#305---CLE @ CHA, 5/1/2012

In June 2010, the Indians held the #5 pick in the draft and were widely expected to take one of the top college lefties. They did, choosing Drew Pomeranz. Eight picks later the White Sox snapped up Chris Sale.

In July 2011, the Indians deluded themselves into thinking they were contenders, and traded Pomeranz and Alex White to the Rockies for Ubaldo Jimenez.

In May 2012, Chris Sale held the Indians to three hits and one run over six innings, while Ubaldo Jimenez made 20+ pitches in four consecutive innings and coughed up 7 runs to the White Sox in 4 2/3. This was not a fun time to be a Tribe fan.

In the second, Cleveland had trouble catching popups. Alejandro de Aza got a double on a pop up that dropped between Jason Donald and Asdrubal Cabrera, and later in the inning AJ Pierzynski’s pop dropped uncaught on or near the pitcher’s mound. The bases were loaded with one out, though, so the infield fly rule was in effect (“IF” indicates that it was an uncaught infield fly – I don’t note that the umpire called an infield fly if the catch is completed – with putout credited to Cabrera).

The top five spots in the Cleveland batting order combined to go 0-20 reaching base. The bottom four went 9-16. 

#304---NYA @ DET, 5/2/2011

It’s easy to forget that Bartolo Colon pitched for the Yankees, but here is fanning seven without a walk over seven innings. He allowed three runs, two coming on solo homers from Alex Avila. On the other side, Justin Verlander allowed three runs over six innings, needing 127 pitches to strike out eight. 

It was tied entering the top of the ninth when Curtis Granderson worked a twelve-pitch walk from Jose Valverde. He was caught stealing when he overslid the bag, but Mark Teixeira worked a walk, A-Rod an infield single, and Nick Swisher the go-ahead single. A two-out passed ball allowed a second run to come up, and Mariano Rivera needed just nine pitches to retired the Tigers in order. 

Every Yankee reached base, but the Tigers got 0-4s out of their 1, 3, 5, 6, and 7 slots and 0-3 from #9. Ramon Santiago was 3-4 in #2, Cabrera 3-4 in #4, and Avila 2-4 in #8 with those two longballs. 

#303---CLE @ NYA, 5/29/2010

This was too interesting of a game to be kept on a lame scoresheet. This sheet maximized space by only allowing six plate appearances for each lineup slot and not dividing by innings, in the Project Scoresheet style, but using traditional scoring. The Yankees scored six in the fourth to take a 8-3 lead, and the teams traded single tallies in the fifth. The Indians scored one in the sixth to cut it to 9-5, and then put up a seven run-seventh, lighting up David Robertson for three runs and Joba Chamberlain for four. 

This game is a great example of why I prefer a 9x9 grid, despite all the wasted space. It is hard to follow innings in writing a story of the game without columns to make them stand out. Some notable items:

* Alex Rodriguez literally knocked David Huff out of the game with a line drove double off him in the third

* Shin-Soo Choo was 0-6, without his first four at bats consisting of two pitches or less

* Despite twenty-four total runs, the only homer was delivered by Russell Branyan in the eighth

 * Lou Marson drove in three runs on three doubles 

#302---CLE @ DET, 5/1/2009

Out of the many Indians games I’ve scored, I do not have one of Armando Galarraga’s should have been perfect game in 2010. I do have this one, in which the Indians scored four runs off Galarraga in the second and knocked him out after five innings with a 5-0 lead. Carl Pavano didn’t allow Detroit a hit until the fourth, and the Indians tacked on a run in the seventh. 

It’s fortunate they did, because after Pavano allowed two doubles in the eighth, Jensen Lewis came on to allow two hits and serve up a three-run bomb to Miguel Cabrera. Rafael Betancourt was summoned, and he set down all four Tigers he faced to pick up the save.