Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

10 run leads are just not enough

July 21, 2009 – A lot of Twins fans were already in bed confident of another Twins win when home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski called Mike Cuddyer out on a close call at the plate at about 12:38 AM local time on Tuesday morning. Cuddyer was trying to tie the score at 14-14 all the way from second base on a wild pitch by A’s reliever Michael Wuertz. Replays showed fairly clearly that Cuddyer was safe, having slid under the tag from Wuertz but the dirty deed had already been done, the A’s were already shaking hands for a great come from behind victory while Gardy “discussed” the play with Muchlinski.

It was an abrupt end to a game that dragged on for 3 hours and 32 in front of only 10,283 fans in Oakland in a game where each team hit 4 home runs with a grand slam for each side. Neither starter, or reliever for that matter, had anything, Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez lasted just 2 2/3 innings giving up 11 earned runs and Nick Blackburn pitched 5 innings for Minnesota and gave up 7 earned runs on 13 hits. Twins pitchers threw 155 pitches, allowed 22 hits and 3 walks and strangely enough, did not strike out a single A’s batter.

With the 14-13 loss the Twins tied their record for largest blown lead in Twins history. The Twins and Frank Viola had a 10-0 lead in the 3rd inning at Cleveland Stadium on September 28, 1984 and lost the game 11-10 but that was in the Ron Davis era and many would say that was not all that shocking. Sports Illustrated did a recap of the game in their October 4, 1984 issue and you can check it out here. If you want to see the actual box score of the 1984 game just click here.

According to Elias, Minnesota’s Justin Morneau had two home runs and seven RBIs and Oakland’s Matt Holliday had two homers and six RBIs in the A’s win over the Twins. It was only the fourth game in major-league history in which a player on each team hit at least two home runs and had at least six RBIs. The other pairs of opponents to do that were Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals) and Butch Henline (Phillies) in 1922, Lou Gehrig (Yankees) and Jimmie Foxx (A’s) in 1930, and Albert Belle (White Sox) and Rusty Greer (Rangers) in 1997.

A’s starter Gio Gonzalez gave up 11 runs in two and two-thirds innings Monday night but he did not get a loss as Oakland rallied from a ten-run deficit to beat the Twins, 14-13. Gonzalez is only the second starting pitcher in baseball’s modern era (i.e., since 1900) to avoid a loss in a game in which he pitched fewer than three innings and gave up at least 11 runs. You don’t have to search back very far to find the other instance: the Rangers’ Scott Feldman was charged with 12 runs in two and two-thirds innings in Boston on August 12, 2008 he too was not involved in the decision as Texas lost to the Red Sox, 19-17.

The Joe you don’t know

July 16, 2009 – For those of you that don’t get to read the Star Tribune, you missed a great story this past Sunday by Jim Souhan. The story is kind of a behind the scenes look at Joe Mauer. Take a few minutes and check it out here.

They Said It

July 4, 2009 – Here are some fun and interesting quotes pertaining to the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators that I found in The Sports Illustrated archives.

Frank Kostro, Minnesota Twins utility man: “So far I’ve played right, left and first base and I’m Polish. Does that make me a utility pole?” – 4/29/1968

Mickey Mantle, injured Yankee, after batting practice at the Minnesota Twins’ Metropolitan Stadium: “This is the greatest home-run stadium I’ve ever seen. If this were my home park I’d hit 90 homers some year.” – 7/29/1963

Dick Erickson, head groundkeeper at Met Stadium in Bloomington, MN. asked what his job would be if the Twins and Vikings move into a domed stadium in 1981: “I guess I’ll just scrape the bubble gum off the field.” – 12/18/1978

Dave St. Peter, Twins president, on having real grass in the ballpark that Minnesota plans to open in 2010: “It will be a great joy to see somebody riding a mower instead of a vacuum cleaner.” – 9/24/2007

Sam Mele, to his family after he was fired by the Minnesota Twins: “What are you crying for? All these years you’ve been saying you’d like to have me home for the summer. Well, that’s where I’ll be now.” – 6/19/1967

Ellis Clary, Minnesota Twins scout, whose team is in the thick of its divisional race despite one of baseball’s lowest payrolls: “We’ve got the only players who’ll make more in their World Series shares than in salary.” – 8/6/1984

Calvin Griffith, 285-pound former owner of the Minnesota Twins upon running into equally hefty Craig Kusick, a onetime Twins first baseman who now teaches high school phys ed: “You and I should attend some of your classes.”

Ron Davis, former Minnesota Twin reliever who had a knack for giving up late-game homers, on the boos he still hears at appearances in the Twin Cities: “When it’s 10 years later and they still hate you, that’s what you call charisma.” – 2/20/1995

Mrs. Laura Quilici, hearing that her son Frank had been named manager of the Minnesota Twins: “Oh, the poor kid. He’s going to get an ulcer now.” – 7/17/1972

Jim DeShaies, Minnesota Twin pitcher on ignoring baseball tradition and changing his seat in the dugout during teammate Scott Erickson’s recent no-hitter: “I think everybody gets caught up in superstitions. But I don’t put much stock in them—knock on wood.” – 5/16/1994

Tony Perez, Cincinnati Reds coach, on wire-service reports that pitcher John Smiley was unhappy about his trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Minnesota Twins: ” John Smiley is going to change his name to John Frowny.” 4/6/1992

Don Baylor, Minnesota Twins DH, on why he would say no if George Steinbrenner offered him the Yankees’ managing job: “I came into this game sane, and I want to leave it sane.” – 10/19/1987

Cookie Lavagetto, manager of the likely last place Washington Senators, after reprimand by Commissioner Ford Frick for saying the Yankees would win pennant by 15 games: “I wanted to get them overconfident so we could beat them.” – 4/14/1958

Billy Gardner, Minnesota Twins manager, on outfielder Darrell (Downtown) Brown, who has hit one home run in 591 career at bats: “That must be an awful small town.”

Tom Kelly, Minnesota Twins manager, explaining why he made pitcher Pat Mahomes walk off the field with him after pulling him during a 17-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers: “Then we would have to take only half the boos each.” – 5/10/1993

Junior Oriz, Minnesota Twins catcher, after teammate Scott Erickson threw a two-hitter for his 12th straight win: “He’s unbelievable. He’s like that guy in Texas who’s 41, or 42, or 43.”

Sam Mele, ousted Minnesota Twins manager, asked what he had noticed most about the club this summer: “They got going right after I left.” – 9/25/1967

Gene Mauch, Minnesota Twins manager, on having a blood relative, Roy Smalley on his team: “Sometimes I look on Roy as my nephew, but sometimes only as my sister’s son.” – 5/26/1980

Hal Naragon, Minnesota Twins catcher, on whether Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski will turn out to be the Red Sox new Ted Williams: “He’s like Ted from the shoelaces down.” – 9/18/1961

Gene Mauch, of the Minnesota Twins, who is in his first year as an American League manager: “I’ve seen more inferior umpiring so far this season than I saw in 16 years as a manager in the National League.” – 7/19/1976

Calvin Griffith, president of the Washington Senators, who once promised to keep the club in Washington “as long as I live,” in an amendment: “As long as we make a living.” – 7/14/1958

Not Such a Tough Cookie

June 30, 2009 – A very enjoyable story about the Minnesota Twins first manager Attilo Harry “Cookie” Lavagetto, written by Walter Bingham for Sports Illustrated on May 15, 1961. Maybe there really is something to the Sports Illustrated cover jinx; Lavagetto was fired by owner Calvin Griffith on June 23 after piloting the first year Minnesota Twins to a 25-41 start to the 1961 season. Click on the magazine cover to read the story.

Twins 1997 Home Red Sunday Jersey

June 21, 2009 – In 1997 the Twins broke out a new home red Sunday jersey. The jersey was red with navy trim and the Twins logo, player’s name, and numbers were white with navy trim. The uniforms were used for the first time on Sunday, April 6. Brad Radke started the game for Minnesota and was the losing pitcher when the Kansas City Royals trounced the home team by a 12-2 score. The uniforms were again used on their very next Sunday home game on April 27 against the Texas Rangers and again Brad Radke was the starter. The Rangers scored 5 runs in the eighth inning and held on for a 7-3 win. ESPN announcers quickly nicknamed the Twins red uniforms as the Dairy Queen design because the colors closely matched the Dairy Queen advertising signs behind home plate. After just two games, both defeats, the uniforms were deemed to be bad luck by the players and were retired never to be worn by the Twins again. Since the jersey was used in 1997, it had the Jackie Robinson “Breaking Barriers” patch on the right sleeve. You can see what the uniforms looked like by clicking here.

Update – The Twins used the red jersey’s again on August 1, 2014 at US Cellular Field against the White Sox and came up on the short end of a 10-8 game.

Update – The Twins were in a funk and Twins starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey decided it was time once again (August 7, 2015) for the red jersey and this time the Twins beat Cleveland 10-9 with a home run in the ninth inning at Progressive Field. Their first win wearing the red jersey. The Twins tried them again the following day and got whipped 17-4.

The Twins record in red jersey’s stands at 1-4. When they will come out again, who knows?

 

Time for Gardenhire and the Twins to get serious

June 3, 2009 – So approximately 1/3 of the baseball season is behind us and the Twins record is 26-27, good enough for second place in the weak Central Division behind the Detroit Tigers. So what does the rest of the year look like for the Twins as they play their final season at the Metrodome? Can we expect to see some playoff baseball at the Dome come October?

In spite of the fact that Mauer and Morneau are hitting the cover off the ball, the team hitting overall is just middle of the pack in the AL. The Twins rank 6th in both home runs and average, 7th in runs scored, and 8th in total bases. Span is doing what a lead off hitter should but his OBP could stand some improvement. Cuddyer has come on strong but now he has another hand injury. Kubel is hitting over .300 but I would have expected more than 5 home runs from him after 2 months of baseball. Crede is doing what the Twins pay him to do, good in the field and flashes some nice power but strikes out frequently, exactly what I thought we would get when he was signed, a nice addition. That takes us to the weak spots, 2B, SS, and one of the outfield positions.

What about the pitching? As you may have suspected, not so good. In the 14 team AL, the Twins are 11th in ERA, 12th in strikeouts, have given up the 3rd most hits in the league, and only the Yankees and the Orioles pitchers have given up more long balls. On the plus side, the pitching staff as the fewest walks and is 4th in the league in WHIP. The Twins rank 1st in the league in fielding and have only committed 19 errors in 53 games.

So what do I think has to happen for the Twins to contend for a playoff spot? First and foremost I think that Gardy needs to do a better job at managing what he has. The way I see it and I think history supports me is that no team will get into the playoffs with platoons in 3 different positions. I am not a Delmon Young fan but you have to play the cards you are dealt and as much as it pains me to say this, Gardy needs to make Young his full-time left fielder and put Span in center field day in and day out. Gomez’s role is to come in and play defense for Delmon when the Twins have a lead in the late innings. Casilla needs to play 2B every day, either he becomes the player he should be or the Twins will have learned that he is not a regular 2B and they can pursue one in the off season. That leaves the shortstop hole and I have said many times on this site that Nick Punto should not be considered a regular and would lose his job by Memorial Day. Well, he is on the DL and he hasn’t hit a lick. The best the Twins can do at this stage is put Harris at short and let him play or they can trade for a shortstop that can field and hit. The pitching I think will improve, Baker should come around and Liriano is what he is. He is no longer the “franchise” as he was portrayed before his injury. Liriano will be good some days and bad others but he is a serviceable pitcher. Slowey and Blackburn are pitching well. Swarzak is still unproven after only two big league starts but if he can hold his own, I would move Perkins to the bullpen when he returns from his latest injury. The bullpen is not fantastic but is workable assuming that Crain can regain his form. I do think that Gardy has to quit using Crain for more than one inning at a time though. There is no better closer than Nathan.

Bottom line? This team needs some stability and some clear role definition before it gets better and this is the manager’s job. Gardy, (a utility player himself) has to quit “falling in love” with utility players like Punto and Tolbert and play his best players full time. Since we don’t live in a perfect world that means that you have to give up something to get something. In the case of the Twins, they need to give up some fielding to get some more hitting from 3 spots in the line-up that have contributed next to nothing with their bats so far this season.

As for GM Smith, he should be looking to find the Twins a shortstop and if that means giving up some prospects, so be it. The Twins haven’t exactly stolen players in their most recent deals with the Mets and the Rays so maybe Mr. Smith can swing a better deal for the Twins this time. Make it so Mr. Smith!

Sports Illustrated 1961 Pre-Season Twins Analysis

June 3, 2009 – Let’s go back in time, way back to April 10, 1961 and take a peek at the Sports Illustrated pre-season analysis of the new Minnesota Twins as the team prepares to expose the Minnesota and Midwest fans to major league baseball American league style. Click on the magazine cover to read the story.

The Twins first game – April 11, 1961

April 11, 2009 – The Twins played their first game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on April 11, 1961 in front of 14,607 fans on a nice 50 degree day. The Yankees were coming off another World Series season but had lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960 World Series in 7 games due to the famous Bill Mazeroski home run. The Twins on the other hand had just moved to Minnesota from Washington where they had finished 5th in the 8 team American league.

Cookie Lavagetto’s Twins had Pedro Ramos on the mound against the Yankee ace Whitey Ford. Zoilo Versalles the Twins shortstop led off the game with a ground ball to shortstop Tony Kubek who threw to Bill “Moose” Skowron for the Twins first out. Centerfielder Lenny Green also was out on a ground out and Harmon Killebrew was walked to become the Twins first base runner. Left Fielder Jim Lemon was the clean-up hitter but he ground out to Bobby Richardson at 2B and the Twins first inning was history. In the bottom of the first, Ramos retired Richardson and Hector Lopez before Yogi Berra batting in the 3 hole, got the first hit off a Twins pitcher, a single to right field. Ramos induced Mickey Mantle to ground out to 2B and future Twins manager Billy Gardner and after one inning it was 0-0. In the second inning Lemon committed the Twins first error but the Yankees could not take advantage of it and after two innings the game remained scoreless. Both the Twins and the Yankees went 1-2-3 in the 3rd and after 3 innings the game remained scoreless. The Killer led off the 4th inning with the Twins first hit, a single to center but Ford retired the next three batters again keeping the Twins from getting on the board. In the bottom of the 4th Ramos struck out Mantle and Maris back to back before allowing a single to Skowron but Kubek flied out to Green in center to end any possibility of a Yankee score. Billy Gardner singled off Ford in the 5th but Ford retired Ramos and Versalles to end that threat. In the bottom of the 5th Whitey Ford singled off Ramos with one out but Ramos got Richardson to hit into a 5-4-3 double play from Reno Bertoia to Gardner to Killebrew and after 5 the game was still 0-0. The 6th inning was uneventful as both sides went 1-2-3 and the Twins and Yankees were locked in a pitcher’s duel in the Twins first ever game. Ford must have started to tire in the 7th because Bob Allison led off with a long homerun to left, and in the process scored the Twins first run. Earl Battey followed with a double and Bertoia walked. Lavagetto then had Gardner sacrifice bunt the runners along and Ramos, a good hitting pitcher, singled to center scoring Battey and Bertoia and the Twins had a 3-0 lead. That turned out to be the final batter that Ford faced and Ralph Terry came on for the Yankees and Versalles greeted him with a single to center before Terry got Green on a fly out. Killebrew followed with another walk but Lemon ground out for the third out. But after 6 ½, the Twins were leading the hated Yankees 3-0. Ramos retired the Yankees 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning and after 7 the Twins were winning 3-0. Allison led off the 8th with a single of Terry, Battey hit a ground ball forcing Allison at 2B but Bertoia followed with his first homer and after 7 ½ the Twins were up 5 to nothing. Ramos again retired the Yanks 1-2-3 and after 8 the score was Minnesota 5 and New York 0. In the top of the 9th, Jim Coates came on to pitch for the Yankees and Versalles singled to left. Green popped out to Richardson. With Killebrew in the batter’s box, Versalles stole 2B and then stole 3B. Killebrew then hit a sac fly to left scoring Zoilo for the 6th and final run of the game. Dan Dobbek, who had replaced Lemon in left, was hit but a Coates pitch and proceeded to steal 2B while Allison was at bat but Bob ground out to shortstop to end the inning. In the bottom of the 9th Ramos retired Hector Lopez, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle flew out to Allison in right and the Minnesota Twins had won their first game after 2 hours and 27 minutes of play in a 6-0 shutout over the Yankees.

Pedro Ramos would go on to pitch two other shutouts in 1961 but finished the season with an 11-20 record. The Twins would finish their first season with a 70-90 record and a seventh place finish, ahead of only the Angels, A’s, and Senators. But on this magical day after 1 day of play in 1961 the Minnesota Twins were 1-0 and tied for 1st place in the American league. Click on my “Twins Box Scores” page and you can see the actual box score for this game.

Twins split against the Mariners

April 10, 2009 – The main idea behind this web site is to write about Twins/Senators history but now and then I will continue to write a little about the present day Twins, I just mention that because I don’t want you to get upset with me that you don’t see me writing daily about how the Twins are doing. Having said that, I still want all of you to keep coming to www.Twinstrivia.com to check and see what might be new on the site today.

I obviously follow the Twins closely and attend about 20-25 games a year and we were out at the Dome on Wednesday and saw the Twins beat the Mariners 6-5 from our regular seats down the first baseline right next to the visitors bullpen. What seemed a little odd to us this year as we looked back towards the infield was how bright the lights seemed to be, I am not sure if they upgraded the wattage or just adjusted the lights but it can be painful looking towards the Twins dugout as the lights seem to shine directly in your eyes.

The Twins won the middle two games and lost the first and last game to what appears to be a bad Mariners team, and Seattle didn’t even have Ichiro in their line-up. When you consider how lucky the Twins were to win game 2 in the bottom of the ninth against Seattle closer Morrow who I think will become a very good closer, Twins management can’t be too happy with the Twins start at home in 2009.

I dislike having to play what I consider to be bad teams at the beginning of the season because these so called bad teams don’t think they are bad this early in the season and they play as if they can win. A bit later in the season these bad teams know they are bad and give up once they get a few runs down or wait for something bad to happen which will cause them to lose. On the other hand, if you play against the good teams early on, I think the opposite happens, they are nothing special right now but as the season progresses they gain confidence and know that they are good enough to come back against any deficit, it is just a matter of time before they take the lead and win the game.

Twins hitting after four games is below average with Morneau, Crede, Gomez, and Punto all hitting .200 and under and no Twins hitter has more than 4 hits. Cuddyer, Crede, and Gomez are striking out at a furious rate and to be honest I don’t expect that to improve very much. Crede I expect to strikeout a lot, some goes for Gomez as he learns to hit in the majors but I expect Cuddyer to do better than he has so far.

Twins pitching is about where I expect it to be at this point in the season with an ERA of 4.25. I think Liriano, Slowey, and Blackburn can all pitch better then they have so far, I think first game “jitters” hurt them all and I would expect better performances from them as we get to their second and third starts. The Twins miss Baker but hopefully they can get him back next week. Outside of Nathan the bullpen has been nothing to brag about but hopefully they too will pitch better in future outings.

I fear that the Twins outfield situation will be a constant source of irritation as Gardy tries to shuffle 4 or 5 outfielders and give them all playing time. You can already sense Gardy’s frustration when he is asked who is playing in the outfield “today”. I was absolutely sure that the Twins would trade Delmon Young before spring training ended but it didn’t happen and now I think the Twins will pay the price. An uncertain line-up causes problems, maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next week, but it will cause problems down the line, mark my words. The Twins are paying Cuddyer too much money to sit him plus he is a very good right fielder so he needs to play. Span is the lead-off hitter and he needs to play. Gomez is the exciting and talented center fielder that is the crown jewel in the Santana deal and why would you hinder his development, so he has to play. Now and then Gardy will put Kubel in left just so he remembers how to play outfield when it comes time for inter-league play. That leaves Delmon as the odd man out, sure, he is not complaining now, but the season is less than a week old and he is waiting and watching to see how things develop. Span had a terrible spring and that had to give Young hope for more playing time but now that the season has started, Span seems to have picked up his hitting and he is on the plus side of .300. As the days progress Young will become more and more disenchanted with his role on this team and he will let Twins management and the media know about his feelings about riding the bench. The problem the Twins and GM Bill Smith have is that the longer they wait and the more disenchanted Delmon becomes because of a lack of playing time the lower the return will be for this young outfielder that many feel still has great potential. The Twins and GM Smith put themselves in this box and they need to find a way to get something of value as quickly as possible for Delmon Young whom they had to part ways with Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to acquire. Right about now I would take a top notch set-up man and a minor league pitcher to two for Delmon and send him on his way, there is such a thing as addition through subtraction.

Steve Cannon passes away at the age of 81

Steve Cannon and his many characters
Steve Cannon and his many characters

April 7, 2009 – Wow, what a shock this morning when I woke up and heard that former WCCO radio icon Steve Cannon had passed away at the age of 81 after a short battle with cancer. I listened to the “Cannon Mess” for many years as I drove home to Wayzata from downtown Minneapolis after a long days work at Norwest/Wells Fargo. The show was unique every day as you listened to Steve banter between 3-6 with his sidekicks Morgan Mundane, Lash LaRue, and of course the wonderful Ma Linger. Now and then he would tell us about Da Niece and Da Nephew and their escapades. A great Twins and Vikings fan, I think Cannon started the term “Viqueens” and his sports prognostications with Morgan Mundane were legendary. The man was blessed with a golden radio voice, the best I have ever heard, and when you listened to his show it was as if you were sitting across the table and listening to a family member tells you a story. I remember one day someone had asked him why he never took any calls on his show and his response was simple and straight forward, “I have earned the right to run my show the way I want, if you want to talk on the radio, get your own show”. Cannon always did it his way and that is one of the things that really impressed me about Steve Cannon. Steve is gone now but my memories of Steve Cannon will be with me forever. I am sure that when Steve appeared at the pearly gates St. Peter just said, Welcome Steve, the microphone is over there, what time slot would you like? Rest in peace Steve as you have earned it. My condolences go out to the Cannon family.

The Star Tribune did a nice story on Cannon that you can read here.

1997 Steve Cannon interview with Robyne Robinson part 1 (7 minute and 9 seconds KMSP video)

1997 Steve Cannon interview with Robyne Robinson part 2 (7 minutes and 52 seconds KMSP video)

WCCO-TV tribute to Steve Cannon