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1979 Regular Season
Amazingly, at the halfway point we had a 46-35 record, good enough for a 1/2 game lead on Minnesota. We were paced by Paul Molitor, who was hitting a blistering .407 midway, and Ruppert Jones (.323, 1.046 OPS, 22 HR's, 75 RBI's).
A July trade brought Andre Thornton over to provide some more pop at first base. He helped considerably but the team went relatively cold in July going 13-14 while Minnesota (21-7) and Kansas City (20-7) got red hot. We never got close to the lead again and, despite a 95-67 record, we finished 6 games back of Minnesota who won 101 games.
Paul Molitor (.347) slumped in September and lost the batting title to Rod Carew (.354). Rupert Jones had a fantastic season and barely lost the MVP.
Here's how our hitters fared.
C: Bob Stinson - .232/.318/.665,10 HR's, 38 RBI's
1B: Andre Thornton - .272/.383/.906, 12 HR's, 45 RBI's (53 games)
2B: Paul Molitor - .347/.390/.894, 13 HR's, 86 RBI's
3B: Steve Braun - .249/.359/.709, 5 HR's, 57 RBI's
SS: Larry Milbourne - .269/.314/.667, 3 HR's, 52 RBI's
LF: Dave Collins - .281/.342/.714, 3 HR's, 54 RBI's
CF: Ruppert Jones - .313/.396/.983, 38 HR's, 135 RBI's
RF: Dave Winfield - .266/.322/.778, 19 HR's, 93 RBI's (missed 6 weeks)
DH: Bill Buckner - .306/.332/.791, 18 HR's, 102 RBI's
So, one free agent pickup Winfield provided some "pop" to our lineup despite missing 6 weeks. The other free agent, Don Gullet ended up 14-14, not quite earning his big free agent contract. My other starters did well enough - Bob Shirley (13-8, 4.48), Fergie Jenkins (13-9, 5.03) and Phil Niekro (7-6, 4.22) before he was traded to San Diego for Thornton. A pleasant surprise was 5th starter Wayne Twitchell who posted a 17-6 record (4.35 ERA) to lead the team in wins. Overall, the pitching staff was a pleasant surprise, ending near the top of the AL in most pitching categories.
Despite the positive signs, a second place finish is equivalent to being the first loser.
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