TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
Cruz and Dozier send game to extras in almost unprecedented fashion
Nelson Cruz homered in the top of the ninth inning to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead, but Brian Dozier answered with a four-bagger in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie it. Seattle then won in 11 innings at Target Field, 4-1.
The only other game in major-league history that was scoreless through eight innings, and then went to extra innings tied, 1-1, after a solo homer in the ninth for each team was played on Opening Day at Kansas City in 1972. The White Sox and Royals played out that scenario with ninth-inning homers by Dick Allen (in his White Sox debut) off Dick Drago and by Bob Oliver (father of Darren) off Wilbur Wood. The Royals won, 2-1, in the 11th inning, on a walk off single by John Mayberry.
Brian Dozier hit his 23rd home run yesterday afternoon, tying a single-season career-high, done last season. Dozier has 28 doubles and needs five to tie his career-high of 33, done in both 2013 and 2014. He needs one home run to tie Roy Smalley’s 24 in 1979 for most homers by a Twins middle infielder in club history and he enters today tied with Josh Donaldson for first in the AL in extra base hits with 54. Sources: ELIAS and Twins Game Notes.
Harmon Killebrew suffers a dislocated left elbow in a collision with Baltimore’s Russ Snyder in the 6th inning while playing first base at Met Stadium. The Twins slugger ends up missng 48 games. Killebrew was leading the AL in homers with 22 and RBI with 70.
Camilo Pascual
Twins pitching Ace Camilo Pascual had surgery on his pitching arm in Washington D.C. and the surgery was deemed a success but how long he would be out was unknown. It turned out that Pascual missed 39 games and returned to the mound for the Twins on September 6. Pascual’s ailment was originally diagnosed as a possible tumor or Lipoma, a fatty growth but it turned out to be a torn muscle.
The Killebrew and Pascual articles are on page 18 and the recap of the Twins versus Orioles game can be found on page 19. Actually it is kind of fun to read the entire paper and read about the news back then and see some of the old ads.
Kurt Suzuki‘s RBI single capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth as the Twins defeated the Mariners 3-2 on Saturday night. It was the seventh time that Suzuki has ended a game with a game-winning RBI while in the game as a catcher since entering the majors in 2007 (he has two more as a pinch-hitter). That ties A.J. Ellis for the most walk-off RBI by a backstop over the past nine seasons. Source: ELIAS
Chattanooga (AA) catcher Stuart Turner is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 23 year-old Turner who bats from the right side played in five games for the Lookouts, hitting .471 (8-for-17) with two doubles, one home run, four RBI, six runs scored and six walks with a .609 on-base percentage In 73 games for the Lookouts this season, Turner stands 6’2″ and goes about 230 has hit .220 (55-for-250) with 10 doubles, one triple, four home runs and 25 RBI.
At Eunice (La.) High School Randy Stuart Turner was a three-time All-State and All-District selection in baseball from 2008-10 and was named a 2009 Louisville Slugger All-America. Turner also lettered three years in football and was a 2009 All-District selection.The Louisiana native was drafted by the Twins in the third round (78th overall) of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Mississippi and signed with Minnesota for $550,000.
Twins rookie Eddie Rosario hit a double, a triple and a home run in Minnesota’s win over the Mariners on Thursday, six days after he recorded three doubles in a game against the Yankees. Rosario is the first Minnesota Twins rookie ever to have two games with at least three extra-base hits in one season. The only other rookie in the major leagues with two such games this season is the Cardinals’ Randal Grichuk. Source – ELIAS
Rosario went 3-5 last night, scored three times and knocked in three runs. Eddie Rosario fell a single short of becoming the 11th Twin and second Twins rookie to ever hit for the cycle (Gary Ward – 1980).
Walker dominates Twins
Taijuan Walker
Taijuan Walker, who will turn 23 years old on August 13, threw a one-hit complete game and struck out 11 batters against the Twins on Friday. Since 1969, only four other pitchers have thrown a complete-game allowing no more than one hit with double-digit strikeouts before turning 23 years old: Dennis Eckersley in his no-hitter in 1977, Dwight Gooden in 1984, Kerry Wood in his 20-strikeout game in 1998, and Shelby Miller in 2013.
The MLB trading deadline came and went and a number of big name ballplayers are changing uniforms but don’t look for any of those big name players here in Twins Territory. The Twins however; weren’t shutout in this years trading frenzy as Twins GM Terry Ryan swung a deal with the Tampa Rays for 31 year-old right-handed reliever Kevin Jepsen and in turn the Twins gave up minor league right-handed pitchers Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia.
Kevin Jepsen was a Anaheim Angels second round pick in 2002 and and signed by scout Todd Blyleven. Jepsen made his big league debut in September of 2008 as a 24 year-old and pitched for the Angels from 2008 through 2014 before being traded to the Tampa Rays for outfielder Matt Joyce.
“Jepsen’s ERA in 46 appearances and 41.2 innings with the Rays was a shiny 2.81, but that really doesn’t tell the full story. His strikeout to walk ratio was just 1.70-to-1 as his 7.3 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 were all his worst since 2011. His stuff remains promising–a mid-90’s fastball and a hard curveball–but his arsenal simply hasn’t been sharp often enough. His curve remains a good pitch, but he has never been great at throwing it for strikes and that especially became a problem as his fastball command withered. FIP, which estimates what a pitcher’s luck-neutral ERA should be based on strikeouts, walks, and home runs, pegs Jepsen as just a 4.13 ERA pitcher.”
Hopefully a change of scenery will help Jepsen because the Twins can certainly use bullpen help. Jepsen has a career ERA of 3.80 with a 1.35 WHIP and a 15-23 won/lost mark. His career KO/9 is 8.5 but he also has a 3.6 BB/9. Jepsen is making $3 million plus change this season and can’t become a free agent until after the 2016 season.
This morning the Twins find themselves still holding one of the wild card spots by the skin of their teeth should the season end today. But we all know that 1/3 of the season still remains to be played, so what should the Twins do. The Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, and the Texas Rangers are among a number of teams that have already made moves to beef up their teams and the trade deadline is coming up fast. The consensus is that the Twins need to beef up their relief pitching and also need to fill holes at short and at catcher.
GM Terry Ryan has stated several times that the Twins would like to make a deal for a relief pitcher but so far nothing has come to fruition. I appreciate how much the team has improved from the last four seasons but I think I am also being realistic in saying that this is not a playoff team. Yes this team plays good baseball on occasion but not consistently enough to make the playoffs.
I don’t think that the Twins planned on finding themselves in this position when the season began and now they face a difficult decision. Do they mortgage their future for a playoff run this year or do they stick to their plan for solid improvement this season and plan to make a serious run in 2016 or 2017? The declining fan base is watching to see what the Twins will do, do they make some deals to try to strengthen the team or do they stick to what they have and give their youngsters a chance to learn the game and learn how to win. The team is also watching to see what GM Ryan will do, will he try to add some pieces to help the team or will he simply say he tried to make some deals but they just didn’t pan out? A playoff run will help get some fans back to the ballpark while a white flag might signal to some Twins fans more of the same and the season ticket base will fall some more. Ryan is in a no-win situation, no matter which way he goes he will be criticized, but that is why he makes the big bucks. The thing to remember is that if the Twins do make some additions by giving up some prospects and still fall short of the playoffs then everyone loses.
The Twins are between the proverbial rock and a hard spot and the best option might well be to do nothing right now and keep playing the youngsters and watching them learn. The team still has too many holes to be a legitimate contender so let’s look at plugging the leaks this season before we sail off on that cruise to playoff land.
Last but certainly not least I want to mention this about prospects, a prospect is just that, he has proven nothing. A prospect today can be a dud tomorrow. If you trade your 5th best prospect today, you will still have a 5th best prospect tomorrow. Next man up! Look at the rosters of most teams, a lot of their best players started in another organization.
David Ortiz hit his 20th home run this season in the first inning of the Red Sox’ game against the White Sox on Monday. This is the 14th consecutive season with 20 or more home runs for Ortiz (2002-2015) and his 13th straight 20-homer season for the Red Sox (2003-2015). Only one other player hit at least 20 home runs for one American League team in 13 or more consecutive seasons. That was Babe Ruth, who slugged at least 20 homers in each of the 15 seasons he played for the Yankees (1920-1934). Source: ELIAS
Cedar Rapids (Low A) right-handed pitcher Felix Jorge is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 6’2″ 170 pound Jorge made one start for the Kernels on Tuesday, allowing two runs on five hits in 7.0 innings pitched with one walk and seven strikeouts. Jorge has gone 5-3, 2.10 ERA (103.0 IP, 24 ER) with 23 walks and 82 strikeouts in 16 starts for the Kernels this season.
Jorge has a fastball that touches 95, a slider and a change-up. Now in his fifth professional season, Jorge has struck out 301 batters in 330.2 innings and has a 3.24 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Jorge was originally signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent in February of 2011 as a seventeen year old for a reported $250,000.
Native Minnesotan Dave Goltz – Twins pitcher from 1972 – 1979 (courtesy of Minnesota Twins)
Coming off a double-header sweep (with the 2nd game going 12 innings) of the A’s the day before, the Twins are again going up against the boys from Oakland at Met Stadium. The game goes 11 innings before the Twins prevail 2-1 on a bases loaded single by Larry Hisle. But, the real story of the game is Twins starter Dave Goltz who pitches all 11 innings throwing 180 pitches. Goltz improves his record to 12-6 as he faces 41 batters giving up 8 hits and walking 1 while striking out 14 Oakland A’s. In spite of all of this, the game is over in 2 hours and 39 minutes. Box score.
Brian Dozier hit his 23rd home run yesterday afternoon, tying a single-season career-high, done last season. Dozier has 28 doubles and needs five to tie his career-high of 33, done in both 2013 and 2014. He needs one home run to tie Roy Smalley’s 24 in 1979 for most homers by a Twins middle infielder in club history and he enters today tied with Josh Donaldson for first in the AL in extra base hits with 54. Sources: ELIAS and Twins Game Notes.
