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.
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