#10---CLE @ SEA, 3/31/1998

By March of the next year, I had recovered from the trauma of Game 7 and was ready for the start of another season, armed with a brand new scoresheet. The scoresheet that I began using then, and the general method used, are the same ones that I use today (of course, there have been changes along the way, but you can clearly see that they are related).

The scoresheet itself is simple: a 9x9 gird, with no columns for recording box score-like stats, and a space for recording who the pitchers were at the bottom of the page. Pitches are marked on the side of the boxes: balls on the left, strikes on the right, and two strike fouls on the top. Here, I used circled numbers, so the first pitch is (1), the second pitch is (2), etc. The lower right corner of the box represents first base, and the other bases follow in counter-clockwise order. Outs are marked with a solid dot in the box of the man put out. Runner advancement is noted by the batting order number of the responsible batter, boxed in this case. The special case is a run scored, which was enclosed in a triangle. RBI are marked with open circles.

The pitcher box lists the pitchers, with their entry in the game marked with a code like “1-5”, which means that the first batter faced was the man in the #1 position in the order in the fifth inning.

Again, the score is not recorded anywhere on the sheet, which is a serious flaw. The game was actually pretty interesting--the Indians won 10-9 with a four run eighth inning. Cleveland was so terrified of facing Randy Johnson that they held David Justice and Jim Thome out of the lineup, leaving Shawon Dunston (DHing and batting third!) and Jeff Manto in the lineup. Once Johnson was removed, Justice and Thome pinch hit. Dunston was 0-3, but Manto helped chase Johnson with a RBI single in the sixth. Jose Mesa, making his first appearance since blowing game seven, gave the Indians a perfect seventh and eighth to earn the win.