Yikes! Yankees 14 and Twins 1

I took some facts from an article about the Twins vs Yankees game from The Athletic, a pay site that I am checking out as I usually don’t usually visit pay sites. The article is entitled Ryan LaMarre’s pitching cameo and a Twins flop in the Bronx, by the numbers

Brian Dozier

24 – Straight games with a hit for Brian Dozier, dating back to last season, including 17 since the start of the 2018 campaign. Dozier extended his streak with a two-out, RBI single to left in the fifth inning off Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, who was outstanding. Dozier’s hit streak is rapidly approaching the longest in Twins history, a 31-game run by Ken Landreaux in 1980. It’s also the longest hitting streak to span two seasons since Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt hit in 26 straight games between 2013-14. The longest two-season hit streak of the past 25 years, according to The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, is Jimmy Rollins’ 38 games between 2005-06. The single also allowed Dozier to extend his stretch of reaching base in a game to 34, dating back to September 12.

This is the second hitting streak for Dozier of 24 or more games, he is the only Twins player with two long streaks like this. Next up on the list is 25 in a row by Brian Harper. You can see the Twins longest hitting streaks by going to “Hitting Streaks” on the right hand side of the page.

10.43 – Twins team earned-run average on the road trip through four of seven games. Twins pitchers have allowed at least eight runs in all four contests and at least seven earned runs in each, too. Overall, the numbers have been putrid as Twins pitchers have allowed 40 runs (39 earned) in 33 2/3 innings along with 50 hits, 18 walks and 41 strikeouts.

Tyler Kinley

Question for the day – How long are the Twins going to hang on to Rule 5 pick-up Tyler Kinley?

 

Twins walk-off wins – 1961-2017

Twins walk-off King
Harmon Killebrew

In the past 57 seasons the Minnesota Twins have walked off their opponents 403 times. Kirby Puckett leads the Minnesota Twins in career walk-off’s wins by delivering the winning run in some manner 11 times, it might have been on a hit, walk, HBP, error or a sacrifice. Second on the list is Harmon Killebrew. I guess that is why these guys are Hall of Fame players.

The Twins have walked off their opponent with a single a total of 196 times. Rod Carew  did it seven times and is the leader in this category and it has been done five times by Alexi Casilla, Harmon Killebrew, Brian Harper, Larry Hisle, Kent Hrbek and Jacque Jones.

The Twins have hit 108 walk-off home runs and Justin Morneau leads the pack here with five and is followed Gary Gaetti, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek with four each. One was an inside the park job by Tim Teufel.

The Twins have walked off their opponents with doubles 35 times and Kirby Puckett did it 3 times, the following players each did it twice, Cristian Guzman, Rich Reese, Tony Oliva, Eduardo Escobar, Shannon Stewart, Glenn Borgmann  and Tom Brunansky.

The Sacrifice Fly has led to 25 Twins walk-off wins with only Zoilo Versalles and Cristian Guzman doing it more than once.

The Twins have walked-off opponents 12 times on an opposing team error.

The Twins have walked-off their opponent 11 times when they drew a bases-loaded walk. 

The Twins have had six walk-off triples and no one has more than one.

The Twins have celebrated a walk-off win six times after a simple ground out.

The Twins have two walk-off wins via getting hit by a pitch (Paul Molitor and Max Kepler).

The first player to deliver a walk-off win was Zoilo Versalles and the most recent to do it is Byron Buxton.

 

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Parks, Pettibone, Edwards & Clark

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins on September 11th.

Derek Parks

Derek Parks (C) – September 11, 1992 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (10th pick) of the 1986 amateur draft. Parks debuted in the Dome when the Twins were  hosting the California Angels. The Twins were down 5-0 when Parks replaced Brian Harper at catcher and had a single in his first big league at bat and walked in his second plate appearance but the Twins came out on the short end of an 8-0 game.

Jay Pettibone (P) – September 11, 1983 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on February 23, 1981. Started the Twins versus Royals game on the mound at the Metrodome and pitched a complete game but took the loss in a 3-1 effort. Pettibone only allowed 6 hits but 2 were home runs and thus the 3 runs allowed with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts. Attendance at the Dome for the game? 4,820 is all.

Dave Edwards

Dave Edwards (OF) – September 11, 1978 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 7th round of the 1971 amateur draft. Debuted at Comiskey Park as the center fielder hitting sixth. Edwards went 1 for 4 with a double and an error. Twins beat the White Sox 3-1.

Ron Clark

Ron Clark (3B/SS/2B) – September 11, 1966 – Sent from the Los Angeles Angels to the Minnesota Twins in an unknown transaction in 1963. Debuted as a pinch-runner in a 11-6 Twins win over the Orioles at Met Stadium.

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

Minnesota Twins Top 10 Catchers

In their 56 seasons of baseball in Minnesota the Twins have had 71 different players don the tools of ignorance and squat down behind the plate to catch a major league pitcher. Two those 71 players only caught in one inning of one game. Cesar Tovar did it when owner Calvin Griffith had him play every position in a game in 1968 as a gimmick and  manager Tom Kelly had Jeff Reboulet catch the ninth inning in a 1995 game against the Royals in the Metrodome. It wasn’t an easy inning for Reboulet either, as he caught two different pitchers as the Royals sent 12 men to the plate and scored 6 runs on 6 hits not to mention 2 walks and a wild pitch.

With the Minnesota 2017 TwinsFest going on I thought it would be a good time to rank the Twins catchers. The Twins have been looking for an everyday catcher ever since Joe Mauer hung up his catcher’s mitt after the 1993 season due to a variety of injuries the most serious of which were his concussion problems. Kurt Suzuki filled in since then but he too has moved on. The Twins Top 10 Catchers list ranks the catchers by B-R WAR statistics. Player must have appeared in at least 51% of his games as a catcher to qualify for this list.

Joe Mauer
Rk Player WAR/pos G From To Age AB H HR RBI SB BA OPS
1 Joe Mauer 50.0 1590 2004 2016 21-33 5919 1826 130 804 50 .308 .837
2 Butch Wynegar 15.2 794 1976 1982 20-26 2746 697 37 325 8 .254 .682
3 Earl Battey 14.3 853 1961 1967 26-32 2762 768 76 350 8 .278 .765
4 Brian Harper 13.4 730 1988 1993 28-33 2503 767 48 346 7 .306 .773
5 A.J. Pierzynski 9.4 430 1998 2003 21-26 1428 430 26 193 6 .301 .788
6 George Mitterwald 6.0 514 1966 1973 21-28 1578 377 50 176 9 .239 .676
7 Glenn Borgmann 5.0 442 1972 1979 22-29 1207 277 14 137 4 .229 .630
8 Tim Laudner 3.2 734 1981 1989 23-31 2038 458 77 263 3 .225 .682
9 Terry Steinbach 3.1 347 1997 1999 35-37 1207 309 30 150 8 .256 .719
10 Kurt Suzuki 3.0 368 2014 2016 30-32 1230 323 16 160 0 .263 .680
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/28/2017.
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Anybody on this list surprise you? 

Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Top Twins DH

Where does Dozier’s hitting streak sit as compared to Twins history

With a few exceptions the Minnesota Twins appear to have gone belly up and are just walking through the motions as they continue their march to 100 or more losses. There isn’t much good news coming out of Target Field lately so we have to search for some to watch and cheer for and one of those items is Brian Dozier‘s hitting streak which has now hit 22 games. The Twins have a dozen games left to play in 2016, the first six are at home against the Tigers and the Mariners and the next six are on the road at Kansas City and in Chicago against the the White Sox.

If Dozier plays in every game and his hitting streak continues he could tie the Twins hitting streak record of 31 in Kansas City and then go for the record in Chicago. That would be pretty awesome since we plan to be in Chicago that final baseball week-end of the season catching a few Twins games at US Cellular Field which is a field I have never been at, but I have watched a game at White Sox Park back in 1965.

Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier
Rk Name Strk Start End Games AB H HR RBI BA OBP OPS
1 Ken Landreaux 1980-04-23 1980-05-30 31 125 49 2 19 .392 .441 .937
2 Brian Harper 1990-07-06 1990-08-04 25 99 38 2 16 .384 .415 .981
3 Lenny Green 1961-05-01 1961-05-28 24 94 34 0 11 .362 .455 .955
4 Torii Hunter 2007-04-11 2007-05-09 23 94 35 5 19 .372 .394 1.054
5 Cristian Guzman 2002-08-01 2002-08-25 23 97 35 2 12 .361 .366 .841
6 Marty Cordova 1996-06-05 1996-06-29 23 91 35 2 18 .385 .447 1.007
7 Kirby Puckett 1993-09-26 1994-04-20 23 97 34 2 21 .351 .400 .895
8 Kent Hrbek 1982-04-17 1982-05-13 23 91 28 5 17 .308 .366 .949
9 Brian Dozier 2016-08-27 2016-09-18 22 94 33 11 22 .351 .425 1.190
10 Shane Mack 1992-07-26 1992-08-18 22 88 40 1 9 .455 .500 1.057
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/19/2016.

Keep it up Brian Dozier, we need something exciting to watch and the 2016 season winds down for us Twins fans.

UPDATE: September 21, 2016 – Dozier’s hit streak now stands at 23.

UPDATE: September 23, 2016 – Dozier’s hit streak comes to an end at 24 games in game 2 of a DH against the Detroit Tigers and Justin Verlander on 9/22/2016. Nice run by Mr. Dozier.

These guys seldom hear “He gone” or “Grab some bench”

The other day I was having lunch and reading my newest Memories and Dreams magazine put out by the Hall of Fame. There are always good stories in this magazine and in this edition there was a short one page article by Marty Appel called A Second Look at Hall of Famer Nellie Fox.

Fox, NellieI am old enough to have seen Nellie play second base for the Chicago White Sox in early 60’s although by then he was on the down-hill side of his amazing career that started back in 1951. Not only was the man a twelve time all-star but he was the American League MVP in 1959.

Fox was one tough dude to strike out, in over 10,000 plate appearances he struck out just 216 times, that is incredible. He once had a record 98 straight games without being retired on strikes.

That got me to thinking about the Twins and how often they strike out. Now days players strike out more frequently then they once did and baseball and teams just kind of wink and say “yes, he strikes out but look at all those home runs”. If Nellie went 98 games with striking out what is the Twins longest streak of games without striking out.

Rk Name Strk Start End Games AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB BA OBP OPS
1 Earl Battey 1965-08-02 1965-09-05 35 110 7 28 9 1 0 18 12 .255 .323 .677
2 Brian Harper 1989-04-11 1989-05-31 28 74 9 17 4 0 3 15 4 .230 .294 .700
3 Glenn Adams 1980-05-24 1980-07-04 27 71 8 23 5 0 0 13 5 .324 .354 .749
4 Sandy Valdespino 1965-07-07 1965-08-15 27 46 7 16 1 0 0 6 4 .348 .400 .770
5 Hal Naragon 1961-08-26 1962-06-05 27 55 1 15 1 0 0 3 5 .273 .328 .619
6 Rich Chiles 1977-07-08 1977-08-21 25 55 6 11 0 0 1 6 7 .200 .302 .556
7 Mickey Hatcher 1983-08-23 1983-09-19 24 90 11 32 4 0 3 15 2 .356 .366 .866
8 Vic Power 1962-04-15 1962-05-20 24 89 10 27 2 0 3 14 4 .303 .333 .760
9 Chip Hale 1996-04-02 1996-05-21 23 26 4 10 3 0 1 6 3 .385 .448 1.064
10 Frank Kostro 1967-06-22 1967-09-17 23 21 3 8 0 0 0 1 2 .381 .435 .816
11 Jerry Terrell 1976-07-25 1976-09-05 21 50 7 14 0 1 0 4 3 .280 .327 .647
12 Leo Cardenas 1971-04-27 1971-05-20 21 76 12 25 5 1 3 13 7 .329 .381 .920
13 Brian Harper 1988-07-03 1988-08-12 20 66 5 25 6 0 2 8 2 .379 .391 .952
14 Dave Meier 1984-08-23 1985-06-10 20 45 5 8 1 0 0 4 2 .178 .213 .413
15 Jose Morales 1979-09-25 1980-05-20 20 39 5 11 1 0 1 5 3 .282 .326 .710
16 Rod Carew 1974-09-29 1975-05-10 20 66 11 26 5 1 0 5 9 .394 .461 .961
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/11/2015.
Credit to Steve's Baseball Photography Pages
Credit to Steve’s Baseball Photography Pages

Are you kidding me, Earl Battey with a 35 game streak of no strike outs during the 1965 pennant race? Wowsers, that is amazing. I sure don’t remember Battey having such a good eye at the plate but when you look at his numbers you will find out he never struck out more than 75 times in a season. Brain Harper is on the list twice, with a 28 game streak and a 20 game streak. I used to love watching Harper bat, he always seemed to make contact and what I remember most about him was how he followed each and every pitch all the way to the catchers glove.

You will notice that the most recent Twins streak of at least 20 games with out striking out goes back to 1996 when Chip Hale had a 23 gamer, today Chip Hale manages the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

Aoki as a KC Royal in 2014
Aoki as a KC Royal in 2014

Who had the longest streak of this kind in 2015 you ask? That would be Nori Aoki from the San Francisco Giants with a 22 game streak from June 6 to August 5 and that was after he had a 20 game streak from May 5 to May 31. He must have had something in his eye because he struck out once a game on June 1, 2 and 3. That means from May 9 to August 5, Aoki had 187 plate appearances and struck out 3 times. Nice! Aoki just signed to play with Seattle a week or so ago.

How about the Minnesota Twins in 2015? The most games streak with out a strikeout was 10 by catcher Kurt Suzuki.

To me one of the oddest things about the above list is that catchers make up the top three streaks and Jose Morales is a bit further down the list and he played a handful of games behind the plate too. Now in 2015 Suzuki has the longest streak. Why is that?

Is it because catchers just naturally have a better eye for the strike zone? I doubt it. Do catchers learn as the game goes along how the umpire is calling balls and strikes and they can put that information to use? Are catchers skillful enough to do that? Or is it that maybe umpires have a certain degree of empathy for catchers and build friendships with them over time that causes them subconsciously not to call strikes on them as often? You gotta wonder… or is it just a quirk that three Twins catchers are on top of this list?

Twins and post season play

As 2014 is coming to an end it is a good time to look back on another Twins season, their fourth in a row without post season play. But you have to be a winner to make post season play and the Twins have been anything but a winner the last few years. It has been a toss-up when you try to determine who has been more inept, the Twins players on the field or the ownership and Twins executives that sit behind their desks and make the decisions that determine the experience that Twins fans will have to live with during the up-coming season.

The Twins have had many losing seasons over the years and the real core Twins fans complained but they accepted the team they had and they looked forward to the next season with renewed hope for more wins “next year”. But it is seems different now, I am not sure why, maybe the fans are more passionate, maybe it is social media that allows Twins fans to better express their frustrations but today’s Twins fans are just plain mad and disgusted with the caliber of play their home team has displayed since the 2010 ended. Hopefully the Minnesota Twins organization feels some of the passion that Twins fans have and will start to look at the product from the fans perspective and see what they can do to make the fans experience a little more fun and and not so tough on the wallet.

Since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins the team has played 8,617 regular season games, winning 4,274, losing 4,335 and playing to a tie on eight occasions in 54 seasons of play. Boy, how time flies by, I still remember that 1961 season.

Looking back at Twins history they have two World Series winners and a third World Series appearance in which they lost game seven to Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In addition to the 8,617 regular season games the team has played a total of 64 post season games winning 25 and losing 39. Their last post season appearance was in 2010 and that brief playoff run lasted just three games when they were swept by the New York Yankees 3 games to zip. The teams last post season win was back in 2004 (if I am not mistaken that is about 10 years ago, YIKES!) when they beat the Yankees in game 1 of the ALDS series before losing the next three games.

So let’s take a look at the hitting and pitching statistics of the Minnesota Twins in post season play. Let’s see who stood out under the bright lights of post season play and who couldn’t or didn’t deliver when the pressure was on. The names you will see below will bring back many memories, some good, some bad, some sad and in some cases you will say “who in the hell is so and so, I don’t remember him”. But it is fun looking back.

 Hitting in Post Season (had at least one PA)

Rk Player #Matching PA ? AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP OPS SB
1 Dan Gladden 24 115 104 17 29 6 3 1 15 9 12 .279 .348 .771 7
2 Kirby Puckett 24 109 97 16 30 3 2 5 15 8 17 .309 .361 .897 3
3 Kent Hrbek 24 103 91 10 14 1 0 3 12 11 12 .154 .252 .516 0
4 Greg Gagne 24 96 89 12 19 5 0 4 10 5 22 .213 .271 .675 0
5 Torii Hunter 21 88 80 15 24 8 1 3 8 5 11 .300 .337 .875 2
6 Jacque Jones 18 79 76 6 15 5 0 2 5 1 23 .197 .215 .557 0
7 Michael Cuddyer 21 78 74 5 25 2 1 2 8 4 18 .338 .372 .845 0
8 Corey Koskie 18 78 67 8 15 4 1 1 9 7 21 .224 .321 .679 0
9 Cristian Guzman 18 75 67 9 16 3 0 1 2 5 12 .239 .301 .630 3
10 Doug Mientkiewicz 14 56 53 4 12 1 0 2 6 3 5 .226 .268 .626 0
11 Chuck Knoblauch 12 55 46 8 15 3 0 0 5 7 5 .326 .407 .799 6
12 Harmon Killebrew 13 54 40 6 10 1 0 3 6 14 10 .250 .444 .944 0
13 Tony Oliva 13 53 51 7 16 5 0 3 5 2 10 .314 .340 .928 1
14 Gary Gaetti 12 53 47 9 13 3 1 3 9 3 8 .277 .340 .914 2
15 A.J. Pierzynski 14 50 45 6 14 0 1 2 7 4 4 .311 .360 .849 0
16 Tom Brunansky 12 50 42 10 12 4 0 2 11 8 7 .286 .400 .924 1
17 Shane Mack 11 44 41 4 9 2 1 0 4 2 11 .220 .250 .567 2
18 Luis Rivas 14 43 38 3 6 1 0 0 1 2 9 .158 .195 .379 0
19 Tim Laudner 12 43 36 5 8 2 0 1 6 7 9 .222 .349 .710 0
20 Chili Davis 11 42 35 7 9 2 0 2 6 7 11 .257 .381 .867 1
21 Brian Harper 11 41 39 3 13 4 0 0 2 2 4 .333 .366 .802 0
22 Joe Mauer 9 39 35 1 10 1 0 0 1 4 7 .286 .359 .673 0
23 Shannon Stewart 8 38 35 1 10 2 0 0 2 2 6 .286 .316 .659 1
24 Steve Lombardozzi 11 37 32 5 11 1 0 1 5 4 4 .344 .417 .885 0
25 Jason Kubel 8 32 29 0 2 1 0 0 0 3 13 .069 .156 .260 0
26 Bob Allison 10 30 26 3 2 1 0 1 3 3 10 .077 .167 .397 1
27 Zoilo Versalles 7 30 28 3 8 1 1 1 4 2 7 .286 .333 .833 1
28 David Ortiz 9 29 29 0 8 3 0 0 4 0 10 .276 .276 .655 0
29 Justin Morneau 7 29 29 4 9 3 0 2 4 0 3 .310 .310 .931 0
30 Mike Pagliarulo 11 28 26 5 8 1 0 2 5 1 4 .308 .333 .910 0
31 Matt LeCroy 10 28 26 2 7 0 0 0 1 2 9 .269 .321 .591 0
32 Denard Span 6 28 28 1 10 1 0 0 1 0 2 .357 .357 .750 1
33 Delmon Young 6 27 24 2 5 1 1 0 0 2 6 .208 .296 .630 1
34 Cesar Tovar 6 27 26 2 6 0 1 0 1 1 2 .231 .259 .567 1
35 Randy Bush 11 26 22 5 5 1 1 0 4 3 4 .227 .308 .671 3
36 Frank Quilici 9 26 22 2 4 2 0 0 1 4 4 .182 .308 .580 0
37 Leo Cardenas 6 26 24 1 4 0 1 0 1 1 8 .167 .200 .450 0
38 Don Mincher 7 25 23 3 3 0 0 1 1 2 7 .130 .200 .461 0
39 Earl Battey 7 25 25 1 3 0 1 0 2 0 5 .120 .120 .320 0
40 Nick Punto 6 25 21 0 6 1 0 0 1 3 2 .286 .375 .708 0
41 Don Baylor 7 21 18 3 7 0 0 1 4 1 1 .389 .476 1.032 0
42 Joe Nossek 6 21 20 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .200 .400 0
43 Rich Reese 5 21 19 0 3 0 0 0 2 2 2 .158 .238 .396 0
44 Scott Leius 9 20 18 2 5 0 0 1 2 2 3 .278 .350 .794 0
45 Rod Carew 5 17 16 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 .063 .118 .180 0
46 George Mitterwald 4 16 15 2 5 1 0 0 2 1 5 .333 .375 .775 0
47 Dustan Mohr 7 15 14 4 7 2 0 0 0 1 4 .500 .533 1.176 1
48 Orlando Cabrera 3 15 13 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 3 .154 .267 .421 1
49 Lew Ford 4 14 12 1 3 1 0 0 2 0 3 .250 .357 .690 1
50 Luis Castillo 3 14 11 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 .273 .429 .701 0
51 Jim Thome 3 13 10 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 .100 .308 .408 0
52 Orlando Hudson 3 13 12 2 4 0 0 1 2 0 2 .333 .333 .917 0
53 Gene Larkin 12 12 11 1 3 1 0 0 2 1 1 .273 .333 .697 0
54 Rondell White 3 12 12 1 5 1 0 1 2 0 0 .417 .417 1.167 0
55 Brendan Harris 3 12 12 1 3 0 1 0 1 0 3 .250 .250 .667 0
56 Al Newman 6 11 9 0 2 0 1 0 1 1 1 .222 .300 .744 0
57 Sandy Valdespino 5 11 11 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 .273 .273 .636 0
58 Danny Valencia 3 11 9 1 2 1 0 0 2 1 3 .222 .273 .606 0
59 Jason Bartlett 3 11 11 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 .273 .273 .636 0
60 Henry Blanco 4 10 8 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 2 .250 .222 .847 0
61 J.J. Hardy 3 10 10 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 .100 .100 .300 0
62 Danny Thompson 3 9 8 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .125 .222 .472 0
63 Mudcat Grant 3 9 8 3 2 1 0 1 3 0 1 .250 .250 1.000 0
64 Brant Alyea 3 9 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 .000 .222 .222 0
65 Bobby Kielty 7 8 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 .000 .125 .125 0
66 Junior Ortiz 4 8 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .125 .125 .250 0
67 Jason Tyner 2 8 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 .000 .250 .250 1
68 Jimmie Hall 2 8 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 5 .143 .250 .393 0
69 Jim Kaat 4 7 7 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 6 .143 .143 .286 0
70 Rick Renick 3 6 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .167 .167 .333 0
71 Denny Hocking 3 6 6 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 .500 .500 1.167 0
72 Ted Uhlaender 2 6 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 .167 .333 0
73 Matt Tolbert 2 6 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .200 .333 .533 0
74 Carlos Gomez 1 6 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000 .333 .333 0
75 John Roseboro 2 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200 .200 .400 0
76 Jim Holt 2 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
77 Paul Sorrento 4 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 .250 .250 0
78 Roy Smalley 4 4 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 .500 .750 1.750 0
79 Jim Perry 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
80 Paul Ratliff 1 4 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250 .500 0
81 Dave Boswell 1 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 .000 .000 0
82 Rich Rollins 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .333 .333 0
83 Jose Offerman 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
84 Tom Prince 2 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
85 Phil Nevin 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
86 Jose Morales 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
87 Sal Butera 1 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 .667 1.333 0
88 Charlie Manuel 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .000 .500 .500 0
89 Les Straker 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 0
90 Jack Morris 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
91 Jarvis Brown 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
92 Pat Borders 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
93 Bert Blyleven 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
94 Jerry Zimmerman 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
95 Dick Woodson 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 0
96 Stan Williams 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0
97 Frank Viola 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
98 Kevin Tapani 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
99 Mike Ryan 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
100 Ron Perranoski 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
101 Camilo Pascual 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
102 Graig Nettles 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 2.000 0
103 Tom Hall 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
104 Scott Erickson 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 0
105 Mark Davidson 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
106 Rick Aguilera 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/17/2014.

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Pitching in Post Season (faced at least one batter)

Rk Player #Matching W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO SV IP ? H ER HR BB SO WHIP
1 Jack Morris 5 4 0 1.000 2.23 5 1 1 0 36.1 35 9 1 10 22 1.24
2 Brad Radke 6 2 3 .400 3.60 6 0 0 0 35.0 37 14 6 8 17 1.29
3 Johan Santana 11 1 3 .250 3.97 5 0 0 0 34.0 35 15 2 10 32 1.32
4 Frank Viola 5 3 1 .750 4.31 5 0 0 0 31.1 31 15 3 8 25 1.24
5 Bert Blyleven 5 3 1 .750 3.18 4 0 0 0 28.1 27 10 3 5 23 1.13
6 Mudcat Grant 3 2 1 .667 2.74 3 2 0 0 23.0 22 7 3 2 12 1.04
7 Kevin Tapani 4 1 2 .333 6.04 4 0 0 0 22.1 29 15 1 5 16 1.52
8 Jim Perry 5 0 1 .000 6.75 2 0 0 0 17.1 21 13 6 6 10 1.56
9 Joe Mays 3 1 1 .500 4.76 3 0 0 0 17.0 21 9 4 2 4 1.35
10 Jim Kaat 4 1 3 .250 4.41 4 1 0 0 16.1 24 8 1 4 7 1.71
11 Eric Milton 3 1 0 1.000 1.65 2 0 0 0 16.1 13 3 2 3 9 0.98
12 Scott Erickson 3 0 0 4.91 3 0 0 0 14.2 13 8 4 9 7 1.50
13 Dave Boswell 2 0 1 .000 1.35 1 0 0 0 13.1 10 2 0 9 7 1.43
14 Carl Pavano 2 0 2 .000 4.15 2 0 0 0 13.0 15 6 3 1 12 1.23
15 Carl Willis 7 0 0 2.92 0 0 0 0 12.1 8 4 2 2 5 0.81
16 Kyle Lohse 5 0 2 .000 3.00 1 0 0 0 12.0 9 4 1 2 14 0.92
17 Les Straker 3 0 0 6.94 3 0 0 0 11.2 12 9 1 7 7 1.63
18 Rick Reed 3 0 2 .000 8.18 2 0 0 0 11.0 15 10 6 2 8 1.55
19 Juan Berenguer 7 0 1 .000 5.23 0 0 0 1 10.1 11 6 1 3 7 1.35
20 Jeff Reardon 8 1 1 .500 2.70 0 0 0 3 10.0 12 3 1 3 8 1.50
21 J.C. Romero 12 0 1 .000 5.59 0 0 0 0 9.2 10 6 1 6 7 1.66
22 Juan Rincon 8 0 0 5.19 0 0 0 0 8.2 6 5 1 6 9 1.38
23 Dan Schatzeder 5 1 0 1.000 3.12 0 0 0 0 8.2 6 3 0 3 8 1.04
24 Rick Aguilera 7 1 1 .500 1.08 0 0 0 5 8.1 7 1 0 1 6 0.96
25 Brian Duensing 2 0 2 .000 11.25 2 0 0 0 8.0 14 10 2 2 4 2.00
26 Joe Nathan 6 0 1 .000 4.70 0 0 0 1 7.2 8 4 1 6 9 1.83
27 Francisco Liriano 2 0 0 5.87 1 0 0 0 7.2 7 5 1 4 8 1.43
28 Ron Perranoski 5 0 1 .000 10.29 0 0 0 0 7.0 13 8 0 1 5 2.00
29 LaTroy Hawkins 10 1 0 1.000 6.75 0 0 0 0 6.2 9 5 0 1 11 1.50
30 Mark Guthrie 6 1 1 .500 1.35 0 0 0 0 6.2 3 1 0 4 3 1.05
31 Tom Hall 3 0 1 .000 6.00 1 0 0 0 6.0 6 4 1 4 6 1.67
32 Stan Williams 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 6.0 2 0 0 1 2 0.50
33 Boof Bonser 1 0 0 3.00 1 0 0 0 6.0 7 2 0 1 3 1.33
34 David West 4 1 0 1.000 6.35 0 0 0 0 5.2 3 4 1 8 4 1.94
35 Nick Blackburn 1 0 0 1.59 1 0 0 0 5.2 3 1 0 2 3 0.88
36 Al Worthington 3 0 0 1.69 0 0 0 0 5.1 5 1 0 2 3 1.31
37 Eddie Guardado 5 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 3 5.0 10 5 2 2 5 2.40
38 Carlos Silva 1 0 1 .000 10.80 1 0 0 0 5.0 10 6 1 0 1 2.00
39 Camilo Pascual 1 0 1 .000 5.40 1 0 0 0 5.0 8 3 0 1 0 1.80
40 Matt Guerrier 5 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 4.2 1 0 0 1 4 0.43
41 Steve Bedrosian 5 0 0 3.86 0 0 0 0 4.2 6 2 0 2 4 1.71
42 Jim Merritt 2 0 0 2.70 0 0 0 0 3.1 2 1 0 0 1 0.60
43 Jon Rauch 5 0 0 3.00 0 0 0 0 3.0 1 1 0 2 1 1.00
44 Terry Mulholland 1 0 0 3.00 0 0 0 0 3.0 3 1 1 0 0 1.00
45 Dick Woodson 2 0 0 10.12 0 0 0 0 2.2 5 3 0 4 2 3.38
46 Johnny Klippstein 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.2 2 0 0 2 3 1.50
47 Brian Fuentes 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.2 1 0 0 0 2 0.38
48 Grant Balfour 2 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.2 0 0 0 0 2 0.00
49 Terry Leach 2 0 0 3.86 0 0 0 0 2.1 2 1 0 0 2 0.86
50 Scott Baker 1 0 0 3.86 0 0 0 0 2.1 3 1 1 0 2 1.29
51 Jose Mijares 5 0 1 .000 4.50 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 1 1 2 0 1.50
52 Joe Niekro 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 1.00
53 George Frazier 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 0.50
54 Dean Chance 1 0 0 13.50 0 0 0 0 2.0 4 3 1 0 2 2.00
55 Michael Jackson 4 0 0 16.20 0 0 0 0 1.2 6 3 0 2 2 4.80
56 Jesse Crain 4 0 1 .000 16.20 0 0 0 0 1.2 7 3 2 1 1 4.80
57 Ron Mahay 3 0 0 5.40 0 0 0 0 1.2 0 1 0 1 2 0.60
58 Keith Atherton 3 0 0 5.40 0 0 0 0 1.2 1 1 0 1 0 1.20
59 Bob Miller 1 0 1 .000 5.40 1 0 0 0 1.2 5 1 0 0 0 3.00
60 Bill Zepp 2 0 0 6.75 0 0 0 0 1.1 2 1 1 2 2 3.00
61 Kenny Rogers 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 1.1 1 0 0 1 3 1.50
62 Tony Fiore 1 0 0 20.25 0 0 0 0 1.1 4 3 0 2 0 4.50
63 Bob Wells 2 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 0 0 2 2.00
64 Dennys Reyes 2 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 1 1 2 0 3.00
65 Pat Neshek 2 0 1 .000 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 1 1 0 0 1 1.00
66 Bill Pleis 1 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 2.00
67 Matt Capps 1 0 0 9.00 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 0 0 0 2.00
68 Luis Tiant 1 0 0 13.50 0 0 0 0 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 1.50
69 Joe Grzenda 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
70 Glen Perkins 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0 0 0.1 2 0 0 0 0 6.00
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/17/2014.

Since the Twins started play in 1961 through the 2014 season a total of 751 players have put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and appeared in a game either as a hitter or a pitcher. Only 162 of them or 21.57% have appeared in a Twins post season game over the 54 seasons the Twins have called Minnesota home.

This Day In Twins History – August 8

8/8/1962 – With the score tied at 3 apiece at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, A’s rookie third baseman Ed Charles steals home with two out in the ninth to score the winning run in a A’s 4-3 win over the Twins. Ray Moore and Jerry Zimmerman were the Twins battery at the time.

8/8/1974 – The Royals – Twins game at Royals Stadium is briefly interrupted by President Nixon’s resignation speech. The speech is broadcast after it begins and the next inning is delayed until the conclusion of the speech. The Twins prevail over the host Royals‚ 3 – 2 in 14 innings when Tony Oliva‘s sacrifice fly drives home Rod Carew. Bill Campbell pitches 7 innings of relief for the win.

White sox shorts8/8/1976 – This has nothing to do with the Minnesota Twins but still it deserves to be remembered for its “strangeness”. Thirty-seven years ago, on Aug. 8, 1976, the Chicago White Sox made sartorial history by wearing shorts in a win over the Royals. The Bermudas were the idea of—who else?—owner Bill Veeck. The shorts were worn in a total of three games.

8/8/1987 – The Twins beat the Oakland A’s 9-2 at the Metrodome as Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wins the 329th and final game of his Hall of Fame career. Carlton pitches 8 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs while striking out two batters.

8/8/1988 – The Indians and the Twins were scoreless after 3 innings at the Metrodome with Allan Anderson on the mound for the local nine. In the top of the fourth inning with no one out, the Indians Ron Washington and Willie Upshaw singled to put runners on first and second and then Joe Carter smashed a long drive to the left field corner where Twins outfielder Dan Gladden snagged it for an out and wheeled and fired a strike to Steve Lombardozzi at 2B to nail Washington and then Lombo relayed the ball to Gene Larkin at first to get the runner there by at least 5 feet and completed the unusual 7-4-3 triple play. The Twins went on to win the game by a 7-2 score with Galdden going 3 for 5 with a run scored, a stolen base, and a RBI. Catcher Brian Harper was 4 for 4 but played second fiddle to Gladden on this day.

8/8/1998Paul Molitor stole his 500th base in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to Baltimore to become only the fifth player ever with 3,000 hits and 500 steals. Molitor joined Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.

8/8/2004 – The A’s beat the Twins 6 – 5 in 18 innings. It is the second-longest game in the 23-year history of the Metrodome. With the score tied 3 to 3, the A’s score 3 in the top of the 18th off Terry Mulholland to take a 6-3 lead. The Twins come back with 2 in the bottom of the 18th with a Morneau home run but leave Matthew LeCroy stranded on first when Koskie and Cuddyer flyout to end the rally and the Twins hope of a huge comeback victory. The game lasts 4 hours and 57 minutes.

8/8/2005 – One time Minnesota Twins manger (1976-1980) Gene Mauch passes away at the age of 79. Mauch was the seventh manager in Twins history. I think one of my favorite Gene Mauch quotes was “I’m not the manager because I am always right, but I am always right because I am the manager”.

8/8/2009 – The Twins third manager, Cal Ermer passed away at the age of 85 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele in June 1967 with the Twins in sixth place with a 25-25 record. The Twins went 66-46 the rest of the season but lost the American League pennant on the final day of the season. Ermer was fired after the Twins finished in seventh place in 1968 with a 79-83 record.

Taking a look at hitting streaks

Former Twins outfielder Micheal Cuddyer set a Colorado Rockies team record recently when he had a 27 game hitting streak from May 28 through June 30 for the Colorado Rockies. During his streak Cuddyer hit .372 with 6 home runs, 19 RBI and 17 runs scored. The longest Twins hitting streaks this season belong to Joe Mauer with 15 gamer and a 10 gamer, Trevor Plouffe with a 12 gamer and Justin Morneau with an 11 game hitting streak. The Twins have had some pretty good hitting streaks over the years but the longest streak of 31 games goes way back to 1980 and belongs to Ken Landreaux.

 Twins hitting streaks over 15 games

Ken Landreaux

Rk Strk Start End Games AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA OPS
1 Ken Landreaux 1980-04-23 1980-05-30 31 125 13 49 5 1 2 19 .392 .937
2 Brian Harper 1990-07-06 1990-08-04 25 99 14 38 12 0 2 16 .384 .981
3 Lenny Green 1961-05-01 1961-05-28 24 94 14 34 9 2 0 11 .362 .955
4 Torii Hunter 2007-04-11 2007-05-09 23 94 17 35 12 0 5 19 .372 1.054
5 Cristian Guzman 2002-08-01 2002-08-25 23 97 16 35 5 0 2 12 .361 .841
6 Marty Cordova 1996-06-05 1996-06-29 23 91 16 35 10 0 2 18 .385 1.007
7 Kirby Puckett 1993-09-26 1994-04-20 23 97 16 34 8 0 2 21 .351 .895
8 Kent Hrbek 1982-04-17 1982-05-13 23 91 14 28 6 2 5 17 .308 .949
9 Shane Mack 1992-07-26 1992-08-18 22 88 13 40 4 1 1 9 .455 1.057
10 Ben Revere 2012-07-16 2012-08-07 21 90 17 34 5 1 0 13 .378 .862
11 Chuck Knoblauch 1991-09-02 1991-09-25 20 80 10 32 4 1 0 7 .400 .923
12 Ted Uhlaender 1969-08-16 1969-09-07 20 88 16 27 5 0 1 16 .307 .748
13 Nick Punto 2006-07-04 2006-07-28 19 75 12 30 6 2 0 12 .400 .979
14 David Ortiz 2002-07-17 2002-08-06 19 74 17 31 5 0 7 18 .419 1.258
15 Brian Harper 1993-07-20 1993-08-12 19 74 9 29 7 0 1 11 .392 .971
16 Roy Smalley 1979-04-29 1979-05-20 19 81 19 36 3 1 6 16 .444 1.234
17 Bob Allison 1964-06-12 1964-06-28 19 64 14 31 8 0 7 11 .484 1.530
18 Bobby Kielty 2002-09-18 2003-04-21 18 62 10 22 6 1 5 13 .355 1.132
19 Chuck Knoblauch 1997-08-07 1997-08-26 18 79 8 28 2 1 2 6 .354 .867
20 Gary Gaetti 1983-05-06 1983-05-27 18 76 9 25 5 0 3 8 .329 .887
21 Rod Carew 1974-09-07 1974-09-27 18 70 12 26 4 1 1 5 .371 .988
22 Rod Carew 1973-05-30 1973-06-19 18 77 17 31 3 4 3 8 .403 1.122
23 Trevor Plouffe 2012-06-30 2012-07-19 17 67 13 22 4 0 4 11 .328 .951
24 Jacque Jones 2001-09-30 2002-04-12 17 63 16 26 2 0 6 13 .413 1.230
25 Cristian Guzman 2001-06-08 2001-06-26 17 74 16 29 3 1 3 12 .392 1.004
Rk Strk Start End Games AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA OPS
26 Paul Molitor 1998-08-31 1998-09-19 17 75 12 25 3 2 3 12 .333 .909
27 Chuck Knoblauch 1993-07-29 1993-08-18 17 69 12 27 5 1 1 4 .391 .978
28 Kent Hrbek 1991-08-11 1991-08-30 17 62 13 26 6 0 4 16 .419 1.203
29 Kent Hrbek 1990-08-21 1990-09-07 17 68 10 23 2 0 3 15 .338 .900
30 Kirby Puckett 1988-09-15 1988-10-02 17 72 17 33 8 0 2 19 .458 1.126
31 Kent Hrbek 1982-05-25 1982-06-13 17 69 12 28 1 2 5 19 .406 1.120
32 Tony Oliva 1970-05-13 1970-06-02 17 73 9 23 5 0 1 13 .315 .775
33 Tony Oliva 1964-07-16 1964-08-01 17 77 11 28 5 1 2 4 .364 .935
34 Orlando Cabrera 2009-09-19 2009-10-06 16 73 21 30 5 1 2 16 .411 1.010
35 Joe Mauer 2008-08-04 2008-08-24 16 63 13 22 0 1 1 10 .349 .870
36 Justin Morneau 2006-06-22 2006-07-09 16 59 13 26 5 0 6 16 .441 1.308
37 A.J. Pierzynski 2002-05-26 2002-06-14 16 60 12 24 7 2 2 7 .400 1.096
38 Matt Lawton 2000-04-13 2000-04-30 16 59 11 26 6 0 1 11 .441 1.121
39 Chili Davis 1991-07-21 1991-08-07 16 61 13 25 7 0 6 17 .410 1.313
40 Kirby Puckett 1991-07-06 1991-07-26 16 64 10 28 3 1 1 13 .438 1.033
41 Kirby Puckett 1986-04-16 1986-05-03 16 74 23 32 5 1 10 20 .432 1.394
42 Gary Gaetti 1984-08-05 1984-08-19 16 65 9 22 4 0 1 9 .338 .814
43 Mickey Hatcher 1983-07-20 1983-08-27 16 62 11 25 5 0 1 12 .403 .948
44 Dave McKay 1975-08-29 1975-09-17 16 60 4 20 3 0 0 10 .333 .743
45 Danny Thompson 1973-04-28 1973-05-17 16 65 7 22 4 1 1 11 .338 .810
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/27/2013.

Some pretty exceptional hitters on this list. Who appears on this list the most often? Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett each had four streaks of 16 games or longer. The biggest surprise on this list has to be Nick Punto with his 19 gamer back in 2006, the eighth longest hitting streak in Twins history.

Just for fun let’s take a look at what opposing hitters have the longest hitting streak when they face Twins pitchers over the years.

Twins opponent hitting streaks of 20 games or more

Ron LeFlore

Rk Strk Start End Games AB R H HR RBI BA OPS Tm
1 Ron LeFlore 1977-08-03 1981-09-11 26 108 29 43 2 13 .398 1.010 DET-CHW
2 David DeJesus 2008-09-11 2011-04-10 25 105 16 40 2 15 .381 1.027 KCR-OAK
3 Magglio Ordonez 2002-08-19 2003-09-10 23 90 19 32 10 20 .356 1.112 CHW
4 Jim Thome 1994-07-08 1996-07-18 22 90 20 36 7 16 .400 1.210 CLE
5 Ichiro Suzuki 2006-05-01 2008-08-06 20 89 17 40 2 3 .449 1.046 SEA
6 Paul Konerko 2006-07-26 2007-07-08 20 75 15 29 6 16 .387 1.180 CHW
7 Carlos Lee 2003-07-02 2004-07-27 20 82 14 31 4 17 .378 1.010 CHW
8 Rey Sanchez 1999-04-21 2001-04-07 20 74 13 33 0 12 .446 1.090 KCR
9 Rocky Colavito 1963-07-03 1964-07-22 20 78 17 34 9 25 .436 1.403 DET-KCA
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/27/2013.

Those of you that remember Ron LeFlore should take a few minutes to read this story published earlier this year. Even if you never heard of LeFlore, check it out.

This Day in Twins History – August 8

1974 – The Royals – Twins game at Royals Stadium is briefly interrupted by President Nixon’s resignation speech. The speech is broadcast after it begins and the next inning is delayed until the conclusion of the speech. The Twins prevail over the host Royals‚ 3 – 2 in 14 innings when Tony Oliva’s sacrifice fly drives home Rod Carew. Bill Campbell pitches 7 innings of relief for the win.

1987 – The Twins beat the Oakland A’s 9-2 at the Metrodome as Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wins the 329th and final game of his Hall of Fame career. Carlton pitches 8 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs while striking out two batters

1988 – The Indians and the Twins were scoreless after 3 innings at the Metrodome with Allan Anderson on the mound for the local nine. In the top of the fourth inning with no one out, the Indians Ron Washington and Willie Upshaw singled to put runners on first and second and then Joe Carter smashed a long drive to the left field corner where Twins outfielder Dan Gladden snagged it for an out and wheeled and fired a strike to Steve Lombardozzi at 2B to nail Washington and then Lombo relayed the ball to Gene Larkin at first to get the runner there by at least 5 feet and completed the unusual 7-4-3 triple play. The Twins went on to win the game by a 7-2 score with Gladden going 3 for 5 with a run scored, a stolen base, and a RBI. Catcher Brian Harper was 4 for 4 but played second fiddle to Gladden on this day.

1998 – Paul Molitor stole his 500th base in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to Baltimore to become only the fifth player ever with 3,000 hits and 500 steals. Molitor joined Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.

2004 – The A’s beat the Twins 6 – 5 in 18 innings. It is the second-longest game in the 23-year history of the Metrodome. With the score tied 3 to 3, the A’s score 3 in the top of the 18th off Terry Mulholland to take a 6-3 lead. The Twins come back with 2 in the bottom of the 18th with a Morneau home run but leave Matthew LeCroy stranded on first when Koskie and Cuddyer fly out to end the rally and the Twins hope of a huge comeback victory. The game lasts 4 hours and 57 minutes.

2005 – One time Minnesota Twins manager (1976-1980) Gene Mauch passes away at the age of 79. Mauch was the seventh manager in Twins history. I think one of my favorite Gene Mauch quotes was “I’m not the manager because I am always right, but I am always right because I am the manager”.

2009 – The Twins third manager, Cal Ermer passed away at the age of 85 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele in June 1967 with the Twins in sixth place with a 25-25 record. The Twins went 66-46 the rest of the season but lost the American League pennant on the final day of the season. Ermer was fired after the Twins finished in seventh place in 1968 with a 79-83 record.