Bicentennial in the Twin Cities

[pokerface79]

BACKGROUND

It's 1976 and the Minnesota Twins have not reached the playoffs since they were swept by the World Series champion Baltimore Orioles in 1970 AL championship, have not reached a World Series since 1965 when they lost a close series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and has not won a World Series since 1924 when they were the Washington Senators.

The Twins are coming off a disappointing season for the talent level they fielded in 1975, 76-83. Their all star, and one of the best hitters in MLB history, Rod Carew is coming off three consecutive years leading the league in BA. He has been to the all star game every year since entering the league in 1967, all with the Twins. The Twins have an outstanding Starting pitcher in the Hollander Bert Blyleven who went to the All-Star game in 1973, but has been unable to reproduce the numbers of that year. These two will be the foundation of the Minnesota Twins for the decade to come.

[pokerface79]

They were the Washington Nationals in 1924.

[pokerface79]

March 31st, 1976

A new GM was hired this morning by the Minnesota Twins. The Twins organization has scheduled a press conference for this afternoon to introduce the new GM, Jason S.


PRESS CONFERENCE


I'd like you all to welcome the new General Manager of the Minnesota Twins, Jason S.

Thank you, I am honored to have been chosen as the Twins new General Manager for the 1976 season. The Minnesota Twins have a rich baseball tradition and I hope to continue that tradition and make the Twins into a World Series contender. The fans in Minnesota are some of the most dedicated fans in all of Major League Baseball and I want to bring them a World Championship. I will strive to achieve this goal and will not forget the fans in the process. You are what make Major League Baseball and the Minnesota Twins so great. Thank you.

[pokerface79]

Meeting with the owner


My meeting with the owner went smoothly this evening. He expressed his confindence in my ability to turn the Twins into a winning ball club. He explained that since Harmon Killebrew retired and the fact that Minnesota had played so poorly in the last 10 years, the fan support had been waning for some time. He explained to me that our budget was stretched a bit thin, but that he knew I would make the right decisions to get our club in the black by the end of this year. He understood the difficulty in doing this and producing a winning team so he expected this team to at least finish the season at .500 and, at the same time, bring in some cash to spend in the off season. He also told me that he expected me to hold on to Rod Carew no matter the cost because the fans were warming up to Rod. It was a productive meeting and I'm ready to start the 1976 season.

[pokerface79]

In order to cut down on my roster I made some trades.

First Trade:

Chicago Cubs receive C Phil Roof, RF Steve Brye, SS Danny Thompson for P Tom Dettore

Phil Roof is an aging catcher (35) who had reached his peak long ago. It was time to let Roof go and with him his 890k salary.

Steve Brye is a good backup right fielder but, right field is a position where I already have two strong players, Tony Oliva and Steve Braun. He was also being payed almost a million.

Danny Thompson was also a decent player that was being payed a bit too much for his talent level. I have a good SS in fifth year player Jerry Terrell and Danny Thompson was his backup. I figure that Terrel, barring injury, will be able to hold up for the entire year, playing almost every game. Thompson was being payed inline with his talent at 780k, but I still decided to trade him.

The player I recieved, Tom Dettore is a 28 year old right handed reliever who is not great any in one pitching category, but not poor in any of them either. Also, his salary is only 316k.

Second Trade:

New York Yankees receive RF Steve Braun for LF Darryl Jones

Yes, this is one of the RF that I mentioned earlier in the first trade. Steve Braun had an outstanding eye at the plate but he was being payed way too much at 3.15 M. Trading him lowered my in debt at end of year number by almost 1/3rd.

Darryl Jones has been in the Yankees farm system since 1971 and has not developed at all. He is only 24 and has decent potential. This trade was more about cutting spending than receiving talent.

[pokerface79]

1975- BA. RBI HR.

#1 2B Rod Carew .359 80 14

#2 SS Jerry Terrell .286 36 1

#3 1B Craig Kusik .237 27 6

#4 LF Larry Hisle .314 51 11

#7 RF Tony Oliva .270 58 13

#6 DH Dan Ford .280 59 15

#7 CF Lyman Bostock .282 29 0

#8 3B Dave McKay .256 16 2

#9 C Glenn Borgmann .207 33 2


Looks like I'm going to need some good pitching this season if I intend to go .500. On the upside, this team is young and a lot of them are just happy to be playing a starting role in the majors.

Pitching Rotation 1975- ERA W K

Bert Blyleven 3.0 15 233

Dave Goltz 3.67 14 128

Joe Decker 8.54 1 8

Jim Hughes 3.82 16 130

Vic Albury 4.35 6 72


My first two starters should give me great pitching, it's the rest of the rotation I'm worried about. I'll give Joe Decker a few starts to prove himself and if he can't produce the numbers I expect from my #3 starter I will move Jim Hughes up and find a new #4.

Relievers 1975- G ERA W-L K S

Closer- Tom Burgmeier 46 3.09 5-8 41 11

Setup- Bill Campbell 47 3.79 4-6 76 5

Short- Tom Johnson 18 4.19 1-2 17 3

Middle- Eddie Bane 4 2.86 3-1 14 -

Long- Roger Erickson AAA 1 2.57 1-0 5 -

Alt.- Tom Dettore 36 5.38 5-4 46 -



A stable full of decent pitchers. I have a solid closer in Tom Burgmeier. Eddie Bane has impressive numbers, but he didn't play much. I might consider making him a starter at the back of my rotation. That will be a tough decision because Eddie Bane doesn't have the endurance (53) of a starter. He could be my #5 starter if needed.


Bench

LF Mark Funderburk

3B John Castino

SS Luis Gomez

C Butch Wynegar

LF Gary Ward

My bench is full of untested, but talented young players. Half of these guys have potential in a few years to outplay almost every player on my starting roster. C Butch Wynegar has huge potential (93). If he lives up to this potential he will be an all star catcher.

[pokerface79]

Sunday April 4th, 1976

Twins 2
Red Sox 3

Monday April 5th, 1976

Twins 2
Red Sox 6

Tuesday April 6th, 1976

Twins 1
Red Sox 12

CF Lyman Bostock is out for 2-3 weeks with a hairline wrist break. He will be replaced by DH Dan Ford. Eighteen year old rookie Mark Funderburk will be placed at DH.

[pokerface79]

New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
April 7, 1976

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E
Yankees (NYY) 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4 2 9 11 1
Twins (MIN) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 1

NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg
W. Randolph (2B) 5 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 .241
R. White (LF) 4 2 1 2 2 5 0 0 .172
C. Chambliss (1B) 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .233
O. Gamble (DH) 5 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .172
G. Nettles (3B) 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .154
T. Munson (C) 4 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 .280
S. Braun (RF) 5 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 .133
E. Maddox (CF) 3 2 2 2 0 1 0 0 .500
J. Mason (SS) 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 .364
TOTALS 38 11 7 9 2 9 4 0

2B: T. Munson (2), C. Chambliss (3), W. Randolph (1), G. Nettles (1)
HR: R. White 2 (2)

NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
C. Hunter 9.0 5 3 1 1 1 2 127 3.48
TOTALS 9.0 5 3 1 1 1 2 127

MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg
R. Carew (2B) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .353
T. Oliva (RF) 4 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 .188
J. Terrell (SS) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .286
L. Hisle (LF) 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .333
D. Ford (CF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
M. Funderburk (DH) 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000
G. Borgmann (1B) 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .133
D. McKay (3B) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B. Wynegar (C) 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167
TOTALS 31 5 3 1 1 1 2 0

2B: R. Carew (1), L. Hisle (1)
HR: T. Oliva (1)

MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
J. Hughes 6.0 6 5 1 3 3 2 110 4.50
T. Johnson 1.2 1 1 0 3 0 1 36 2.45
B. Campbell 0.2 3 1 1 3 2 0 26 13.50
E. Bane 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 1 15 0.00
TOTALS 9.0 11 7 2 9 5 4 187

WP: C. Hunter (1-2)
LP: J. Hughes (0-1)

Attendance: 30,772
Time: 3:19

[pokerface79]

My first win of the season! An outstanding performance by Bert Blyleven allowing only 8 hits and 3 earned runs in 8 innings pitched. First save of the season for Tom Bergmeier. My hitting was more than I could have wished for this afternoon. Fourteen hits today. The eighteen year old rookie Mark Funderburk went 3 for 4 and is batting .429 on the season. If he keeps it up he might become the starting DH. Rod Carew is also batting over .400, no suprise there. Jerry Terrell is batting .368 and drove 2 runs in today. The heart of my order is really swinging the bats!



New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
April 8, 1976

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E
Yankees (NYY) 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 8 1
Twins (MIN) 0 0 5 0 0 1 0 0 x 6 14 1

NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg
W. Randolph (2B) 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .242
S. Braun (RF) 4 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 .158
C. Chambliss (1B) 4 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 .235
O. Gamble (DH) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .182
G. Nettles (3B) 4 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 .167
T. Munson (C) 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .310
L. Piniella (LF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
E. Maddox (CF) 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .400
J. Mason (SS) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .308
TOTALS 36 8 0 3 1 3 5 0

2B: T. Munson (3), S. Braun (1)
HR: G. Nettles (1)

NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
R. May 2.1 9 1 0 5 5 0 48 7.50
D. Ellis 5.2 5 1 0 1 1 2 79 1.50
TOTALS 8.0 14 2 0 6 6 2 127

MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg
R. Carew (2B) 5 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 .409
T. Oliva (RF) 4 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .250
J. Terrell (SS) 5 3 0 1 0 2 0 0 .368
L. Hisle (LF) 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .278
D. Ford (CF) 4 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .154
M. Funderburk (DH) 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .429
G. Borgmann (1B) 4 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 .158
D. McKay (3B) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B. Wynegar (C) 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .111
TOTALS 36 14 2 6 0 6 2 0

2B: R. Carew (2), T. Oliva (2)

MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
B. Blyleven 8.0 8 0 1 3 3 4 115 2.20
T. Burgmeier 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 0.00
TOTALS 9.0 8 0 1 3 3 5 128


Attendance: 30,419
Time: 2:32

[pokerface79]

New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins
April 9, 1976

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E
Yankees (NYY) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 12 1
Twins (MIN) 2 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 x 8 11 0

NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg
W. Randolph (2B) 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .243
R. White (LF) 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .147
C. Chambliss (1B) 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .237
O. Gamble (DH) 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 .189
G. Nettles (3B) 4 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 .206
T. Munson (C) 5 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 .353
S. Braun (RF) 4 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 .217
E. Maddox (CF) 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .429
J. Mason (SS) 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .276
TOTALS 37 12 5 3 0 3 6 0

2B: W. Randolph (2), G. Nettles (2), S. Braun (2)
3B: O. Gamble (1)

NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
K. Brett 1.2 6 2 0 6 2 1 45 10.80
A. McGaffigan 2.1 1 0 0 0 0 1 29 0.00
J. York 2.0 2 0 1 1 1 2 30 9.00
D. Tidrow 2.0 2 1 0 1 1 0 29 1.42
TOTALS 8.0 11 3 1 8 4 4 133

MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg
R. Carew (2B) 5 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 .407
T. Oliva (RF) 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 .217
J. Terrell (SS) 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .348
L. Hisle (LF) 3 1 1 1 0 3 1 0 .286
D. Ford (CF) 4 3 0 1 1 3 0 0 .294
M. Funderburk (DH) 3 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 .400
G. Borgmann (1B) 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .174
D. McKay (3B) 4 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 .048
B. Wynegar (C) 4 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 .154
TOTALS 34 11 3 8 1 8 4 0

2B: J. Terrell (1), L. Hisle (2), D. Ford (1)
HR: D. Ford (1)

MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
D. Goltz 6.2 10 3 0 3 3 4 106 5.25
B. Campbell 1.1 1 2 0 0 0 1 27 6.75
E. Bane 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 14 0.00
TOTALS 9.0 12 5 0 3 3 6 147

WP: D. Goltz (1-1)
LP: K. Brett (0-1)

Attendance: 31,638
Time: 3:08

[pokerface79]

April 9th 1976

After 6 games, we are now 2-4. I'm pleased with the performance against the Yankees in the home stand. The guys were hitting well and the pitching was good enough to get the job done.

As I was going over some funding issues, I realized that the farm system was not getting the necessary cash it needed to develop young players. I decided that it was a sound idea to bump up the funds from $1 million to $2 million.

The sattelite company that is carrying our pay tv games gave me a call and said they were interested in setting up an interview with Rod Carew 30 minutes before gametime on April 13th when we open our home stand against the Tigers. I called Rod and asked him if he was interested. He answered the phone "Pepe's Party Shack how can I heeeeelp yoouuuuu." That Rod Carew is one silly character. Of course he said yes to the interview.

[pokerface79]

GAME 1

1:05 pm CST
47 degrees F
54% humidity
attendance: 16,830


FINAL SCORE
R H E
Minnesota 0 3 0
Milwaukee 2 8 2

WP: Jim Slaton (1-1) CG (1)
LP: Joe Decker (0-2) CG (1)

Min: 2B Rod Carew 0-4 w/ 1K

Mil: SS Robin Yount 2-3 w/ 1RBI
LF Hank Aaron 1-2 w/ 1R 1HR 1RBI

The Brewer's #5 pitcher Jim Slaton brought his A game this afternoon, pitching a complete game shutout and only allowing 3 hits. The Brewer's two runs were provided by Hank Aaron and leadoff hitter Robin Yount. In the bottom of the fourth Aaron homered over the left field fence. Yount knocked in Bill Sharp in the bottom of the 7th. The 42 year old Aaron, now in his 24th season in the bigs, hasn't lost his ability to hit the long ball. Minnesota's starter Joe Decker also pitched a complete game, but received no run support from the Twins lineup. Not a bad outing for Decker giving up only 2 earned runs in 8 innings pitched.

(Decker showed me that he does have the ability to start at #3 afterall, my hitters just couldn't produce today. Jim Slaton is a poor pitcher. My hitting evaporated like piss on asphalt during a Texas summer.)


GAME 2

1:05 pm CST
56 degrees F
58% humidity
attendance:17,023

FINAL SCORE
R H E
Minnesota 5 8 3
Milwaukee 20 12 1

WP: Jim Colborn (1-1)
LP: Jim Hughes (0-2)

Min: LF Gary Ward 2-3 w/ 1R 1RBI
2B Rod Carew 1-4 w/ 1R 1HR 1RBI

Mil: 3B Paul Molitor 3-4 w/ 4R 2RBI 1SB
SS Robin Yount 2-4 w/ 2R 1HR 5RBI
1B George Scott 3-6 w/ 3R 1HR 4RBI
C Darrell Porter 2-5 w/ 2R 1HR 5RBI


Brewer's hitting and fielding errors by the Twins led to a lopsided game at Milwaukee County Stadium on Sunday. The Brewers hit 3 HRs in the game which included 2 grand slams, one hit by Robin Yount in the bottom of the 5th and one hit by Darrel Porter in the bottom of the 7th. Both Yount and Porter had 5 RBIs on the day. Brewer's fans got their money's worth today.

(Obviously this was not a good game for my Twins. My pitching is horrendous and if I want to even get close to .500 I will need to rearrange my pitching staff and more than likely make some trades for pitchers.)


GAME 3

7:05 pm CST
43 degrees F
32% humidity
attendance: 17,233


FINAL SCORE 12 INNINGS
R H E
Minnesota 6 12 0
Milwaukee 7 10 1

WP: Moose Haas (1-0)
LP: Tom Dettore (0-1)

Min: SP Bert Blyleven 5.2IP 5H 4BB 2HR 6R 6ER 4K (4.09 ERA)

Mil: CF Gorman Thomas game winning HR (2)


A close game that had to be decided in extra innings was won by the Brewer's CF Gorman Thomas with a solo blast in the bottom of the 12th off of Twin's pitcher Tom Dettore. The Brewers are on fire, they are on a 5 game winning streak. Milwaukee sweeps the series at home versus Minnesota.

(With Blyleven pitching I was almost positive I would pick up a win here. Blyleven pitched poorly, giving up 2 HR and walking 4, of which 2 were walked in for runs. You can't get this kind of performance out of your starting ace and expect to do well. My relievers did very well pitching 5.2 innings and only allowing 1 run, too bad it was the winning run. The pitcher I got from the Chicago Cubs, Tom Dettore allowed the game winning homerun.)

[pokerface79]

April 19th, 1976
R H E
Det 6 14 0
Min 0 4 1

MVP: Det SP Vern Ruhle: CG, 4H, 5K


April 20th, 1976
R H E
Det 3 11 4
Min 11 14 1

MVP: Min CF "Disco" Dan Ford: 3-5, 2R, HR, 3RBI


April 21st, 1976
R H E
Det 7 6 1
Min 3 7 2

MVP: Det DH Willie Horton: 2-5, R, HR, 3RBI


April 22nd, 1976



New Lineup Posted

After such an abysmal start to the season it was time to shake things up. Rod Carew was off to a poor start (BA .259, CS 3 of 3 attempts) so I decided to move him from leadoff to 2nd in the order. He was replaced by SS Jerry Terrell who is having a breakout year so far (BA .333, 7RBI, 3SB). Another guy that is swinging the lumber with authority is CF "Disco" Dan Ford (BA .342, 2HR, 7RBI) who was filling in for the injured Lyman Bostock. Lyman Bostock should be back in 3 days, but Dan Ford has solidified himself as my new DH when Bostock returns.

#1 SS Jerry Terrell BA .333, HR, 7RBI, 3SB
#2 2B Rod Carew BA .259, HR, 3RBI, 3CS in 3 attempts
#3 CF "Disco" Dan Ford BA .342, 2HR, 7RBI, SLG .658
#4 LF Larry Hisle BA .220, HR, 6 RBI, 10K
#5 RF Tony Oliva BA .227, HR, 6RBI,
#6 DH Mark Funderburk BA .273, 2RBI
#7 1B Craig Kusick BA .182, HR, 2RBI, 10K
#8 C Glenn Borgmann BA .195, 5RBI
#9 3B Dave Mckay BA .089, HR, 2RBI, 9K

[pokerface79]

If my hitting was car it would be a Geo Metro. If my pitching was a car it would be a Geo Metro, with no engine, and no wheels, ON FIRE! :D

My #3 starter Joe Decker and my #5 starter Vic Albury were both sustained minor injuries so I moved a pitcher from the minors by the name of Mike Pazik to fill in for Joe Decker. Pazik was the winning pitcher in my game vs. Detroit (11-3). He did so well I decided to make him my permanent #5 and Vic Albury was moved to Alt. My new rotation:

#1 Bert Blyleven (1-1) ERA 4.09, 22IP, 13K, 5BB
#2 Dave Goltz (1-2) ERA 5.30, 18.2IP, 8K, 9BB
#3 Joe Decker (0-2) ERA 4.97, 12.2IP, 6K, 6BB
#4 Jim Hughes (0-3) ERA 8.40, 15IP, 10K, 11BB
#5 Mike Pazik (1-0) ERA 2.70, 10IP, 5K, 2BB