April 11th, 1961
VS 
This is the Yankees' league.
Eleven of the last fourteen American League pennants have been brought home by the Bronx Bombers, whose heart of the order features the ever-dangerous M&M Boys. It's already a tough enough lineup to face, but throw in today's Opening Day pitcher -- the Chairman of the Board himself -- and we have a tough task ahead for our first-ever series as the Minnesota Twins.
Quote:
NEW YORK (1-0) - 14
MINNESOTA (0-1) - 6
WP: Whitey Ford (1-0) / LP: Camilo Pascual (0-1) / SV: Luis Arroyo (1)
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We got stomped.
It was a tale of two innings; a four-spot in the fifth pushed us to a 6-2 lead after some early control issues from Whitey Ford (7 BB, 7 K), but Camilo Pascual gave it all back and them some in the home half. The Yankees hung up a 7-spot capped by a Bill Skowron grand slam. The Twins wouldn't score again, and New York would tag Jackie Collum for five more in the eighth.
April 13th, 1961
Quote:
MINNESOTA (1-1) - 5
NEW YORK (1-1) - 3
WP: Pedro Ramos (1-0) / LP: Ralph Terry (0-1)
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This Elston Howard fella is a tricky little fella. Another homer for him today, three hits, and he scored twice. Thankfully, we have a power threat, too -- and today, cleanup man Jim Lemon proved the difference with a decisive three-run shot in the seventh.
Both he and Killebrew knocked in runs today, thanks in no small part to Green and Gardner (the G&G boys?) going 6-for-10 at the top of the order. Pedro Ramos went the distance, and while we were outhit, we kept the really dangerous guys off the bases.
It was a quick trip through the Bronx, but we still have just under a week left on the east coast.
April 14th, 1961
VS 
We've got four games on deck with the Baltimore Orioles, including a double-header this Sunday. The O's are in an interesting spot; they just had their first winning season in 15 years, making it all the way to second place, but still finished 7.5 back of the powerhouse Yankees. Their key guys are all pretty young (Steve Barber, Brooks Robinson, and Ron Hansen are all 23 and younger.)
We don't have a natural beef with Baltimore -- we play for a different city now -- but their encroachment upon our market back in D.C. is certainly still lingering in the minds of some of our players.
Quote:
BALTIMORE (3-0) - 1
MINNESOTA (1-2) - 0
WP: Steve Barber (1-0) / LP: Jack Kralick (0-1)
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Maybe it was a little TOO distracting, because we nearly got no-hit. Jim Lemon broke up Barber's no-hitter with a 7th-inning double, but couldn't even make it to third base. Jack Kralick pitched great for his own right, but made two mistake pitches -- both to Jim Gentile, who knocked two solo shots for the game's only scores.
April 15th, 1961
Quote:
BALTIMORE (4-0) - 3
MINNESOTA (1-3) - 0
WP: Milt Pappas (1-0) / LP: Don Lee (0-1)
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What happened to our bats?
Maybe the Yankees should be worried. It's another shutout for Baltimore, this time a three-hit beauty from Milt Pappas, who had six strikeouts in the win. Like yesterday, our starter (Don Lee) pitched a decent game (7.1 IP, 5 H, 4 ER), but a bases-loaded walk was part of a hard-to-escape jam in a three-run 4th for the O's.
Baltimore is now the only undefeated team in the league. It'd be a nice statement on our behalf to knock them down a peg tomorrow and potentially salvage a series split.
April 16th, 1961
Quote:
MINNESOTA (2-3) - 2
BALTIMORE (4-1) - 1
WP: Camilo Pascual (1-1) / LP: Jack Fisher (1-1) / SV: Ray Moore (1)
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Nice start.
It's been pitcher's duels all weekend at Memorial Stadium, but we finally came out on top of one. It's fitting that it was our number one starter who got us over the hump -- Pascual walked five, but scattered three mostly harmless hits around the passes and allowed the Orioles' only run in seven innings of work.
Jack Fisher had a very similar day for Baltimore (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 4 BB). Lenny Green had our only RBI hit.
Quote:
MINNESOTA (3-3) - 7
BALTIMORE (4-2) - 3
F/10
WP: Jackie Collum (1-0) / LP: Billy Hoeft (0-1)
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And then, just as I asked for, we won again! The nightcap went 10 innings, which meant that we needed to get some quality work out of a bullpen full of question marks. Well, we did -- Chuck Stobbs had a scoreless eighth and Jackie Collum pitched two perfect innings. It was Billy Hoeft, the Baltimore lefty, who blinked first -- Zoilo Versalles hit a three-run jolt off him in the top of the 10th.
It was a needed boost for Zoilo, who went 2-for-4 and only raised his average to .176. It's nowhere near the worst mark on the team, though; the offense was quite frozen by the pitching in Birdland this weekend.
Escaping with a last-second split is about as much as I could ask for against a team that projects to be right up there in the thick of it in 1961. In fact, splits and hanging with teams in the thick of it may be the reasonable expectation for these Minnesota Twins. But until proven otherwise, I'm going to keep my lofty expectations.
Week in Review
- AL Player of the Week: 3B Steve Boros, DET (8-for-19, 5 HR, 8 RBI)
- NL Player of the Week: LF Wally Moon, LAD (9-for-22, 6 HR, 13 RBI)
- RF Willie Kirkland (CLE) hits for the cycle in a loss to Detroit.
- RP Don Newcombe will probably miss the rest of the year after tearing his rotator cuff in his first start back with the Dodgers.
- Whitey Ford, still struggling with his control, finds a reason to take it out on rookie outfielder Ronald Solomini. The argument is broken up by Yankee manager Ralph Houk.
POWER RANKINGS
1. Chicago Cubs (4-1)
2. Detroit Tigers (4-1)
3. San Francisco Giants (4-2)
4. Los Angeles Dodgers (4-2)
5. Baltimore Orioles (4-2)
...10. Minnesota Twins (3-3)