TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
Twins starter Phil Hughes did not allow a run while pitching one out into the eighth inning and earned the win in the Twins’ 2-0 victory over the Mariners in Seattle last night. Hughes has allowed only two earned runs in 29.1 innings pitched at Safeco Field in his career. His 0.61 ERA at Safeco is the lowest among the 209 pitchers that have hurled at least 20 innings at that stadium.
Zelous Wheeler, called up from the minors by the Yankees on Thursday when slumping Yangervis Solarte was sent down, made a big splash in his major-league debut when he hit a home run in the fifth inning against the Twins’ Phil Hughes. Wheeler is the eighth player to hit a home run for the Yankees is his first major-league game and the first since Marcus Thames in 2002. The most notable player to homer for the Yankees in his big-league debut is Yogi Berra, who did so against the Philadelphia A’s in the first game of a doubleheader in the Bronx on Sept. 22, 1946.
So how many Minnesota Twins players have hit a home run in their first game?
| Rk | Player | Year ? | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Hughes | 2010 | Ind. Games | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Andre David | 1984 | Ind. Games | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Gary Gaetti | 1981 | Ind. Games | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Kent Hrbek | 1981 | Ind. Games | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 | Tim Laudner | 1981 | Ind. Games | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | Dave McKay | 1975 | Ind. Games | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Eric Soderholm | 1971 | Ind. Games | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 8 | Hal Haydel | 1970 | Ind. Games | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Rick Renick | 1968 | Ind. Games | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
.
How about if we look to see who has hit a home run in his first game when the opponent was the Minnesota Twins?
| Rk | Player | Year ? | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | Tm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zelous Wheeler | 2014 | Ind. Games | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | NYY |
| 2 | Chris Richard | 2000 | Ind. Games | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | STL |
| 3 | Jay Bell | 1986 | Ind. Games | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | CLE |
| 4 | Dave Machemer | 1978 | Ind. Games | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | CAL |
| 5 | Bert Campaneris | 1964 | Ind. Games | 5 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | KCA |
| 6 | John Kennedy | 1962 | Ind. Games | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | WSA |
Phil Hughes hurled seven shutout innings and earned the win in Minnesota’s 7-2 victory over the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on Wednesday afternoon. Hughes has won each of his last four road starts, pitching at least seven innings and allowing two or fewer runs in the process. Over the last 45 seasons, only two other Twins pitchers had four consecutive road starts of that type: Joe Mays in 2001 and Johan Santana in 2004.
Light-hitting Aaron Hicks delivered a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Twins a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox. Hicks had a .185 batting average at the time of his game-winner, becoming the first player with a career mark below .190 to produce a walkoff hit since 1980 (minimum: 300 at-bats). The last player to do so was Joe Niekro, (former Twins pitcher) a career .159 hitter at the time of his 17th-inning single that gave the Astros a 1-0 win over the Cubs (Aug. 23, 1980).
Twins starter Phil Hughes struck out eight batters without issuing a walk over six innings. It was the first time in 140 major-league starts that Hughes recorded at least seven strikeouts and no walks. For the first time in his MLB career, Hughes has made four consecutive starts without walking a batter.
The Twins entered Thursday’s game against the Red Sox with an all-time record (since 1961) of 4,222-4,263 and needed just one win to match their win total when the franchise was the Washington Senators from 1901-1960, going 4,223-4,864 (46.47%). With their 4-3 victory over the boys from Boston the Minnesota Twins record now stands at 4,223-4,263 for a winning percentage of 49.76%.
Phil Hughes allowed two runs in 6.1 innings in the Twins’ 5-2 win over the Orioles. Hughes, who has defeated the Royals, Tigers and Orioles over his last three starts while posting a 2.79 ERA, has won three consecutive starts for the first time since he did so for the Yankees in September 2012. Hughes made 34 starts in the interim and registered a 4-16 record with a 5.24 ERA in those games.
Phil Hughes allowed three runs over six innings yesterday to earn his first victory in 17 starts, dating back to last July, in Minnesota’s 8-3 win at Kansas City. For all his struggles, one thing Hughes has unfailingly done is turn a big lead into a victory, and Sunday was no different as the Twins staked him to a 5-0 lead in their first five turns at-bat. Hughes has a 32-0 record as a starter when given a lead of four or more runs, and his teams are 37-0 in those games.
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.
March 31, 1987 – Just before the Twins open their championship 1987 season they trade pitchers Bryan Hickerson, Ray Velasquez, and Jose Dominguez to the Giants for pitcher David Blakely and outfielder Dan Gladden.
March 31, 1999 – The Twins send pitcher Dan Serafini to the Cubs and get cash for their coffers.
March 31, 2003 – The earliest opening day in Minnesota Twins history takes place at the Twins beat the Tigers 3-1 in Detroit.
March 31, 2010 – Twins outfielder Denard Span struck his mother, Wanda Wilson, in the chest with a foul ball while batting in the first inning on Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa against the Yankees in a spring training game. Span was leading off the game against the Yankees’ Phil Hughes when he fouled a 3-2 pitch directly to the left of the visitors’ third-base dugout, where a group of friends and family members were settling in for the game. The ball struck his mother, who was sitting three rows from the field and wearing a Twins jersey with Span’s name on it, with a thud that was audible to the players on the Minnesota bench. Span immediately dashed into the seating bowl, consoling her as help arrived. Luckily, Span’s mother was not seriously hurt and after being checked out, watched the remainder of the game.
Make sure you stop by and check out our “Today in Twins History” page every day.
2013 has just about come to a close and spring training is 41 days away and the MLB free agent list still has numerous serviceable players looking for work. The plums of the free agent market have pretty much been plucked but there are still a few decent players out there. The fact that Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was dangling in the wind probably has a lot to do with some of the top rated free agent starters still on the market not signing but now that he has been posted thing may start to break free. If you look at the available free agents you can see how some positions have been stripped bare and others still have innumerable free agents still in the unemployed corner. Strangely enough with everyone looking for starting pitching there seems to be plenty of arms still on the market, sure, they are not aces but they can certainly fill a spot in many teams rotations.
I thought it would be interesting to compare some of what I deem to be top free agents still looking for work to what might be the 2014 Twins team when they head to Chicago to open play in 2014. If you compare the free agent and the corresponding Twins player, who would you rather see in a Twins uniform? Don’t forget what it might cost to sign this free agent versus the player the Twins currently have because you don’t have an unlimited checkbook. This is just a fun little exercise to help you get through these cold snowy days in Minnesota as you wait the hear that “play ball” call once again. Are any of these free agents possible Twins in your eyes?
| Position | Free Agents | Twins |
|---|---|---|
| Catcher | John Buck | Josmil Pinto |
| 1B | Mark Reynolds | Joe Mauer |
| 2B | Chris Getz | Brian Dozier |
| SS | Stephen Drew | Pedro Florimon |
| 3B | Michael Young | Trevor Plouffe |
| LF | Chris Coghlan | Josh Willingham |
| CF | Reed Johnson | Aaron Hicks |
| RF | Nelson Cruz | Oswaldo Arcia |
| DH | Kendrys Morales | Chris Parmelee |
| SP | Matt Garza | Ricky Nolasco |
| SP | Ervin Santana | Phil Hughes |
| SP | Masahiro Tanaka | Kevin Correia |
| SP | Ubaldo Jimenez | Mike Pelfrey |
| SP | Bronson Arroyo | Sam Deduno |
| CL | Grant Balfour | Glen Perkins |
Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision
I don’t know how much it would take to sign Stephen Drew but I wouldn’t mind seeing him play some short here in Minnesota. I also would like to see Michael Young play some 3B instead of Trevor Plouffe while waiting for Miguel Sano to slide into that 3B position. Both probably looking for more than the Twins want to spend but if I was Mr. Ryan I would open my checkbook and get Drew’s John Henry on a Twins contract, he would be a huge upgrade and there is no prospect beating down the shortstop door in Minnesota. Tanaka would be a slick addition but I can’t see him wanting to play here plus the financial risk of paying that much for an unproven MLB player is more than I would like to do. There are a few relief pitchers that I did not include on this list that would be nice in the Twins bullpen too.
I used the ESPN MLB Free Agent tracker to determine who was still available, are there players on the list you would like to see in the home dugout at Target Field that I did not mention here?
Minnesota Twins pitchers have finished dead last in the American League in strikeouts the last three years and you all know where the team has finished in the standing during that time frame. When the Twins came into existence in 1961 the SO/9 average in the American League was 5.2 SO/9 and it slowly climbed to 6.1 SO/9 in 1967 but then started sliding down to under 5.0 SO/9 from 1974 to 1983. Since then it started climbing and for the first time in 2012 it went above 7.0 went it hit 7.4 SO/9 and in 2013 it hit 7.7 SO/9 which is a new high water mark.
From 2006 through 2013 only one team in the AL has finished above the .500 mark in the standings when their pitching staff has had under 1,000 strikeouts and guess who that was? It was the 2008 Minnesota Twins team that finished second to the Chicago White Sox in 2008 when Gardy’s boys went 88-75 and lost game 163 in Chicago. When Twins pitchers have 1,000 or more strikeouts the team won less than 79 games only once and that was the 2000 Twins when they finished the season with a 69-93 mark. Twins pitchers have struck 1,000 or more batters only 10 times in 53 seasons and peaked with 1,164 KO’s in 2006 when the team had a franchise high 7.28 SO/9.
The Twins can spew all the “pitch to contact” babble they want but striking out hitters and winning games goes together like peanut butter and jelly. We can only wait and see what the new Twins pitchers can do. Ricky Nolasco has a career 7.4 SO/9 and Phil Hughes is 7.6 SO/9 so they should help improve the Twins sad 2013 6.11 SO/9 team mark.
So looking back all the way to 1961 what Twins pitchers have had the best SO/9 ratio in a given season? The table below shows the highest SO/9 ratio with a minimum of 50 innings. Not many starters on this list.
| Rk | Player | IP | Year | G | GS | W | L | SV | SO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Nathan | 12.51 | 68.1 | 2006 | 64 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 36 | 95 | 1.58 |
| 2 | Joe Nathan | 12.09 | 70.0 | 2005 | 69 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 43 | 94 | 2.70 |
| 3 | Joe Nathan | 11.67 | 68.2 | 2009 | 70 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 89 | 2.10 |
| 4 | Juan Rincon | 11.63 | 82.0 | 2004 | 77 | 0 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 106 | 2.63 |
| 5 | Johan Santana | 11.38 | 108.1 | 2002 | 27 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 137 | 2.99 |
| 6 | Joe Nathan | 11.07 | 72.1 | 2004 | 73 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 44 | 89 | 1.62 |
| 7 | Glen Perkins | 11.06 | 62.2 | 2013 | 61 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 36 | 77 | 2.30 |
| 8 | Francisco Liriano | 10.71 | 121.0 | 2006 | 28 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 144 | 2.16 |
| 9 | Tom Hall | 10.66 | 155.1 | 1970 | 52 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 184 | 2.55 |
| 10 | Casey Fien | 10.60 | 62.0 | 2013 | 73 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 73 | 3.92 |
| 11 | Johan Santana | 10.46 | 228.0 | 2004 | 34 | 34 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 265 | 2.61 |
| 12 | Ron Davis | 10.02 | 64.2 | 1985 | 57 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 25 | 72 | 3.48 |
| 13 | Glen Perkins | 9.98 | 70.1 | 2012 | 70 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 78 | 2.56 |
| 14 | Joe Nathan | 9.84 | 67.2 | 2008 | 68 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 74 | 1.33 |
| 15 | Juan Rincon | 9.82 | 77.0 | 2005 | 75 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 84 | 2.45 |
| 16 | Francisco Liriano | 9.81 | 100.0 | 2012 | 22 | 17 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 109 | 5.31 |
| 17 | Joe Nathan | 9.67 | 71.2 | 2007 | 68 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 37 | 77 | 1.88 |
| 18 | Johan Santana | 9.66 | 219.0 | 2007 | 33 | 33 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 235 | 3.33 |
| 19 | Johan Santana | 9.61 | 158.1 | 2003 | 45 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 169 | 3.07 |
| 20 | Tom Hall | 9.51 | 129.2 | 1971 | 48 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 137 | 3.33 |
Looking over the Twins history here the best Twins career SO/9 ratio’s with a minimum of 100 innings pitched. How many of these pitchers were originally signed by the Twins? That would be eight.
| Rk | Player | IP | G | GS | W | L | SV | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Nathan | 10.90 | 463.1 | 460 | 0 | 24 | 13 | .649 | 260 | 561 | 2.16 | .186 |
| 2 | Pat Neshek | 10.48 | 129.2 | 132 | 0 | 11 | 6 | .647 | 0 | 151 | 3.05 | .189 |
| 3 | Johan Santana | 9.50 | 1308.2 | 251 | 175 | 93 | 44 | .679 | 1 | 1381 | 3.22 | .221 |
| 4 | Francisco Liriano | 9.05 | 783.1 | 156 | 130 | 50 | 52 | .490 | 1 | 788 | 4.33 | .247 |
| 5 | Tom Hall | 8.52 | 455.1 | 139 | 44 | 25 | 21 | .543 | 13 | 431 | 3.00 | .212 |
| 6 | Juan Rincon | 8.41 | 441.0 | 386 | 3 | 30 | 26 | .536 | 3 | 412 | 3.69 | .248 |
| 7 | Ron Davis | 8.24 | 381.1 | 286 | 0 | 19 | 40 | .322 | 108 | 349 | 4.51 | .264 |
| 8 | Jared Burton | 8.16 | 128.0 | 135 | 0 | 5 | 11 | .313 | 7 | 116 | 3.02 | .216 |
| 9 | Juan Berenguer | 8.15 | 418.1 | 211 | 7 | 33 | 13 | .717 | 9 | 379 | 3.70 | .231 |
| 10 | Ray Moore | 7.95 | 159.2 | 126 | 1 | 13 | 10 | .565 | 25 | 141 | 4.90 | .252 |
| 11 | Gerry Arrigo | 7.93 | 131.2 | 54 | 15 | 8 | 7 | .533 | 1 | 116 | 4.31 | .245 |
| 12 | Eddie Guardado | 7.79 | 704.2 | 648 | 25 | 37 | 48 | .435 | 116 | 610 | 4.53 | .253 |
| 13 | Dennys Reyes | 7.77 | 126.1 | 191 | 0 | 10 | 1 | .909 | 0 | 109 | 2.14 | .238 |
| 14 | Rick Aguilera | 7.60 | 694.0 | 490 | 30 | 40 | 47 | .460 | 254 | 586 | 3.50 | .243 |
| 15 | Dan Naulty | 7.60 | 111.1 | 97 | 0 | 4 | 5 | .444 | 5 | 94 | 4.61 | .234 |
| 16 | Al Worthington | 7.59 | 473.1 | 327 | 0 | 37 | 31 | .544 | 88 | 399 | 2.62 | .221 |
| 17 | Dick Stigman | 7.52 | 643.2 | 138 | 85 | 37 | 37 | .500 | 7 | 538 | 3.69 | .229 |
| 18 | Dave Boswell | 7.51 | 1036.1 | 187 | 150 | 67 | 54 | .554 | 0 | 865 | 3.49 | .217 |
| 19 | J.C. Romero | 7.42 | 407.2 | 327 | 22 | 25 | 20 | .556 | 2 | 336 | 4.35 | .256 |
| 20 | Mike Trombley | 7.36 | 645.2 | 365 | 36 | 30 | 34 | .469 | 34 | 528 | 4.53 | .266 |