Tigers and Twins history goes back a ways!

September 1, 2010 – With the Tigers in town and Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel hit by Tiger pitcher Phil Coke and Tiger catcher Avila being hit by Twins hurler Brian Duensing, it brings back memories of the big Twins/Tigers brawl of May 14, 1982. The Twins were in the midst of their worst season ever from a loss perspective as they would finish 1982 with a 60-102 record under manager Billy Gardner. When they arrived in Detroit, they were 2-10 in the month of May and they immediately proceeded to lose the first of a four game series 6-2 to Jack Morris on Thursday, May 13th and with that defeat they dropped into the cellar of the AL West Division where they would stay for the rest of the season.

The following day the Twins sent Pete Redfern (2-4) to the mound against Tigers starter Dan Petry (3-2). The Twins jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning on a couple of singles, a walk and an error. The Tigers came back with one in the bottom of the third and held the Twins scoreless in the fourth. In their half of the fourth the Tigers catcher Lance Parrish doubled and was sacrificed to third by Lou Whitaker. Shortstop Mark DeJohn, who had a total of four hits in his 24 game major league career singled in Parrish to knot the game at 2-2. The next batter was outfielder Chet Lemon and Redfern hit him on the wrist, Lemon charged the mound and the battle ensued. The game was halted for 20 minutes as the umpires sorted things out. When the smoke cleared Lemon was ejected and Redfern had to leave the game with a spike wound to the right foot. Bobby Castillo replaced Redfern and retired the next two batters. The game remained scoreless through the ninth and went into extra innings. In the 10th inning Dave Rozema held the Twins scoreless and Ron Davis did the same to the Tigers in their home half of the 10th. Rozema then retired the Twins 1-2-3 in the 11th inning and Ron Davis took the mound in the bottom of the 11th. Allan Trammell flew out to center for the first out but Lynn Jones singled and then Davis brushed Tiger third baseman Enos Cabell back, words were exchanged and Cabell went after Davis. During the melee Tigers pitcher Dave Rozema suffered ligament damage to his left knee and was carried off the field on a stretcher and eventually required surgery. Twins players stated that Rozema hurt himself trying to kick Twins third baseman John Castino as you can see on the attached video (since taken down) but the Tigers claimed that Rozema hurt himself coming out of the dugout to participate in the brawl. Both Cabell and Davis were ejected and the Twins brought in Terry Felton to pitch. Felton dispatched Tiger Tom Brookens for the second out of the inning but Kirk Gibson hit a two run walk-off homer and the Tigers were the 6-4 victors. The Twins lost the next two games in Detroit, were swept in the four game series and won only one more game that month.

There was some video of the fight but MLB Advanced Media had it taken down. Towards the end of the video you could see Tiger pitcher Dave Rozema come flying in from the left hand side of the screen and try to kick Twins player John Castino. You can see a second short video with Tigers manager Sparky Anderson expressing his view of the situation by clicking here.

Twins most pitching appearances in a season

 
Mike Marshall – Twins pitcher form 1978 – 1980 and known as “Iron Mike”

August 28, 2010 – This is obviously a relief pitcher category but still a lot of fun to look at. There are a couple of guys on this list that obviously threw more innings than most of the other pitchers on this list did. Look at what Bill “Soup” Campbell did in 1976, zero starts, a 17-5 record and 167.2 innings in 78 games, that is more than two innings per appearance. Dr. Mike Marshall is the leader in games appeared with 90 and he threw 142.2 innings. 90 games, that means he appeared in 56% of the games the Twins played that year, just amazing. Heck, both of these guys threw more innings than a lot of today’s starters do. There are some names here that maybe I did not expect to see on a list like this.

If you look at it by decade, it breaks down like this, 60’s = 0, 70’s = 2, 80’s = 0, 90’s = 4, and 00 = 5. I think it shows how much more important that relievers are becoming in baseball today.

Rank Name Year Games Innings Starts Record Saves
1 Mike Marshall 1979 90 142.2 1 10-15 32
2 Eddie Guardado 1996 83 73.2 0 6-5 4
3 JC Romero 2002 81 81 0 9-2 1
4 Eddie Guardado 1998 79 65.2 0 3-1 0
4 Matt Guerrier 2009 79 76.1 0 5-1 1
6 Bill Campbell 1976 78 167.2 0 17-5 20
7 Juan Rincon 2004 77 82 0 11-6 2
7 Mike Trombley 1998 77 96.2 1 6-5 1
9 Matt Guerrier 2008 76 76.1 0 6-9 1
9 Bob Wells 1999 76 87.1 0 8-3 1
9 Bob Wells 2000 76 86.1 0 0-7 10

 

Twins bring in another closer

Brian Fuentes

August 27, 2010 – The Twins announced today that they have acquired 35 year old left-handed closer Brian Fuentes from the Los Angeles Angels for a player to be named later (to be named by October 15). Fuentes had 23 saves in 27 opportunities with the Angels this season after leading the AL in saves in 2009 with 48. Fuentes, nicknamed T-Rex, had a 4-1 record in 39 games with an ERA of 3.52 and a WHIP of 1.20 to go along with 39 strikeouts and 5 home runs allowed. Gardenhire has stated that Capps will retain the closer role and Fuentes will be primarily a set-up guy but he will get some closing opportunities if Capps is used too many days in a row. This is Fuentes’s tenth big league season and he does have 186 lifetime saves pitching for the Mariners, Rockies, and the Angels. So now the Twins have ties to 4 closers if you count Nathan who is out for the year in Rauch, Capps, and Fuentes. Fuentes will be available for Saturday’s game so a roster move will be required, probably after today’s game against the Mariners. Fuentes has about $1.89 million due him this year but he will probably not meet the required 55 games finished to trigger his $9 million vesting option for next season. Sure looks like the Twins are “going all in” this year.

Know your franchise history

HOF "Goose" Goslin

August 22, 2010 – The Society for American Baseball Research is a great organization and one of the wonderful projects they have going on is the Baseball Biography Project. One of the many biographies they have completed is about Washington Senator Hall of Famer Leon Allen Goslin, better known as Goose Goslin. Goose was born October 16, 1900 in Salem, New Jersey and passed away on May 15, 1971. Goslin played in the majors for 18 seasons with the Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, and the Detroit Tigers. Goslin was a slugging clutch-hitting outfielder who had some issues judging fly balls and some say that is how he earned the nickname of “Goose”. Goose Goslin was voted in to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by The Veterans Committee in 1968. Here is a quote from Goose Goslin that I borrowed from Baseball-Almanac.com – “It was just a game, that’s all it was. They didn’t have to pay me. I’d have paid them to let me play. Listen, the truth is it was more than fun. It was heaven.” – Goose Goslin. Take some time and read about this Washington Senators legend by clicking here.

Thome ties major league record

August 18, 2010 – Jim Thome hit a walk-off home run for the Twins against the White Sox last night. It was the 12th walk-off home run of Thome’s career, tying the major league record shared by Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson and Babe Ruth. The last former White Sox to hit a walk-off homer against the Minnesota Twins was Harold Baines on May 4, 1999.

Slowey throws 7 no-hit innings

August 16, 2010 – It was an interesting afternoon at Target Field today as I watched the Twins beat the Oakland A’s 4-2 yesterday and in the process sweep the A’s and extend their winning streak to four. The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the third when Kubel hit a ground rule double with two runners on base and had the ball stayed in play the Twins would have scored a second run.

But it wasn’t long before I looked at the scoreboard to verify what I was thinking, Slowey still had not given up a hit and he was looking pretty sharp. Couple that with some nice fielding plays behind him, like the leaping grab Repko made in left in the top of the 6th inning and things were going well for Slowey and the Twins. As the game progressed into the 6th and 7th inning Slowey started to labor a bit but he still had a no hitter on the board after 7 innings and the Twins were still leading 1-0. In the bottom of the 7th Jim Thome hit a 3-run home run, a rocket shot to right field and suddenly the Twins were up 4-0.

Would Slowey come out to pitch in the 8th inning? At this point he had walked 3 A’s, hit one, and another A’s batter reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Casilla. His pitch count was sitting at 106 which is usually the end of the line for a Twins starter in recent years. I’m wondering if Gardy pulls him in the middle of a no-hitter. Jon Rauch was warming up. Slowey had skipped his last start on Wednesday due to a tender elbow. All signs pointed to Slowey not coming out to pitch in the 8th but still in the back of my mind I hoped he would. Then the bullpen gate opened and Rauch was headed for the mound. I did what my heart told me to do, I gave Gardy and Rauch a resounding boo! Then with one out Rauch gave up back-to-back doubles and the no-hitter and the shutout were gone. I gave Rauch a couple more boos for good measure.

I understood the situation, but I wanted to see a no-hitter, having never witnessed one in person I wanted to cross that off my bucket list but it was not to be today. As I sat on the bus that was taking me back to the Cty Road 73 Park & Ride I thought about what had transpired and I realized that I had nothing to be upset about. Long term this is probably the best thing for Slowey’s health but…….. this was a shot at a once in a life time event for most pitchers. Looking at it from Gardy’s perspective, it was a no-win situation but he took a tough stand and made the hard decision, you have to give the man credit for that. Like I said, it was a fun and interesting day at the old ballpark today and things like this are what make baseball the game it is.

Twins extend deal with ESPN 1500

August 10, 2010 – The Twins announced today that that they have extended their agreement with 1500 ESPN Twin Cities to be the team’s Twin Cities metropolitan area radio affiliate through the 2012 season. The two-year agreement with Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns the station, allows for 1500 ESPN to broadcast all Twins regular and postseason games and at least 25 Spring Training games.

I think it is a terrible decision to extend the contract with 1500 ESPN. Many Twins fans listen to the games on the radio and there are many more that would listen if the station could provide a signal that went out farther than 1500 ESPN’s property lines. As many others have said for years, the signal strength of the station is just plain terrible. I don’t understand why if the Twins want to be first class organization why they go with a second tier minor league radio station. They have a top notch ballpark and a very good team and still they go the cheap route and put their games on 1500 ESPN. Why not go back to WCCO were they belong? WCCO’s signal is so much better in quality and strength that there really is no comparison.

In addition to a bad signal, the pregame and post game announcers leave a lot to be desired. When I listen to 1500ESPN I feel like I am listening to a bunch of announcers that are still in broadcasting school learning how to become professional announcers. 1500 ESPN pre and post game announcers don’t seem to understand baseball at all, I have never seen a bigger bunch of band-wagon jumpers then at 1500 ESPN. If the team goes into a short slump, the announcers rip everyone in site, if the Twins win a couple of games in a row you would think the Twins are the best team that baseball has ever seen.

I can’t believe that the Twins did this, going from WCCO to 1500 ESPN a few years ago was a terrible mistake but here they had an opportunity to fix the problem and they still dropped the ball. I would love to hear why the Twins keep choosing 1500 ESPN over WCCO. The money can’t be that much different, what’s the real reason Mr. St. Peter?

How sad is it that less than 10 miles due west of Target Field and I can barely get a signal as I walk on the Luce Line trail?

Jose Manuel Morales

August 6, 2010 – The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a great organization and one of the wonderful projects they have going on is the Baseball Biography Project. One of the many biographies they have completed is about former Twin Jose Manuel Morales. Jose was born December 30, 1944 in Frederiksted, Virgin Islands. Morales was a catcher by trade but the bat and his ability to pinch-hit was why Jose spent all or part of 12 years in the big leagues with A’s, Expo’s, Twins, Orioles and the Dodgers. Morales was with the Minnesota Twin from 1978 – 1980 and was used primarily as a DH although he played a few games as a catcher, 1B, and even appeared in the outfield for one game. Take a few minutes and read about the Twins original Jose Morales by clicking here.

Delmon Young shares July AL Player of the Month award

August 4, 2010 – Major League Baseball announced that Twins left fielder Delmon Young has been named American League Player of the Month for July, along with Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista. It marks the first time since August of 1999 that the Player of the Month award has been shared, Young led the American League in hits, batting .434 (46-for-106) with six home runs, 12 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 17 runs scored and 30 RBI during the month of July. Delmon safely in 23 of 26 games and had 16 multi-hit games. Young finished just one RBI shy of Kent Hrbek’s July record of 31 set back in 1984. Source: MN Twins Presspass

Most games played by position in franchise history

Native Minnesotan Kent Hrbek

July 31, 2010 – I just wanted to take a look and see who the leaders for games played at each position by the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Senators. With the way things are in baseball today and players on the move through free agency it is hard to keep the same players for any length of time. The only current player that might have a shot at moving on to the list below in the near future is Joe Mauer and if all goes well that might happen late in 2011 or early 2012.

Position Games Name Games Name
Catcher 831 Earl Battey 874 Muddy Ruel
1B 1,609 Kent Hrbek 2,025 Joe Judge
2B 1,128 Rod Carew 1,339 Buddy Myer
SS 1,112 Greg Gagne 1,445 George McBride
3B 1,311 Gary Gaetti 1,625 Eddie Yost
LF 620 Dan Gladden 1,093 Goose Goslin
CF 1,432 Kirby Puckett 1,635 Clyde Milan
RF 1,138 Tony Oliva 1,592 Sam Rice
DH 406 Tony Oliva — —