Senators 7, Athletics 2

Neither the Senators nor the Athletics figured to have much impact on the 1959 pennant race by the middle of June. Washington had lingered around the .500 mark until the last week in May when a 1-4 record on a five-game homestand against the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, the latter of which swept three games by a total run tally of 25-2, dropped them to 21-26, 6.5 games out of first place.

By the time the A’s came into town in mid-June, Cookie Lavagetto’s men had a 3-8 record in the month, dropping the overall record to 24-34. The Seantors hoped an 8-5 win in the first game of the series was a sign of things to come.

Camilo Pascual took the ball for the second game of the series at Griffith Stadium. Though he allowed eight hits, the A’s managed only two runs in the game. The Senators fell behind early, but a fourth inning triple by Hal Naragon plated Jim Lemon to even the score. Naragon later came home on a Reno Bertoia single to give Washington a 2-1 lead. Bob Allison’s two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning made the score 4-1, and Bertoia capped off the 7-2 win with a two-run shot of his own in the bottom of the eighth.

Washington completed the sweep the next day, and were able to climb back to two games under .500 by the time the A’s returned to D.C. on July 17. The A’s took three out of four in that series, starting the ‘Nats on a landslide in which at one point they lost 18 games in a row and totaled 2-24 over the course of a month of baseball. They finished the season in last place, 31 games out of first.

Nothing is quite as exciting as a 5th birthday party. I know that from experience. It had been the hot topic of conversation ever since the Christmas presents were opened. His favorite part was the presents; but I was able to take just a tiny bit of joy from the fact that my son, having a million different party theme options, chose specifically to have a Star Wars party and was most interested in how many appearances Darth Vader could make.

Of course, the best part of the day was watching my son in his extroverted glory being the center of attention for a group of pre-schoolers. He is already asking about next year’s party (and has started making a list of gifts he would like). It may be a tough sell in January, but I bet I could plant a seed for a Twins-themed party….

Still, I can’t help but feeling sad for this news.

On one hand, I’d like to see it, if for no other reason than to once again shine a light on what was the definitive baseball game of my childhood: Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. 10 innings. No runs. Jack Buck’s call: “The Twins are gonna win the World Series, the Twins have won it! It’s a base hit. It’s a one-nothing, ten-inning victory!”

As an aside, I would guess that many would argue that Game 6, the Puckett home run, was more memorable and important. I won’t argue with that. Game 7 is more memorable for me for a couple of reasons, mostly unrelated to the games themselves. For one, I remember where I was when I watched Game 7. For some reason, I don’t remember Game 6 quite as vividly. Also, I had the VCR running for Game 7, and have probably viewed that game at least twice per year for the past 20 years. I just recently acquired the 1991 DVD set, and when I get to Game 6 it will be only the second time that I have seen the entire game.

Back to Morris. While his affiliation with the Twins was short, it was important. There is no chance he’ll have a Twins’ hat on his Hall of Fame plaque, but he is nonetheless identified very closely with the local team thanks to the Game 7 performance. If Morris does get in, it will be fun to see him honored at Target Field.

That said, I don’t think that Jack Morris belongs. The numbers just aren’t there (follow the links above if you want a statistical walk-through). What is interesting is that whether you approach the question with a SABRmetric slant (WAR, WHIP, etc.) or take a more traditional view (Wins, ERA, etc.), Morris falls well short of the current Hall of Fame standard.

The reason he will likely get in, I think, is due in part to his reputation as a “big-game pitcher,” but some of it may be a sort of backlash to the Blyleven vote last year. For all of his superior numbers, the knock on Blyleven has always been that he didn’t “feel” like a Hall of Famer and never seemed like a dominant pitcher. I have trouble getting into the head of someone who still makes that argument, but I suspect that a Morris induction might be a way for a few writers to reclaim the vague but persistent notion that the gut feeling is the best way to evaluate a player’s Hall of Fame candidacy.

I don’t find that argument to be particularly persuasive, but Jack Morris was a very good pitcher, and is as responsible as anybody for my Twins’ fandom and love of baseball, so I won’t complain too loudly if and when he is inducted.

On Friday Twins’ pitcher Jim Kaat allowed a couple of runs on four singles in the fourth inning while three Athletics pitchers held the Twins’ offense down to earn a 3-2 win.

It might have seemed improbable that the third game of the series would end with the exact same score, but that is what went down at the Met. Starter Dean Chance ran into some trouble in the top of the first. With one out, shortstop Zoilo Versalles booted a grounder by Mike Hershberger. Hershberger stole second before Chance issued a walk to the number three hitter John Donaldson. Hershberger and Donaldson advanced on a double steal putting both in scoring position for Ramon Webster’s two-RBI single that put the A’s ahead 2-0. The A’s were aggressive on the base paths, stealing four bases in the top of the first inning and seven total off of the battery of Chance and Earl Battey.

Harmon Killebrew struck with his third solo home run of the series in the bottom of the frame to cut the Kansas City lead in half.

Both Chance and Kansas City pitcher Lew Krausse settled in after the first inning. Kansas City only managed to scatter four more singles off of Chance, who at one point retired 10 consecutive batters. Krausse put his own string together, and would have retired 15 Twins in a row had it not been for an error in the bottom of the sixth. Krausse ran into a bit of trouble in the eighth when Bob Allison, pinch hitting for Chance, doubled to right with one out. After the second out was recorded and Allison moved to third, manager Al Dark went to left-handed Tony Pierce, who did his job by retiring Rod Carew with a harmless ground out to first base.

After Ron Kline pitched around a lead off single in the visitor’s half of the ninth, The Twins would send Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva to face A’s reliever Jack Aker. On consecutive pitches from Aker, Killebrew and Oliva blasted solo home runs to send the home fans away from the Met happy with a 3-2 Twins win.

All of the waiting was worth it, because around 4:30 PM, my oldest was born.

Now he’s five. He’s an older brother, and will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Where did the time go?

As a postscript on the 2011 season I will say only this: Joe Mauer is the third most valuable player in all of baseball over the last five years. Even with his terrible 2011 season. The only position players who have produced more for their teams since 2007 are Albert Pujols and Chase Utley. It has become painfully fashionable to place the bulk of the blame for 2011 on Mauer’s shoulders, and perhaps some of it is fair given that he is the highest profile player with the largest contract on the team. Still, it seems that it has been all too easy to overlook the three seasons of MVP-level play Mauer produced from 2007-2010.

Maybe I am an optimist in this regard, but it is much easier to imagine Mauer at the 2007-2010 level than it is to imagine a repeat of the 2011 disaster.

So far I like how things are shaping up on the margins for the 2012 team. The moves have been low key, but each is, on paper at least, a positive move.

While Sam Rice’s playing career seemed to be winding down prior to the 1933 season, the long time Nat was looking to start has managing career. When Walter Johnson was dismissed as manager, Rice thought it might be his time. Clark Griffith went to the much younger Joe Cronin, however. Rice’s disappointment was likely exacerbated by the fact that he was, for the first time in decades, relegated to the bench full time.

After being used for only one pinch-hitting appearance in the 1933 series, the writing was on the wall for Rice. He was released by Washington in January of 1934, but jumped at the opportunity to join long-time teammate Walter Johnson, who was managing in Cleveland.

Rice saw a lot more playing time than he had in 1933. While he only saw 89 plate appearances in his final year in Washington, Rice compiled 367 in Cleveland. The wear and tear of near daily work got to Rice later in the summer, however. After a miserable August in which he batted less that .200, Rice decided to hang up his spikes. As a farewell, he went 3-for-5 in his final game – which just happened to come against his former team.

Over the past five years, there have been few questions in baseball circles that produce as much debate as Blyleven’s HOF case. It represents, in a way, the line between the traditional baseball press and the new breed of baseball bloggers (who may or may not be writing from mother’s basement). In the end, the “you had to be there” and “he never felt like a HOFer” arguments (which, I believe, were more about his reputation as uncooperative with the media – the gate keepers off the Hall can be a fickle bunch) lost out to the overwhelming statistical evidence.

While Bert’s inclusion feels like a victory for sanity, it may well be a short-lived one. The Hall of Fame voting this year signaled an entirely new wave of voter insanity – the PED witch hunt.

Well, I guess it will continue to give my favorite writers a reason to continue writing.