#57---COL @ CLE, 3/1/2009

Here I tried a similar approach to trace the diamond--trace a square. I did this just for the sake of experiment, not out of any particular affinity for the square as a means to trace the runner’s progress. I prefer open spaces to diamond diagrams anyway, and the square eliminates the aesthetic pluses of using a diamond.

As you can see, I marked reaching first base with the bottom line of the square, and went from there. You may also notice that some of the squares are more like rectangles, and wonder what the distinction is. The answer is that there is none; my artistic skills are so non-existent that even drawing a square can be a challenge. Of course, you could make a sheet with preprinted squares or dots mapping out the four corners if you wanted to make them look nice. But for me, this was just a one-time trial to mix things up.

#56---Dominican Republic v. Venezuela, 2/5/2009 (Caribbean Series)

For this game, I decided to attempt to trace baserunner progress with diamonds, despite not having any diamonds or dots pre-printed on the sheet. A lot of people do this all the time, but I’m not much of an artist (nor do I really like the diamond trace method anyway), and so I naturally don’t usually score that way. You can see from the Venezuela runs in the bottom of the third that my completed diamonds were that in name only.

With this win, Venezuela improved to 4-0 in the Caribbean Series and eliminated the now 1-3 Dominican Republic from contention. They would go on to clinch the series the next day by defeating Mexico.