BeenHazy

Skipping back a couple of places in the thread (and 119 years) to the only other player with 4 HR in a loss, Big Ed Delahanty.

Mays/Blackburn/Duensing/Diamond/Pelfrey can induce weak contact, FIP be damned! Followed by Ebola > Mays/Blackburn/Duensing...

Hunter had the career of a HOFer in his 30s, it just took him too long to reach his full potential at the plate. It's like he and Jones switched bodies in 2007. Jones' 20's plus Hunter's 30's = HOFer.

It's too bad that MLB rules don't permit TR to make draft pick trades with Cleveland.

http://cdn2.streamable.com/video/749d496018f411e58418af48a908340b.webm

I don't recall much about McCarty's debut either, but I do remember the hype around Willie Banks. Banks was the 3rd overall pick in 1987, and was followed as closely as any Twins prospect before Joe Mauer and the internet. He was BA's #13 prospect pre-1990 and #15 pre-1991. The weakest part of the 1991 juggernaut was, by far, the back of the rotation after Morris, Erickson, and Tapani. Mark Guthrie was removed from the rotation with a 5.66 ERA at the end of June, and Alan Anderson was relegated to the bullpen after a pair of terrible starts before the All-Star break and demoted to Portland before the end of July. Paul Abbot and rookie Denny Neagle failed to establish themselves, and David West was looking shaky. Meanwhile, Banks recovered from a poor first go with the Beavers to win 7 consecutive starts and got the call. When Banks was eased into the Majors with a couple of mop-up innings July 31 at Yankee Stadium (the good kind of mop-up thanks to a Hrbek grand slam, two Mack dingers and another from Chili Davis), the Twins' lead had shrunk from 5.5 to 3 games in the face of a 10-2 surge by the White Sox and an 8-1 run by the 3-time defending AL champion A's. It was looking as though three good starters wouldn't be enough to see the Twins to the pennant. Banks was inserted into the rotation for an August 7 start at the Big A (road trips in those days were sometimes bi-costal). He was staked to a 2 run lead with another Chili bomb in the top of the 1st. The Angels immediately cut the lead to one with back-to-back-to-back singles, bringing up the still very dangerous Dave Winfield. Banks got the future HOFer to ground one to first, then struck out Dave Parker and Gary Gaetti on a combined 7 pitches to strand two in scoring position. Banks recorded at least one strikeout in each of his six innings that night, and after the first faced more than four batters only in the 5th, when Wally Joyner tagged him for a 2-out, 2-run double. He struck out Winfield to end that threat. Final line: 3 runs on 6 hits with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. I can't find any contemporary local accounts of Banks' first Metrodome start like Reusse did with McCarty, but I remember the anticipation and I'm sure that it was a bigger deal. Banks got a rematch with the Angels under the Teflon on August 13. The lead was down to 2 games over the still-hot ChiSox with the A's looming right behind. Banks was a highly-touted rookie who was also seen as a potential savior in a pennant race. He was 1-0, 3.38 with 11Ks in 8 innings. 41,354 fans were at that Tuesday night game, compared to 26,242 the next night and 31,880 on Thursday to see the last-place Halos. The following midweek series against the competitive Mariners drew in the low to mid 30,000s, so I think it's fair to conclude that around 10,000 folks came just to see Willie. How did he do? Let's just say that the Minnesota faithful were introduced to the real Willie Banks.

Ooooh...the wiki! Or at least some of it.

I lurk about from time to time. I think I created an account here under Killebrew, but I can't access it. I can confirm that my email is in the system, but when I go through the on-site recovery process to send information to that email address I get nothing. The Wayback Machine has bits and pieces... TROLPO Drunken ass rambling Haven't been able to locate "this should get the ban". I'll probably get kicked off this ferryboat just for linking to such irresponsible and shocking material.