The Phillies were only retired in order twice, but in each of the other seven innings put a solitary runner on base en route to being shut out. The Yankees used three starters (CC Sabathia, Hiroki Kurdoa, Masahiro Tanaka, each of whom tossed two frames and struck out one more batter than his predecessor) which is interesting, even for the opening of the spring schedule.
All the scoring came in the first 3 1/2 innings of this late spring training game, with the Cubs scattering six runs across four innings to beat the Rangers’ five-run first. The starters were respectable major leaguers to booth (CJ Wilson and Andrew Cashner). Scoring didn’t just stop after the top of the fourth, almost all offense did. From that point forward Chicago mustered just a walk and a single, while eighteen straight Texas hitters were retired before a two-out ninth inning single by Chris Davis (which allowed him to avoid the golden sombrero that he would later seem to wear permanently in Baltimore). Davis moved up to third on a Jeff Samardzija wild pitch, but Taylor Teagarden struck out swinging on the next pitch to bring the game to a close.
The Indians won this on the strength on nine in the fourth, an inning in which the first ten batters reached base (single, single, walk, walk, single, error, walk, Grady Sizemore grand slam, single, walk). Finally the string was broken with a strikeout, but only after a dropped foul pop extended Jhonny Peralta’s at bat.
This spring training game ended in a tie after ten innings, with me scoring the tenth by tracing out only the boxes I needed on the blank side of my scoresheet. Not much of note happened in the game, both teams scoring both of their runs in a single inning (Cleveland in the third, an inning that should have done more damage save for Ben Francisco getting picked off following his lead off walk; Chicago in the seventh). Both teams stranded a runner at second in the tenth.
The Indians’ leadoff slot reached base in all six plate appearances (infield single and walk from Grady Sizemore, three walks and a double from Jason Tyner), with Tyner scoring four runs.
One thing I notice here with the mass substitutions is that I would record a defensive replacement at a new position in the style “[Name] [Position] [Inning]” as opposed to what I now do which is “[Position] [Name] [Inning]” (e.g “Niekro 1B B6”). The way I do it now is more aligned with how the starters are listed on the scoresheet, with position before name. Also, I now use numbers for position and ^ or v for top or bottom. Then as now, if a defensive replacement plays the same position as the fielder he replaced, I do not record his position separately (e.g. “Tyner T5”).
This game did not count, yet it is one of the more memorable home openers for me. This would end up being a banner season for the Indians, but this was an inauspicious start. Former skipper Mike Hargrove brought his Mariners to Cleveland to face Paul Byrd, who set down the first twelve in order. The Indians took advantage of five Horacio Ramirez walks and three errors to build a 4-0 lead. All the while, snow was coming down and picking up in intensity. The game started at 5:01 and after Byrd’s first pitch in the second, just twenty-eight minutes in, there was a twenty-two minute delay. Ibanez fouled off a pitch and there was a second delay, this time for seventeen minutes.
In the top of the fifth, Byrd needed just three outs to make the game official and potentially give himself a shortened no-hitter. He battled both the Mariners and the elements, walking three but getting two outs and a 1-2 count on Jose Lopez before Hargrove’s pleas were finally heeded by the umpiring crew. The game once again went into delay, and this time it would not resume.
The entire series would be wiped out, leading to Seattle making multiple trips to Cleveland on what previously were off days (leading to Ichiro’s quip “If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying”), and the Indians next series with the Angels being moved to a netural site at Miller Park.
The Indians battered Ricky Romero in the second with the big blow coming on a two-out grand slam from Eduardo Perez. You don’t see many pitchers making 37 pitches in a single spring training inning anymore, nor do you see a lot of cases like Jeremy Guthrie on the Cleveland side working just two innings as a starter this late in the spring. I’m assuming this was a split squad game for the Blue Jays as the lineup does not have many familiar names.
This spring training game was played to a 2-2 tie without much interesting happening, although there are some names you might not expect showing up as substitutes – Jose Bautista as a late-game replacement for Ty Wigginton, Tony Womack, Doug Glanville, and Bobby Crosby as Yankee reserves. A pitching matchup of Kip Wells v. Tanyon Sturtze is the kind of thing you don’t mind on March 3.
Bonds did not disappoint, drawing walks in his first two PAs and hitting the 688th homer of his career in the seventh on an absolute line-drive missile to right-center, the most impressive homer I’ve ever seen in person. AJ Pierzynski followed that with a homer, and the Giants added another run in the frame to take a 6-4 lead. The Pirates came back with three in the eighth, but Michael Tucker’s second homer of the game tied it in the ninth off Jose Mesa. Mat Herges got the first two outs in the home ninth, but Jack Wilson singled and Rob Mackowiak doubled to the warning track to bring him around.
As a Bonds supporter, I sat in the left field seats to be closer to the great man, observing quietly in neutral clothing (gray OSU shirt and Indians home cap). As you might imagine, the crowd was hostile, with one poor guy carrying a “Greatest Pirate Ever” sign having his sign destroyed by the hometown hooligans and then literally was hounded from the park when he objected. My unabashed Bonds fandom aside, I do not concur with “Greatest Pirate Ever” - perhaps the greatest player to wear a Pirates uniform, but Hans Wagner clearly had more career value as a Pirate, among others (Roberto Clemente, Paul Waner, not Chris Archer).
Ricardo Rodriguez pitched what must have been one of the best games of his career, allowing just four hits and two walks (although only fanning two) over seven innings to earn the win for the Indians. The only run he allowed was a Tony Batista homer, while Deivi Cruz homered on the second pitch from the Cleveland pen for Baltimore’s only other score. The Indians got four runs off Omar Daal, the most notable plays coming on Omar Vizquel’s bunt single coupled with Daal’s throwing error in the third, and Ellis Burks’ two-run seventh inning single off the first Baltimore reliever, Willis Roberts (I do not remember him at all).
The Blue Jays led 6-0 after two and 9-4 after five, but the Indians came back with one in the sixth, two in the seventh, and five in the eighth to complete a late spring training comeback. Travis Fryman had a big day, going 4-5 with two doubles and 4 RBI and making his only out on a warning track fly. His eighth inning single cut the deficit to 10-8 and left the bases loaded for Ricky Gutierrez, who tripled to clear the bases and give the Tribe the lead in the process. Current Rangers skipper Chris Woodward had a big day for Toronto with a single, double, and homer.
This exhibition was played at a neutral site in Caracas, Venezuela. The Indians power bats (Jim Thome, Russell Branyan, Juan Gonzalez) clobbered Jose Lima for a homer in each of the first three innings, building a cushion that would be chipped away at by the Astros until they plated two on consecutive sac flies in the eighth to take a 6-5 lead. But three straight Cleveland extra base hits off Doug Brocail in the ninth swung the game back to the Tribe.
This exhibition game saw the Braves beat the Indians thanks largely to homers by Wally Joyner and Andres Galarraga. There are great names all over this scoresheet as these were two of the better teams of the era, but there’s not a whole lot to be said about a late spring exhibition, despite how much I love the genre of “tune-up exhibition in a major league park.”
This was a fairly mundane exhibition, with the Dodgers tallying five runs in the last three frames to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 7-4 victory. But one of the charming things about the slower pace of spring baseball is illustrated by the note at the top of the sheet “Uncle Rick at game says Tom”. The Tom in question is Indians play-by-play announcer Tom Hamilton; my uncle, a Florida native, left a note with him to say hi to the family back in Cleveland. Of course, I was listening to the game to hear it because what else would I be doing on a Saturday afternoon in March when baseball is available?
This was a 1-0 spring training tilt until Detroit scored five runs off Jason Grimsley in the seventh inning. Cleveland would get a Jim Thome homer in and a play that I do not understand my scorekeeping for (it looks like Richie Sexson scored from first on a Russell Branyan fly to right which seems quite unlikely) to make it 6-2. For such an early spring game, there was a surprising lack of Indians substitution – Thome played the whole game with two singles, a walk, and the aforementioned homer.
This game was marred by an ugly injury to Tigers starter Willie Blair when he was hit by a Julio Franco line drive with two outs in the sixth. Blair would suffer a broken jaw but thankfully miss just a month before returning the mound to continue the best season of his big league career. And this was a good start, as he held the Tribe to just five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over his 5 2/3. John Cummings and Doug Brocail finished what Blair had started, with the only Cleveland baserunner for the rest of the game coming on a ninth-inning Franco walk.
Charlie Nagy pitched eight strong innings, although he uncharacteristically surrendered six walks. He departed after loading the bases with no one out in the ninth, with Paul Assenmacher and Jose Mesa cleaning up his mess unscathed, although the lack of Tribe offense made that a moot point.
A couple notes on the
I recently moved and in the course of packing found this scorecard and another that will I post when I get back around to 1996. They were both kept on ballpark scorecards at minor league parks, and I tried to retain some of that flavor in the scans. The scorekeeping is nothing special, and unfortunately there weren’t any big future stars in this Florida State League game (the biggest names are Ryan Freel, Chris Richard, and Placido Polanco). Freel had a game that you might imagine him having in A-ball, singling twice, reaching on an error, getting caught stealing, scoring two runs. Richard and Polanco were both 0-4 and made the final St. Petersburg outs of the game.
I didn’t write down the score, which was normal for my scorecards for years to come, but I also didn’t mark down the pitchers, which was not normal for me. It looks like the Blue Jays won it 8-1.
Given the recent low-scoring trend in All-Star Games, this
Other early candidates for most surprising status: Heliot Ramos, Christopher Sanchez, Jeff Hoffman
All good things must come to an end, and the Junior Circuit’s nine-game win streak was snapped by one of the names likely to stand out in the future as the most surprising all-star, Elias Diaz (other candidates at this early juncture include Brent Rooker, Wander Franco who might be whitewashed for his off-field indiscretions, Austin Hays, and Mitch Keller). Facing Felix Bautista down 2-1 in the eighth, Nick Castellanos walked and Diaz homered to flip the score to 3-2. The AL would try to rally as with two outs in the ninth, Kyle Tucker and Julio Rodriguez worked walks off Craig Kimbrel, but Jose Ramirez struck out to end the run of AL domination.
The NL looked ready to snap their long losing streak by jumping on Shane
McClanahan in the first inning, pushing across two runs on four hits (although
it could have been worse were it not for the flashy double play turned by
Andres Gimenez and Tim Anderson). But hometown pitcher Tony Gonsolin yielded a
massive two-run shot to Aaron Judge and a follow-up to the next batter Byron
Buxton, and that concluded the day’s scoring. As an
We’re a little close to make a judgment call on which names will stand in history as most surprising all-stars, but early favorites are Jose Trevino and Joe Mantiply.
This game will be most remembered for it being moved from Atlanta to Denver in order to display proper adherence to the civic religion, and for Shohei Ohtani both leading off and pitching for the AL. He was 0-2 at the plate and pitched a 1-2-3 first. Vladimir Guerrero homered for the AL, and both sides got solo homers from catchers (JT Realmuto for the NL and Mike Zunino for the AL). Other runs trickled in and the AL handed Liam Hendriks a 5-2 lead to save in the bottom of the ninth. Omar Narvaez led off with an infield single and then bizarrely was nailed at second trying to move up on a would-be wild pitch. That reduced the potential of Ozzie Albies’ two-out double, and Trea Turner grounded out on the first pitch to end it.
This All-Star game was played in Cleveland, and true to the times, strikeouts by AL pitchers were the big story. Shane Bieber earned MVP laurels in his home park by striking out the side in the fifth, three of the sixteen strikeouts racked up by the junior circuit hurlers. The NL only struck out seven AL batters, but the scoreboard was much closer.
Michael Brantley (an honorary hometown player as it was his first year with Houston) opened the scoring with a second inning double, and Jorge Polanco got an infield single in the fifth to make it 2-0. A solo homer from Charlie Blackmon cut the lead in half in the sixth, but the AL tacked on two more in the seventh including a Joey Gallo homer.
Bieber’s status as MVP was imperiled by teammate Brad Hand, who entered in the eighth and allowed two walks and a single to load the bases. Pete Alonso singled to make it 4-3, and a double steal put the go ahead runs in scoring position, but Mike Moustakas fouled out to end the threat. Aroldis Chapman likely would have been MVP had the game been played in any other park as he struck out the side in the ninth to earn the save, but Bieber’s similar feat in the fifth got the nod in Cleveland.
A second consecutive All-Star game was played in an NL park and went to extra innings. Thirteen of the fourteen runs scored in this game came on homers:
* Aaron Judge, solo, T2 (1-0 AL)
* Mike Trout, solo, T3 (2-0)
* Willson Contreras, solo, B3 (2-1)
* Trevor Story, solo, B7 (2-2)
* Jean Segura, three runs, T8 (5-2)
* Christian Yelich, solo, B8 (5-3)
* Scooter Gennett (most surprising All-Star), two runs, B9 (5-5)
* Alex Bregman and George Springer, back-to-back to leadoff T10 (7-5)
* Joey Votto, leading off B10 (8-6)
The lone none-homer run was the insurance run Michael Brantley added with a sac fly for the AL in the top of the tenth.
Marlins Park lived up to its reputation as a pitchers’ park, with each side managing just one run through nine innings. The visitors struck first in the fifth with a two-out double from Jonathan Schoop and single from Miguel Sano against Alex Wood. Yadier Molina homered off Ervin Santana in the sixth to tie it up. Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel each stranded a runner at third in the ninth, and every commissioner’s worst fear was realized as the game went to extra innings. Robinson Cano led off the tenth with a homer off Wade Davis, and Andrew Miller issued a two-out walk to Joey Votto but then fanned Cody Bellinger to save it for the AL.
Most surprising All-Star: Jason Vargas
The NL’s big chance came in the eighth, loading the bases against Fernando Rodney, but Will Harris came in to fan Aledmys Diaz (most surprising All-Star). In the ninth, Zack Britton yielded a leadoff single, but used his trademark groundball ability to induce Nolan Arenado to hit into a 543 double play to end the game.
Mike Trout hit a leadoff homer against Zack Greinke and added a walk and a steal later in the contest. The AL added two in the fifth and seventh and a homer from Brian Dozier in the eighth to pad their lead, and cruised to a 6-3 victory.
James Hoye made his All-Star umpiring debut patrolling left field.
The AL got three in the first against Adam Wainwright on a Derek Jeter double, Mike Trout triple, and Miguel Cabrera homer. Chase Utley and Jonathan Lucroy doubled back-to-back off Jon Lester to cut it to 3-2 in the second, and Lucroy tied it with another RBI double in the fourth. In the fifth, a Trout double and Jose Altuve sac fly gave the AL a 5-3 edge which would hold up the rest of the way.
The
Most surprising All-Stars: Domonic Brown, Steve Delabar, Jason Grilli
The NL made it three in a row over the AL, getting all they would need off of Justin Verlander in the first, a five-run frame punctuated by Pablo Sandoval’s two-out, three-run triple. Two triples (Rafael Furcal and Ryan Braun) and a Melky Cabrera homer against Matt Harrison in the fourth closed out the scoring.
Making their All-Star debuts were the super rookies Bryce Harper and Mike Trout. Harper walked, struck out, and lost a ball in the Kaufmann Stadium lights; Trout singled, walked, and swiped a base.
Most surprising All-Stars: Bryan LaHair, Ryan Cook
Adrian Gonzalez homered off Cliff Lee in in the fourth to give the AL a 1-0 lead, but Prince Fielder answered right back with a three-run shot off CJ Wilson. The NL would tack on two more runs and the AL never really threatened, getting just four baserunners over the last five innings.
Most surprising all-stars: Jordan Walden, Alexei Ogando
Through four innings, the midsummer classic was scoreless and each side had just two hits. The NL doubled their hit total in the top of the frame but couldn’t crack the scoreboard, while the AL scratched out the game’s first run without the benefit of a hit as Hong-Chi Kuo issued a walk and committed a throwing error. With one out in the top of the seventh, Scott Rolen and Matt Holliday singled off Phil Hughes. Matt Thornton was summoned and got Chris Young to foul out, but he walked Marlon Byrd to load the bases. Brian McCann cleared them with a double to make it 3-1 NL. Adam Wainwright, Brian Wilson, and Jonathon Broxton made that hold up, and the NL had a rare for the era All-Star triumph.
I would be remiss in not pointed out Nick Swisher’s appearance, becoming the second Buckeye to play in an All-Star Game and the first since Frank Howard in 1971. He struck out against Wainwright in the seventh.
This game is most notable for the lack of NL’s lackluster offensive showing; they were retired in order in seven of the nine frames. Yet it was a close game as one of the innings with baserunners was a three-run second off Roy Halladay that counted the AL’s two-run first off Tim Lincecum. Joe Mauer’s double off Chad Billingsley in the fifth tied it, and it remained that way until the eighth when Curtis Granderson tripled off Heath Bella and Jacque Jones plated him with a sacrifice fly. Joe Nathan got into some two out trouble in the eighth, but fanned Ryan Howard with runners at the corners to preserve the lead. Mariano Rivera then closed it out 1-2-3 in the ninth.
The AL got all five of its runs on homers, the first coming from Ichiro Suzuki (who also collected two other hits to earn MVP laurels) on an inside the park homer into Pac Bell Park’s triples alley. Carl Crawford and Victor Martinez added homers later, and it was 5-2 AL heading into the ninth. JJ Putz retired the first two batters, but then the NL mounted a furious rally to try to avenge the AL’s two-out, bases empty ninth inning rally in the 2008 game. Dmitri Young got an infield single, Alfonso Soriano homered, and JJ Hardy walked to drive Putz from the game. K-Rod came in and promptly walked Derrek Lee and Orlando Hudson, but he got Aaron Rowand to fly to right to get the save by the skin of his teeth.
Playing in his last All-Star Game, Barry Bonds was 0-2, but at least he got to play in front of an appreciative home crowd rather than in front of the jackals that would have confronted him in any of the other 29 parks.
Vladimir Guerrero and David Wright traded second inning longballs before the NL took a 2-1 lead on Roy Halladay’s wild pitch in the third. For the next five innings, each side mustered only two baserunners as luminary relievers like Brian Fuentes and Derek Turnbow controlled the game.
In the ninth the actual relief luminaries came in. Trevor Hoffman (#2 on the all-time save list) got two comebackers and was just one out away before Paul Konerko singled and Troy Glaus doubled. Michael Young fouled off the first two pitches he saw, then lined a triple to center that pulled the game out of the fire for the AL.
Now it was Mariano Rivera’s (#1 on the all-time save list) chance, and he dodged a Jose Lopez error, to close out the NL.
It didn’t take long after “This Time it Counts” became a thing to go back to the model of the primary goal of the All-Star manager being to completely empty the bench and bullpen. The ninth inning is a perfect example as Bob Wickman, BJ Ryan, and Mariano Rivera were all deployed. The NL had the tying runs on with nobody out, but Paul LoDuca, Carlos Lee, and Morgan Ensberg could not deliver.
Roger Clemens did not have a good outing in his home park, as the AL batted around and put up six runs, hitting for the cycle with homers from Manny Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano. David Ortiz later replaced his teammate Ramirez and also hit a two-run homer; they each homered and walked, with Ramirez also making an out. Ted Lilly, Joe Nathan, Tom Gordon, Francisco Rodriguez, and Mariano Rivera combined to retire the final twelve NL hitters.
I think Dan Kolb and Ken Harvey win this game’s prize for most surprising All-Stars
This was the infamous All-Star tie that incited a ridiculous overreaction of “This Time it Counts” and a brief three-year period where the game was managed differently. Of course I’m obligated to point out Barry Bonds’ two-run homer in the third, after being robbed on the warning track by Torii Hunter in the first. The AL trailed 5-2 entering the seventh, but scored four to take the lead before the NL took it back in the bottom of the frame. Omar Vizquel’s eighth inning triple tied it up at seven, and from that point forward there was no further scoring, and after eleven innings it was decided that Freddy Garcia and Vicente Padilla not be hung out to dry. Bud Selig had quite a coup on his hands at his Milwaukee All-Star game.
The AL won this midsummer classic on the strength of three solo homers: back-to-back shots from Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordonez off Jon Lieber in the sixth, but most infamously Cal Ripken’s third inning homer off Chan Ho Park. Ripken celebration was the theme of the day, and my notes suggest that I wasn’t having it – the note at the very top bemoans the delay “before first pitch for Gwynn/Ripken waste of time”. Tony Gwynn did not play in this game, while Ripken was also feted by A-Rod moving him to shortstop for the first inning before they switched back to their appointed positions in the second.
Rookie Albert Pujols made his All-Star debut, entering at third base in the bottom of the fifth, drawing a walk in his only PA, and playing second base in the eighth inning. During the regular season, Pujols’ career at second base consisted of 3 1/3 innings in one 2008 game.
If you paid careful attention to last week’s scoresheet, you may note that 2000 marked the second time in three years that David Wells started the All-Star Game for the AL. In 1998, he was relieved by Roger Clemens, Brad Radke, and Bartolo Colon plus relievers; this time, he starting nod may be easier to grasp as he was relieved by James Baldwin, Aaron Sele, and Tim Hudson. Despite this unimpressive pitching staff, the AL bested the NL 6-3 in Atlanta when there wasn’t a bizarre civic religion that prevented such a thing. Derek Jeter was the star, going 3-3 and driving in the go-ahead runs (which stood up) off Al Leiter in the fourth.
I will be starting a series of sorts as I post all of the All-Star Game scoresheets I have, starting with the first I scored in 1998. I will not be revisiting 1999 (#103) or 2008 (#29), I missed 2003, and we all missed 2020. Otherwise I think I have an intact set. There are a couple good things about All-Star scoresheets. One is that keeping them proves that you are scorekeeping fanatic (although I suppose that having a vanity blog that posts scoresheets kept over almost thirty years already should suffice on that front). A second is that they are great snapshots of an era and a moment in time in the game, something that becomes more apparent with times than instead of being the names you think about every day as a baseball fan, names like Clemens and Maddux and Griffey and Piazza and Sheffield and McGwire leap off the page, and names like Erstad and Durham and O’Neill and Grieve and Kendall and Urbina now strike as more interesting in many ways than they were in the past, as some of them have become college coaches and others are reduced to an aging Mike Hargrove remembering only as the “little black guy from the White Sox” in a radio interview (Durham) and others have been jailed in tinpot dictatorships.
A few notables from this game, which in true ‘90s fashion was slugfest taken 13-8 by the junior circuit at that most ‘90s of ballparks, Coors Field:
* Roberto Alomar was the MVP, collecting a bunt hit in his first at bat, a homer later, another single, reaching on an error, and stealing two bases.
* Barry Bonds walked, flied out, then blasted a three-run homer off Bartolo Colon.
* Alex Rodriguez was voted in as the starter over Derek Jeter in this more enlightened time, homering in the fifth before Jeter replaced him.
* The AL stole six bases, the NL none. The AL
* Sammy Sosa did not appear in the game; I had to look up that he missed the game with a sore shoulder, at first wondering whether he had been left off the All-Star team as he chased Mark McGwire and Roger Maris.
* Jeff Shaw made his first appearance in a Dodger uniform in this game, as he had just been acquired from Cincinnati.
This was Opening Day of the shortened season for these two teams, and Shane Bieber quickly served notice that 2020 was going to be his year. He shut out Kansas City for six innings allowing four hits and one walk with fourteen strikeouts. Three of the first four Royals reached base, but Adalberto Mondesi was caught stealing to short-circuit that potential rally. The Indians got the only runs Bieber would need in the fifth, and inning lead off by Jordan Luplow getting hit (of course). Each Indian reliever allowed a single baserunner in a single inning of walk, all on a free pass of some sort – two were hit batters as this game saw a whopping five.
On this night, the Bomba Squad was beaten at its own game. All seven runs scored on homers, but the Indians hit four to the Twins two. Marwin Gonzalez and Eddie Rosario both took Shane Bieber deep, but otherwise the Twins managed just three hits, one walk, and six strikeouts over Bieber’s seven innings of work.
For Cleveland, Francisco Lindor hit homers in consecutive at-bats in the third and fifth (he also walked and doubled), and Roberto Perez and Jake Bauers went back-to-back in the seventh.
