Month: October 2010

Twins History Lesson: October

Posted on by

We are going to wrap up this season’s “Twins History Lesson*” series of posts with one final look in to the franchise’s past. Today we’ll cover the rest of the month of October.Obviously, we could fill a lengthy post with game-by-game summaries of every Twins post-season game. But instead, we’re just going to cover the events with the most historical significance.

October 4, 1969: Many of today’s Twins fans don’t remember a time when there were no “playoffs”… only a World Series between the AL and NL standings champions. But 1969 was the first year of Divisional play and the Twins were among the first four Division champions. On this date, the first Division playoff games in MLB history were played when the Mets beat the Braves 9-5 and the Twins dropped a close game to the Orioles, 4-3.

October 4, 1986: Alright, I’m not really sure how “historically significant” this is, but I thought it was very cool. On this date, Greg Gagne hit not one, but TWO inside-the-park HRs against the White Sox… the only time that’s been done by a Twin.

October 6, 1965: Jim “Mudcat” Grant became the first African-American pitcher to win a World Series game as the Twins beat the Dodgers and Don Drysdale 8-2 in the first World Series game at Metropolitan Stadium and the first since the Twins moved to Minnesota from Washington. Dodger ace Sandy Koufax refused to pitch the opening game because it was played on Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. Don Mincher and Zoilo Versalles homered for the Twins and Tony Oliva set a WS record for a right fielder with 7 put-outs.

October 6, 2009: Alexi Casilla drove in Carlos Gomez with the winning run in the 12th inning of Game 163 to lead the Twins to a 6-5 win, the AL Central Championship and a date with the Yankees in the ALDS. It was, without a doubt, the most exciting game I have ever attended in person. It was the final regular season game played at the Metrodome.

October 7, 1925: Yes… 1925. The Washington Senators, behind pitcher Walter Johnson, beat the Pirates in Game 1 of the World Series in Pittsburgh. The franchise has not won a road World Series game since, losing 14 straight since this date.

October 7, 1965: The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the World Series, as Jim Kaat beat Sandy Koufax 5-1. The highlight of the game for the Twins was an amazing Bob Allison diving catch down the left field line.

October 9, 2002: The largest home crowd in Twins history, 55,990, were on hand to see the Twins fall to the Angels 6-3 in game 2 of the ALCS.

October 11, 1900: Washington, DC was awarded a franchise in the soon-to-be-formed American League. In another 60 years, this franchise would become our Minnesota Twins.

October 12, 1987: The Twins beat Detroit 9-5 at Tiger Stadium to claim their first AL pennant in 22 years behind pitcher Bert Blyleven. Upon arriving back in Minnesota, the Twins find 50,000 fans at the Metrodome waiting to show their appreciation and celebrate with the team.

October 12, 2001: Manager Tom Kelly retired with the most wins (1140) of any manager in Twins history.

October 13, 1965: After dropping 3 games to the Dodgers in Los Angeles to fall behind 3 games to 2, the Twins tied the series and sent it to a seventh game. Once again, Mudcat Grant was the winning pitcher. This time, however, he also added offensive support with a home run. Bob ALlison also homered.

October 13, 1991: The Twins claimed the AL pennant with an 8-5 series clinching win over the Blue Jays. David West got the win and Kirby Puckett launched his second HR of the series.

October 14, 1965: Pitching on 2 days rest, Sandy Koufax beat Jim Kaat 2-0 as the Dodgers claimed the 1965 World Series title over the Twins. 50, 596 fans, the largest crowd in Met Stadium history, attended the game.

October 17, 1987: The Twins beat the Cardinals 10-1 behind Dan Gladden’s grand slam home run in the first ever indoor World Series game.

October 19, 1991: The Twins jumped out to a 1-0 series lead on the Braves behind Jack Morris’ pitching and home runs by Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek in a 5-2 win.

October 25, 1987: The Twins won their first World Series title with a 4-2 win over the Cardinals, the first time all seven games of a World Series had been won by the home team.

October 26, 1991: Kirby Puckett’s 11th inning home run to win the game may be the most famous HR in Twins history.

October 27, 1991: Jack Morris threw a 10-inning shutout to lead the Twins to a 1-0 win over the Braves and claim the second World Series title for the Twins.

October 29, 2001: Commissioner Bud Selig announced that MLB is considering contracting two teams. One would be the Montreal Expos and the other would be either the Florida Marlins or Minnesota Twins. Of course, in the end, guys like Torii Hunter, Jacque Jones, Brad Radke, and Doug Mientkiewicz would have none of that. A year later, the Twins were AL Central Champions and contraction talk ancient history.

I hope others have enjoyed these weekly (sorta) trips in to the Twins history books as much as I have. The Twins came in to existence just shortly before my 5th birthday and I’ve been a fan ever since, so I suppose for me this has been an opportunity to re-live a few memories.

Now, let’s sit back and watch this year’s Twins make new post season memories for all of us! – JC

*************************************

*We pull this information from a few different sources, including (but not necessarily limited to) Dave Wright’s excellent book, “162-0, The Greatest Wins!”, as well as some  internet sites like “Twins Trivia” and “National Pastime”.

GameChat – Blue Jays @ Twins #4, 1:10, FINAL REGULAR SEASON GAME!

Posted on by

Really…  Even though I knew it was true, it’s just so hard to believe that the regular season is actually just about done.  As hard as it is to believe due to the massive HR totals the Blue Jays have amassed this year, the Blue Jays aren’t in the playoffs so this is their final game of the year.  I’m sure they would love to go out with a bang BUT call me a homer because I would sure like to go into the postseason on a positive note.  Given our win/loss totals of the last week, that means actually hitting some runs ourselves and winning today.  It also means pitching WELL.  Blackburn really needs to have a solid outting for the confidence of fans and management alike if he’s going to hold that 4th spot.

Of course, no one really seems to know what is going to happen after today yet. Sure the Twins know they are going to the postseason but we still don’t know who we are going to be playing in the first round. Here’s a fun article that shares all the unknowns in baseball right now: Game 162, too good to be through.

The Twins have a LOT to be proud of this year so I would like to see us play today like the team we know they are.

Toronto @ Minnesota
Wise, CF   Span, CF
McDonald, Jo, SS   Hudson, O, 2B
Bautista, J, DH   Mauer, C
Overbay, 1B   Young, D, LF
Lind, LF   Thome, DH
Encarnacion, 3B   Cuddyer, 1B
Arencibia, C   Kubel, RF
Hoffpauir, J, 2B   Valencia, 3B
McCoy, RF   Hardy, SS
Rzepczynski, P   Blackburn, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 2 4 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0

 

I’m not sure what we really expected to see today. Their playoff situation was locked in, regardless of the outcome of the game. Only their opponent was uncertain, and they had no role in determining that. So it made no sense to risk anyone getting hurt in a meaningless game.

So the 40,000 fans at the last regular season game got to see the starters for 1-2 plate appearances before being pulled. They also got to see a very encouraging start for Nick Blackburn. Yes, he gave up 2 home runs, but the Jays have hit a pretty fair number of HRs off of everyone this year – 2 runs on 3 hits in his 7 innings was a pretty nice tune up for Blackie (and the “between the legs” glovework to start a DP was a bonus). Jose Mijares may have sealed his spot in the playoff bullpen with 1 good inning and Glen Perkins finished up with a good inning as well.

Alas, the remnants of the Rochester Red Wings were unable to generate any offense at all the last few innings and the Twins lost 2-1. But they won 94 other games this season and that ain’t bad, kids. It looks like we’ll be seeing Captain Cheeseburger and his friends on Wednesday night. This is where the fun starts! – JC

GameChat – Blue Jays @ Twins #3, 12:10 – DAY GAME!

Posted on by

My gut feeling is that I might be sitting here by myself for awhile:

a) it’s a day game and I don’t know how many people are thinking about the early start.

b) with the continuing disappointing endings, more and more people find something better to do with their weekend time – like laundry or bathing the cats…

Let’s hope the boys can give us something to really cheer about today – it would sure make what is already a beautifully bright and sunny day a little better!

Toronto @ Minnesota
McCoy, LF   Span, CF
Escobar, Y, SS   Hudson, O, 2B
Bautista, J, RF   Young, D, LF
Wells, V, CF   Thome, DH
Overbay, 1B   Valencia, 3B
Hill, A, 2B   Kubel, RF
Buck, J, DH   Morales, J, 1B
Encarnacion, 3B   Casilla, A, SS
Molina, J, C   Butera, C
  Marcum, P     Duensing, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 0
Minnesota 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 5 7 2

 

WALK OFF WINS RULE!!!!

Really, they are a lot of fun.  It kind of sucks to be down in the score but when you are only down by one and your bullpen pitches rock solid, they are a lot less frustrating and the final result is fantastic.  Duensing wasn’t GREAT today but he did a good job of getting himself out of some jams and did the job we expect of a big league pitcher.  Still would have liked to see him go a couple more innings.  It was good to Slowey come in and pitch well even if it was only for an inning.  So all together, the pitching for the day was uplifting instead of depressing!

The offense could have been a LITTLE better (my opinion) but it sure did start off well with a beautiful triple from Orlando Hudson.  That sucker was very nearly a HR.  There were a couple long bombs that the wind apparently kept in the park – Track Death strikes again.

But interestingly enough, the bat that was the story of the game belonged to Alexi Casilla.  When he’s on, he’s really on and he had a great day at the plate, including the walkoff RBI.  And his glove wasn’t bad today either – strong throw for an out at home looked really impressive.  I would like him to keep that up!  But the efforts of the day earned him a unanimous BOD in the gamechat.  Way to go Lexi!

 

 

 

GameChat – Blue Jays @ Twins #2, 7:10

Posted on by

The weather tonight is clear and cool – let’s hope it helps keep the Toronto hits from flying out of the ballpark quite as often tonight.  I wouldn’t mind if our favorite mustachiod man could have a hand in that as well.  It’s about time Pavano had really solid start – lots and lots of innings.

I’d ALSO really appreciate it if our own boys could start manufacturing a few more RUNS than they have been able to do lately.  It’ really good to see Jim Thome’s name back in the batting order!  I think the song made him feel better. 😀

Toronto @ Minnesota
Snider, LF   Span, CF
Escobar, Y, SS   Hardy, SS
Bautista, J, RF   Mauer, C
Wells, V, CF   Young, D, LF
Overbay, 1B   Thome, DH
Hill, A, 2B   Cuddyer, 1B
Lind, DH   Kubel, RF
Buck, J, C   Valencia, 3B
Encarnacion, 3B   Punto, 2B
Romero, R, P   Pavano, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Toronto 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 0 6 13 0
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 9 1

 

It’s entirely possible that this is my (KL) first post-game wrap of the season. It’s also entirely possible that I suck at blogging.

Fortunately, we learned tonight that the Twins still don’t suck at baseball. No, they didn’t win and we didn’t get to choose a BOD, but at least there were some good things happening that left us feeling a little less concerned. Pavano had a good start, we actually had the lead for a good part of the game, Mauer stayed in even after Pavano left the game despite reports that he wouldn’t (presumably because the knee is feeling pretty good), two of the Twins’ nine hits were home runs (just too bad they were both solo shots), and after Plouffe’s home run in the bottom of the ninth the Twins showed a good bit of energy. Cuddy doubles, Kubel singles and sends Cuddy to 3rd . . . and then Valencia pops out to the catcher for the third out. But hey, they were still into the game and that counts for something, right?

A new baseball-themed rock song!

Posted on by

So Seth Stohs shared a new anthem honoring Jim Thome on his site today that I thought was worth passing along.  I have pretty strict standards and have been pretty unimpressed with this year’s offerings.  I appear to be one of the few people in the Twin Cities who really dislikes Just Don’t Call Them Twinkies.  I can honestly say that I think the GB Leighton anthem is better – and that is saying a lot.  Why do these theme songwriters seem to believe that the more important words they can squeeze into a phrase makes it a better song no matter how much it disrupts a natural musical flow???

At any rate, this new one is not a GREAT song in my opinion but it’s SOLID and entertaining and better than just about anything that has come out recently.  Why?  because it doesn’t try to do too much.  It’s simple and clean in approach and succeeds because of it.  Funny, I’ve heard that is what makes a good hitter.