#292---TEX @ TB, 5/24/1999

 

I attended this game at Tropicana Field, which did not go well for the home team, battered 12-3 by the Rangers. Juan Gonzalez hit two-run and three-run homers, and Pudge went deep to add a pair in the ninth. Texas totaled four doubles, a triple, and three homers, while the Devil Rays had one and exactly one of each type of extra base hit. While Tampa was not good, they had a great collection of 90s baseball names, both literally (Quinton McCracken, Rolando Arrojo) and figuratively (Canseco, McGriff, Boggs, Paul Sorrento – playing left field which I can’t imagine was pretty, Kevin Stocker, Dave Martinez) and the Rangers lineups of this period are loaded with notable names, including the more forgotten like Rusty Greer and Tom Goodwin.

#291---SEA @ TOR, 5/17/1998

Seattle jumped out to a 3-0 lead on solo homers from Glenallen Hill (two) and Alex Rodriguez. Toronto took a while to get going, with Jose Canseco starting his huge day with their first hit off Jamie Moyer in the fourth. With one out in the sixth, Canseco doubled, which was followed by a Carlos Delgado double and a Tony Fernandez single to cut it to 3-2. In the seventh, Moyer got the first two Jays before walking Shannon Stewart and yielding a single to Shawn Green. Mike Timlin, famously acquired from Toronto along with Paul Spoljaric for Jose Cruz at the previous year’s trade deadline, walked Canseco to load the bases. Tony Fossas came on to face Delgado and walked him to tie it up.

The Mariners offense went quiet from the sixth on, with only singles by Joey Cora and ARod. In the ninth, Alex Gonzalez coaxed a leadoff walk from Heathcliff Slocumb, moving up to third with two outs on a pair of groundouts to David Segui. Then the hero of the game singled to left (marked here incorrectly as a double) to win it. Canseco drew two walks, hit two singles and a double

#290---MIL @ CLE, 4/19/1997

John Jaha hit two homers for Milwaukee, but the Indians rapped out seventeen hits including solo homers from David Justice, Manny Ramirez (those were back-to-back) and Brian Giles and slugged out an 11-6 win. Ramirez was Cleveland’s offensive star, as in addition to the homer he had two doubles and a single. 

#289---UConn v. OSU, 2/17/2023

This was the first game I had the opportunity to score in calendar year 2023. Despite this game being a “home” game for the Buckeyes in Florida, UConn offered a surprisingly high-quality internet stream of the game. Unlike some major league radio broadcasts I could name, almost all pitches were reported as they happened, enabling me to keep score pitch-by-pitch with details on strike types. 

This was the opening day of the college baseball season and thus marked the debut of Bill Mosiello as OSU head coach. The Buckeyes got a run in the first inning on a RBI from Miami grad transfer Cole Andrews, and would tack on the game’s only two other runs on a two-out double off the fence that just missed getting out from true freshman shortstop Henry Kaczmar. Isaiah Coupet had a tremendous start for the Scarlet and Gray, going 5 1/3 hitless innings. His final line was 6 innings, no runs, one hit, one walk, and nine strikeouts. The bullpen allowed a few baserunners, but no runs as true freshman Landon Beidelschies earned the two-inning save.