Month: July 2017

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 28 – Twins play to a crowd of 51,144

Milwaukee baseball fans fill the stands, and send a message to Major League Baseball, when the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins played an exhibition game at County Stadium on July 24, 1967. This photo was published on the front page of the July 25, 1967, Milwaukee Sentinel.

The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 2-1 in Milwaukee’s County Stadium but the game did not count in the standings, it was just an exhibition game. There were 51,144 baseball fans in the stands, about 3,000 more watched from the outfield where they were roped in and an estimated 5,000 more were turned away.

The White and Twins were scheduled to play the game at County Stadium in Milwaukee in a game sponsored by the Milwaukee Brewers, the organization trying to get another team for Milwaukee after the Braves moved to Atlanta after the 1965 season. A name Twins fans may recognize Allan (Bud) Selig was the president of that organization.

When Milwaukee auditioned to return to the big leagues — in 1967 (Some great pictures in this story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Twins_amp_White_Sox_to_play_an_exhibition_game_in_Milwaukee_on_7_24_1967

Twins_WSox_exib_p1

Twins_WSox_exib_p2   (Includes box score)

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week – Jonathan Rodriguez

Jonathan Rodriguez

Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) infielder Jonathan Rodriguez was named the Twins Player of the Week. In six games for the Lookouts, Rodriguez hit .429 (9-for-21) with two doubles, three home runs, six RBI, five walks and seven runs scored. Rodriguez, a right-handed hitter has played 1B in 69 of his 85 games for the Lookouts this season and is hitting .315 (97-for-308) with 21 doubles, 14 home runs and 52 RBI. Rodriguez has also played 3B and some outfield while with the Cards but not with Minnesota.

The 27-year-old was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent in January, spending the previous eight seasons in the Cardinals minor league system. Rodriguez was originally drafted by the Cardinals in 2009 in round 17.

All previous winners can be found in the Twins minor league player of the week category.

Twins Minor League Report 07232017

According to ELIAS

Twins hold on to beat Tigers

Kyle Gibson took a 6-0 lead over the Tigers into the eighth inning when Detroit exploded for five runs, but All-Star reliever Brandon Kintzler and left fielder Eddie Rosario closed the door in the ninth inning and the Twins won, 6-5 last night. Kintzler pitched an inning and one-third to earn his 27th save of the season, but only the third in which he induced four-or-more outs. The first out of the ninth inning came when Rosario threw out Jose Iglesias trying to stretch his down-the-line leadoff single; it was the first assist for Rosario since May 11.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 27 – Jose Cardenal and the Angels steal a 2-1 win

The Twins lose to the California Angels on the road again and it is the same old story, they lose 2-1 for the third day in a row and they have lost all five game on this current road trip and six in a row. Ermer’s boys find themselves in fifth place 3 1/2 games behind the leaders and 4-7 since the All-Star break.

The Twins could only muster three hits off Angels spitballer Jack Hamilton who is 5-1 since being acquired from the Mets and Minnie Rojas who earned the save with 3 innings of scoreless relief while allowing just 1 hit. Dean Chance pitched well enough to win for Minnesota but allowed 2 unearned runs in the third. Bobby Knoop reached on a Rod Carew error, Hamilton sacrificed Knoop to second. Jose Cardenal singled scoring Knoop from second. Cardenal then stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Chance then struck out Roger Repoz for the second out and that brought Woodie Held to the plate who was batting when Cardenal stole home and Chance then struck out Held but it was too late, the run would turn out to be the winner.

With their tails between their legs the Twins now have to fly from California to New York to play the New York Yankees but first they need to make a detour to Milwaukee to play the Chicago White Sox in a meaningless exhibition game before continuing their road trip and pennant race. No way the players union would allow something like that now days but that is the way it was back then.

Twins__amp__White_Sox_to_play_an_exhibition_game_in_Milwaukee_on_7_24_1967

 

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

Twins pick-off artist’s

It is obviously important for pitchers to keep base runners as close to the base as possible to prevent them from getting a good jump and stealing a base. What Twins pitchers were the best at this seemingly lost art? Jon Lester (Cubs) doesn’t even throw the ball to first any more for fear of throwing the ball away. As you might guess most of the pitchers on this list are lefties but a few right-handed pitchers are sprinkled in.

Most pick-offs in a single season by Twins pitchers

Results
Rk Player PO Year G W L W-L% SV IP SO ERA SB CS
1 Jerry Koosman 14 1979 37 20 13 .606 0 263.2 157 3.38 7 16
2 Mark Guthrie 11 1990 24 7 9 .438 0 144.2 101 3.79 17 12
3 Roger Erickson 10 1978 37 14 13 .519 0 265.2 121 3.96 5 15
4 Allan Anderson 8 1990 31 7 18 .280 0 188.2 82 4.53 10 11
5 Jerry Koosman 7 1980 38 16 13 .552 2 243.1 149 4.03 7 10
6 Mark Guthrie 6 1989 13 2 4 .333 0 57.1 38 4.55 5 6
7 Frank Viola 6 1988 35 24 7 .774 0 255.1 193 2.64 7 8
8 Dave Goltz 6 1977 39 20 11 .645 0 303.0 186 3.36 18 16
9 Vic Albury 6 1974 32 8 9 .471 0 164.0 85 4.12 12 13
10 Eddie Bane 6 1973 23 0 5 .000 2 60.1 42 4.92 3 8
11 Jim Merritt 6 1968 38 12 16 .429 1 238.1 181 3.25 8 2

 

Most career pick-offs as a Twins pitcher

Frank Viola
Results
Rk Player PO From To G W L W-L% SV IP SO ERA SB CS
1 Frank Viola 27 1982 1989 260 112 93 .546 0 1772.2 1214 3.86 70 69
2 Jerry Koosman 24 1979 1981 94 39 35 .527 7 601.1 361 3.77 15 33
3 Mark Guthrie 20 1989 1995 240 29 27 .518 8 489.2 388 4.19 50 30
4 Francisco Liriano 17 2005 2012 156 50 52 .490 1 783.1 788 4.33 67 23
5 Roger Erickson 17 1978 1982 114 31 47 .397 0 712.0 321 4.10 23 32
6 Allan Anderson 15 1986 1991 148 49 54 .476 0 818.2 339 4.11 54 38
7 Dave Goltz 15 1972 1979 247 96 79 .549 3 1638.0 887 3.48 111 76
8 Johan Santana 14 2000 2007 251 93 44 .679 1 1308.2 1381 3.22 28 29
9 Geoff Zahn 14 1977 1980 133 53 53 .500 0 852.0 348 3.90 30 42
10 Jim Kaat 14 1961 1973 468 189 152 .554 5 2959.1 1824 3.28 115 47
11 Bert Blyleven 11 1970 1988 348 149 138 .519 0 2566.2 2035 3.28 221 111
12 Vic Albury 11 1973 1976 101 18 17 .514 1 372.2 193 4.11 24 27
13 Jim Merritt 11 1965 1968 122 37 41 .474 6 686.2 527 3.03 14 13
14 Jim Perry 10 1963 1972 376 128 90 .587 5 1883.1 1025 3.15 43 66
15 Kyle Gibson 9 2013 2017 110 36 43 .456 0 632.2 428 4.78 33 11

Note that current Twin pitcher Kyle Gibson made the career list.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Anthony Slama

Major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on July 21.

 

FT. MYERS, FL – MARCH 01: Anthony Slama #39 of the Minnesota Twins poses during photo day at Hammond Stadium on March 1, 2010 in Ft. Myers, Florida. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Anthony Slama (P) – July 21, 2010 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 39th round of the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft. Slama slammed the door on the Indians at Target Field in a Twins 6-0 win with one inning pitched and two strikeouts.

To see other Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Kevin Mulvey

Just the one player with a big league debut as a Minnesota Twins on July 20.

Kevin Mulvey (P) – July 20, 2009 – Traded by the New York Mets with Carlos Gomez, Deolis Guerra and Philip Humber to the Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana on February 2, 2008. Mulvey’s debut was a short one, facing just one batter and retiring him on four pitches to close out the 14-13 loss to the Oakland A’s in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

To see other Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 26 – Twins commit five errors while bullpen falters

The Twins had a 6-4 lead at Municipal Stadium over the last place Kansas City A’s going into the bottom of the 8th inning but the home town A’s plated 5 runs on 4 hits, an error and an IBB and held on for a 9-6 win. The Twins committed five errors while their pitching staff allowed nine hits and five walks and had their losing streak extended to three games, fortunately they remained just one game out of first place. Cesar Tovar was 2 for 4 with a run scored and 2 RBI. Al Worthington took the loss in relief of Dean Chance. Box Score

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

According to ELIAS – Bartolo Colon

Twins add sexy

 

Bartolo Colon

Bartolo Colon made his Twins debut on Tuesday night with a start against the Yankees. Minnesota is the 10th major-league team Colon has started for, becoming the fifth pitcher in major-league history to start for 10 different teams. Mike Morgan holds the all-time record; he started at least one game for 12 different teams and of course one of them was the Minnesota Twins.

This is sort of impossible to believe, but there have been eight pitchers older than the age that Bartolo Colon currently is to appear in a Major League Baseball game in the past 50 years. They are:

Hoyt Wilhelm (49, 1972)
Jamie Moyer (49, 2012)
Phil Niekro (48, 1987)
Nolan Ryan (46, 1993)
Jesse Orosco (46, 2003)
Tommy John (46, 1989)
Charlie Hough (46, 1995)
Randy Johnson (45, 2009)