Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip: Second Half October
Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, October 16th, 2017
Welcome to the October 16th edition of the Daily Dip, your daily piece of news and notes here on Puckett’s Pond, offseason edition. You’ll find the most recent news of the Minnesota Twins organization, stories from around the game, and links to any information you may want to know about the Minnesota Twins or baseball as we work our way through the hot stove season!
Minnesota Twins Scores, News and Notes
- Video montage of the top 2017 Twins moments
- Bollinger breaks down Molitor’s contract extension
- Why Byron Buxton was the Twins MVP
Playoff games yesterday
Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Chicago Cubs 1
Justin Turner hit a 3-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Dodgers the victory and put them up 2 games to none. Rich Hill spun 5 excellent innings, allowing a solo home run among 3 hits and a walk, striking out 8. Brandon Morrow threw two perfect innings of relief with 2 strikeouts. Kenley Jansen closed out the game with a perfect inning of relief, striking out 2. Addison Russell had a solo home run for the Cubs. Turner had a single as well as his home run, driving in all four Dodger runs.
Game 3 of the series will shift to Chicago on Tuesday.
More from Puckett's Pond
- Minnesota Twins: Making the Case for the Current 2023 Rotation
- Minnesota Twins: Does the MLB or the Twins have a Spending Problem?
- Minnesota Twins: 2 Possible Free Agent Reunions for 2023
- Minnesota Twins: Holiday Wish List for the rest of the Offseason
- Minnesota Twins: After signing with the Mets, Correa spurns Twins again
Playoff games today
Houston Astros @ New York Yankees, 7:00PM CT
Starting Pitchers: Charlie Morton vs. CC Sabathia
Television: FS1
Series Standing: Astros lead 2-0
Notes from around baseball
- Los Angeles ball girls back to work after Vegas
- Turner’s walk-off fell on anniversary of Gibson’s big HR
- Fan catches Turner’s HR with ease
Next: Twins 2017 Review: Catchers
One Last Thing
Brian Harper celebrates his 58th birthday today. Interestingly, there’s another Harper who once was a catcher that has his same birthday, but he and Bryce are not related.
Brian is a good example of the type of team that the 1991 Twins truly were. While the 1987 club was primarily a home-grown team that had been put together through the minor league system and a few trades, the 1991 club featured a number of players brought in as free agents (Jack Morris, Chili Davis, Mike Pagliarulo, Carl Willis) or trades (Steve Bedrosian). A number of players were rookies on the 1991 team or in their first full season in the majors as well, so it was a very mish-mash group of experience and background that came together.
Harper originally was drafted by the Angels in 1977 in the 4th round. He played 5 games with the Angels in 1979 and 1981 before being moved to Pittsburgh, where he was the backup catcher for three seasons. He spent the next three years moving to a new team each season – 1985 Cardinals, 1986 Tigers, 1987 Athletics. He joined the Twins in 1988, and quickly he established his bat as an excellent gap hitter that could hit for average, handle a staff, and was tough as nails.
Over his time with the Twins, he played 730 games, hitting .306/.342/.431 with 48 home runs and a 111/128 BB/K ratio. After he left the Twins in 1994, he played with the Athletics in 1995, and he then became a coach, even playing a game at age 40 in 2000 with the Mariners AAA club in Tacoma.
Harper currently serves as the hitting coach of the Toledo Mud Hens, the Detroit Tigers’ AAA affiliate.
Happy birthday, Brian!