Tag: Dave Goltz

No-hitters and near no-hitters in Twins history

No-hitterSince the Twins started play in April of 1961 there have been 148 complete game no-hitters thrown in the majors, Minnesota Twins pitchers have thrown five of them.

Rk Player Date Opp Rslt App,Dec IP R BB SO Pit BF
1 Francisco Liriano 2011-05-03 CHW W 1-0 SHO9, W 9.0 0 6 2 123 30
2 Eric Milton 1999-09-11 ANA W 7-0 SHO9, W 9.0 0 2 13 122 28
3 Scott Erickson 1994-04-27 MIL W 6-0 SHO9, W 9.0 0 4 5 128 31
4 Dean Chance 1967-08-25 (2) CLE W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 1 5 8 31
6 Jack Kralick 1962-08-26 KCA W 1-0 SHO9, W 9.0 0 1 3 28

During that same time frame (1961-present) MLB pitchers have thrown 534 complete game one-hitters and came with-in spitting distance of getting their name on the no-hitter list. Eleven different Twins pitchers accomplished that feat and Bert Blyleven did it three times in a Twins uniform.

Bert Blyleven
Bert Blyleven
Rk Player Date Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R BB SO Pit BF
1 Scott Baker 2007-08-31 (2) KCR W 5-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 1 9 111 29
2 Scott Erickson 1992-07-24 (1) BOS W 5-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 2 3 106 30
3 Ken Schrom 1985-06-26 KCR W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 1 1 5 4 32
4 Geoff Zahn 1980-06-06 TOR W 5-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 3 6 32
5 Dave Goltz 1977-08-23 BOS W 7-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 3 10 32
6 Bert Blyleven 1974-07-04 TEX W 3-1 CG 9, W 9.0 1 1 4 6 32
7 Bert Blyleven 1973-09-26 OAK W 4-1 CG 9, W 9.0 1 1 1 8 29
8 Jim Kaat 1973-07-01 CAL W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 1 1 0 7 29
9 Bert Blyleven 1973-05-24 KCR W 2-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 2 7 30
10 Dean Chance 1967-05-11 KCA W 8-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 6 8 34
11 Dave Boswell 1966-07-30 BAL W 7-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 1 11 30
12 Mudcat Grant 1965-09-25 (1) WSA W 5-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 2 7 30
13 Gerry Arrigo 1964-06-26 (1) CHW W 2-0 SHO9, W 9.0 1 0 1 8 31

In 55 seasons of play the Twins have had one or fewer hits in a game 36 times and on five of those occasions they were not able to muster even a single hit. This past season the Twins had only a single hit in a game three times which tied them with 1980 when they also were one-hit three times.

Rk Date Opp Rslt PA R H BB SO LOB GmLen
1 2015-08-14 CLE L 1-6 28 1 1 1 7 0 146
2 2015-07-31 SEA L 1-6 30 1 1 1 11 2 143
3 2015-06-09 KCR L 0-2 31 0 1 4 5 4 170
4 2013-05-24 DET L 0-6 31 0 1 3 12 4 155
5 2012-05-05 SEA L 0-7 30 0 1 2 10 3 153
6 2012-05-02 LAA L 0-9 29 0 0 1 9 2 148
7 2011-09-05 (2) CHW L 0-4 28 0 1 0 9 1 146
8 2011-04-02 TOR L 1-6 30 1 1 4 7 2 150
9 2010-08-23 TEX L 0-4 32 0 1 6 9 5 160
10 2008-05-06 CHW L 1-7 32 1 1 3 5 4 147
11 2005-08-23 CHW W 1-0 27 1 1 2 3 2 128
12 2000-08-01 BAL L 0-10 32 0 1 2 15 5 173
13 1998-07-16 SEA L 0-3 31 0 1 3 11 4 151
14 1998-05-17 NYY L 0-4 27 0 0 0 11 0 160
15 1988-05-21 TEX L 0-3 30 0 1 2 2 3 139
16 1987-06-26 TEX L 0-1 31 0 1 6 7 4 146
17 1985-08-19 MIL L 1-4 29 1 1 0 8 1 138
18 1985-07-14 DET L 0-8 31 0 1 3 7 4 148
19 1982-09-28 (1) TOR L 0-3 28 0 1 1 2 1 93
20 1982-09-04 BAL L 0-3 30 0 1 2 7 3 123
21 1980-10-05 KCR L 0-4 32 0 1 3 2 5 125
22 1980-08-21 (2) DET L 2-4 31 2 1 3 6 2 127
23 1980-04-23 CAL L 0-17 33 0 1 4 1 6 161
24 1976-08-10 BAL L 0-2 29 0 1 1 5 2 127
25 1976-06-14 BOS L 0-5 30 0 1 4 2 3 140
26 1974-09-28 CAL L 0-4 35 0 0 8 15 8 142
27 1970-09-21 OAK L 0-6 28 0 0 1 9 1 141
28 1970-08-13 WSA L 0-1 28 0 1 1 7 1 122
29 1969-08-10 BAL L 0-2 31 0 1 3 8 4 118
30 1969-05-15 BAL L 0-5 29 0 1 2 6 2 141
31 1968-05-08 OAK L 0-4 27 0 0 0 11 0 148
32 1967-04-30 (2) WSA L 0-3 29 0 1 2 0 2 120
33 1964-09-06 BOS W 2-1 27 2 1 1 4 1 125
34 1964-09-02 BAL L 0-2 29 0 1 1 10 2 134
35 1962-09-10 LAA L 0-5 31 0 1 2 9 4 128
36 1961-09-24 WSA L 1-4 30 1 1 2 6 2 140
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/20/2015.

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A great summary of near no-hitters by Stew Thornley called Lost in the Ninth.

The 1975 Minnesota Twins and a seven year old boy

Today we have a guest post by Treavor Lenz who is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first Twins game which he saw at Met Stadium. I enjoy the stories and thoughts that readers of this site share either through comments, messages or e-mails. If I can, I try to share them with other Twins fans. In this case Treavor talks about many different Twins historical events that he has had the pleasure to witness in person over the last 40 years. That is one of the cool things about baseball, it seems like certain games or events stay with you for a life time.

The young Twins fans of today haven’t had the opportunity to witness some of the wonderful events that have taken place over the years. What is cooler than reading about a Twins historical event from a person that actually was there when it took place? Thanks for taking the time to share your memories with us Treavor!

 

Hi Twins fans!

This August 16th marks a famous day in Twins history…. Well, for me, at least.  It’s the 40th anniversary of my first Twins game I ever attended at the Old Met.  I had just turned 7 and my Dad and I joined a Knothole Gang bus tour out of Eagle Lake, MN (I grew up in Waseca, MN.).  The sights and sounds of the ballpark were awesome for me and the game had a few historical significance’s, too. The Indians were managed by Frank Robinson, a future HOFer and the first African-American to lead an MLB team.  As noted in the Twins Trivia “This Day In Twins History” page, the Twins set an MLB record as all 9 players in the starting lineup had at least 2 hits, 20 total on the day.  Phil Roof’s home run landed just a section away from where we were sitting!  Tony Oliva and Rod Carew were definite favorites.  It’s too bad… I had missed out on seeing Harmon Killebrew by one season.

I was hooked; I wanted to see the Twins play each year and on or around my birthday, for sure.  I made it back to the Old Met, Metrodome and Target Field at least once each summer until 2011, 37 straight years!  After college at Iowa State, getting married and starting a family, my career took me to Wisconsin in 1999, so getting back for a game became wasn’t as easy as just picking up one evening and going to the Twin Cities from southern MN, but my desire spurred by that 7 year old’s memories kept it going for a while.

I wanted to share a few favorite memories of Twins games I attended with you today.

Other “This Day In Twins History” games I saw were:

  • Dave Goltz’s 180 (!) pitch, 11 inning, complete game 2-1 win over the A’s on July 25, 1977. I only realized a few years ago researching games I’d been to how high his pitch count was.
  • The only double-header in Metrodome history on August 1, 1983 (my 15th birthday) vs. the Angels, caused by the April 14, 1983 snowstorm that deflated the Metrodome roof. On that April day when they announced when the double-header would be, I simply told my folks, “We’re going!”  Two games and a return trip of Rod Carew!  Reggie Jackson had two doubles in the first game.  The Twins split, with Rick Lysander winning the second game with an amazing complete game, 11-hit shutout.  Darrell Brown went 4-4, too.
  • Dave Kingman’s pop up that got stuck in the Metrodome roof on May 4, 1984, that, after much deliberation, the umpires ruled a ground rule double.
  • Steve Carlton’s last MLB win (329) vs. the A’s in an important 1987 AL West division game. He went 8 and 2/3’s innings.  Also, Don Baylor was an underrated pickup for the 1987 Champs!
  • Casey Blake was on fire on July 5, 2003! The Indians’ slugger was 5-5, with two doubles and two HRs, adding 7 RBIs in Cleveland’s 13-2 win.  My brother “became an Indians fan” in the seventh, “since they were the only ones hitting that day.”

Other memories include:

  • In 1976 vs. the Yankees, my Dad almost broke his hand on a Mickey Rivers’ foul liner that just kept climbing into the second deck, 3rd base side.
  • A 1977 tilt, when Lyman Bostock had a go-ahead, 8th inning homer, the White Sox and Twins seventh of the day, to win it 7-6 and the whole 1977 season when Carew, Bostock, Hisle and Ford were key hitters in a fun season. (Reminds me a little of the current 2015 Twins!)
  • A great stab by Rob Wilfong going towards first, starting a 4-6-3 DP, of a line one hop smash by Jim Rice. My section was right in front of it!  You’ve got to give Rice credit; he hustled and almost beat it out.  The Twins beat a star-studded Red Sox team 5-2 on July 25, 1978 that featured Fred Lynn, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, George “Boomer” Scott and Jim Rice.
  • Waiting out a 2 hour rain delay to see Detroit bet the Twins 8-3 in 1979. Willie Norwood would always have a good game at the plate when I went.
  • Jerry Koosman pitched a 10 inning complete game 2-1 win over the 2 time defending World Champ Yankees the day before my 12th birthday, July 31, 1980. John Castino doubled in Ken Landreaux all the way from first off of future HOF closer Goose Gossage.  Even Reggie’s strikeouts were majestic!
  • Seeing Harvey Kuenn’s Wallbangers with Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Ben Oglivie, and Gorman Thomas in the last game I saw at Met Stadium in September 1981.  They did in the overmatched Twins 16-5.  Mark Funderburk hit a towering sacrifice fly in his Twins’ debut at-bat.
  • My first game in the Metrodome in 1982. First (full) year phenom Kent Hrbek was intentionally walked with no one on and 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th as Texas preserved a 3-2 win.
  • The arrival of a dynamo named Kirby Puckett, who swung at anything and hit line drives and ran everything down in center. KIRRR-BY PUCKETT!!!!—never got tired of the PA announcer’s call!
  • A fan a few rows in front of me made a great bare handed catch of a foul liner off of the bat of Orioles’ first baseman Eddie Murray. If it had skipped through, I was ready!
  • A fan a few rows behind me by the cement aisle steps dropped a foul pop from Randy Bush. As I got my hand on it after judging the one hop, my brother informs me that another fan pushed me squarely in the back trying to reach over me for it, too.  The ball skittered away from both of us.  I never got any closer to a ball than that!
  • Oakland CF Dave Henderson losing the ball in the white Metrodome ceiling and LF Rickey Henderson’s mad dash (to no avail) to try to catch it behind him!
  • Seeing 12 games in 1987, including Game 2 of the 1987 World Series! My Dad’s brother, Uncle Fred got 2 sets of 2 tickets to it.  My brother, Aaron, and I sat in one and Dad and Fred in the other.  Gary Gaetti’s HR (inside the foul pole right in front of us), Randy Bush’s RBI double, Bert Blyleven going 7 innings and the loudest atmosphere I’d ever been in stand out.  A Tom Brunansky bottom of the 9th HR vs. the Brewers for a 2-1 win was key that year.  KC Royals Danny Tartabull’s 9th inning 3 run HR off of Jeff Reardon was not.  Oddly, the Twins were 5 wins and 6 losses in the 11 regular season games I attended—the year they had such a great home record!
  • Boston’s Roger Clemens outdueled Scott Erickson 1-0 in about 1990. Clemens finished with a complete game 2 hitter and Scotty went about 7 and 2/3’s.  Leadoff batter Billy Hatcher cueballed a spinning double past Kent Hrbek down the first base line, Wade Boggs singled him in and that was it for the scoring after the top of the first!
  • Seattle’s Ken Griffey, Jr and Ken Griffey, Sr playing together. Junior homered, naturally…
  • The M & M boys (Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) hit line drives all over the place.
  • The last game I saw at the Metrodome was in July 2009 vs. Detroit. Each time Detroit would score so would the Twins until their one run in the 16th inning could not match the three the Tigers had scored.  Longest game I’ve ever attended!
  • The two games at Target Field in 2010 and 2011, both against the Rays. Jim Thome’s shot off the wall only resulted in an RBI single (a few feet short of a home run) as they lost in ’10, but Michael Cuddyer’s bloop RBI single was the winning margin in ’11.

I’ve probably left off a few deserving entries, but what I enjoyed the most about going to a Twins game was attending WITH MY FAMILY!  My Dad Ken, Mom Kathy, sister Kelli, brother Aaron, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and later, my wife Becky, my kids Trey, Kylie, and the twins (of course!) Mikayla and Mackenzie, her folks Arlin and Carol, brother Brian, and sister Deb’s family are the people with whom I enjoyed Twins games!

Left to right: Me (Treavor), Mackenzie, Trey, Mikayla, Kylie, and my wife, Becky
Left to right: Me (Treavor), Mackenzie, Trey, Mikayla, Kylie, and my wife, Becky

I hope you enjoyed a look at the last 40 years of Twins baseball as I saw it!  Go Twins!!!

Treavor Lenz

As I was prepping this post by tagging all the players that Treavor mentioned it dawned on me that some of these players had slipped into the archives of my own memory banks as I age but seeing their name in print again brought back many memories, some funny, some exciting, some good, some bad, some historic, and some that are just plain sad. That’s a good thing, damn I love baseball. Thanks again Treavor.

This Day in Twins History – July 25, 1977 – Goltz throws 180 pitches

Native Minnesotan Dave Goltz - Twins pitcher from 1972 - 1979 (courtesy of Minnesota Twins)
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.

Shutouts – For and against the Twins

Twins shutout leaders (8 or more innings)

Bert Blyleven
Bert Blyleven
Rk Player #Matching W L GS IP H BB SO WHIP SB CS
1 Bert Blyleven 29 29 0 29 263.0 132 42 209 0.66 11 17
2 Jim Kaat 23 23 0 23 208.0 131 25 124 0.75 3 5
3 Camilo Pascual 18 18 0 18 162.0 78 33 144 0.69 5 1
4 Jim Perry 17 17 0 17 153.0 83 29 95 0.73 2 4
5 Frank Viola 10 10 0 10 90.0 49 16 59 0.72 2 8
6 Brad Radke 10 10 0 10 90.0 45 8 54 0.59 1 3
7 Mudcat Grant 10 10 0 10 90.0 52 17 43 0.77 1 4
8 Dave Goltz 10 10 0 10 90.0 37 19 67 0.62 3 3
9 Dean Chance 9 9 0 9 81.0 36 15 71 0.63 3 1
10 Geoff Zahn 7 7 0 7 63.0 37 10 38 0.75 0 2
11 Scott Erickson 7 7 0 7 63.0 18 15 31 0.52 1 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/25/2015.

A couple trivia questions for you today.

1. What two pitchers have shutout the Twins the most frequently and how many shutouts did they have against the boys from Minnesota?

2. What opposing pitcher threw the most shutouts against the Twins at Met Stadium and how many did he have?

3. What opposing pitcher threw the most shutouts against the Twins at the Metrodome and how many did he have?

 

The answers are:

1. Gaylord Perry and Steve Hargan each shut out the Twins five times.

2. Jim Bouton shut out Minnesota three times at the Met.

3. Scott Erickson shut out the Twins three times at the Metrodome.

This Day in Twins History – April 23 – Complete game with zero KO’s?

Kralick, Jack 24/23/1961 – The Twins play their first 1-0 game in history and come up winners at Met Stadium when Jack Kralick pitches a complete game 4 hit shutout of the Washington Senators. Kralick also knocks in the Twins lone run of the game with a fifth inning single. Box score

4/23/1980 – Angels pitcher Bruce Kison settles for a one-hitter when Minnesota’s Ken Landreaux rips a double with one out in the 9th inning of California’s 17-0 romp. For Landreaux, the hit marks the beginning of a 31-game hitting streak. Box scoreKen Landreaux

4/23/1982 – The Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 12-4 at the Kingdome. Twins pitcher Roger Erickson recovers after a rough first inning where he gives up 3 runs on 5 hits and proceeds to pitch a complete game. Erickson strikes out no one and gives up 13 hits and walks two more in this unusual game. It marks the only time that Erickson pitched a complete game with no strikeouts. Twins hitters were no slouches themselves as they had 18 hits and drew 6 walks. Ron Washington had 4 hits and Bobby Mitchell and Gary Ward had 3 hits apiece.

Roger Erickson
Roger Erickson

Box score . See the table below showing all Twins pitchers that have pitched a complete game with zero strikeouts.

4/23/2011 – The Twins beat the visiting Cleveland Indians 10-3 at Target Field and in the process score more than 5 runs in a game for the first time in 2011. The Twins have not scored more than five runs in any game this season (19 games), according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is the longest such streak to start a season in Twins history, and the longest streak in franchise history (the 1909 Washington Senators failed to score more than five runs in their first 18 games).The Twins were the only team in Major League Baseball that hasn’t scored six-or-more runs in a game in 2011. Box score

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Twins pitchers that have pitched a complete game with zero KO’s

Rk Player Date ? Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR Pit BF
1 Brad Radke 2002-05-08 KCR W 3-1 CG 9, W 9.0 5 1 1 3 0 0 106 32
2 Allan Anderson 1991-04-20 CAL L 1-2 CG 8, L 8.0 4 2 2 1 0 0 100 29
3 Allan Anderson 1988-08-04 TOR W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 4 1 1 0 0 1 102 29
4 Les Straker 1987-06-29 KCR L 2-3 CG 5, L 4.1 4 3 3 1 0 1 17
5 Ken Schrom 1985-04-12 SEA L 1-2 CG 8, L 8.0 3 2 2 3 0 1 31
6 Roger Erickson 1982-04-23 SEA W 12-4 CG 9, W 9.0 13 4 4 2 0 0 39
7 Paul Hartzell 1979-04-30 TOR W 6-3 CG 9, W 9.0 7 3 3 2 0 1 36
8 Dave Goltz 1978-06-23 CHW W 2-1 CG 9, W 9.0 5 1 1 1 0 0 32
9 Steve Luebber 1976-09-08 TEX W 3-1 CG 7, W 7.0 7 1 1 1 0 1 26
10 Danny Fife 1973-09-28 CAL W 7-1 CG 9, W 9.0 7 1 1 6 0 0 39
11 Jim Kaat 1965-04-17 CLE W 3-0 SHO9, W 9.0 7 0 0 1 0 0 32
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/23/2015.
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Hughes – Jekyll & Hyde

For many years now the Minnesota Twins organization has always looked unfavorably at pitchers that issue too many bases on balls. If you eliminate 2011 and 2012 the Twins have been in the top three teams in the American League in fewest walks allowed since 1996. During that same time frame the Twins have led the American League in strikeouts just once and that was in 2006.

But today we are going to look at the other end of the spectrum, we are going to see what Twins pitchers wouldn’t exactly be considered control artists. The pitchers that would be regulars in former Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson‘s doghouse. It is surprising to me to see how many “good” pitchers there are on this list of most walks allowed in a single season by a Twins pitcher. Check out the records of some of these pitchers, two pitchers on this list won 20 games while issuing 90 or more walks during the season. Two pitchers on this list had more walks then they had strikeouts. Three pitchers made this list twice.

I can’t help but be amazed by the season that Rich Robertson had in 1996. But first let’s take a look at that team, the first year after Kirby Puckett‘s career came to an abrupt end. Tom Kelly‘s 1996 team finished fourth with a 78-84 record. The starting staff that season under pitching coach Dick Such was made up of Brad Radke, Frankie Rodriguez, Rich Robertson, Scott Aldred, and Rick Aguilera. Current Twins skipper Paul Molitor should remember that season, he was the teams DH that year and he hit .341 and had 113 RBI.

Robertson who the Twins picked up on waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates in November 1994 was a left-hander who pitched for Minnesota from 1995-1997 and won a job in the Twins starting rotation in 1996 after having started a total of four games in his brief big league career. In 1996 at the age of 27 he started 31 games for the Twins and posted a 7-17 record with a 5.12 ERA. In his 186+ innings pitched he struck out 114 batters and walked 116 and yet he had three shutouts which tied him for the American league lead. He is the only Twins pitcher to ever lead the American League in walks allowed in a single season.

Twins pitchers with 90 or more walks allowed in a single season

Rk Player BB Year G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV IP H SO ERA HR BA
1 Jim Hughes 127 1975 37 34 12 2 16 14 .533 0 249.2 241 130 3.82 17 .255
2 Rich Robertson 116 1996 36 31 5 3 7 17 .292 0 186.1 197 114 5.12 22 .273
3 Dave Boswell 107 1967 37 32 11 3 14 12 .538 0 222.2 162 204 3.27 14 .202
4 Jim Perry 102 1971 40 39 8 0 17 17 .500 1 270.0 263 126 4.23 39 .259
5 Bert Blyleven 101 1987 37 37 8 1 15 12 .556 0 267.0 249 196 4.01 46 .249
6 Dick Woodson 101 1972 36 36 9 3 14 14 .500 0 251.2 193 150 2.72 19 .211
7 Camilo Pascual 100 1961 35 33 15 8 15 16 .484 0 252.1 205 221 3.46 26 .217
8 Dave Boswell 99 1969 39 38 10 0 20 12 .625 0 256.1 215 190 3.23 18 .226
9 Camilo Pascual 98 1964 36 36 14 1 15 12 .556 0 267.1 245 213 3.30 30 .241
10 Vic Albury 97 1975 32 15 2 0 6 7 .462 1 135.0 115 72 4.53 16 .237
11 Joe Decker 97 1974 37 37 11 1 16 14 .533 0 248.2 234 158 3.29 24 .252
12 Jack Morris 92 1991 35 35 10 2 18 12 .600 0 246.2 226 163 3.43 18 .245
13 Frank Viola 92 1983 35 34 4 0 7 15 .318 0 210.0 242 127 5.49 34 .288
14 Dave Goltz 91 1977 39 39 19 2 20 11 .645 0 303.0 284 186 3.36 23 .247
15 Dave Goltz 91 1976 36 35 13 4 14 14 .500 0 249.1 239 133 3.36 14 .254
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/31/2014.
League leaders are highlighted in bold.

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The Jekyll & Hyde Hughes

Phil Hughes
Phil Hughes

This past season California native and former New York Yankee first round pick (2004) Phil Hughes, 28, pitching for a team that finished 70-92 had a 16-10 record and an amazing and record-breaking 11.63 SO/W ratio. That comes out to 16 bases on balls issues in 209.1 innings with 186 KO’s. Another Hughes who was also from California, Jim, pitched for Minnesota from 1974-1977 and in 1975 at the age of 25 he had a 16-14 record with a 3.82 ERA for a 76-83 team. Jim, a Twins 33rd round pick in 1969 walked 127 and struck out 130 batters for a 1.02 SO/W ratio in 249.2 innings.

Jim Hughes
Jim Hughes

Strangely enough both of these right-handed pitchers won 16 games for their sub .500 teams. Phil had record-breaking control and finished the 2014 season with one complete game and Jim with not so much control had 12 complete games in 1975. Jim won a total of 25 games in his brief four-year big league career and Phil has 72 wins and counting on his resume.

Bottom line? I guess a pitcher can win at the big league level no matter what his SO/W ratio is and once again it just goes to show that it isn’t all about the numbers. But it is interesting never the less.

Historical look at Twins pitchers and home runs allowed

Minnesota Twins pitchers allowed 147 home runs in 2014. The fewest home runs allowed by a Twins pitching staff in a full season of 162 games occurred in 1976 when that pitching staff gave up just 89 round trippers to the opponents and the Twins went on to finish with an 85-77 record. On the opposite end of the spectrum the 1996 Twins pitching staff allowed a franchise record 233 home runs and finished the season with a 78-84 record. It only took one season for Ricky Nolasco to make the list but he can pitch his way off this list, the others can’t.

Twins career HR/9 with minimum of 120 innings pitched

Dave Stevens

Rk Player HR9 IP From To G GS W L W-L% SV ERA HR BA
1 Dave Stevens 1.88 191.2 1994 1997 135 6 14 12 .538 21 5.82 40 .296
2 Scott Aldred 1.81 199.1 1996 1997 42 32 8 15 .348 0 6.10 40 .298
3 Jose Parra 1.78 131.2 1995 1996 39 17 6 10 .375 0 6.77 26 .310
4 Liam Hendriks 1.73 156.0 2011 2013 30 28 2 13 .133 0 6.06 30 .313
5 Pat Mahomes 1.64 366.2 1992 1996 114 51 18 28 .391 3 5.82 67 .284
6 Jim Deshaies 1.63 297.2 1993 1994 52 52 17 25 .405 0 5.71 54 .285
7 Rick Reed 1.50 390.2 2001 2003 72 65 25 25 .500 0 4.47 65 .280
8 Kevin Slowey 1.42 532.2 2007 2011 100 90 39 29 .574 0 4.66 84 .285
9 Boof Bonser 1.40 391.2 2006 2008 96 60 18 25 .419 0 5.12 61 .281
10 Mark Portugal 1.40 238.2 1985 1988 72 26 11 19 .367 4 5.13 37 .280
11 Terry Felton 1.37 138.1 1979 1982 55 10 0 16 .000 3 5.53 21 .240
12 Eric Milton 1.36 987.1 1998 2003 166 165 57 51 .528 0 4.76 149 .259
13 Ray Moore 1.35 159.2 1961 1963 126 1 13 10 .565 25 4.90 24 .252
14 Dick Stigman 1.34 643.2 1962 1965 138 85 37 37 .500 7 3.69 96 .229
15 Pedro Ramos 1.33 264.1 1961 1961 42 34 11 20 .355 2 3.95 39 .258
16 David West 1.32 285.1 1989 1992 63 47 15 18 .455 0 5.33 42 .262
17 Charlie Lea 1.32 130.0 1988 1988 24 23 7 7 .500 0 4.85 19 .301
18 Mark Redman 1.31 213.0 1999 2001 46 34 15 13 .536 0 4.86 31 .283
19 Neal Heaton 1.30 124.1 1986 1986 21 17 4 9 .308 1 3.98 18 .273
20 Nick Blackburn 1.29 818.2 2007 2012 145 137 43 55 .439 0 4.85 117 .303
21 Eddie Guardado 1.28 704.2 1993 2008 648 25 37 48 .435 116 4.53 100 .253
22 Kyle Lohse 1.27 908.1 2001 2006 172 152 51 57 .472 0 4.88 128 .285
23 Bob Wells 1.26 300.1 1999 2002 265 0 18 16 .529 13 4.47 42 .268
24 Ricky Nolasco 1.25 159.0 2014 2014 27 27 6 12 .333 0 5.38 22 .316
25 Mike Trombley 1.25 645.2 1992 2002 365 36 30 34 .469 34 4.53 90 .266
26 Lee Stange 1.25 351.2 1961 1964 97 37 20 14 .588 3 3.61 49 .251
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/20/2014.

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The list below show The Twins pitching staff leader board of home runs allowed. Bert Blyleven loves to talk about how many home runs he has allowed but he is only third best or worst, depending on how you want to look at it.

Brad Radke
Brad Radke
Rk Player HR IP From To G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV SO ERA BF
1 Brad Radke 326 2451.0 1995 2006 378 377 37 10 148 139 .516 0 1467 4.22 10244
2 Jim Kaat 270 2959.1 1961 1973 468 422 133 23 189 152 .554 6 1824 3.28 12385
3 Bert Blyleven 243 2566.2 1970 1988 348 345 141 29 149 138 .519 0 2035 3.28 10542
4 Frank Viola 213 1772.2 1982 1989 260 259 54 10 112 93 .546 0 1214 3.86 7450
5 Jim Perry 166 1883.1 1963 1972 376 249 61 17 128 90 .587 5 1025 3.15 7791
6 Eric Milton 149 987.1 1998 2003 166 165 10 4 57 51 .528 0 715 4.76 4196
7 Johan Santana 144 1308.2 2000 2007 251 175 6 4 93 44 .679 1 1381 3.22 5281
8 Kyle Lohse 128 908.1 2001 2006 172 152 4 3 51 57 .472 0 561 4.88 3982
9 Joe Mays 127 946.1 1999 2005 193 146 10 6 48 65 .425 0 487 4.85 4110
10 Scott Baker 123 958.0 2005 2011 163 159 4 2 63 48 .568 0 770 4.15 4004
11 Camilo Pascual 123 1284.2 1961 1966 184 179 72 18 88 57 .607 0 994 3.31 5362
12 Dave Goltz 119 1638.0 1972 1979 247 215 80 11 96 79 .549 3 887 3.48 6887
13 Nick Blackburn 117 818.2 2007 2012 145 137 5 0 43 55 .439 0 388 4.85 3577
14 Kevin Tapani 109 1171.1 1989 1995 181 180 19 6 75 63 .543 0 724 4.06 4897
15 Carlos Silva 106 773.2 2004 2007 129 124 5 2 47 45 .511 0 306 4.42 3277
16 Dave Boswell 106 1036.1 1964 1970 187 150 37 6 67 54 .554 0 865 3.49 4344
17 LaTroy Hawkins 105 818.0 1995 2003 366 98 2 0 44 57 .436 44 532 5.05 3614
18 Mike Smithson 103 816.0 1984 1987 128 126 26 5 47 48 .495 0 438 4.46 3509
19 Eddie Guardado 100 704.2 1993 2008 648 25 0 0 37 48 .435 116 610 4.53 3009
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/20/2014.

 

 

 

Quality Starts and Twins Wins

A pitcher gets credit for a quality start (QS) any time he allows three earned runs or less in a start that lasts at least six innings. John Lowe who was writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time developed and coined the term Quality Start back in 1985.

Most arguments against the QS begin with the statement that a QS equals a 4.50 ERA and an ERA of 4.50 is not seen as top-notch by anybody. If you look up QS on Wiki you can find some strange situations for and against the term QS, for example, in 2000 Mark Mulder goes 6 and 2/3 innings giving up 15 hits, nine runs but only two were earned and so he gets a QS, in 1982 Mike Scott goes the required 6 innings giving up 7 hits, 5 walks, zero strikeouts, allows 7 runs albeit only 3 earned and he get a QS, on the other side of the coin, back in 1974 Gaylord Perry goes 15 innings and allows 4 earned runs and get no QS, same with Randy Johnson who pitches a complete game while striking out 19 but gives up 4 earnies and gets no QS.

Since 1961, the most MLB QS in a single season record is held by White Sox knuckleballer Wilbur Wood who had 37 QS in 41 starts in 1971. Next on the list is Dodger great Sandy Koufax with 36 QS in 1966 (his final season) in 41 starts. The career leaders in QS from 1961-current are Don Sutton with 483, Nolan Ryan with 481, and Greg Maddux with 480.

LHP Jim Kaat
LHP Jim Kaat

The Twins top five career QS leaders are Jim Kaat with 253, Bert Blyleven with 218, Brad Radke with 208, Jim Perry with 156 and Frank Viola with 144. The Twins most QS in a season  record belongs to Bert Blyleven who had 31 QS in 1972 in 38 starts. That 1972 Twins team had the most QS in a single season with 114 in 154 games, that means that 74% of their games were QS and yet the team finished with a 77-77 record. The others starters that season were Dick Woodson with 26 QS, Jim Perry with 22, Jim Kaat and Ray Corbin with 14 and Dave Goltz with 7. Compare that with the 66 QS in 2014 where the team leader was Phil Hughes with 20, Kyle Gibson had 15, Kevin Correia, had 13, Ricky Nolasco had 10, Yohan Pino had 3, Trevor May and Sam Deduno had 2 each and Tommy Milone put one in the books.

Bert Blyleven
Bert Blyleven

But how close is the relationship of a QS to what really counts, a team victory. If you look at the list that I have provided below that shows the Minnesota Twins QS and the team record you can get a feel for how the two compare. Sure, there are outlier seasons like 1972 when the team had 114 QS and finished the season with a 77-77 record or when the opposite happened in 2006 when the Twins went to the play-offs with a 96-66 record but only had 73 QS. By the way, I don’t remember seeing any Rick Anderson for governor buttons back then.

The Twins historical QS numbers are kind of strange, almost a bell-shaped curve. The Twins have had 90 or more QS in a season 11 times and went to the playoffs zero times. No Twins team with 72 or less QS has sniffed the playoffs either. The Twins have advanced to the playoffs 11 times and their QS were always in the 73-89 range and if you exclude the 2006 season with just 73 QS, the other ten fall between 78-89. Having said all that, in the past 54 seasons the Twins have had 4,266 QS, the team record during that period is 4,274-4,335. 4,266 QS and 4,274 wins over 54 seasons, is that strange or what?

The chart below shows you in a pictorial fashion the relationship of QS and Twins victories. Click on the chart to make it larger.

Quality Starts versus Wins

 

Twins Quality Start History

YEAR QS RECORD
1972 114 77-77
1967 105 91-71
1968 100 79-83
1966 99 89-73
1963 95 91-70
1973 93 81-81
1978 92 73-89
1974 90 82-80
 1984  90  81-81
 1988  90  91-71
 2005  90  83-79
 1965*  89  102-60
 1970*  89  98-64
 1991*  89  95-67
 1969*  88  97-65
 1971  88  74-86
 1989  88  80-82
 1964  86  79-83
 2008  86  88-75
 2010*  86  94-68
 1976  83  85-77
 1992  83  90-72
 2004*  83  92-70
1980  82 77-84
 1987*  80  85-77
2001  80  85-77
 2003*  80  90-72
2007  80  79-83
 2011  80  63-99
 1962  79  91-71
2009* 79 87-76
 1998 78 70-92
 2002* 78 94-67
 1961  75  70-90
1990 75  74-88
 1985 74  77-85
 1979  73  82-80
 2006*  73  96-66
 1975  71  76-83
 1986  71  71-91
 2000  71  69-93
 1977 70 84-77
 1993 69 71-91
 1996 69  78-84
 1983 67  70-92
 1982 66 60-102
 2014 66 70-92
 1999 63  63-97
 2012 62  66-96
2013 62  66-96
1997 61 68-94
1981 56  41-68
 1995 43  56-88
 1994 37  53-60
 TOTALS  4,266  4,274-4,335
* = went to playoffs
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Twins QS data by decade

DECADE QS AVG. QS PER SEASON
1960’s 816 90.7
1970’s 863 86.3
1980’s 764 76.4
1990’s 667 66.7
2000’s 800 80.0
2010’s 356 71.2
Data provided by Baseball-Reference Play Index.
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I asked Jim Kaat if he would comment on Quality Starts and here is what Jim had to say-

Thanks John,
I’m happy to comment on “Quality Starts”. It’s one of my favorite subjects because it is misunderstood. My pitching stats person, Merrianna McCully, has compiled a 25 year profile on QS’s in her book ‘Three Up Three Down’. She kept all sorts of pitching stats for me from 1988-2006…
The MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT,[ like a vitamin pill] is 6 ip. 3 er or less..the actual earned run averages in a Quality start is a little under 2 in the NL and about 2.05 in the American league..DH factor…The IP’s in a QS game will close to 8 innings pitched. The records show that if a team got just a minimum daily requirement for a QS they would win about 2/3 of their games unless they had an extremely ineffective bullpen.

Jim

Did you know?

  • When Minnesota Twins pitcher Yohan Pino will made his Major League debut Thursday night at 30 years, 175 days old at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox. He became the oldest Twin (since 1961) to make his big league debut. Yohan became the 49th starting pitcher in Major League history since at least 1914 to make his Major League debut at age 30-or-older, and just the 14th since 1982. Starters making their Major League debut at age 30-or-older have won each of their last three starts and four of the last five. Since 1982, teams are 7-6 in the 13 occurrences. The 13 pitchers have combined to go 6-4 with a 3.36 ERA (27 earned runs in 72.1 innings) with
    26 walks and 52 strikeouts.
  • Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has hit 15 home runs while swiping 15 bases this
    season, stealing his 15th earlier this week. It marks the 15th time in Club history and 12th different player with the previous ?ve being Torii Hunter in 2007 (28 homers/18 steals), Lew Ford in 2004 (15 homers/20 steals), Hunter in 2004 (23 homers/21 steals), Hunter in 2002 (29 homers/23 steals) and Corey Koskie in 2001 (26 homers/27 steals). Dozier accomplished the feat in his 68th game which is the fastest ever by a Twin and fastest in baseball since Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers did it in his 68th game.
  • Upon Further Review – Through 1,073 games played this season (through
    Wednesday), Major League Baseball has had 541 replay reviews, which have taken an average of one minute and fifty-one seconds.

*541 Replay Reviews
*130 Confirmed
*153 Stands
*251 Overturned
*7 Record Keeping
*1:51 Average Time

  • Through June 18th the American League has a 79-68 record in Interleague play and is hitting .255 and their pitchers have a 3.80 ERA. National League batters are hitting .254 and their pitchers have a 3.78 ERA.
  • The CWS (College World Series) Legends Team includes former Twins Todd Walker, Eddie Bane, and Dave Winfield (former Minnesota Gopher as well).
  • In baseball, a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The most quality starts in a season for a Twins pitcher since 2003 is 25 by Johan Santana in 2004. If you use the QS formula going back to 1961, then Bert Blyleven‘s 31 QS in 1972 would be the leader.

Twins career QS leaders from 1961 to present day

Rk Player QS From To G GS CG SHO W L W-L% SV IP SO ERA HR BF BA
1 Jim Kaat 253 1961 1973 468 422 133 23 189 152 .554 6 2959.1 1824 3.28 270 12385 .256
2 Bert Blyleven 218 1970 1988 348 345 141 29 149 138 .519 0 2566.2 2035 3.28 243 10542 .246
3 Brad Radke 208 1995 2006 378 377 37 10 148 139 .516 0 2451.0 1467 4.22 326 10244 .276
4 Jim Perry 156 1963 1972 376 249 61 17 128 90 .587 5 1883.1 1025 3.15 166 7791 .242
5 Frank Viola 144 1982 1989 260 259 54 10 112 93 .546 0 1772.2 1214 3.86 213 7450 .260
6 Dave Goltz 129 1972 1979 247 215 80 11 96 79 .549 3 1638.0 887 3.48 119 6887 .264
7 Johan Santana 112 2000 2007 251 175 6 4 93 44 .679 1 1308.2 1381 3.22 144 5281 .221
8 Camilo Pascual 101 1961 1966 184 179 72 18 88 57 .607 0 1284.2 994 3.31 123 5362 .233
9 Kevin Tapani 98 1989 1995 181 180 19 6 75 63 .543 0 1171.1 724 4.06 109 4897 .270
10 Eric Milton 83 1998 2003 166 165 10 4 57 51 .528 0 987.1 715 4.76 149 4196 .259
11 Scott Baker 76 2005 2011 163 159 4 2 63 48 .568 0 958.0 770 4.15 123 4004 .266
12 Dave Boswell 76 1964 1970 187 150 37 6 67 54 .554 0 1036.1 865 3.49 106 4344 .217
13 Scott Erickson 73 1990 1995 155 153 14 7 61 60 .504 0 979.1 527 4.22 83 4244 .275
14 Geoff Zahn 71 1977 1980 133 126 36 7 53 53 .500 0 852.0 348 3.90 68 3621 .289
15 Nick Blackburn 69 2007 2012 145 137 5 0 43 55 .439 0 818.2 388 4.85 117 3577 .303
16 Allan Anderson 69 1986 1991 148 128 15 3 49 54 .476 0 818.2 339 4.11 87 3474 .282
17 Francisco Liriano 68 2005 2012 156 130 1 1 50 52 .490 1 783.1 788 4.33 76 3341 .247
18 Kyle Lohse 67 2001 2006 172 152 4 3 51 57 .472 0 908.1 561 4.88 128 3982 .285
19 Mudcat Grant 67 1964 1967 129 111 36 10 50 35 .588 1 780.2 377 3.35 88 3227 .260
20 Joe Mays 66 1999 2005 193 146 10 6 48 65 .425 0 946.1 487 4.85 127 4110 .282
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/22/2014.

If you took the list from above and looked at QS%, the Twins career leader is Johan Santana with .640% followed by Bert Blyleven at .632%. Nick Blackburn was not always a fan favorite but his career QS% is .504%, 14th best in team history. Who has the best career QS% in the AL since 1961? That would be Pedro Martinez at .751%. How about the NL you say? That is non other than Sandy Koufax at .782%.

Check out the BA column on the list above, the best is an amazing .217 career BA allowed by the late great Dave Boswell, the man has not gotten his due here in Minnesota and should be in the Twins Hall of Fame. Aren’t statistics fun?

Baseball is such an amazing game, you never know what you will see next and how many times have you watched a game and told yourself, Geez, I have never seen that happen before. How about this one, Brewers score three on one wild pitch.

20 Game Winners

twentyOne of the most frequent requests that I receive on this web site is from folks that are looking to find the names of the Twins pitchers that have won 20 or more games in a season so I have decided to publish the list in a post for easy look-up.

Thirteen different Twins pitchers have won 20 or more games in a season on just 15 occasions and no pitcher has won 20 games since Johan Santana did it back in 2004. Two pitchers have done it twice, Camilo Pascual and Jim Perry. Camilo and Jim Perry are the only Minnesota pitchers to win 20 or more in back-to-back seasons. 1969 is the only season that the Twins had multiple 20 game winners when Boswell and Perry each had 20 victories. A big part of the reason for not winning 20 games no days is that with the five man rotation starters only get 32 to 34 starts and the other big reason is that managers today bring in relievers at the drop of a hat or the sight of a baserunner late in the game. 20 game winners are getting as rare as hens teeth, since 1980 the Twins have had four 20 game winners and three no-hitters.

Rk Player Year W Age G GS CG SHO L IP SO ERA BA
1 Johan Santana 2004 20 25 34 34 1 1 6 228.0 265 2.61 .192
2 Brad Radke 1997 20 24 35 35 4 1 10 239.2 174 3.87 .257
3 Scott Erickson 1991 20 23 32 32 5 3 8 204.0 108 3.18 .248
4 Frank Viola 1988 24 28 35 35 7 2 7 255.1 193 2.64 .245
5 Jerry Koosman 1979 20 36 37 36 10 2 13 263.2 157 3.38 .268
6 Dave Goltz 1977 20 28 39 39 19 2 11 303.0 186 3.36 .247
7 Bert Blyleven 1973 20 22 40 40 25 9 17 325.0 258 2.52 .242
8 Jim Perry 1970 24 34 40 40 13 4 12 278.2 168 3.04 .243
9 Dave Boswell 1969 20 24 39 38 10 0 12 256.1 190 3.23 .226
10 Jim Perry 1969 20 33 46 36 12 3 6 261.2 153 2.82 .247
11 Dean Chance 1967 20 26 41 39 18 5 14 283.2 220 2.73 .229
12 Jim Kaat 1966 25 27 41 41 19 3 13 304.2 205 2.75 .235
13 Mudcat Grant 1965 21 29 41 39 14 6 7 270.1 142 3.30 .247
14 Camilo Pascual 1963 21 29 31 31 18 3 9 248.1 202 2.46 .224
15 Camilo Pascual 1962 20 28 34 33 18 5 11 257.2 206 3.32 .241
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/16/2014.

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You would think that over the years there would have been a number of Twins pitchers that came up just short of joning the 20 game winners list by winning 19 games but that is not the case. Since 1961 the Twins have had one pitcher, Johan Santana in 2006 tht ended the season with 19 games in the win column.