Twins all-opponent team center fielder

Center FielderFred Lynn – What the heck is going on here? Another Boston Red Sox? There have been some great center fielders that have played against our favorite team the Minnesota Twins. What about players like Amos Otis, Paul Blair, Chet Lemon, Ken Griffey Jr., Kenny Lofton, Bernie Williams, Willie Wilson and I could go on and on.

Nope, the Twins all-opponent CF is Fred Lynn. Lynn was originally a New York Yankee third round selection in 1970 but he said no and went on to USC. In 1973 the Red Sox selected Lynn in round two, six picks after the Twins chose shortstop Ed McMahon, a Sporting News All-American out of the University of Massachusetts who they started out in AAA Tacoma in 1973 with the likes of Tom Kelly (I bet that was interesting). Then the Twins sent him to A ball in 1974 and after that season he was history. Did Ed McMahon going on to fame on the Johnny Carson TV show, no, that would be another Ed McMahon. Our man Fred Lynn however; had a cup of coffee with the Red Sox in 1974 and then went on to win the ROY award in 1975. In his first game against the Twins he went 2 for 4 with a run scored, and hit a two-run home run off Dave Goltz. 1975 turned out to be a pretty good season for Lynn, in addition to his ROY award he was also the AL MVP, an All-Star and a Gold Glove winner. During his 17 year career with five different teams he went on to be a nine-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glover and for good measure he won the AL batting title in 1979.

Against the Minnesota Twins Lynn played in 130 games and hit .331 with an OPS of 1.054. Lynn had 160 hits against Minnesota pitching with 33 doubles, 38 home runs and 122 RBI. As a Baltimore Oriole in 1985 he walked-off the Twins on successive nights. On May 10 he hit a walk-off home run off Twins closer Ron Davis and on May 11 he hit another walk-off home run, this time off Twins reliever Curt Wardle who was brought in to replace Ron Davis on the mound.

According to the ever humble Fred Lynn,

“I really didn’t have any holes in my game other than the fact that I couldn’t stay on the field for the second half of my career.”

If you are a Twins fan you just gotta hate a guy like that…..

 

Our previous selections for the Twins all-opponent team

CatcherIvan Rodriguez

First BasemanPaul Konerko

Second BasemanLou Whitaker

Third BasemanWade Boggs

ShortstopCal Ripken

Left FielderJim Rice

According to Elias – All-Star edition

Jeter flourishes in his final All-Star appearance

Derek jeter
Derek Jeter

 

Derek Jeter, as usual, rose to the occasion in his final All-Star game appearance, going 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored in the American League’s 5-3 win. Jeter finishes his career with a .481 (13-for-27) batting average in the All-Star game, which currently stands as the second highest for any of the 100 players with at least 15 All-Star at bats in major-league history, behind Charlie Gehringer, who went 10-for-20 (.500) in six appearances in the Mid Summer Classic.

Jeter became the second player in major-league history with multiple hits in the All-Star game in his final major-league season, joining George McQuinn, who had two hits representing the Yankees in the 1948 game. Jeter, at 40 years and 19 days old, also became the oldest player with at least two hits in an All-Star game. Only one player over the age of 38 had done that prior to Jeter: Carl Yastrzemski, who had two hits in the 1979 contest at age 39 years, 329 days.

Jeter’s first-inning double was his fifth career All-Star hit in the opening frame, tied with Wade Boggs and Stan Musial for the second most first-inning hits in All-Star history, behind Willie Mays (6).

Trout is the All-Star MVP

 

Mike Trout
Mike Trout

Mike Trout had two hits and two RBIs and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 All-Star game on Tuesday night. Trout, 22 years and 342 days old, became the second youngest player to win the All-Star game MVP, behind Ken Griffey Jr., who captured the award in the 1992 game at 22 years, 236 days old.

Trout became the fourth Angels player to win the All-Star game MVP, joining Leon Wagner (1962), Fred Lynn (1983) and Garret Anderson (2003).

 

American League jumps on Wainwright in the first

The American League jumped on Adam Wainwright for three runs in the first inning in the All-Star game on Tuesday night. Derek Jeter led off with a double, Mike Trout followed with a triple and after Robinson Cano struck out, Miguel Cabrera unloaded a two run home run. It’s only the second time in major-league history that three of the first four batters had an extra-base hit for a team in the All-Star game. The only other time that happened in the Mid Summer Classic was in 2004, when Ichiro Suzuki led off the first inning with a double, Ivan Rodriguez followed with a triple, and then after a Vladimir Guerrero ground out, Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer.

Wainwright allowed only four extra base hits (three doubles and a homer) in the first inning in the 19 starts he made prior to the All-Star break this season.

Cabrera goes deep out of the cleanup spot

Miguel Cabrera – the American League’s cleanup hitter – hit a two-run home run in the first inning to stake the A.L. to a 3-0 lead in their 5-3 win over the N.L. in Tuesday’s All-Star game. Cabrera’s 14 home runs this season are the fewest for the American League’s cleanup hitter in an All-Star Game since 1990, when Cal Ripken batted fourth for the A.L. with nine homers to that point.

Perkins saves it for the A.L. in his home ballpark

Glen Perkins
Glen Perkins

Minnesota’s Glen Perkins pitched a perfect ninth inning to record a save in the American League’s 5-3 win in the All-Star game at Target Field. Prior to Perkins, only two pitchers registered a save in the All-Star game in their home ballpark: Detroit’s Mickey Lolich (1971 at Tiger Stadium) and Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki (2001 at Safeco Field).

A rough All-Star debut for Puig

Yasiel Puig had a rough night in his first All-Star appearance, striking out in each of his three trips to the plate. Only three other players in major-league history struck out in each of their plate appearances with at least three trips to the plate in an All-Star game: Jim Hegan (1950), John Roseboro (1961) and Johnny Bench (1970).