Sunday October 6, 1991
Tempers flared in the final game of the regular season. Though it may be a familiar story, what makes it different this time is that the same two teams will start the ALCS on Tuesday. From Jeff Lenihan’s game story in the Star Tribune:
Devon White led off the game with a long homer to center field off Twins starter Tom Edens, who allowed no more runs and two more hits in six innings as he continued his bid for a spot on next season’s staff. When White came to the plate again in the third, Edens whizzed a pitch past his head. The fleet center fielder made a half-hearted move toward the mound but was intercepted by catcher Brian Harper.
“If he’s trying to send me a message, that’s a bad way,” White said. “That pitch was high and behind me. I hope he thought about it. That was career- and life-threatening. It wasn’t like it slipped. . . . If anyone in the park doesn’t know what he was doing, they don’t know anything. . . . That was just stupid.”
Edens, who normally has fine control, said he was just trying to throw an inside strike. “I wanted to come inside and didn’t want to miss over the plate,” Edens said. “I wasn’t trying to hit him.”
When Mike Pagliarulo drilled a deep homer to right off Toronto rookie Pat Hentgen with one out and none on in the third, he was treated the same way in his next at-bat. Hentgen started off Pagliarulo with a pitch away. Then, figuring he might have him leaning, Hentgen busted a fastball in on the hands that struck Pagliarulo. “I didn’t think he was trying to hit me,” Pagliarulo said. “We have to play them a bunch more times. No one is trying to hurt each other.”
Of course, the case could be made that Edens and Hentgen, neither of whom is on his club’s postseason roster, simply were doing the dirty work for their teammates and sending a message to the other dugout.
Asked about the purpose pitches, Kelly said, “I don’t know anything about them. I must have been in the bathroom. . . . If he took offense to it, that’s his problem.”
Said Toronto manager Cito Gaston: “A guy hits a homer and then the next pitch is up and around his head . . . well, that didn’t look too good.”
The game itself went into extra innings, where the Jays finally won after a 10th inning home run by Rob Ducey at the expense of Allan Anderson. With that, the book is closed on the regular season, and perhaps on Anderson’s career with the Twins according to Patrick Reusse:
“I haven’t pitched to my capabilities here in a while,” Anderson said. “I guess the home run was another example of that.”
Anderson was 16-9 for the Twins with a 2.45 ERA in 1988. He passed up a start on the final day to win the league’s ERA title. It has become a popular local theory – and one that is occasionally heard in the clubhouse – that Anderson’s decline started at that moment.
It is a theory with little substance. Anderson was 17-10 for the Twins the next season. The Twins traded Frank Viola on the basis that Anderson was ready to assume a role as the No. 1 starter. Anderson’s 33-19 two-year record made him one of baseball’s best lefthanders. His 12-29 record since making the Twins’ opening night start in 1990 turned him into a pariah of manager Tom Kelly’s pitching staff.
On Aug. 31, Anderson and Edens were removed temporarily from the roster, making them ineligible for the postseason. “Andy (MacPhail) talked to me in Chicago last week and said I was welcome to be with the team during the playoffs,” Anderson said. “I’m very happy for the guys, but it’s better for everyone if I head on home. I haven’t felt a complete part of the ballclub for a long time.”
Anderson caught an 8 p.m. flight to Columbus, Ohio. It is a short drive from Columbus to his home in Lancaster, and Beth Anderson and the two kids were going to be there to meet Allan, for the start of another offseason.
“We have a 78-acre farm outside of Lancaster,” Anderson said. “We rent some of it to a farmer, and we let some grow for wildlife. I’ll do some bow hunting for whitetail deer, I’ll be the best father I can be, and I’ll wait to see what club I’ll be with next year.
“I’ve had a couple of good talks with Mr. MacPhail. We’ve agreed it will be best for all of us if I’m with another organization next spring. I’m sure I won’t be back with the Twins. When I went back to the minors this summer, I found out some things I was doing wrong as a pitcher, and I found out some things about life.”
What? Anderson smiled. “You can’t put your trust in baseball,” he said. “Baseball was there for me for so many years that I took it for granted. Baseball is a great job, and I’m going to do the best I possibly can to keep it, but I know now that you can’t depend on it for satisfaction.”
Anderson returned to the Twins on Aug. 20. Anderson pitched three decent innings, gave up a three-run home run and was quickly removed by Kelly. “You come back, and you think things might have changed, but they haven’t,” Anderson said. “It put things in perspective again.”
The perspective was that it was over for Anderson and the Twins, over for him and Kelly. Before the game, Anderson said to a reporter: “Just between us, I don’t think I can shake hands with T.K. when I leave here today.”
This is reported now because – after the game – Anderson walked across the clubhouse to Kelly and asked for a moment in the manager’s office. “I know what I said earlier, but I’ve never had bad feelings about the Twins, the guys on the team, the organization,” Anderson said. “I just told T.K. that I felt bad I hadn’t pitched to my capabilities, and he wished me good luck.
“I’ll be watching the playoffs and the World Series on television. I’ve spent nine years in this organization. The Twins have been my second family. I had to say something to T.K. I couldn’t walk out of here with bitter feelings.”
The ALCS begins Tuesday at the Metrodome.
NL East
Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Pittsburgh Pirates 162 98 64 0 .605 - 768 632 St. Louis Cardinals 162 84 78 0 .519 14.0 651 648 Philadelphia Phillies 162 78 84 0 .481 20.0 629 680 Chicago Cubs 160 77 83 0 .481 20.0 695 734 New York Mets 161 77 84 0 .478 20.5 640 646 Montreal Expos 161 71 90 0 .441 26.5 579 655
NL West
Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Atlanta Braves 162 94 68 0 .580 - 749 644 Los Angeles Dodgers 162 93 69 0 .574 1.0 665 565 San Diego Padres 162 84 78 0 .519 10.0 636 646 San Francisco Giants 162 75 87 0 .463 19.0 649 697 Cincinnati Reds 162 74 88 0 .457 20.0 689 691 Houston Astros 162 65 97 0 .401 29.0 605 717
AL East
Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Toronto Blue Jays 162 91 71 0 .562 - 684 622 Boston Red Sox 162 84 78 0 .519 7.0 731 712 Detroit Tigers 162 84 78 0 .519 7.0 817 794 Milwaukee Brewers 162 83 79 0 .512 8.0 799 744 New York Yankees 162 71 91 0 .438 20.0 674 777 Baltimore Orioles 162 67 95 0 .414 24.0 686 796 Cleveland Indians 162 57 105 0 .352 34.0 576 759
AL West
Team Name G W L T PCT GB RS RA Minnesota Twins 162 95 67 0 .586 - 776 652 Chicago White Sox 162 87 75 0 .537 8.0 758 681 Texas Rangers 162 85 77 0 .525 10.0 829 814 Oakland Athletics 162 84 78 0 .519 11.0 760 776 Seattle Mariners 162 83 79 0 .512 12.0 702 674 Kansas City Royals 162 82 80 0 .506 13.0 727 722 California Angels 162 81 81 0 .500 14.0 653 649
You know one division has dominated the other when there’s nobody with a losing record. I remember back in 1991 I was rooting for the Angels to sweep their last series, and they did it.
Of course, I don’t remember jack about the ALCS.