#106---TEX @ CLE, 5/4/2002

Until I started writing this up, I had completely forgotten that Eddie Perez played for the Indians in 2002 (which was for the best as he had a 46 OPS+ in 125 PA). The 2002 Indians were the first bad baseball team I ever watched/listened to/followed on a daily basis, as my baseball fandom was sparked by the opening of Jacobs Field and corresponding Indians contention in 1994. The 2002 Indians went 74-88, not dreadful (especially by the standards of the bad Cleveland teams of the previous generation) but not exactly exciting either. So you get fun stuff like Eddie Perez and Brady Anderson batting sixth and Jolbert Cabrera in the lineup.

The Indians actually finished two games ahead of the Rangers, in year two of A-Rod’s massive contract. Texas mustered just five hits in this game, two by Rodriguez, one by Michael Young, one by Carl Everett, and one by some guy named Murray. I had no idea who he was until I checked Baseball-Reference to see that it was Calvin Murray (“besting” Perez with a 30 OPS+ over 86 PA).

Bartolo Colon was the brightest star for the Indians and would soon bring a bounty in trade; it is now, just fourteen years later, nearly inconceivable that such a pitcher in that circumstance would be allowed to make 125 pitches. Colon fanned eight and walked one, but had to work hard in the fifth through seventh, making 20 pitches in each and working around a hit in each frame.


Ismael Valdes pitched well for Texas, shutting out the Tribe into the sixth, but Vizquel’s two out homer was one of just five he would hit this season.

#105---CHA @ CLE, 4/4/2001

This was the second game of the 2001 season, and I noted a the top of the page that it marked the end of the streak of 455 consecutive sellouts at Jacobs Field, coming on the heels of the Indians first season failing to reach the playoffs since 1993 (which came at the hands of their opponents, the White Sox). Fickle lot, those Tribe fans, although the 32,763 that showed up for this one is almost equal to the current seating capacity of the ever-shrinking stadium.

This was Sandy Alomar’s first season after leaving Cleveland, so the fans were surely upset by his two-run second inning homer that started the scoring. But the Tribe put up a five spot in the bottom of the second and would later get a homer from (of course) Russell Branyan and roll to an 8-4 win. No, I do not specifically search for scoresheets with Branyan homers to post here.

#104---CLE @ TOR, 3/5/2000

For this spring training game, I was using a customized version of my normal scoresheet designed especially for spring training. Thus the special line for “SITE” and the pre-marked “ST” label, to save ten seconds of writing?

Looking at old spring training scoresheets, the game itself is usually not that interesting, but it’s fun to see the names that pop up earlier than one might expect, later, or in a different place. One example of the first and third items I listed is Casey Blake, later the third baseman for the Indians 2007 division winner and then trade bait for Carlos Santana, replacing Tony Batista for Toronto and doubling in the eighth. Blake had actually made his big league debut in 1999 with Toronto, but would appear in just 35 games in the majors over the next three seasons before emerging as a regular for the Indians in 2003 at age 30.

Charlie Manuel wasted no time getting his regulars out of this game, yanking Jim Thome, Travis Fryman, and Sandy Alomar after just one PA each (including running for Thome and Fryman when they reached base). Maybe he knew something; the Indians would have a ridiculously injury-riddled season this year, although more on the pitching than hitting side. Russell Branyan pinch-ran for Fryman and homered. Of course he did. It seems at least that every Cleveland spring training scoresheet I’ve ever posted here features a Branyan dinger.