NINE more games to go? Wow, that went by fast…
First pitch: 6:10 Central
Weather: Coastal Flood Watch expires at 6 PM, high chance of drizzle all night, start temp 65°
Opponent’s SB site: Over The Monster
TV: BS North. Radio: What does Boston radio sound like? Probably like this
Unfortunately NOT pitching for the Red Sox is former Twin and always-Australian Liam Hendriks. He is recovering from Tommy John surgery, and is probably now shut down for the rest of this season. The Red Sox signed him in February knowing this might happen; he has a lot of juicy incentives that kick in next year.
You probably knew that Hendriks is a cancer survivor; you may not know that he is one of the classiest guys in baseball. Check out this nice article by Ken Schultz of Outsports, describing how Hendriks visits cancer patients all over the country and has long been a supporter of LGTBQ rights. Oh, and “his miked up appearance in the 2021 All Star Game sounded like what would happen if Hugh Jackman developed a condition where he could only communicate by screaming David Mamet dialogue.”
(Today’s starting pitchers, David Festa and Richard Fitts, have 65.2 career MLB innings between them. Do we need to bring up Stats? We do not.)
Even if you weren’t watching at the time — even if you weren’t alive yet! — you’ll have seen this ending to Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
That ball going through Bill Buckner’s legs lost Game 6, and the Red Sox lost game 7. The Red Sox drought would have been broken — except for Bill Buckner.
This was when Red Sox fans started seriously mentioning the “Curse Of The Bambino,” the supposed hex placed on Boston because they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in 1920. The media loved this story, of course, and ESPN especially began to feature a zillion more Yankees/Red Sox games.
(Did the Red Sox transfer that curse to the Twins by signing David Ortiz on a waiver claim?)
Anyways, on their 2011 second album, The Baseball Project released this song about that moment, written by Scott McCaughey:
Let’s just get a little detailed on all the references herein:
If Bobby Ojeda hadn’t raged at Sullivan and Yawkey
And hadn’t been traded to the Mets for Calvin Schiraldi
Sullivan/Yawkey were the Red Sox GM/owner.
Ojeda bounced back-and-forth between starting and relieving in 1985. The Red Sox traded him to New York, and he had the best season of his career in 1986. For Schiraldi – who had the best year of his career in 1986 with the Sox. Game 6, where he took the loss, was his second appearance of the World Series, and he was never as good afterwards.
If Oil Can Boyd hadn’t been such a nut case
And Jim Rice had twice taken an easy extra base
“Oil Can” Boyd was so named for Boyd’s beer-drinking ways; “oil can” was slang for beer where he came from. Presumably here the implication is that hard living hurt Boyd’s performance in Game 3, where he allowed six runs in seven innings.
In Game 6, Rice only went from first-to third on a two-out double in the first; he was thrown out in the seventh trying to score. Maybe he was just slooooow. (0-1 that year on steal attempts.)
If the Red Sox had had a better playoff fourth starter
Instead Nipper served up a big fat slider to Carter
What would Seaver have done, if not for his bum knee?
Would he have taken the ball and exacted revenge on his old team?
Al Nipper, who had a 5.38 ERA on the season, gave up three runs in Game 3. Including a two-run dong to Carter. But the Sox lost that game 6-2, so Carter’s homer wasn’t the deciding blow.
Seaver had pitched his last game for Boston on September 19th. It was the last of his career; he was 41. Seaver was part of the 1969 “Miracle Mets” team, but became angry at team chairman M. Donald Grant for refusing to give him a raise. Local columnists wrote about how “greedy” Seaver was; it’s quite likely that Grant planted these stories. Seaver was traded in 1977 and Grant was fired in 1979; that same local press referred to Shea Stadium as “Grant’s Tomb.”
If Gooden had pitched like the real Dr. K
Or Donnie Moore hadn’t had that nightmare day
That stuck with him till he couldn’t take anymore
And turned his own kitchen into a killing floor
Dwight Gooden wasn’t good in either Game 2 or Game 5; had the Mets won both of those, they’d have won the Series 4-1. Game 6 wouldn’t have been played.
And the Red Sox almost got eliminated in the ALCS. The Angels were one strike away, with a lead in the ninth inning. Moore blew the lead; he then gave up the go-ahead run in the 11th. In 1989, soon after getting cut by the Royals’ AAA team, Moore attempted to kill his wife, and killed himself in front of his son. A horrible, sad story.
And John McNamara, what the hell was he thinking?
Was it him, not the party-boy Mets, doing all the drinking?
If he’d hit Baylor for Buckner and yanked the first baseman
For his by-the-book late-inning defensive replacement
Self-explanatory. Interestingly, though, the usual defensive replacement, Dave Stapleton, really badmouthed manager McNamara for that decision. Kinda tacky for a guy who hit .128 on the season; some managers wouldn’t have kept him around. (Oh, and here’s a fun, PG-13, first-hand account of the “party-boy Mets.”)
Bob Stanley picked a pretty bad time to uncork a wild pitch
And I’m sure he’s still thinking that you could have blocked it, Rich
Then the tying run might have not been tallied by Mitch
If one play killed the Sox, can you please tell me which?
Click here for the “wild pitch” (or play the game video above from 2:27). Was it a passed ball? Tough to say.
The rest of the song mentions that Buckner was a pretty solid hitter; in fact, among players who debuted after 1969, only Tony Gwynn was tougher to strike out!
And also mentions that Buckner became famous because of that 1986 moment, in a way that might not have happened if he’d quietly retired with no huge moments in the spotlight.
Check him out saving the day in this 2011 Curb Your Enthusiasm episode!
The whole idea that “one play” doomed a season is kinda ridiculous, if you think about it. So is the idea that one play “won” a season. It’s the combination of all the plays, of course.
And it’s also ridiculous, as many are doing now, to blame losses in a disappointing season on the manager. (Clickbaity sites are all over the Twins’ recent struggles and blaming Baldelli for it; hey, I know it’s rough for writers out there, but let’s not make the AI takeover any easier than we have to.)
Managers make decisions that go poorly and lose games, they make decisions that go well and win games. This is always so. Outside of the real geniuses like Terry Francona or Joe Maddon or (take your pick), and real jerks like Larry Bowa, managers probably don’t matter all THAT much. Sometimes a manager can “lose” a team, or (what’s more likely) lose their interest in trying to reach that team. But a team stinking or succeeding because of the manager is probably not as common as Cranky Call Radio fans like to think.
In fact, a few people have tried studying this, and one extensive analysis showed almost NO correlation between who the manager was and how the team performed. (And that was published in 2010; managing has become much more identical and stats-driven since.) There’s some correlation between a new manager and a small, brief bump in attendance.
So, folks… be smarter than clickbait readers.
Especially this season, when the reason for the Twins’ major struggles is so painfully damn obvious: it’s ownership, as Zach wrote. It’s as simple as that. It’s coming off an exciting season and making a loud pronouncement that ownership was looking to cut payroll; it’s refusing to do anything at the trade deadline.
There’s valid reasons to criticize Baldelli, and to criticize some of the roster moves the Falvine have made since 2016. But this year’s failures are NOT a valid reason to criticize them. And especially not more than ownership.
From this week’s Do-Hyoung Park newsletter… Guess who the Twins’ best hitter has been since August 13th? Kyle. Farmer. Yes: Kyle Farmer. KYLE FARMER! Seems like a nice guy, so good for him.
Not in the starting lineup, today. Because oof I dunno. I don’t fuggin’ know anything.