#266---CLE @ BAL, 4/3/2000

 

Opening Day for the Indians and Orioles saw Bartolo Colon and Mike Mussina hook up at Camden Yards. Baltimore struck first, taking advantage of four walks issued by Colon in the first two innings, but he steadied for three shutout innings, departing after five having fanned six and walked five. Mussina set down the first seven Indians before Travis Fryman’s homer (the third straight game posted here featuring a Fryman longball), then set down ten more before Kenny Lofton homered to give Cleveland the lead in the sixth. Mussina set down the next six (at this point he’d faced 25 batters over 7 2/3, allowing just the two homers with four Ks), but three straight singles chased Moose, and the Indians plated two in eighth. The Orioles were shut out by the Indians bullpen for four innings with Steve Karsay earning the save.

#265---CLE @ OAK, 4/29/1999

 

Blog favorite Dave Burba pitched a complete game for the Tribe, marred slightly by John Jaha’s two-run homer in the ninth, but it was still a comfortable 8-3 win. Burba fanned four and walked two, needing only 108 pitches to retire twenty seven A’s. Cleveland was powered by two-run shots by Jim Thome and Travis Fryman.

#264---CLE @ KC, 7/4/1998

 

Homers from Johnny Damon and Sal Fasano helped staked the Royals to a 4-0 lead through seven, and Pat Rapp managed to shutout the Indians over the span on six hits and four walks with just three strikeouts. In the eighth, the Tribe put together a rally with Travis Fryman’s two-out, three-run homer cutting the deficit to one. In the ninth, Jeff Montgomery yielded a walk to Kenny Lofton and a single to Omar Vizquel. David Justice grounded into a fielder’s choice, then swiped second to give Cleveland runners at second and third with one out, but Jim Thome struck out and Manny Ramirez lined out to end the game.

#263---CLE @ NYA, 6/28/1997

I’m not sure why I kept score of this game on a copy of the What’s the Score scorebook I was using in 1997, and I really have no idea why I used my pencil to fill in the headers – was this game not entertaining enough? The Indians beat the Yankees 11-8 behind five hits from Marquis Grissom and a four-hit, two homer, 6 RBI game from Matt Williams. It would later have been quite satisfying that it was David Wells that the Tribe roughed up, but he hadn’t yet ascended to the status of public enemy #1.