#406---ATL @ WAS, 3/30/2008

This was the MLB season opener and the first game at Nationals Park. Washington got off to a good start, with two-out RBI hits from Nick Johnson and Austin Kearns giving them a 2-0 lead off Tim Hudson. That was literally all they would get off Hudson as he retired the last nineteen batters he faced, leaving the game after just 78 pitches through seven.

Chipper Jones’ homer cut it to 2-1 in the fourth, but the Braves managed little offense with just two baserunners in the fifth through the eighth. Facing Jon Rauch with one out in the ninth, Mark Teixeira doubled, advanced to third on Jeff Francoeur’s groundout, and scored the tying run on a Paul LoDuca passed ball on the first pitch to Brian McCann. Meanwhile, Will Ohman had a 1-2-3 eighth and Peter Moylan set down the first two Nats in the ninth, running Atlanta’s streak to twenty-four retired. But Ryan Zimmerman ended that and the game with a homer to centerfield.

#405---NYA @ BOS, 4/22/2007

All eyes immediately jump to the bottom of the fourth, where Jarret Wright induced six consecutive flyballs. The first two were secured by Bobby Abreu and Melky Cabrera; the next four, hit by Manny Ramirez, JD Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek, were over the fence. My note says that at the time this was the fifth occurrence of four straight homers, with JD Drew having hit the second homer in one of the other skeins. 

Despite that, the Yankees held a 5-4 lead entering the seventh until Mike Lowell hit a three-run dinger off Scott Proctor. Boston held on for a 7-6 win. One oddity was Andy Pettitte’s sixth-inning relief appearance – not sure what the story was there as he was a rotation stalwart in 2007, leading the league with 34 starts.

#404---CLE @ CHA, 4/2/2006

I believe this is the only time the Indians were ever given the privilege of participating in the first MLB game of the season, a Sunday Night affair at the defending world champion White Sox and the opening salvo in what was expected to be a season-long divisional race. The game and the season both turned out to be disappointing (both for the Tribe, the latter for the ChiSox). 

Chicago started getting to CC Sabathia in the bottom of the third; they had scored two runs and had a runner at first with one out when Sabathia had to leave due to an injury after delivering a strike to Jim Thome. Danny Graves, a former top prospect for Cleveland making his return as a veteran bullpen piece, would allow another run and wriggle out of a bases loaded jam. The Tribe answered back in the fourth with a three-run shot from Eduardo Perez, but the game was delayed by rain in the middle of the fourth for nearly three hours. When it finally resumed, Jim Thome answered with a three-run shot off Fernando Cabrera and Chicago put up third straight three-spot in the fifth, cruising to a 10-4 win. The game finally ended at 2:13 Eastern time.

#403---CHN @ SD, 6/4/2005

For this game I used a scoresheet that incorporates some of the concepts of Reisner Scorekeeping, but maintaining a 9x9 grid and eschewing the use of diamonds. Each line in the scorebox labeled 1, 2, 3 is to note the lineup slot of the runner on the respective base and what happens to them during the course of the plate appearance. For example, looking at Jerry Hairston’s box in the top of the fourth, the #8 hitter was on second base and the #7 hitter was on third. Hairston singled, advancing the runner from second to third (-->3) and the runner from third to score (-->H). The boxed X indicates a run scored. 

As for the game, the visitors got seven in the fifth to roll to a 11-5 win credited to Greg Maddux. Maddux had yielded just an unearned run through five, but Brian Giles singled and Phil Nevin homered to leadoff the sixth. Maddux completed that frame and then was pulled having allowed three runs on eight hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. 

An interesting side note is that I posted this scoresheet to my old Baseball Scoresheets site circa about 2005 and didn’t really think about it again for fifteen years. Then one day I happened to see it being used by a poster on the BaseballScorecards subreddit. Sometimes people actually stumble across your obscure vanity sites. Someone may some day even stumble across this post. 

#402---DET @ CLE, 3/13/2004

The Tribe led this spring training game 2-1 on Casey Blake’s homer, then put together a three-run rally with two outs in the sixth against a bunch of Tigers pitchers that I would have to google to identify. 

#401---CLE @ DET, 3/1/2003

 

There were a lot of runs in this early spring training game, with the Indians getting three-run homers from Travis Hafner and Jhonny Peralta to power a 13-8 win. Their third base coach must have been easing into the season as well as they had two consecutive runners nailed at the plate in the fourth. Some fun names show up here (Eugene Kingsale and Hiram Bocachica), but Steve Avery’s sad comeback attempt with his hometown team is also on display (although he did make nineteen appearances out of the pen in the regular season to close his MLB career after not having appeared in any of the previous three seasons).

#400---CLE @ ANA, 3/31/2002

No one knew it at the time, but this was Opening Day for the Angels’ World Championship season. It did not get off to a fine start as they were whitewashed 6-0 by Bartolo Colon. Cleveland got more than enough runs, jumping Jarrod Washburn for four in the first. Colon was brilliant, going the distance on just 98 pitches, allowing five hits and two walks while fanning five

#399---BAL @ CLE, 4/6/2001

The Orioles got to Dave Burba for three in the third, while through four the Indians had just two baserunners against Jose Mercedes. They scratched home a run in the fifth, then tied it in the sixth on back-to-back homers from Juan Gonzalez and Jim Thome. Burba finished a solid outing (7 IP, 6 H, 1 W, 9 K, 108 pitches) working around a Brooks Fordyce double in the seventh. In the bottom of the inning, the Indians got four walks (including a pinch-hit walk from Marty Cordova in his Tribe debut) off Mercedes, BJ Ryan, and Calvin Maduro to take a 4-3 lead. Paul Shuey and Bob Wickman made that hold up, with the only blemish a two-out walk to David Segui in the eighth.

There was a eight minute fog delay between the fifth and sixth because what’s early April baseball without a weather delay?

#398---SEA @ ANA, 10/1/2000

I followed this game on whatever MLB had for a gametracker in 2000, using their scoresheet (and showing my devotion to ignoring Disney’s edict by crossing out “Anaheim” to write in “California”). The reason this game held such interest for me is that the Indians needed a Seattle loss to force a wildcard playoff. 

Things stared off well, with the Angels plating two off Aaron Sele in the first. But that’s all they would get, scattering just five hits and a walk the rest of the way off Sele, Arthur Rhoades, and Kaz Sasaki. A-Rod homered in the fourth, Mike Cameron doubled home the tying run in the fifth, and David Bell homered to give them the lead in the seventh. Raul Ibanez delivered a two-run double, and the Mariners secured the wildcard berth 5-2.

#397---CLE @ ANA, 4/6/1999

The Indians struck first on this Opening Day in Anaheim on Kenny Lofton’s triple and Omar Vizquel’s homer in the third. Anaheim got one in the third and  back-to-back solo shots from Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson in the fourth before Cleveland singled their way to three in the fifth. When the teams came back on the field for the sixth, Anaheim’s marquis free agent signing Mo Vaughn was out of the game with an inkle injury, putting a damper on things for the home crowd, but three straight Angel singles in the seventh made it 5-4 and drove Jaret Wright from the box, and Darin Erstad greeted Ricardo Rincon with a game-tying sac fly. Tim Salmon led off the bottom of the eighth with a hit off Steve Karsay, but was out when hit by Garret Anderson’s hit. But Troy Glaus doubled with two outs to give Anaheim the lead, and Troy Percival made quick work of the Tribe, needing just eight pitches to retire the heart of the order for the save in a 6-5 victory.