Reliving 1991 - Game 2: The Ballad of Hrbek and Gant

Welcome to Game 2 of the 1991 World Series, 25 years later. If you missed Game 1, the Braves started their worst pitcher, Jack Morris may or may not have thrown spitballs the entire game, and Greg Gagne and his Boston accent hit the game-winning home run.

Our pitching matchup is Tom Glavine, who would eventually make the Hall of Fame, against Kevin Tapani, who worked at UPS in the offseason. Seriously, Tapani had an off-season job working UPS over the Christmas holiday. At the time, that fact was presented as an example of how Tapani was a humble everyman, that even though he was a big-league ballplayer, he needed an offseason job to make ends meet. Except he made $197,500 that year. So, yah, he wasn’t on the high end of Major League salaries, but he was doing just fine. Certainly doing well enough to avoid having to work at UPS.

Anyway, the Twins’ lineup stayed the same as Game 1, while the Braves swapped out Jeff Treadway for Mark Lemke at second, thus beginning the Twins fans’ week-long Mark Lemke-related nightmares.

(Box score and play-by-play here; YouTube video of the game here)

Top 1 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Kevin Tapani pitching.

Summary of Kevin Tapani this year: Shitty first half, great second half, doesn’t walk people, lefties don’t hit him well.

Lonnie Smith lines to left. One out.

Just like in Game 1, it looked like Gladdenstache lost that first out in the lights. He caught it, but it didn’t look like he was sure where it was.

Tim McCarver, who made the last out of the 1968 World Series, tells us that Braves first-base coach Pat Corrales was the last out of the 1970 World Series. That was the only postseason plate appearance of Corrales’ career. He grounded out to Brooks Robinson on the first pitch. Now back to 1991…

Terry Pendleton strikes out. Two outs.

Nice sinker by Tapani. Aside from the UPS thing, I remember virtually nothing about Tapani, so I’m curious what he was like as a pitcher. Pendleton somehow swung under a low sinker, which seems hard.

Ron Gant grounds to third. Three outs.

Gant grounds out on a forkball. Did Jack Morris teach all Twins pitchers the forkball that year? I’m gonna have to check to see if I can see Tapani greasing up the ball, too.

Bottom 1 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Dan Gladden to second on error by right.

METRODOME MAGIC! Lemke and Justice both kept their eyes on that ball, afraid to take their eyes off it because of the white roof, and neither bothered to look at the other. They crashed into each other because they weren’t yelling. That was absolutely a Metrodome hit. Justice was given the error, but Lemke should have peeled out of the way on that one. Or Justice should have called him off.

Chuck Knoblauch walks.

The Braves still haven’t gotten Knoblauch out in this series. And now we have first and second, nobody out, for Kirby Puckett. My foot is shaking.

Kirby Puckett grounds into a double play, third to first, Knoblauch to second. Two outs.

Moments after McCarver says Puckett led the league in double plays, Kirby hits into a double play. It was a very unlucky one, too – the runners were going, and so Pendleton was going to third to cover on the throw, and Kirby hit it right to him. Too bad, too, because…

Chili Davis homers to left, Knoblauch scores. 2-0 Twins.

Red hot Chili. A low and in slider that he golfed it out of there. Nice shot. And the Twins have a 2-0 lead on a future hall of famer.

McCarver just said the Twins broke the Braves’ backs “temporarily,” which, well, is hard to do if you take it literally.

Brian Harper walks.

It’s weird to see Glavine struggling in the first inning like this knowing what I know about how his career turned out, but then I remembered that this was his first career World Series inning. He’s 21 years old. He’s nervous. Still weird to think about.

Shane Mack grounds into a fielders’ choice, Harper out, second unassisted. Three outs.

Top 2 – Braves 0, Twins 2

Jack Buck just apologized for technical problems. Everything seemed to be working. I really want to go back in time to watch this to see what the technical problems were.

David Justice singles to right.

Mack fielded that ball four feet in front of the wall, and Justice had no chance for a single. I forget sometimes how close that wall was to home plate.

Sid Bream doubles to left, Justice to third.

What a weird hit. Off the complete end of the bat, fair by about six inches down the third base line. McCarver compares it to a cue shot by Minnesota Fats, who is literally the only pool player people can think of.

Brian Hunter flies to right, Justice scores. 2-1 Twins. One out.

Mack threw home, but he had no chance at Justice. Luckily, Bream can’t run, so he didn’t try for third, or else Tom Kelly might have muttered something indistinguishable in Mack’s general direction.

APPEAL AT THIRD! I’m really surprised teams don’t do that more often. What would it hurt? The appeal didn’t work, and like 15 fans decided to half-heartedly boo.

All that is followed by another obligatory reference about Greg Olson living “not too far from here.”

Greg Olson grounds to short. Two outs.

And now the announcers are on Sid Bream’s case for not advancing to third on the previous flyball, saying the game would be tied if he had. It’s very weird to hear McCarver make coherent, relevant points in a baseball game.

Mark Lemke strikes out looking.

Tapani loves that sinker. Good clutch pitch.

Bottom 2 – Braves 1, Twins 2

Kent Hrbek up, the seventh hitter tonight, just like last night. He always batted seventh against lefties, even though he wasn’t really that bad against them most years. His career slash lines were .287/.374/.504 against righties, .271/.346/.417 against lefties. So he was worse, but not that much worse. In 1991, it was even closer: .284/.380/.467 against righties, .281/.352/.445 against lefties. Really, the only major difference was he didn’t walk nearly as much against lefties. And of course ...

Kent Hrbek walks.

Why do I bother looking up stats?

Scott Leius grounds into a double play, pitcher to second to first, Hrbek out at second. Two outs.

Leius grounded into that double play on a 3-1 count. Glavine had walked three already, so that one especially stings.

Greg Gagne grounds to short. Three outs.

Top 3 – Braves 1, Twins 2.

Rafael Belliard grounds to second. One out.

Smith to first on error by third.

Leius just reached his glove out and flat out missed. Kind of embarrassing, really.

Then McCarver mentions that Kevin Tapani came over from the Mets in the Frank Viola trade, along with Rick Aguilera. That … that was a decent trade. Sucked to have to give up Viola, but the end result was good.

Pendleton flies to center. Two outs.

Pendleton is now 0-for-5 in this series.

Wait a minute here … two outs, third inning, Smith on first, Gant batting … good God, that’s T-Rex’s music!

Gant singles to left, Smith to third; Gant out at first, left to pitcher to first. Three outs.

A bobblehead that you can buy for me
if you really want

There it is. The greatest defensive play in Twins history. It’s even been immortalized forever in bobblehead form. Watching this play live and in proper context, it’s mind-blowing that Drew Coble called Gant out on this play. Hrbek straight up pulled him off the bag. The Braves were outraged, the announcers were outraged, and Hrbek non-chalantly jogged off the field as if nothing unusual happened. Hrbek did a lot of cool things for the Twins, but getting away with blatantly pulling Gant off the bag in this game was by far the best.

(And a note on the above, Hrbek once said that when he was done with baseball, he wanted to go into wrestling, using the stage name T-Rex. That was the reference there. Cause he did a wrestling move to pull Gant off the bag. Get it?)

Bottom 3 – Braves 1, Twins 2.

They’re still on the Hrbek/Gant play (rightfully so, really). They pulled in another umpire to analyze the horseshit call on the play, and he’s somehow defending it! That analysis was probably more embarrassing than the original call. Then they asked Tommy Lasorda (for some reason), and he said it was a bad call, but suggested that the umpire – who was standing one foot away from the play – “didn’t have a good view.” I love guest analysts. Another bonus is that McCarver just said “wrestling” like everybody from my parents’ hometown – “wrassling.” That was pleasant.

Oh, while all that was going on…

Gladden strikes out swinging. One out.

Knoblauch grounds to second. Two outs.

Puckett strikes out swinging. Three outs.

Top 4 – Braves 1, Twins 2.

Gant threw his glove and knocked over the Gatorade bucket after going back to the dugout. They’re really not going to let up are they? I suppose it makes sense. I asked a question like this for the last game, but imagine if that terrible call happened today. The internet would explode. Gant’s body would have the Crying Jordan head. People would photoshop the umpire into shots showing him making other terrible calls. Hrbek running off the field would be split-screened with the #TeaLizard. Twitter would probably cease to exist (assuming there is enough of a large enough audience that both watches baseball and uses Twitter).

Justice lines out to left. One out.

Bream flies out to left. Two outs.

Damn, that was a really, really good catch by the Gladdenmullet. He ran probably 35 yards (I know this because you can still see the NFL hashlines on the field), then slid on a knee while catching it a foot off the ground. The two best parts of that catch were 1) Gladden losing his hat so you can see the Gladdenmullet in all its glory and 2) Gladdenmullet casually looking up at the scoreboard to see the replay, but totally pretending he wasn’t.

Hunter grounds to third. Three outs.

Bottom 4 – Braves 1, Twins 2.

Davis grounds to second. One out.

Lemke made a tough play up the middle, then almost pulled Bream off the base. But he still got Chili by like two steps because Chili was not a fast man.

They show Glavine throwing a circle change. So all the Twins throw forkballs and all the Braves throw circle changes? Is that what’s happening?

Harper grounds to third. Two outs.

Mack strikes out looking. Three outs.

Guys, Glavine is looking really good now, after that bad first inning. The Twins’ only hit through four is Davis’ home run. It’s like Glavine’s a future hall of famer or something.

Top 5 – Braves 1, Twins 2.

Olson doubles to left center.

That was perfectly placed between Puckett and Gladdenstache. It was in the air long enough, too, that I feel like someone should have caught it.

Lemke grounds to second, Olson to third. One out.

The light-hitting Rafael Belliard is up. McCarver is talking about a suicide squeeze. The infield is in. Belliard’s going to double, isn’t he?

Belliard flies to right, Olson scores. Two outs. Braves 2, Twins 2.

Ok, not quite. A fly ball of perfectly reasonable depth. With a catcher running, that should have been easy for Mack to throw Olson out. And yet Mack threw the ball 10 feet up the third base line. Olson lowered his shoulder and tried to knock Harper over, too, even though Harper didn’t have the ball and wasn’t by home plate. Think the Braves might have been bitter about the Gladdenstache play from Game 1.

Smith flies to right. Three outs.

Bottom 5 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

Hrbek lines to right. One out.

Hrbek hit that right on the screws. It just went right at Justice.

Leius flies to center. Two outs.

Glavine has retired 10 in a row. I know this because Jack Buck keeps updating us on every out.

Verne Gagne, wrestler

Greg Gagne, wrestler

Oh my god, he just called Greg Gagne “Vern Gagne.” Verne was a wrestler from Minnesota who pronounced his last name differently than Greg’s (GAG-ne vs. GONE-yay).Verne had a son named Greg, who also pronounced his name differently than the Twins player. That was an awesome mistake, Jack Buck!

Gagne strikes out swinging. Three outs.

Top 6 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

Pendleton singles to left.

Gant’s up for the first time since his … incident with Hrbek. I wonder how many ways he’s considering killing Drew Coble. I hope he’s thinking about that instead of thinking about hitting Kevin Tapani. (I don’t assume Ron Gant is/was a violent person. I just know he had every right to be pissed off about that play.)

Spitball update, I don’t think Tapani was throwing spitters. If he was, he was much better at hiding it than Morris was.

Gant flies to center. One out.

Seven-pitch at bat from Gant there. And it ends with him swinging one-handed on a ball a foot off the

ground. So it goes.

They just showed Ron Berenguer in the Braves’ dugout. He’s a former Twins reliever, and he still lives here. I saw him at Canterbury Park once with a blond on each arm. He did retirement right, apparently.

Justice grounds into a fielders choice, Pendleton out, first to short. Two outs.

Justice probably hit that too softly for the Twins to get a double play out of it, but Pendleton made damn sure there wouldn’t be a throw by taking out Gagne. Perfectly clean and legal slide, though.

Bream grounds to second. Three outs.

Bottom 6 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

Tim McCarver just said that Dan Gladden “accordioned” a .305 average in the middle part of the season. I don’t know what to say about that.

Gladden grounds to second. One out.

Lemke really bagpiped that throw to first. (I don’t know).

Knoblauch grounds to third. Two outs.

Puckett grounds to short. Three outs.

Top 7 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

It always bugged me the way Pat O’Brien said “MetrOdome.” Huge stress on the “o.” He’s asking the commissioner about shortening the baseball season, and Fay Vincent somehow called the longer season “dangerous.” I’m not sure what’s happening any more. Maybe it’s the stress of the game.

Also, the umpire who was sitting next to Fay Vincent said the Hrbek/Gant play was called correctly, according to Pat O’Brien. So.

Hunter strikes out swinging. One out.

Olson grounds to short. Two outs.

Lemke flies to left. Three outs.

Tom Glavine has only given up one hit and has retired 14 batters in a row, and this game is only tied, because Kevin Tapani has been almost as good. Baseball rarely makes sense, which is why it’s awesome.

Bottom 7 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

Davis grounds to third. One out.

Tim McCarver just described Brain Harper as “hard to walk,” as if that’s a positive trait for a baseball player. Oh, 1991.

Harper singles to center.

Hey! A hit! It’s the Twins’ second hit. And it ends Glavine’s streak of 15 batters retired in a row. We got something happening now.

Game tied in the 7^th, runner on base, Mack fouling off two-strike pitches… this is getting good.

Mack strikes out swinging. Two outs.

After that fighting, Glavine makes Mack swing at a pitch that probably would have hit a left-handed batter in the leg. Time for Hrbek to come through.

Both of the Braves middle infielders are playing Hrbek in the outfield. A slow batter plus a super-fast turf – yah, that makes sense.

Hrbek strikes out looking. Three outs.

Oh well. Harper’s hit must’ve made Glavine mad.

This game has been really good. Related, I might be slightly nervous about a game that happened 25 years ago.

Top 8 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

Belliard singles to third.

Belliard drops the two-strike bunt down the third-base line. Because there was two outs, Leius was back, so he had no prayer on it. That took some balls, man.

Smith sacrifices to first, second covering, Belliard to second.

I bet advanced-stats people would have a field day about the leadoff hitter bunting Belliard over there, but I don’t hate that decision. It added 3% to the Twins’ chances of winning, but now there’s a runner on second with Pendleton and Gant coming up, and Belliard is fast enough to score on a single. I don’t mind bunts in close games when it’s late. Only takes one mistake now to take the lead.

Mark Guthrie (L) and Steve Bedrosian (R) warming up for the Twins. My guess is that Kelly wanted Guthrie ready for Justice, and then Bedrosian for Bream. Depending on what Pendleton does here, that is. If Pendleton gives the Braves the lead, it’s bye-bye Tapani.

Pendleton singles to first, Belliard to third.

Hrbek was playing back on that one, and his flip to Tapani was just barely late. Pendleton slid feet-first for some reason (and, it turns out, he hurt himself doing so, an injury we'll notice later in the series), but got bailed out because Tapani couldn’t get the footwork quite right and stutter-stepped before stepping on the base.

Now it’s first and third, one out, with Gant up, and Kelly is leaving Tapani in. Kinda surprising, although Kelly was always one to trust his starters. Maybe he shouldn’t have, as Tapani almost hits Gant in the chest. Jesus, Bedrosian is ready, isn’t he!?!? I’m genuinely nervous right now.

Gant pops to catcher. Two outs.

What a great play by Harper. He caught the ball right on the edge of the wall behind the plate, then sprinted back to the infield to prevent the Braves from playing some kind of baserunning game with two outs. Because he ran instead of throwing, nobody advanced. If he had tried to throw out Pendleton, Belliard might have been able to score.

Also, why the hell is Tapani pitching to Justice now? I know Guthrie is ready, he’s been warming up for like 10 minutes. Let me check the splits. Justice’s batting average was about the same vs. lefties and righties, but he drew far fewer walks and had a bit less power. Tapani, on the other hand, was actually quite a bit better against lefties than against righties. Interesting. Still, I’d rather have a fresh pitcher in there than a guy struggling through the eighth.

(Say it with me, Tim – Tom Kelly won two World Series for a reason).

Justice flies to left. Three outs.

Holy cow. Time to breathe. If only for a moment. It’s amazing that Tapani got out of that inning.

Bottom 8 – Braves 2, Twins 2.

Leius homers to left. 3-2 Twins.

SCOTT LEIUS! Wow what a shot. What a sequence of three batters for the Twins! To get out of that jam in the top of the inning, then homer on the first pitch of the next inning … incredible.

Glavine looks like he’s about to throw up. I don’t blame him. He was pitching an incredible game, probably thought his team was going to take the lead last inning, and then that. The Twins rookie third baseman, who hit five home runs all year, parks it.

Imagine being Scott Leius, knowing what we know now. He already had that home run to live off and tell his kids and grandkids about. But to be able to tell them he hit a go-ahead home run off Tom Glavine in the World Series? Just amazing.

The Dome is going crazy right now. Somebody (looked like Pendleton) was just talking to Glavine and had to go right up to his ear. They still probably didn’t hear each other.

Also, I replayed the home run, only with the Twins radio call instead of TV. Herb’s call was nothing special, but I could hear the background better: The Star Wars theme, then Fred Flintstone saying “Yabba Dabba Do,” then “Shout.” Glad the Metrodome was caught up on pop culture in 1991.

Gagne singles to center.

Everybody in a Braves uniform is taking turns talking to Glavine right now to calm him down. It 

doesn’t seem to be working. Meanwhile, CBS keeps showing Leius’ home run over and over again. They can’t show it enough in my mind.

Aguilera warming for the Twins for the ninth. He’s not throwing spitters in the bullpen. He must save those for the game.

Gladden flies to center. One out.

Gagne to second on a balk.

Glavine agreed with the call. He buckled his knees and was nodding almost sarcastically, but he looked pissed at himself rather than the umpire. Think he was flustered by the home run he just gave up?

Knoblauch grounds to second, Gagne to third. Two outs.

Kirby’s up now. He hasn’t done anything in this series so far – he’s 0-for-7, and looked flat out bad on many of his at bats. Hopefully he can take advantage of Glavine’s nerves.

Puckett grounds to short. Three outs.

Oof. So close. Belliard made a great play to get over there to prevent another run.

Top 9 – Braves 2, Twins 3.

Rick Aguilera pitching.

It’s the top of the ninth, and we have our first pitching change. There have been no lineup changes at all, actually, which is very strange for a one-run game. It’s like these managers didn’t feel the need to make changes just to prove how smart they are. Write out the lineup and trust your players.

Bream strikes out swinging. One out.

Weak-ass swing by Bream there. Not that I’m complaining. Also, Aguilera doesn’t appear to be going to the belt and pants nearly as much in this game. Maybe I was seeing things last game.

Hunter singles to center.

Sheesh, another one-handed swing, and it was a stupid little blooper that fell in only because Puckett was deep in a “no doubles” defense. And now the tying run is on base and I’m nervous and baseball is stupid.

Olson strikes out looking. Two outs.

I always enjoy when a player (preferably a non-Twin) tries to duck underneath a pitch, as if bending way over will convince the umpire to call a ball.

Tommy Gregg hitting.

Gregg strikes out looking.

Aguilera was great that inning. The Twins pitchers have been great all series.

Scott Leius postgame: “Once it went over the fence, it was a good feeling.” Really, Scott? A game-winning home run in the World Series gives you a good feeling?

Kevin Tapani outpitched Tom Glavine in a World Series game, the Twins are up 2 games to 0, and baseball isn’t stupid after all. Next, the Twins will be in Atlanta for three games. Nothing bad could happen there, right?

Right? 

Reliving 1991 - Game 1: Did Jack Morris Throw Spitters?

It had been only four years since the Twins last appeared in the World Series, but there were only seven players left from the 1987 World Champions once the 1991 season started. In between, the Oakland Athletics dominated the American League, while the Twins fell from the top to the basement before retooling for the 1991 season.

The Twins' two biggest signings before 1991 were designated hitter Chili Davis, who would lead the team in home runs that year, and a certain graduate of St. Paul Highland Park high school who took the ball for Opening Day. Jack Morris ended up starting the All Star Game, Game 1 of the ALCS, and Game 1 of the World Series, becoming just the second pitcher to ever do that.

So without further ado, we go to Game 1. The boxscore and play-by-play are here, and the full game on YouTube is here.

.....................................................................

Top 1 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Jack Morris pitching.

Jack Morris is introduced as the classic hometown hero. After 14 seasons with the Tigers, he signed a free agent contract with the Twins before season to pitch in this exact game. Ok, not really. The Twins had finished in last place the year before and expectations were low. They needed some excitement going into the 1991 season, so they pulled the “bring back the hometown hero” routine that they like to do so much. This time, though, the hometown hero bit worked out perfectly.

Facing Morris to lead off the World Series is Lonnie Smith, who I learn is playing in his fourth World Series for his fourth different team. And he’s never lost a World Series, either. I wonder if that streak will continue.

Lonnie Smith lines to left. One out.

And on the first batter of the game, Dan Gladden buckles his knees while catching a ball he lost in the lights, showing that while the Metrodome gave the Twins a huge home-field advantage, it sucked to play there no matter what team you were on.

And mark it down: With one out in the top of the first, we have our first Tim McCarver mistake. He referred to Atlanta’s Brian Hunter as Brian Harper. Although I can accept that mistake. I do shit like that all the time. On the flip side, no one has ever paid me to talk.

Unrelated to that, I think Bobby Cox and Tom Kelly always looked old.

Jeff Treadway strikes out swinging, catcher to first. Two outs.

The first Atlanta hitter falls victim to Morris’ splitter. That pitch was often unhittable in this series.

Terry Pendleton grounds to short. Three outs.

Bottom 1 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Charlie Leibrandt pitching.

The 1991 Braves had Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery in their starting rotation, and who trots out for the start in Game 1? Charlie fucking Leibrandt. Thank you, Pittsburgh Pirates, for taking the Braves to seven games in the NLCS and forcing their fourth best pitcher to open the World Series.

CBS shows Brian Harper Hunter and says he’s making his second start all year in left field. Again, this is a World Series game. So thank you, Otis Nixon, for failing a drug test in September and getting suspended just in time for the playoffs.

Also, Tim McCarver has shown me how to throw a right-handed split-finger (Morris’ specialty) and a left-handed circle change (Leibrandt’s specialty). Tim McCarver is being helpful! I … I don’t know what to think right now.

Dan Gladden pops to first. One out.

Chuck Knoblauch singles to center.

Everybody forgets this because the end of his career featured the Dollar Dog Day Disaster, Steve Sax Disease, and beating his wife, but Knoblauch was so incredibly good for the Twins. He never had a bad year for them, and at his peak, he was the best second baseman in team history (and yes, I know Rod Carew played second base for the Twins).

And that brings up Kirby Puckett. Sigh. What memories. The bat wiggle. The high leg kick. (Swings at a pitch that bounced). Swinging at everything that looked like a baseball. (Swings at another pitch that bounced). Uh, Kirby? The World Series started, man. This ain’t batting practice.

Puckett strikes out swinging; Knoblauch steals second. Two outs.

Knoblauch stole that base because Leibrandt is almost impossibly slow to the plate when he’s pitching from the stretch. No pitcher would be allowed to be that slow today. You've gotta at least change up your rhythm a little.

Chili Davis grounds to pitcher. Three outs.

As they go to commercial, CBS shows a woman in the crowd who already looks stressed out and like she’s in physical pain. Clearly she’s going to die before the series is over.

Top 2 – Braves 0, Twins 0

David Justice flies to left. One out.

If this series were happening today, Dan Gladden’s moustache and/or mullet would become a meme, or at least have its own Twitter account. They would be called Gladdenstache or Gladdenmullet, and that’s what how I will refer to him from now on. For example, on that Justice fly out, it looked like the Gladdenstache invented the “not impressed” face.

Ron Gant singles to right.

I feel bad for Gant, because he’s going to be prominently involved in many of the bad moments for Atlanta in this series. This time, though, he gets a single that Knoblauch made a mess out of. It probably should have been an error, except that he butchered it so badly that he never even touched it.

Sid Bream flies to left. Two outs.

The Gladdenmullet has three putouts already.

Brian Hunter grounds to pitcher. Three outs.

Bottom 2 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Brian Harper doubles to right.

Brian Harper also had a great mullet. Here, Brian Harper’s mullet rips one the other way into the right field corner.

Shane Mack lines into a double play to short, Harper out, short to second. Two outs.

Fun fact number 1, Shane Mack was worth more WAR than Kirby Puckett in 1991. Fun fact number 2, that double play was the second-most important play of this game based on win probability added.

Kent Hrbek grounds to second. Three outs.

Top 3 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Greg Olson singles to center.

Hey – Greg Olson’s from Edina, Minnesota! The announcers are all over this, too: Olson went pheasant hunting last night! He drove to work on the icy roads today! Jack Buck is saying these things like it’s particularly amazing, and all the Minnesotans watching were like “well, yah, of course he went pheasant hunting. They’re in season.”

Also, after this single, the Braves have a 54% chance to win the game. Spoiler alert, that’s the highest that number will get tonight.

Rafael Belliard sacrifices to pitcher, unassisted, Olson to second. One out.

Smith grounds to third, Olson to third. Two outs.

Nice play by Scott Leius and his mullet. But we have our first runner on third in the series.

Treadway strikes out swinging, catcher to first. Three outs.

Again, Morris gets bailed out by his splitter. The Braves have no clue what to do with that thing.

Bottom 3 – Braves 0, Twins 0

Scott Leius grounds to first, unassisted. One out.

Hey, let’s randomly put Vin Scully on camera to talk about the 1955 World Series between two teams that are not playing tonight, and have him not actually give any new information. Great idea!

(I mean, come on. I love reading about the Brooklyn Dodgers, and 1955 was their high-water mark, but that was a meaningless interruption).

Greg Gagne strikes out swinging. Two outs.

Despite my skepticism, Leibrandt looks pretty good so far. The only memory I have of him from this series is throwing a terrible pitch to Kirby Puckett in Game 6 (spoiler alert) and walking off the field trying to hide in his elbow, so it’s mildly surprising he’s competent.

Gladden walks.

Gladden steals second.

Shocking. One pitch after a pitchout, (and two cursory throws to first), Gladden steals second because of Leibrandt’s slow-ass delivery. The announcers keep saying Leibrandt led the NL in pickoffs this year, and that’s great, but it’s clear the Twins do not fear his pickoff move in any way. Maybe pick up the speed a little bit so your catcher has a fighting chance to throw these guys out (No, I don’t know why I’m giving the Braves advice).

Great, now Tim McCarver is telling us that Tom Kelly has a stopwatch he uses to time pitchers, and he uses it on “every single pitch,” as if this is a stunningly new strategy that nobody has tried before.

(Wait, this series is 25 years old. Managers had used stopwatches before then, right? It’s not like stopwatches were a new invention in 1991. Was Tom Kelly a trailblazer? I suddenly don’t trust anything.)

Knoblauch singles to right, Gladden scores; Knoblauch out, right to first to short. 1-0 Twins. Three outs.

Twins lead! Knoblauch singles again, and the Gladdenstache scores easily because Leibrandt can’t hold a runner. The Gladdenstache was practically halfway to third when the pitch was thrown. Knoblauch got in a rundown to make sure the throw didn’t make it to the plate, but I think Gladdenstache would have scored easily regardless.

Top 4 – Braves 0, Twins 1

Pendleton grounds to pitcher. One out.

Great, Morris took a grounder off his throwing shoulder. That could have ended badly. I’m sure I didn’t handle that replay very well in 1991. Clearly everything worked out OK, though.

Jack Buck is now telling us that the Twins’ run last inning was the first against the Braves in the last 24 postseason innings. Of course, only three of those innings were pitched by Leibrandt, so it doesn’t really count.

(No, I don’t know why I’m ripping Charlie Leibrandt so much).

Justice walks.

Gant flies to center. Two outs.

Whew. Kirby and the Gladdenmullet almost ran into each other there. That one sounded really good off the bat, but it died on the track. Gant looked back over his shoulder at Puckett after that catch, probably in disbelief that it didn’t go farther. It is not the last time he will look over his shoulder in disbelief in this series.

Bream flies to left. Three outs.

Gladdenstache is covering a hell of a lot of ground in this game already. He’s caught balls on the leftfield line and in shallow left center.

Bottom 4 – Braves 0, Twins 1

McCarver says Puckett is hitting .406 against lefties this year. He’s foreshadowing to Game 6 again. Although he doesn’t know he’s foreshadowing here. OR DOES HE.

Once McCarver got done saying the .406 average against lefties thing, this is a summary of the rest of Puckett’s at bat.

1. Foul ball.
2. McCarver says, “He’d rather bite the head off a rattlesnake than let you swing at a strike.” (I’m assuming he means Leibrandt here).
3. Foul ball.
4. McCarver says, “It’s like being smothered by a feather pillow.” (As opposed to being smothered by a rattlesnake?)

It’s the fourth inning, and I don’t know what’s happening anymore.

Puckett strikes out swinging. One out.

I’m happy about this strike out only because it means McCarver will hopefully stop saying home-spun southern phrases disguised as baseball analysis.

Davis lines to third. Two outs.

Harper’s up. McCarver almost gives us analytics-based analysis by saying Harper puts the ball in play 91% of his at bats. But he doesn’t quite make it all the way and give us his BABIP (which is a very average .306).

Harper singles to right.

Mack flies to right. Three outs.

Top 5 – Braves 0, Twins 1

Now we’re introduced to CBS’ “Inside Pitch”, which tracks pitches just like MLB’s Gamecast, but with 1991 computer graphics. It’s actually quite advanced for its time. Bravo, CBS.

Hunter flies to left. One out.

Jack Buck says that this Atlanta pitching staff will be heard from over the next few years, because “they might get some help from Pete Smith next year.” That’s almost a perfect prediction, except exchange “Pete Smith” for “Greg Fucking Maddux.”

Olson walks.

Belliard grounds into a double play, short to first, Olson out at second. Three outs.

Bottom 5 – Braves 0, Twins 1

Hrbek doubles to right.

That’s the pride of Bloomington Kennedy High school right there. (That’s where my kids will go to high school, in case you were wondering). (Also, Kent Hrbek is incredibly awesome).

Leius singles to left, Hrbek to third

I love this at bat. Leius spent three pitches trying to bunt Hrbek to third, then just said “screw it” and singled to left. Also, Hrbek absolutely should have scored on that play, but Gardy (yep, that one) held him up. Luckily, that didn’t matter, because…

Gagne homers to left, Hrbek and Leius score. 4-0 Twins.

Yep, that’s right. The biggest hit of a World Series game was struck by a shortstop who looks like he wears pants with a size 26 waste. That’s why I love baseball.

That’s the first postseason home run ever given up by Charlie Leibrandt. And with that, he goes to the showers, presumably to bite the head off a rattlesnake.

Jim Clancy pitching.

Gladden to first on error by second.

I like how they spent four innings telling us that Treadway is the better hitting of the Braves’ second base combination, as if preparing us for that horrendous error. Also, if that error was the reason that Mark Lemke played second base most of the series, than screw that error.

Knoblauch walks, Gladden to second.

Puckett flies to center, Gladden to third. One out.

Puckett swung at the first pitch, because he didn’t know what “take a pitch” meant. Sometimes I wonder how the man ever drew a walk in his life.

Random thing I forgot: Chili Davis had really different stances depending on whether he was batting righty or lefty. I wonder how common that is.

Knoblauch steals second.

The Twins tried the play that all little league teams do with runners on the corners. Olson handled it right by looking Gladden back to third, but he couldn’t quite get Knoblauch at second, mostly because of his great slide. He grabbed the extreme back corner of the base to avoid the tag. Let another good play by Knoblauch.

Davis walks intentionally.

McCarver makes a (gasp!) good point – why walk Davis on a 3-2 count? Why not at least throw a slider out of the zone, see if he’ll chase? But, Cox decides instead to pitch to Harper, who is 2-for-2 today.

Harper lines to left, Gladden out, left to third to catcher. Three outs.

And here’s the famous play where Gladdenstache knocked Olson over and Olson did a headstand. 

That headstand got Olson on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And that was pretty dirty on Gladdenstache’s part – he went out of his way to kick Olson in the knee. Pretty weak.

But really, Gladdenstache should have easily scored on that play. Hunter caught that ball away from the infield and toward the foul line. Gladdenstache should have scored without a throw. Bad job of tagging up.

Top 6 – Braves 0, Twins 4

I know the Twins are up 4-0 (and – spoiler alert – this game is pretty much done folks), but I wonder what kind of effect that inning had on them the rest of the series. Sure they got three runs, but they also had runners on first and second, nobody out, and the 3-4-5 hitters coming up. Later, they had bases loaded and one out. They didn’t score either time. Again, it won’t matter for this game, but I wonder if it had an effect their confidence the rest of the series. They could have buried the Braves in that fifth inning, and they just didn’t do it. (Of course, the Braves started their fourth-best pitcher in Game 1, so that also may have had something to do with it). Anyway…

Smith grounds to second. One out.

Treadway singles to center.

Pendleton flies to second. Two outs.

Justice singles to center, Treadway to second.

That’s the first time all game the Braves put two runners on base.

Gant singles to left, Treadway scores; Justice to third, Gant to second on error by left. 4-1 Twins.

Hey, here’s an example Jack Morris’ very own hall-of-fame case! Kind of! Morris has said that people should ignore his (kinda poor) ERA and other (below average) stats because he often let up in games where his team had a big lead, thus making his numbers look worse than they were. Of course, breaking his pitching down by situation or inning quickly debunks that theory. (Go ahead, look. Maybe you’ll see something I’m not). If anything, if that was his game plan, why not bury the Braves here? Why “let up” and let them get one back?

Bream strikes out looking. Three outs.

That being said, when he needed a clutch pitch this series, he always found that pitch. That was a great one.

Bottom 6 – Braves 1, Twins 4

Mack grounds to second. One out.

Hrbek’s up, and the Commissioner’s daughter just got hit in the top of the head by a foul popup. That sucks for her (though she was apparently all right), but it only happened because the Twins extended the seats behind first and third base for the World Series, because forget regular foul territory when you can fit an extra 100 people into the game, right? So instead of a foul popout, Hrbek gets only a strike. And then…

Hrbek homers to right. 5-1 Twins.

I guess the Twins knew what they were doing with those seats? I wonder how many times Hrbek hit home runs into the first or second row of the right field seats like that.

Mike Pagliarulo hitting.

Pagliarulo grounds to short. Two outs.

And now Greg Gagne is introduced as the Twins’ all time postseason home run leader, which is both depressing and amazing. At that exact moment, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth of Game 1, he had 4 career postseason home runs, and Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Kirby Puckett, Gary Gaetti, and Kent Hrbek all had 3 (counting Hrbek’s from like two minutes before). Now that I think about it more, that’s amazing. I’m not even mad. It’s impressive.

Gagne grounds to short. Three outs.

Top 7 – Braves 1, Twins 5

Pagliarulo playing third.

Hunter grounds to short. One out.

Ok, I kinda noticed this earlier in the game, and now I can’t stop noticing it. After every single pitch Morris throws, before he gets the ball back from Harper, he touches the brim of his cap, then the back of his cap, then the brim again. Both spots, in that order, every single time. Was it just a nervous tick? Or was he lubing up the ball on every pitch? It’s hard to say. There’s a stain on the back of his hat, but that could easily be sweat. Did anybody accuse Morris of pitching a spitball before? I know he accused Clay Buchholz of throwing one a few years back. Did he always do that bill-back-bill routine? It’s curious.

Olson flies to third. Two outs.

Jeff Blauser hitting.

Blauser flies to left. Three outs.

Bottom 7 – Braves 1, Twins 5

Mark Wohlers pitching; Blauser playing short.

Hey, it’s 1995 World Series hero Mark Wohlers! Of course, in the universe of this game, 1995 hasn’t happened yet, so nobody knows that the Braves are going to dominate the 1990s, and nobody knows that Wohlers is going to be the closer on the best Braves team of that decade. Instead, in this game he’s a 21-year-old setup reliever.

And now Gladdenmullet leads off, and while doing so, he’s having a conversation with Olson. McCarver and Buck are wondering if he’s talking about the previous incident where Gladdenmullet spiked Olson. Honestly, they probably are. It was a bush league play. And I don’t think Gladdenmullet gave two shits that the Braves thought it was bush league. He didn’t when it happened, he didn’t during that conversation, and he doesn’t now, 25 years later. Gladdenmullet don’t care. Gladdenmullet don’t give a shit.

Gladden walks.

Gladden caught stealing, catcher to short. One out.

The replay shows he was actually safe on the play. If there were managers’ challenges in 1991, Kelly could have challenged that play, and he would have won. That being said, I hate replay reviews in baseball. Save them for football.

Knoblauch singles to short.

And that should have been an error on Blauser, either because of his inability to pick up the ball cleanly on the first bounce, or because of his piss-poor throw to first. Now McCarver says Blauser’s hurt and can’t throw. That’s remarkable, if true. Why exactly was he playing shortstop in the World Series?

Puckett grounds into a fielders choice, Knoblauch out, second to short. Two outs.

Knoblauch openly reached his hands for Blauser’s legs on that slide. He didn’t try to touch second base at all, although he could have reached it if he had tried. I don’t think that counts as dirty, though. He could have done far worse.

Also, that’s just another example of Knoblauch doing the little things right. He has had an outstanding game.

Davis strikes out. Three outs.

Top 8 – Braves 1, Twins 5

They’re talking about Jack Morris pitching another complete game, and how complete games are more common in the American League because pitchers don’t hit. Of course, this means Morris will walk the first two hitters.

Smith walks.

Treadway walks, Smith to second.

See? It’s almost like I had a play-by-play in front of me while watching this game.

Anyway, Morris is done. 7 innings pitched, 1 run, 2 runners left on base. That’s what you want and need from an ace in Game 1. Let the good bullpen clean it up. Morris gets a standing ovation and tips his (vasoline-covered) hat to the crowd.

Mark Guthrie pitching.

Pendleton grounds into a double play, second to short to first, Treadway out at second, Smith to third. Two outs.

Justice walks.

Rick Aguilera pitching.

Bringing in the closer in the 8^th inning. I like how you roll, TK. Bring in your best reliever in a tense situation, regardless of the inning. It’s like Kelly won two World Series for a reason.

Also, the Blue Jays hit .316 against Twins starters in the ALCS and .119 against Twins relievers. I knew the Twins bullpen was great that year, but holy crap. (Yes, yes, five games is too small a sample size, blah blah blah).

Aguilera also threw a splitter, like Morris. Every time HE threw a pitch in this game, he touched his shirt and then his belt on his right side, right on the hip. Is HE lubing up, too? Are ALL the Twins’ pitchers throwing spitters?

Gant singles to left, Smith scores, Justice to second. Twins 5-2.

STAT: The Braves are now hitting .500 against the Twins relievers in this series. That run was Morris’, though. But now Bream is the tying run.

Bream flies to center. Three outs.

Ah well. There goes the drama for today.

Bottom 8 – Braves 2, Twins 5

Mike Stanton pitching.

Because he played most of his career in the 90s for the Braves and the Yankees, Mike Stanton somehow pitched in 20 World Series games in his career, which is third all time. CBS does not provide us with this stat, because this was Stanton’s first World Series game. Either way, that’s a pretty nice career.

Harper grounds to third. One out.

Mack strikes out. Two outs.

Mack had a really good couple of seasons for the Twins in 1991 and 1992. He also had a really bad World Series in 1991. This 0-for-4 game is just the start of it.

Hrbek strikes out. Three outs.

There was no scenario where Hrbek was going to get a hit in that at bat. Stanton had him on a string. Clearly Kelly had a reason to often bat Hrbek 7^th against lefties.

Top 9 – Braves 2, Twins 5

Every pitch, Aguilera’s at the belt. Were the Twins cheaters? (If they were, I couldn’t possibly care less. They won the World Series, and it was awesome, so who cares of some of their pitches were a little slippery?)

Hunter lines to short. One out.

Olson grounds to short. Two outs.

Blauser flies to left. Three outs.

And that’s that. Twins win 5-2.

Postgame interviews are Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek. Greg Gagne has the most Boston accent ever, and I’m really disappointed I didn’t remember that until just now. Hrbek doesn’t sound too Minnesotan to me, but I could be biased because I hear Minnesotans talk every day. Speaking of which, if you ever want to meet Kent Hrbek, just go to a Twins game and go to Hrbie’s bar. He actually shows up there to drink and shoot the shit.

Anyway, there will only be one other game in this series that is decided by more than 1 run. Even in this one, the Braves had the tying run up in the 8^th inning. It was a good game, but not great, but if this is the second-worst game of a World Series, that’s a pretty damn good World Series.