#375---SEA @ CLE, 4/6/2007

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. 

#374---TOR @ CLE, 3/24/2006

 

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.

#373---PIT @ NYA, 3/3/2005

 

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.

#372---SF @ PIT, 8/10/2004

 As of this writing, this game marks the only time I’ve ever been to PNC Park, which ranks a close second on my short list of favorite MLB ballparks attended (Camden Yards, PNC Park, Jacobs Field, Great American Ballpark, Tropicana Field; Cleveland Municipal Stadium, incomplete grade). More notably, it was also the only time I ever saw the great Barry Bonds play in person, and came in the midst of the greatest offensive season (on a rate basis) ever recorded.

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).

#371---CLE @ BAL, 4/2/2003

 

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).