This Day in Twins History – June 4

outfielder Larry Hisle

1976 – Larry Hisle becomes the third Twins player ever to hit for the cycle as he does so in Baltimore in a 10 inning Twins 8-6 victory.

1982 – Brad Havens and Terry Felton combined to shut out Baltimore 6-0 at the Metrodome, snapping the Twins’ club-record 14-game losing streak. The last-place Twins were 3-26 in the month of May. To boost attendance, Twins president Calvin Griffith promised fans that they could purchase tickets for a future game for a buck if the Twins won the game and broke their losing streak.

2002 – In its 23-2 win over Cleveland at the Metrodome, Minnesota had four players with four hits, four players with at least three RBIs and four players with at least three runs scored. In the seventh inning, the Twins set a franchise record with 10 runs in the frame — Minnesota batted around before making an out. The Twins had a franchise-record 25 hits. The Twins also set a team mark for their largest margin of victory at 21 which broke the mark of 19 set May 20, 1994 in a 21-2 victory over the Red Sox. The Indians matched their most lopsided loss in history — 21-0 to Detroit on Sept. 15, 1901.

According to Elias

Scott Diamond

Scott Diamond allowed three runs, all unearned, in the Twins’ victory at Cleveland to improve his record to 4-1 and lower his ERA to 1.86. Diamond is the third Twins rookie since the franchise relocated to Minnesota in 1961 to win at least four of his first six starts of a season while posting such a low ERA. The others were Jim Hughes in 1975 (5-1, 1.62 ERA) and Francisco Liriano in 2006 (5-1, 1.50 ERA).

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Jason Wheeler

Beloit left-handed pitcher Jason Wheeler is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for May 26-June 1. Wheeler, 21, won both of his starts for the Snappers, going 2-0, 4.84 ERA (13.0 ip, 7 er), allowing 12 hits with five walks and 13 strikeouts. In 11 starts this season, he is 7-1, 3.23 (64.0 IP, 23 er) allowing 67 hits with 15 walks and 46 strikeouts. Wheeler was the Twins eighth round pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Loyola Marymount University.

Twins turning DP’s at a record pace

The Twins have turned a Major League-leading 73 double plays this year, turning at least one double play in 38 games and multiple double plays in 23 games. Minnesota is on pace to record 237 double plays, which would set an MLB record, passing the 1956 Yankees’ 213 double plays. The Twins season record for double plays in a season is 203, done in 1979, and is tied for fifth-best in Major League history.

Then again your pitching staff needs to give up a lot of hits and walks to allow so many runners on base in order to get double play opportunities. The Twins pitching remains the worst in the American League as opposing batters are hitting .285 and the Twins pitching staff has a 5.25 ERA with a 1.42 WHIP.

This Day in Twins History

Bert Blyleven

5/31/1976 – With trade rumors running rampant due to how poorly salary negotiations had progressed, Bert Blyleven walked off the mound at the Met in front of 8,379 fans trailing the California Angels 3-1. A number of fans were on Blylevens’ case shouting and singing “bye-bye Bertie” and Blyleven angrily looked up at the hecklers and flashed them the “one finger salute”. That was the final straw for Twins management and Bert along with shortstop Danny Thompson was traded to Texas the next day for pitchers Bill Singer and Jim Gideon, shortstop Roy Smalley III, 3B Mike Cubbage and $250,000.

5/31/1980 – Outfielder Ken Landreaux goes 0-for-4 in Minnesota’s 11-1 loss to the Orioles Scott McGregor, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It is the longest streak in the AL since Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949. Ken’s streak started on April 23rd. Landreaux had 49 hits in 125 at bats during the streak for a .392 batting average. This streak remains the team record to this date.

Make sure you check out the “Today in Twins History” page every day.

This Day in Twins History – May 30, 1986

Roy Smalley III

DH Roy Smalley III hits a home run from each side of the plate against the Red Sox at the Metrodome in a Twins 13-5 win and becomes the first Twins batter to ever do so. Smalley ended up hitting 110 home runs for Minnesota in his 10 year two tour career with the Twins. Smalley was the son of former big leaguer Roy Smalley Jr. who had an 11 year career with the Cubs, Braves, and Phillies between 1948-1958 and nephew of former Twins manager Gene Mauch. Smalley is a Twins analyst with Fox Sports North these days.

According to Elias

Josh Willingham

Josh Willingham hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to give the Twins a 3-2 win over the A’s last night. It was the first time since 1995 that a Minnesota player erased a deficit of two or more runs with a walk-off homer. The last Twins player to do so was Kirby Puckett with a three-run blast in a 7-6 win over the Mariners.

Twins put Liriano back in to starting rotation

 

 

The Twins have announced that Francisco Liriano is headed back in the starting rotation and will face the Oakland A’s at Target Field on Wednesday. So why do you move Francisco Liriano back in the starting rotation? Simply put, the Twins have no choice, they are out of ideas, they have tried everything they can think of to get Francisco back on track in his contract year and if anything, Liriano has gotten worse. I don’t know Liriano personally and according to what I have heard and seen in print, he is a nice guy, a quiet individual that works hard and goes about his business. I can only assume what they say about the man is true but when I look at Liriano I see a shy individual that can not handle pressure, not everyone is good in a pressure environment, some thrive under pressure and others find it impossible to deal with. I think Liriano sees himself falling into a deeper and deeper funk and doesn’t know how to stop from falling into the bottomless pit. He has no confidence, the team around him is playing poorly and he tries harder and harder to become the pitcher that everyone says he should be. But the harder you try the less successful you are going to be, pressure is a difficult thing to deal with and not everyone can handle the heat. The Twins coaching staff, the press and Twins blogs are all over Liriano and he can’t escape the negative things being said about him anywhere he goes. Everyone has an idea on how he should pitch in order for him to meet their lofty expectations, but sometimes you can not see the forest for the trees. The man has no place to go, everyone expects him to pitch like he did in 2006 when he went 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA in 16 starts at the age of 22. But look at that 2006 team, that team finished the season 96-66 and won the AL Central. Look at their starters, Johan Santan was 19-6 in 34 starts, Carlos Silva was 11-15 in 31 starts, Brad Radke went 12-9 in 28 starts, Boof Bonser was 7-6 in 18 starts, Scott Baker had 16 starts and went 7-8, Matt Garza had 9 starts and Kyle Lohse had 8 starts. Garza and Liriano were the babies in the group, both 22 years of age, they had no pressure on them at all, they just took the mound and let their natural God-given gifts take over. After Santana left the Twins after the 2007 season and Liriano came back from TJ surgery in 2008 he was expected to take over as the Twins ace, but apparently that was not a role that Liriano could take on.

This year Francisco Liriano had a great spring training, Liriano threw a team leading 27 innings with 33 strikeouts,and 5 walks in 7 starts and posted a 2.33 ERA and batters only hit .250 against Francisco. Once the season started and games started to count, Liriano folded like a $5 umbrella in a hurricane. Liriano does not have the personality or temperament to be an ace in the big leagues, some are born to lead and others find that role too much to handle. But that does not mean that Liriano can not be a solid contributor to the pitching staff.,

To me the problem with Francisco is all about his control or lack there of. Since Liriano came back from TJ surgery in 2008 his bases on ball for 9 innings have gotten progressively worse going from 3.8 in 2008 to 6.9 in 2012. His hits per 9 innings have been in the 8.4 to 9.7 range with the exception of this year when they have jumped to 11.6. When you get as many suggestions as Liriano is probably getting now it gets very confusing and you get further and further away from what made you successful in the first place. The Twins are not going anywhere this year so they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by putting Frankie back in the starting rotation and just letting him pitch through this. He either does it or he doesn’t, but let him do it his way, he has earned that right. He is in the last year of his contract and there is no way the Twins will bring him back for any reason so the best the team can hope for is that Liriano can turn it around to some degree and that the Twins can move him for a prospect or two. The Twins have had their chances to move Liriano over the last few years but were not willing to pull the trigger on a deal because as is their history indicates, they hate to make a deal that could come back to haunt them. Some teams believe that it is better to trade a player a year or two too early rather than hold on to them and have their value decrease, the Twins are not one of those teams.

Is someone to blame for the situation that Liriano and the Twins find themselves in? I don’t know the answer to that and I am not sure anyone does but sometimes we all have to accept that things do not always go how we expect them to go and we just have to move on. Many years ago when I was a technology manager for Norwest Banks I had an employee that I managed that was a very good employee but never took the next step or training necessary to achieve what I though he was capable of achieving and it was frustrating to me. So during one of the annual review sessions I asked him what he didn’t put in the extra effort to move up the ladder and take on a bigger role and make more money. he looked at me and said, “why? I am perfectly happy with my current role and I have no interest in taking on more responsibility”. That answer surprised me but when I took the time to think over what he said, it made perfect sense. Sometimes we try to fit square pegs into round holes because we think it is the right thing to do but that is not how life should be.

This Day in Twins History – May 27

 

SS Zoilo Versalles played for the Senators/Twins from 1959-1967

5/27/1961 – Shortstop Zoilo Versalles becomes the first Twin to get 5 hits in a game when he hits 2 doubles and 3 singles against the Washington Senators on the road but the Twins come up on the short-end of a 14-4 game.

5/27/64 – In the first game of a doubleheader at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Angels, Twins centerfielder Jimmie Hall is beaned by Angel lefty Bo Belinsky as Hall leads off the top of the fifth inning. The Twins end up losing the game 4-1 but come back to win the second game 4-3. Hall ends up with a concussion and tries to come back on May 31st as a pinch-hitter but ends up striking out. Hall sits out several more games and gets back in the line-up on June 4th. Hall hit 33 home runs as a rookie in 1963 but is never really the same player after this beaning.

5/27/83 – Twins reliever Rick Lysander becomes the first Twins pitcher to lose both games of a double header at the Tigers beat the Twins 7-4 and 2-1 at Tiger Stadium. Box scores Game 1 and Game 2.

5/27/2010 – Jason Kubel became the first Twins player with a two-homer game at Target Field in the Twins 8-2 win over the Yankees. Kubel hit a solo homer in the sixth, a three-run shot in the seventh and had an RBI double for the Twins, who had gone eight games and 349 plate appearances without a home run before the lefty broke the skid.

5/27/2011 – Twins starter Scott Baker threw seven scoreless innings and left with a 5-0 lead at Target Field, but the Los Angeles Angels scored five in the eighth and one in the ninth against the bullpen and defeated the Twins, 6-5. Baker became the first major-league starter in 13 years to fashion a scoreless outing of at least seven innings and leave with a lead of at least five runs, only to see his team lose. As badly as things have gone for the Twins this season, who are now 16-33 and 14.5 games out of first, the loss set a new low. It was the only the second time since the team came to Minnesota in 1961 – and the first time in nearly 40 years – that the Twins have lost a game in which they led by five-or-more runs going into the eighth inning. Since their only previous such loss – 11-9 to the Yankees on July 30, 1971 – the Twins had gone 755-0 in games in which they took a lead of five-or-more runs into the eighth inning! That was the longest winning streak in major league history in games of that type.