Tag: Oakland A’s

According to Elias

The brooms were at the ready behind the Twins dugout as the Twins took on the White Sox looking for a rare four-game sweep.
The brooms were at the ready behind the Twins dugout as the Twins took on the White Sox on Sunday afternoon looking for a rare four-game sweep.

The Twins completed a four-game series sweep of the White Sox on Sunday in what was the first series sweep of four or more games in the majors this season. June 22 is the latest date on which a team completed the major leagues’ first series sweep of four or more games in a season since 1938. The White Sox were the first team to fashion such a sweep that year when they won all four games of a series against the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park from June 27-30.

The sweep of the White Sox was the first-four-game sweep that Twins have ever had at Target Field where the team began play in April of 2010. The last time the Twins completed a four-game sweep was June 2-5, 2011 in Kansas City and the last time they had a four-game sweep at home was at the Metrodome on July 12-15, 2007 against the Oakland A’s.

How often do the Twins lose when they score 9 runs?

After the Twins lost 12-9 to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Saturday I wondered how often the Twins had lost games when they scored 9 runs. After Saturday’s defeat their 2014 record was 32 wins and 34 losses and their historical won/lost record (since the team moved here in 1961) stood at 4,236 wins and 4,277 losses.

After doing a bit of research here is what I found.

13 runs – The Twins have scored 13 runs or more in a game 137 times and their record when they score 13 runs or more is 135-2. This is the most runs that the Twins have scored and still lost the game and it happened on two occasions. The first time it happened was on September 29, 1970 in a 14-13 loss in 12 innings to the Kansas City Royals at Met Stadium. The Twins led 9-5 after eight innings but KC scored 6 in the top of the 9th to take a 11 to 9 lead but the Twins tied it with 2 in the bottom of the ninth off Royals reliever Ted Abernathy to send the game into extra innings. No one scored in the 10th inning but both teams scored twice in the 11th inning and the game continued. The Royals scored once in the top of the 12th and the Twins came up empty in the bottom of the inning and lost the game 14-13. You need to check out the boxscore from the game as Twins manager Bill Rigney and Royals manager Bob Lemon had the wheels turning. Rigney used 27 players in the game and Lemon used 22 players. Who knocked in the winning run? 37 year-old relief pitcher Ted Abernathy.

The second time the Twins scored 13 runs and walked away losers was on July 20, 2009 when the Twins lost to the Oakland A’s 14-13 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Gardy and his Twins had a 12-5 lead after 3 innings and 13-7 after 6 innings but the A’s scored 7 in the bottom of the 7th inning and held on for a come from behind 14-13 victory. Current Twins fans will certainly recognize many of the players in this Boxscore.

12 runs – The Twins have scored 12 runs and lost 6 times in their 4,277 losses.

11 runs – The Twins have scored 11 runs and lost 9 times in their 4,277 losses.

10 runs – The Twins have scored 10 runs and lost 17 times in their 4,277 losses.

9 runs – The Twins have scored 9 runs and lost 32 times in their 4,277 losses. So here was my answer, it does not happen very often, in just 00.75% of the losses.

8 runs – The Twins have scored 8 runs and lost 63 times in their 4,277 losses.

7 runs – The Twins have scored 7 runs and lost 121 times in their 4,277 losses.

6 runs – The Twins have scored 6 runs and lost 200 times in their 4,277 losses.

 

This Day in Twins History – May 16

Blly Martin
Blly Martin

May 16, 1928 – Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin was born in Berkeley, California. Billy played in the majors for 11 seasons with the New York Yankees, Kansas City A’s, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Martin managed the Twins in 1969, the Detroit Tigers in 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers in 1973-1975, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, the New York Yankees from 1975-1979, 1983, 1985 and again in 1988. Billy Martin died as the result of an automobile accident on December 25, 1989.

May 16, 1983 – The Twins enter the ninth inning at the Metrodome trailing the Oakland A’s 7-0. The Twins hit four home runs in the bottom of the ninth (Dave Engle, Bobby Mitchell, Gary Gaetti, and Mickey Hatcher and they score 6 runs. They have the tying run on first when Dave Engle who pinch-hit a home run to lead off the rally strikes out to end the game. Hatcher’s home run was also as a pinch-hitter marking the third time in Twins history they have pinch-hit two home runs in the same game. The attendance was only 7,056 and you wonder how many fans were actually still at the Dome to witness this amazing comeback that fell a run short. Boxscore

Harvey Mackay
Harvey Mackay

May 16, 1984 – The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets. Boxscore

May 16, 2010 – Jason Kubel hit a stunning grand slam off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth inning Sunday, and the Twins snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Yankees with a 6-3 victory in Yankee Stadium. Kubel’s third homer of the season and sixth career slam snapped a string of 51 straight converted save opportunities for Rivera at home, tying the major league record set by Eric Gagne with the Dodgers. Nick Blackburn (4-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings for Minnesota, which picked up its first win against New York since Aug. 13, 2008. The Twins had lost 12 straight overall against New York, counting the sweep in last year’s AL division series. Boxscore

This Day in History – April 21

 

Ray Moore
Ray Moore

April 21, 1961 – The Minnesota Twins played their inaugural home game at Metropolitan stadium but came away with a loss against Joe McClain and the Washington Senators. The Senators score 2 in the top of the ninth off reliever Ray Moore and pin a 5-3 defeat on the Twins. 24,606 fans attended the Twins first home game and team ownership was disappointed that the game was not a sell-out with about 6,000 seats sitting empty. Temperature at game time was 63 degrees. There were no line-up cards available so Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto and Senators manager Mickey Vernon had to scribble their line-ups on pieces of scrap paper.

April 21, 1967 – Tony Oliva of Minnesota lost a home run due to a base running blunder. Playing in Detroit in the third inning, Cesar Tovar was the runner at first base. Oliva hit the ball out of the park off Denny McLain, but then passed Tovar between first and second. He was credited with a single and one RBI for scoring Tovar. In the ninth inning Oliva hit another home run and this one counted.

John ButcherApril 21, 1985 – The Twins had won the first two games of the 1985 season under manager Billy Gardner but then proceeded to lose nine in a row before John Butcher took the mound for the Twins against the Oakland A’s at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium on this day and shut out the A’s on just 3 hits facing only 28 batters and threw just 81 pitches. The game lasted just 1 hour and 55 minutes and Kirby Puckett went 3 for 5 and knocked in both runs.

April 21, 1994 – Eddie Murray set a major league record with his 11th switch-hit home run (home run from each side of the plate) game as the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 10-6 at the Metrodome.

April 21, 2004 – The Twins sell pitcher Brad Thomas to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Joe Nathan
Joe Nathan

April 21, 2007 – The Twins had started the 2007 season with 19 consecutive stolen bases before Torii Hunter gets caught in the 8th inning of their 17th game of the season. However; the Twins beat the Royals at Kauffman Stadium 7-5 and Joe Nathan performs a rarity during his 6th save of the season when he retires the Royals 1-2-3 in the ninth getting Esteban German, Tony Pena, and David DeJesus all looking at 3rd strikes. Getting the side out 1-2-3 for a save, all on called third strikes is rare feat and was last done in 2003 by Jose Valverde.

April 21, 2012 – With his leadoff single in the ninth inning, Josh Willingham extended his season-opening hitting streak to 15 games. He improved upon the record he set Friday night, the longest hitting streak by a player to start his Twins career. And he tied Kirby Puckett’s 1994 Twins record for the longest season-opening hitting streak. His streaks ended as he went hitless on April 22nd.

According to Elias

The A’s beat the Twins, 6-1, Thursday afternoon. Oakland has scored at least six runs in each of its last nine games against the Twins. That’s the longest such streak by one major league team against another since the Tigers scored at least six runs in 14 consecutive games against the Royals during the 2006 season. The last time the A’s had a streak like this was in 1949 when the Philadelphia A’s had an 11-game streak against the Washington Senators.

According to Elias

Phil Hughes
Phil Hughes

Phil Hughes recorded his first out of the game (a strikeout of John Jaso) on his 40th pitch of the afternoon yesterday after he had already allowed four first-inning runs to the Athletics. The Twins took Hughes “off the hook” by tying the game in the ninth inning before Derek Norris hit a decisive three-run homer in the 11th inning in the A’s 7-4 victory at Minnesota. But let’s get back to Hughes, who became the first starting pitcher who needed as many as 40 pitches to register his first out of a game since the Dodgers’ Derek Lowe finally retired a batter on his 43rd pitch of a loss at Colorado on May 4, 2008.

A couple of notes about our site. Make sure you check out our new “Down on the Farm” news on the right hand side of the page that will allow you stay up-to-date on current events with the Twins minor league teams. We also added an electronic version  of the 2014 Twins Media guide for your reference needs. In case you have not checked out the link to MLB Game Notes also on the right hand side of the page you should do so. There is a lot of interesting information that each team publishes in their notes every game day, check it out.

Trade a catcher and sign a catcher

Kurt Suzuki
Kurt Suzuki

According to a report by Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle earlier today the Twins and catcher Kurt Suzuki have reached agreement on a one-year deal $2.75 million base salary that also includes some incentives just two days after sending catcher/outfielder Ryan Doumit to Atlanta.

The 30-year-old Hawaiian was the Oakland A’s second round pick in 2004 and made his big league debut on June 12, 2007 against the Houston Astros. Suzuki took over the starting catching role in 2008 and kept the job until the 2012 season when the A’s started to platoon him more and more. In August 2012 the A’s traded him to the Washington Nationals after their catcher Willie Ramos was injured and he stayed there for a year before the Nats traded him back to Oakland in August 2013.

According to the MLB Rumors site,  “Suzuki has thrown out 26 percent of opposing base stealers throughout his career, though that number fell to only 12 percent in 2013. He was significantly better in 2012, when he picked off 30 percent of potential thieves. In 2013, he was above average in blocking pitches, per Fangraphs, and was average in terms of pitch-framing, per Matthew Carruth’s report at StatCorner.”

Suzuki’s best season may have been 2009 when he hit .274 with 15 home runs and 88 RBI. Since 2009 his average has fallen each season to .242 in 2010 then .237, then .235 and finally last season to .232. I have always liked Suzuki and I think he will be a very good fit in Minnesota as he backs up Josmil Pinto (assuming his shoulder woes get resolved) and teaches him what it takes to be a starting catcher in the big leagues. I remember a few years back when Suzuki was coming back off an injury and some baseball show was following his workout in a swimming pool. I was amazed when Suzuki was standing in the pool about waist deep and he jumped straight up and landed on his feet on the edge of the pool, that was pretty cool. I am looking forward to seeing Suzuki in a Twins uniform and I really think he will hit better than he has the last few years. I think the Twins made a very nice move here and the price was certainly right.

Do you remember Garrabrant Alyea?

Brant Alyea
Brant Alyea

Garrabrant  (Brant) Ryerson Alyea was born in Passaic, New Jersey and will turn 73 on December 8th. His father’ s family was Dutch. Brant attended Rutherford High School, where he was famous for his long home runs. The 6’5″ right-handed hitting Alyea received a scholarship to Hofstra University and played for Hofstra from 1959 to 1962. Brant also played for the basketball team coached by Butch van Breda Kolff, leading Hofstra in rebounding in 1960–61. The 1959-1960 Hofstra team went 23-1.

The Cincinnati Reds signed Alyea as an amateur free agent in 1962 and assigned him to the class D Geneva Redlegs where he hit 32 home runs, knocked in 116 while hitting at a .319 clip. In his spare time he appeared as a pitcher in 2 games but after walking 3, giving up 3 hits and 3 runs in just 2 innings he decided his pitching career was over. In November of 1962 the Washington Senators selected Alyea from the Reds in the first-year player draft. Brant worked his way up the Senators minor league chain and was about to make his major league debut as a pinch-hitter against the California Angels on September 11, 1965 at D.C. Stadium when the Angels changed pitchers and Alyea was pinch-hit for before getting a plate appearance. The next day with an announced crowd of 840 in the stands, Senators manager Gil Hodges again called on Alyea to pinch-hit and this time he stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning with one out and two runners on and on the very first pitch from Angels hurler Rudy May he hit a three run home run in his first big league at bat and became the first American Leaguer to make such an auspicious debut.

Manager Ted Williams, right, of the Washington Senators and two home run hitting outfielders flash big grins in the dressing room after defeating the New York Yankees 9-6, April 10, 1969, Washington, D.C. Frank Howard, left, slammed two home runs, bringing his total to four in the first three games of the season, while Brant Alyea hammered another four-bagger. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity)
Manager Ted Williams, right, of the Washington Senators and two home run hitting outfielders flash big grins in the dressing room after defeating the New York Yankees 9-6, April 10, 1969, Washington, D.C. Frank Howard, left, slammed two home runs, bringing his total to four in the first three games of the season, while Brant Alyea hammered another four-bagger. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity)

Although Alyea could hit for power, hitting for average was not so easy and it kept Alyea in the minors. Alyea spent all of 1966 and 1967 in the minors. In 1968 he had 150 at bats for the Senators and 237 more in 1969 and during those two season he had 17 home runs with a .259 batting average. Brant stayed sharp and picked up some extra money playing winter ball. He was the top home run hitter in Nicaragua in 1965–66 and set a record for home runs in the Venezuelan Winter League in 1968–69, blasting 18 in 50 games.

Twins owner Calvin Griffith was intrigued with the power hitting Alyea and offered Senators owner Bob Short a young infielder by the name of Graig Nettles but Short passed on the offer. On March 21, 1970 Griffith finally got his man and the Washington Senators traded Brant Alyea to the Twins for pitchers Joe Grzenda and Charlie Walters. Yes, that would be the same Charlie Walters that still writes for the St. Paul Pioneer Press today.

Alyea was the Twins opening day left fielder in 1970 at White Sox Park and what a day he had in a Twins 12-0 pasting of the mighty whitey’s. Brant went 4 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 2 home runs and had a club record tying 7 RBI. But that was just the beginning, Alyea had a torrid April. Playing in 17 games Alyea hit .415 with 5 home runs, 23 RBI with a 1.257 OPS. Alyea cooled off but still finished 1970 with a very respectable 16 home runs, 61 RBI and a .291 average in 258 at bats. Alyea appeared in all 3 of the 1970 ALCS games against the Baltimore Orioles but went 0 for 7 in what would turn out to be his only playoff experience. The rest of the Twins didn’t do much better, hitting just .238 and lost 3 straight games.

Earl Wilson
Earl Wilson

Alyea was also involved in a bizarre strikeout that ended in a 7-6-7 put out (yes, that’s left fielder to shortstop to left fielder!). Here’s how it happened, according to the Project Retrosheet (www.retrosheet.org) newsletter of May 1997: “From Dave Smith: How about a strikeout with the batter being retired 767? In the game of April 25, 1970, Tigers pitcher Earl Wilson struck out to end the seventh inning in the Twin Cities. Or so it appeared to everyone except Detroit third base coach Grover Resinger. He saw that Twins catcher Paul Ratliff trapped the pitch in the dirt, did not tag Wilson and rolled the ball to the mound. Resinger told Wilson to start running as most of the Twins entered the dugout. Earl got to first easily and headed for second. Since no one interfered with him, he started for third. By this time, Brant Alyea, who was trotting in from left field, heard Resinger shouting at Wilson. Alyea hustled to the mound but had trouble picking up the ball. Wilson headed for home where Twins Leo Cardenas and Ratliff had returned. Alyea finally picked up the ball and threw to Cardenas. Wilson turned back to third but was tagged out by Alyea for a K767. Rookie catcher Ratliff was charged with an error. After the game, Detroit catcher Bill Freehan said “If Alyea had been hustling, Earl might have made it [home]. Tell him [Alyea] to start coming in and off the field a little quicker.” The aftermath of the story is that Wilson pulled a hamstring muscle running the bases and had to leave the game.”

In 1971 Alyea seemed to lose his power although he was hitting .316 and didn’t hit his first home run until May 14. Manager Bill Rigney was losing confidence in Alyea and as his playing time decreased so did his performance and he finished the 1971 season with a dismal .177 average and just 2 home runs in 158 at bats. In November 1971 the Twins lost Brant Alyea to the Oakland A’s in the Rule 5 draft.

Alyea started the 1972 season in Oakland appearing in 10 games before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. After appearing in just 13 games as a Cardinal, Alyea for some unknown reason is returned to Oakland on July 23. Playing for the A’s in September Alyea pulls a muscle legging out a hit and ends up spending the 1972 postseason on the DL as his team beats the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS and the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series 4 games to 3. In November 1972 Oakland sent Brant Alyea to the Texas Rangers as the PTBNL in an earlier trade for Paul Lindblad. After failing to make the Texas Rangers team out of spring training in 1973 Alyea spent what turned out to be his final pro season with the Red Sox AAA team in Pawtucket. He  hit just .212 with 6 home runs in 48 games and his baseball career was over at the age of 32.

The time that Brant Alyea spent with the Twins was short, just 173 games spread over two seasons. In 416 at bats he hit .248 with 18 home runs and 76 RBI. Nothing special about these numbers but yet he managed to have 7 RBI in a game twice. Twins players have only had 7 or more RBI’s in a game 17 times in 53 years but yet Brant accomplished this feat twice and the only other Twins player to do this twice is HOF Kirby Puckett. Puckett had 7,244 at bats and Alyea had just 416….

 

Brant Alyea Jr.
Brant Alyea Jr.

Alyea had a son Brant Alyea Jr., born out-of-wedlock in Nicaragua where Brant Sr. played winter ball. There is a wonderful piece that Peter Gammons wrote for Sports Illustrated back in June of 1986 about father and son meeting for the first time in many years that you can read here. The younger Alyea played in the minor leagues from 1985 to 1990 for the Blue Jays, Rangers and Mets but never achieved his goal of playing in the big leagues like his Dad did before him.

2013 MLB award winners according to Twins Trivia

At the conclusion of every season the members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) are asked to submit their ballots for the top awards across baseball. Each of these awards is named in honor of a player that epitomized a similar role in Major League Baseball. When the BBA voting is completed, I will post the official announcements from the BBA.

 

Connie Mack Award (Top Manager) in the AL

Boston Red Sox Photo DayMy vote goes to John Farrell for leading the Boston Red Sox to the AL East title with a 97-65 record after the team finished dead last in that division in 2012 with 93 losses. An improvement of 28 games.

My second place vote goes to Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona for taking his team from 68 wins in 2012 to 92 wins in 2013 and finishing just one game behind the division winning Detroit Tigers.

My bronze vote goes to Oakland A’s skipper Bob Melvin. Nobody does more with less than Oakland does.

Connie Mack Award (Top Manager) in the NL

Clint Hurdle Easy choice for me here, Clint Hurdle leads the Pittsburgh Pirates to the playoffs for the first time in 21 years with 94 wins after finishing 79-83 in 2012. He is my NL Manager of the Year.

Second place vote stays in the same division with St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny right on Hurdle’s heels in this race after taking the division title over the second place Pirates.

The bronze vote might be a surprise to some but I am giving it to Florida Marlins skipper Mike Redmond for leading that motley crew to 62 wins. That is an amazing achievement!

 

Willie Mays Award (Top Rookie) in the AL

Wil MyersMy AL Rookie of the Year is outfielder Wil Myers of the Tampa Bay Rays. This mid June call-up sparked the Rays offense and put up some very good numbers for roughly half a seasons work. Although he struck out 91 times, he did hit 13 home runs and had a .354 OBP.

My ROY runner-up is also with Tampa Bay, RHP Chris Archer. The 25-year-old Archer had a 9-7 record with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 128+ innings.

The third place vote goes to another outfielder, J.B. Shuck of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I am not sure his potential is as good as some other rookies since he is already 26 but never the less he had a good rookie season getting more at bats than any other AL rookie.

Willie Mays Award (Top Rookie) in the NL

Jose FernandezMy NL Rookie of the Year is Florida Marlins RHP Jose Fernandez. The 2011 first round pick (14th overall) went an astounding 12-6 with a 2.19 ERA with a 0.98 WHIP in 172+ innings for a team that lost 100 games. A true Ace for years to come if he can stay healthy. I know he only plays every fifth day but what a pitcher he is.

My runner-up choice for the NL ROY is Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig. The 22-year-old Cuban was called up in early June and took the league by storm by putting up a .925 OPS. He did strikeout 97 times but that is nitpicking.

The third place vote goes to power hitting 2B Jedd Gyorko of the San Diego Padres. Gyorko hit 23 home runs and knocked in 63 while hitting for a .249 average. I would expect Gyorko to cut down on his strikeouts and improve his average as his average in the minors was .301.

Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever) in the AL

Greg HollandThe top closer award in the AL this year goes Greg Holland of the Kansas City Royals. Holland had 47 saves in 50 chances with a 1.21 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. In 67 innings he struck out 103 while batters hit him at a .170 clip.

The runner-up this year is Joe Nathan of the Texas Rangers who had 43 saves in 46 chances. Batters hit only .162 and he posted an ERA of 1.39 and a 0.90 WHIP.

Mariano Rivera is third this year in his final season as he awaits induction into the Hall of Fame as the greatest closer in MLB history. The 43-year-old Rivera had 44 saves while putting up a 2.11 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP.

Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever) in the NL

Craig KimbrelThe top closer in the NL is an easy choice, just say Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and you said it all. The man is a machine, a league leading 50 saves in 54 chances with a 1.21 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP in 67 innings with 98 strikeouts. Batting average against was .166

The silver goes to Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman. In 63+ innings Chapman had 38 saves while striking out 112 and kept opposing batters to a .164 average. ERA was 2.54 and WHIP was 1.04.

I will give my third place vote to San Francisco Giants closer Sergio Romo who put 38 saves on the board to go along with his 2.54 ERA and his 1.08 WHIP.

 

Walter Johnson Award (Top Pitcher) in the AL

Max ScherzerMy AL  top pitcher award goes to the Detroit Tigers starter Max Scherzer who went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP with 240 strikeouts in 217+ innings. Opposing batters hit a measly .198 off him this season.

Second place vote goes to Seattle Mariners  pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma who managed to post a 14-6 record with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP for a team that won 67 games. Iwakuma threw 219+ innings and held opposing hitters to a .220 average while striking out 185.

My third place vote goes to Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish who threw 209+ innings and struck out 277 batters while holding opposing batters to a .194 average. Darvish had a slick 2.83 ERA to go along with a 1.07 WHIP.

 Walter Johnson Award (Top Pitcher) in the NL

Clayton KershawMy vote for the best pitcher in the NL goes to Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw who posted a 16-9 record with a league leading 1.83 ERA and a league leading 0.92 WHIP. For good measure he led the league in KO’s with 232 in 236 innings. The league managed to hit him at a .195 pace.

My second place vote goes Florida Marlins HP Jose Fernandez who in just his third year of pro ball goes 12-6 with a 2.19 ERA for a 62-100 team.

My third place vote goes to the big right hander from St. Louis, Adam Wainwright. Wainwright was 19-9 with a 2.94 ERA with starting a league leading 34 games and throwing a league leading 241.2 innings.

Stan Musial Award (Top Player) in the AL

Miguel CabreraOnce again this year my vote for the top player in the AL goes to Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. I am not going to list a bunch of his stats here, if you want to see them just look them up. The 2012 Triple Crown winner won his third straight batting title in 2013 and finished second in home run and RBI’s. Cabrera has played for 11 years in the big leagues and is just 30 years old….

The runner-up again is the LA Angels outfielder Mike Trout. If there was no Cabrera in the AL this guy might be the winner two years running.

The third place vote goes to the surprising Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles who had a league leading 54 home runs and 138 RBI. An amazing season for a guy that only hit more than 21 home runs once and had 60 or more RBI just once.

Stan Musial Award (Top Player) in the NL

Paul GoldschmidtAlthough it was a tight race, the top player in the NL in 2013 should be Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Playing for a .500 team this first sacker appeared in 160 games hitting at a .302 clip while finishing first in RBI with 125, tied for first in home runs with 36 and scored 103 runs, good for third most in the NL.

Finishing a close second is outfielder Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although this talented player led his team to the playoffs for the first time in many years, he did not lead the NL in any of the hitting categories,

The third place vote goes to Atlanta Braves 1B Freddie Freeman. The 24-year-old had a very nice season with 23 home runs, 109 RBI and a .319 batting average.

 

There you have, the Twin Trivia 2013 MLB award winners. Congratulations to all the winners.

According to Elias

Angry faceThe Twins committed four errors and were blanked by a score of 11-0 in Oakland last night. It is only the second time that the Twins committed at least four errors in a shutout loss by a double-digit margin since the team moved to Minnesota. The only other game of that type that the Twins have had was on April 12, 1994 when they were blanked 12-0 and committed five errors against the Mariners in Seattle. The last major-league team with that dismal a performance was the Rays, who were pummeled 13-0 by the Yankees while committing four errors on May 16, 2002 at Yankee Stadium.

Come Twins, let’s get Gardy at least 3 more wins and wrap up this dismal season. I love baseball and the Minnesota Twins but even I can’t watch this team play the last month or so. I check in on the games during commercial breaks and usually watch the score escalate against the Twins. It has been a long time since I have seen the Twins play this bad. I know it doesn’t do any good to get angry over the Twins play but there is soooooooo little hope for next year.