Tag: Garret Anderson

Play you best players, let them rest in the off-season

When I go to the ballpark or watch a baseball game on TV I always expect the teams best players to be on the field day in and day out during the baseball season. I am old school in that regard and it is disappointing to me when today’s managers rest players so frequently. I believe that players are paid to play and only an injury that does not physically allow them to play should keep them off the field and in the dugout. 

Justin Morneau

Apparently that is not how the Twins play baseball. Coming to the ballpark and playing every day is not how it is done in Minnesota. The last player to play 160 or more games in a season for the Minnesota Twins was Justin Morneau back in 2008, that was 12 years ago. Morneau put together a 218 consecutive games played streak that started on June 28, 2007 and ended on June 20, 2009.  

Zoilo Versalles

Over the years the Twins have had 21 instances when a player has appeared in 160 games or more. Eleven players have accomplished this feat with Zoilo Versalles leading the pack with four such seasons, Harmon Killebrew and Kirby Puckett each did it three times, Cesar Tovar, Leo Cardenas and Gary Gaetti did it twice while Tony Oliva, Roy Smalley, Paul Molitor, Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau each did it once. This past season the Twins “Ironman” was Jorge Polanco with 153 games played.

Looking at just the American League (due to no DH in the National League) this past season there were four players that appeared in 160 or more games and there have been no instances from 1961-2019 where there hasn’t been at least one players appearing in 160 games in a season, excluding strike shortened seasons.

Going back to 1961 the Twins have the third longest streak in the AL without a player appearing in 160 or more games. The last Cleveland Indians player to play in 160 or more games was Grady Sizemore in 2007 and the longest streak in the AL without a player playing in 160 games belongs to the Los Angeles Angels who had Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus qualify back in 2001. I found it interesting that the Texas Rangers who did not begin play until 1972 and play in the very hot Texas temperatures had 13 players play in 160 or more games between 1972-2019.

According to Elias

Trevor Plouffe
Trevor Plouffe

Trevor Plouffe drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning in Minnesota’s 5-4 win over Cleveland last night. Plouffe had not had an RBI in extra innings over the last two seasons prior to his heroics in Cleveland. Plouffe’s 130 total RBIs since the start of the 2013 season were the fourth most for any A.L. player that had not driven in a run beyond the ninth inning entering Friday’s action, behind Edwin Encarnacion (191), Adam Dunn (147) and James Loney (141).

A bonus fan fact:

Santana, Danny 3 2014Garret AndersonWith his hit in last nights game Danny Santana has now gotten a hit in 17 straight games when he has played and gotten at least one official at bat at Target Field. The previous Twins record was 16 games for Ben Revere. The Twins record holder for a hitting streak with at least one at bat in the Metrodome is Kent Hrbek with 23 games in 1982. The Twins record holder at Met Stadium is Rod Carew at 21 games and he did it twice, in 1974 and again in 1977. The longest similar hitting streak by a Twins opponent in a Twins stadium is 27 games by Garret Anderson between June 8, 1997 and September 2, 2003 at the Metrodome. Next on the list at 23 games, Jim Thome.

According to Elias – All-Star edition

Jeter flourishes in his final All-Star appearance

Derek jeter
Derek Jeter

 

Derek Jeter, as usual, rose to the occasion in his final All-Star game appearance, going 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored in the American League’s 5-3 win. Jeter finishes his career with a .481 (13-for-27) batting average in the All-Star game, which currently stands as the second highest for any of the 100 players with at least 15 All-Star at bats in major-league history, behind Charlie Gehringer, who went 10-for-20 (.500) in six appearances in the Mid Summer Classic.

Jeter became the second player in major-league history with multiple hits in the All-Star game in his final major-league season, joining George McQuinn, who had two hits representing the Yankees in the 1948 game. Jeter, at 40 years and 19 days old, also became the oldest player with at least two hits in an All-Star game. Only one player over the age of 38 had done that prior to Jeter: Carl Yastrzemski, who had two hits in the 1979 contest at age 39 years, 329 days.

Jeter’s first-inning double was his fifth career All-Star hit in the opening frame, tied with Wade Boggs and Stan Musial for the second most first-inning hits in All-Star history, behind Willie Mays (6).

Trout is the All-Star MVP

 

Mike Trout
Mike Trout

Mike Trout had two hits and two RBIs and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2014 All-Star game on Tuesday night. Trout, 22 years and 342 days old, became the second youngest player to win the All-Star game MVP, behind Ken Griffey Jr., who captured the award in the 1992 game at 22 years, 236 days old.

Trout became the fourth Angels player to win the All-Star game MVP, joining Leon Wagner (1962), Fred Lynn (1983) and Garret Anderson (2003).

 

American League jumps on Wainwright in the first

The American League jumped on Adam Wainwright for three runs in the first inning in the All-Star game on Tuesday night. Derek Jeter led off with a double, Mike Trout followed with a triple and after Robinson Cano struck out, Miguel Cabrera unloaded a two run home run. It’s only the second time in major-league history that three of the first four batters had an extra-base hit for a team in the All-Star game. The only other time that happened in the Mid Summer Classic was in 2004, when Ichiro Suzuki led off the first inning with a double, Ivan Rodriguez followed with a triple, and then after a Vladimir Guerrero ground out, Manny Ramirez hit a two-run homer.

Wainwright allowed only four extra base hits (three doubles and a homer) in the first inning in the 19 starts he made prior to the All-Star break this season.

Cabrera goes deep out of the cleanup spot

Miguel Cabrera – the American League’s cleanup hitter – hit a two-run home run in the first inning to stake the A.L. to a 3-0 lead in their 5-3 win over the N.L. in Tuesday’s All-Star game. Cabrera’s 14 home runs this season are the fewest for the American League’s cleanup hitter in an All-Star Game since 1990, when Cal Ripken batted fourth for the A.L. with nine homers to that point.

Perkins saves it for the A.L. in his home ballpark

Glen Perkins
Glen Perkins

Minnesota’s Glen Perkins pitched a perfect ninth inning to record a save in the American League’s 5-3 win in the All-Star game at Target Field. Prior to Perkins, only two pitchers registered a save in the All-Star game in their home ballpark: Detroit’s Mickey Lolich (1971 at Tiger Stadium) and Seattle’s Kazuhiro Sasaki (2001 at Safeco Field).

A rough All-Star debut for Puig

Yasiel Puig had a rough night in his first All-Star appearance, striking out in each of his three trips to the plate. Only three other players in major-league history struck out in each of their plate appearances with at least three trips to the plate in an All-Star game: Jim Hegan (1950), John Roseboro (1961) and Johnny Bench (1970).

An interview with 1995 Rookie of the Year Marty Cordova

Marty Cordova in spring training getting ready for the 1996 season.
Marty Cordova in spring training getting ready for the 1996 season.

Recently I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to interview 1995 AL Rookie of the Year Marty Cordova. We talked about Marty’s nine-year big league career from the time he was drafted by Minnesota in the tenth round of the 1989 draft until he retired from baseball in 2005. Cordova played for the Twins (1995-1999), Blue Jays (2000), Indians (2001), and the Orioles (2002-2003).

Cordova was the American League Rookie of the Year winner in 1995 in a close vote (105 to 99) over Angels outfielder Garret Anderson. Other players receiving more than ten votes that year were pitchers Andy Pettitte and Troy Percival. Cordova was the fifth and most recent Minnesota Twin to win ROY honors. Other Twins to win the award were Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, John Castino, and Chuck Knoblauch.

1996 may have been Cordova’s best season with Minnesota before a variety of injuries started taking their toll. After leaving Minnesota as a free agent after the 1999 season, Cordova signed with the Red Sox but never played there and then moved on to Toronto, Cleveland and Baltimore. Cordova signed a minor league deal with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2005 but retired before just as spring training was about to begin.

To learn more about Marty Cordova past and present, find out why his first baseball card at Elizabethton was unique, and to listen to the interview, just click here.