Cabin Twelve

I hesitate to post this, since its pretty much been the winter of piling on Delmon Young for a lot of Twins fans. And while I haven’t been in love with the production the Twins have gotten out of Young so far, I understood the trade at the time: “Hey Tampa, we’ll trade you this talented guy who bitches about being here (Garza) for the talented guy that bitches about being there! It just might work!” But since about 2 people read this (including me), I’ll make a note of it. I didn’t catch the game this afternoon, but snagged this from rotoworld.

On a day in which he also hit his second homer, Delmon Young grounded into four double plays Wednesday against the Pirates.

The Twins grounded into six double plays in all. Young’s four double-play balls would have tied a major league record. It’s been done just twice during the regular season, first by Goose Goslin in 1933 and later by Joe Torre in 1975. At least that puts Young in pretty good company.

Not exactly a highlight, but situations that are this unique in a game that gets played as often as baseball are always interesting to me. Joe Crede, we don’t need you trying to duplicate it during the regular season.

Twins fans with a good memory may remember this game against the Angels from August of 2004, when Carlos Silva tied an American League record by inducing 6 double plays. (SIX!) Ahh, 2004, when Carlos Silva wasn’t a bad baseball tosser. In that game, a complete game for Silva, he allowed 11 hits and walked 3, but managed to keep the Angels from scoring. Today, the Twins managed a couple more base runners – with 10 hits and 5 walks – but did at least get 3 home. And, well, it was a Spring Training game, so it doesn’t matter anyway.

I am working on stories about each of the no-hitters that the Minnesota Twins have been involved in — both those they’ve thrown and those that have been thrown against them — and thought I’d post an overview.

Twins pitchers have thrown a total of 4 regular season no-hitters, but no perfect games.

The Twins have been no-hit a total of 4 times, with 2 of them being perfect games.

The list of no-hitters thrown by the Minnesota Twins:
(The links on the scores of the games will direct you to the boxscore and play by play for the game at the marvelous retrosheet.org. The play by play can be fascinating to read, if you’re into the sort of thing. The player links will take you to the player page at the equally marvelous baseball-reference.com)

1. Jack Kralick – August 26, 1962 – Kansas City 0, Minnesota 1 – Metropolitan Stadium

KC  A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  1
MIN A    0  0  0    0  0  0    1  0  x  -   1  8  0

Notes: Kralick walked pinch-hitter George Alusik with 1 out in the 9th to lose the perfect game.

2. Dean Chance – August 25, 1967 – Minnesota 2, Cleveland 1 – Cleveland Stadium

MIN A    0  1  0    0  0  1    0  0  0  -   2  7  1
CLE A    1  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   1  0  1

Notes: Cleveland scored their run when Chance walked the first two batters of the game. After a strikeout, Cesar Tovar was charged with an error at 3B that resulted in Cleveland loading the bases. Chase then threw a wild pitch that allowed the run to score. After another strikeout, a fly to left ended the inning.

Chance threw a 5 inning no-hitter earlier in the month against the Boston Red Sox at The Met – it was called due to rain.

3. Scott Erickson – April 27, 1994 – Milwaukee Brewers 0, Minnesota 6 – Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

MIL A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  0
MIN A    1  1  1    2  0  0    0  1  x  -   6 13  0

Notes: Erickson walked Billy Spiers in the 4th to lose the perfect game.

4. Eric Milton – September 11, 1999 – Anaheim 0, Minnesota 7 - Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

ANA A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  1
MIN A    1  3  0    0  2  0    0  1  x  -   7 10  0

Notes: Milton walked the 2nd batter of the game, Orlando Palmeiro. Milton struck out 13 Angels during the game. Denny Hocking hit one of his 25 career home runs and Terry Steinbach hit one of his 21 career triples. Future Twin Ramon Ortiz took the loss in his 4th career start.

The list of no hitters thrown against the Minnesota Twins:

1. Jim “Catfish” Hunter – May 8, 1968 – Minnesota 0, Oakland 4 – Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

MIN A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  1
OAK A    0  0  0    0  0  0    1  3  x  -   4 10  0

Notes: PERFECT GAME! Hunter struck out 11, including the final 2 batters (looking!).

2. Vida Blue – September 21, 1970 – Minnesota 0, Oakland 6 – Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum

MIN A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  1
OAK A    1  0  0    0  0  0    0  5  x  -   6  9  0

Notes: Blue’s lone blemish was a walk to Harmon Killebrew in the 4th.

3. Nolan Ryan – September 28, 1974 – Minnesota 0, California 4 – Anaheim Stadium

MIN A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  2
CAL A    0  0  2    2  0  0    0  0  x  -   4  7  0

Notes: Ryan struck out 15, but walked 8(!). This was the 3rd of Ryan’s record 7 no-hitters.

4. David Wells – May 17, 1998 – Minnesota 0, New York 4 – Yankee Stadium

MIN A    0  0  0    0  0  0    0  0  0  -   0  0  0
NY  A    0  1  0    1  0  0    2  0  x  -   4  6  0

Notes: PERFECT GAME! Wells struck out 11. Latroy Hawkins started the game for Minnesota.

Joe Mauer became the first catcher to win the American League batting title since … Joe Mauer in 2006. In 2006, Joe Mauer was the first catcher ever to win the AL batting title (and the first catcher to lead the Major Leagues in batting average). Two National League catchers have won the batting title a total of three times (see below).

Catchers that won the National League Batting Title:

On September 19th, 2008, the Twins were involved in the first reversal of a home run call via instant replay. It was the 3rd review of a disputed call, but the first that resulted in a change of the umpire’s call on the field. The play occured at Tropicana field against the Tampa Bay Rays. Carlos Pena hit a ball off of Boof Bonser in the bottom of the 4th, with the score 6-0 in favor of the Rays. There were 2 outs, with runners at 1st (Akinori Iwamura) and 2nd (Eric Hinske).

The play was initially ruled as fan interference, resulting in a two run ground rule double. From the AP:

Pena’s drive to right field off Boof Bonser appeared to be touched by a fan before bouncing off the top of the fence. First base umpire Mike DiMuro signaled fan interference, and Pena stopped at second base for a two-run double.

The umpires huddled immediately and decided to look at the video for the third test of the system since Aug. 28, when baseball allowed umpires to begin using it to determine boundary calls.

The crowd of 28,306 broke into cheers when the umpires returned to the field after a delay of 4 minutes, 10 seconds, and crew chief Gerry Davis signaled home run, giving Pena a three-run shot that made it 9-0.

The umpire crew for the game:

HP: Mike Everitt
1B: Mike Dimuro
2B: Gerry Davis (Crew Chief)
3B: Larry Vanover

Interestingly, the first use of instant replay in Major League Baseball also took place at Tropicana Field, when replay was used to uphold a home run by Alex Rodriguez (of course).

On May 7th, 2008, Carlos Gomez became the first Minnesota Twins player to hit for the cycle in 22 years. He accomplished the feat in a 13-2 romp against the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field in Chicago.

Livan Hernandez got the win. Mark Buerhle took the loss.

Carlos was 4-6 on the game. His AB’s went thusly:

Top of the 1st: Home Run (Line Drive to Deep LF)
Top of the 3rd: Strikeout Swinging
Top of the 5th: Triple to CF (Fly Ball to Deep LF/CF); Tolbert Scores
Top of the 6th: Double to LF (Fly Ball to LF/CF); Punto Scores; Gomez to 3B; adv on E8
Top of the 9th: Single to P (Ground Ball to weak SS-2B)
Top of the 9th: Strikeout Swinging

A couple of notes about the game: Gomez struck out twice and still managed to hit for the cycle. He made the last out for the visiting team, and yes, still managed to hit for the cycle. If you watched Carlos Gomez play in 2008, you probably aren’t surprised by either of those things. And if you watched Carlos Gomez play in 2008, it’s no surprise that his single in the 9th was an infield hit. The pitcher for the Sox was Ehren Wasserman, who deflected a ball hit up the middle, Alexei Ramirez couldn’t corral it and couldn’t throw Gomez out at 1st.

The last time a Twins player hit for the cycle? That’s right, Kirby Puckett. 8/10/1986. The same night Bert struck out #3000.

On June 15, 2008, Scott Baker became the first Twins pitcher to strike out 4 batters in one inning. It happened against the Milwuakee Brewers at Miller Park. The batters were Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (who reached on a wild pitch), Russell Branyan and Mike Cameron. The play by play:

Bottom 3rd: Milwaukee

- R. Braun struck out swinging

- P. Fielder struck out, reached on wild pitch

- R. Branyan struck out looking

- M. Cameron struck out looking

The baseball-reference boxscore can be found here.