished the game 2-for-3 with three runs scored. Gaetti was named MVP of his first ALCS.

10/18/1987: His only World Series home run came in Game 2 of the 1987 series. Gaetti went 2-for-3 and scored one of the six Twins runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

4/16/1989: Gaetti had two home runs off of Tommy John in Yankee Stadium, and ended up with six RBI in the Twins’ 9-4 win over the Yankees.

6/18/1989: The G-Man’s second home run of the game came in the bottom of the ninth, a walk-off, two-run shot.

7/17/1990: Gaetti starts two triple-plays in a 1-0 Twins loss in Boston.

9/23/1990: A grand slam marks the 200th home run of Gaetti’s career. Like his first, it came off of Charlie Hough.

A (Near) Perfect Day

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad), and we were all happy that our season ticket package included Sunday afternoon ballgame at which we could celebrate. We started with breakfast where my seven-month old son nearly downed half a pancake, and I enjoyed a veggie omelet with plenty of jalepeno peppers before we headed for the dome.

The rain was a small annoyance, but it’s worth noting that three years from now we probably wouldn’t have had a Sunday afternoon game to watch due to the weather. My family arrived early at the game, as it turned out before the doors opened. It was a bobble head give away day, so there were plenty of people who had been waiting for quite a while in the rain. We went early thinking that we may get our Gary Gaetti bobble heads, but we weren’t counting on it. As it turned out, the doors opened shortly after we arrived, and every member of my family got a Gary Gaetti doll (except for my son, who got a book).

The Gaetti doll was in conjunction with Gary’s induction into the Twins Hall of Fame which was in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary of the 1987 World Series. There was a nice ceremony before the game that included a reenactment of the final out of the 1987 Series, Gaetti to Hrbek, 5-3. It was great to see the ‘87 team on the field, and even better to see Herbie and the G-Man together.

As a child, I watched Gaetti closely to try and learn how to play third base. There were a few Twins’ games at the dome where I followed #8 rather than the ball, watching where he would stand in different situations. I suppose it was a good example to follow, though I personally didn’t really catch on at third base (not for lack of knowledge about how to play third, however).

I commented to my wife during the ceremony about the gloves popping in the background. Usually the Twins have music playing during the warm ups, but when Gaetti was making his induction speech the only background noise was the snap of horse hide hitting leather; the loudest of which was coming from the Twins’ bullpen, where Johan Santana was taking his warm up tosses.

Santana, of course, went on to strikeout nearly as many Rangers as my Dad is years old, a great birthday present that I would like to take credit for.

I am still holding out hope that one day I will see a major league no-hitter in person, but those hopes were dashed when Sammy Sosa blooped a single to lead off the fifth inning- yet another reason not to like Sosa, who performed his traditional heel kick on a long foul ball later in the game. I was pleased that he had to turn around and return to the batter’s box, and was hoping he would then strikeout (kick your heels for that), but he ended up getting another hit off of Santana, representing the only two hits allowed in an otherwise perfect performance by the best pitcher in baseball.

Santana struck out each Ranger at least once; got Wilkerson and Saltalamacchia twice each; and made Young, Byrd, and Laird look foolish three times each. It was the kind of performance you expect from a Little League pitcher who turns out to be older than all of the other kids.

It would have been nice to see Santana finish the game, but with today’s environment I suppose seeing him  in the eighth was a gift (and I actually would have second-guessed management had Santana showed his face for the ninth with 112 pitches thrown). Nathan had a little bit of trouble closing out the win, but did manage to do so by striking out Michael Young to give the Ranger shortstop the dreaded 0-for-4 with 4 k line.

It was a good enough day to make one forget that this team just scored three runs in three games against one of the worst pitching staffs in the league, and that the post season is a faint hope. None of that really mattered on my father’s birthday, the day that Gary Gaetti was recognized and Johan Santana struck out 17.

Born August 19, 1958
Gary Gaetti
Very appropriate. I had a post of his top games ready to go, but with the events of Sunday I pushed it to tomorrow.

Born August 19, 1949
Pop
I, of course, know him as Dad, but he has started a new role in the past few months as “Pop” and he is the kind of guy that seems like he was born to be a grandfather. Happy Birthday, Pop.

Born August 20, 1960
Tom Brunansky
Another member of the ‘87 team that was in town this weekend.