#244---CLE @ CHA, 6/24/2004

 

Mark Buehrle opposed a young Cliff Lee in this one. Lee went six allowing three runs, while Buehrle was touched up for three solo homers and trailed 5-4 headed into the eighth. He had made just 78 pitches to that point, then was pulled after Victor Martinez, Casey Blake, and Travis Hafner all singled to load the bases. Old friend Mike Jackson was summoned, and Lou Merloni was lifted for Ben Broussard to get the platoon advantage despite having homered his last time up. Broussard hit the first pitch out to right for a grand slam, and the Indians won it 9-5.

#243---MIN @ CLE, 8/19/2003

Cleveland had at least one hit off Johan Santana in each of the first five innings, and stranded the bases loaded in the fourth. They finally broke through with two outs in the fifth, with a triple by Coco Crisp followed by a Casey Blake homer. The roof then fell in on Jason Davis, who yielded four in the sixth including a three run homer from Matt LeCroy. Another Twin tally in the seventh and three in the eighth off David Cortes turned it into a laugher. After Blake’s homer, Santana retired everyone until Blake singled. Santana got the last two outs for an eight inning, two run, one walk, 10 K outing on just 99 pitches. Grant Balfour had a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out. 

#242---CHA @ CLE, 7/16/2002

It’s rare that all of the relievers from an old game are instantly memorable while one of the starters is lost to my memory, but that is the case here as ChiSox starter Dan Wright left no imprint. All the other pitchers, including of course Indians starter CC Sabathia, are memorable; I can even picture their deliveries, or at least a false memory of them. 

Magglio Ordonez and Ellis Burks were the offensive heroes for each side; Ordonez hit a two-run homer in the first. In between, Burks’ two-run double in the third and two-run homer in the fifth gave Cleveland the lead. The White Sox tied it with two in the sixth, an inning in which Ordonez grounded out with the bases loaded to draw to a close, but he would lead off the ninth with a go-ahead homer off Bob Wickman.

The teams combined for three sacrifice bunts, which is two more than the White Sox would lay down in the “entire” 2020 season.

#241---NYA @ NYN, 6/16/2001

 

This was a matchup of two of my favorite pitchers, Mike Mussina and Kevin Appier. Appier pitched seven innings, surrendering two runs while walking two and fanning five; Mussina went 7 2/3, allowing one run while striking out four with no walks. The scoring came in the early innings, with Bernie Williams leading off the second with a homer and the Yankees adding another with a two-out rally helped along by a Rey Ordonez error. The Mets only run came on Robin Ventura’s homer in the fourth. In the ninth, the Mets put together a two-out rally against Mariano Rivera, but Rivera jumped ahead 0-2 on pinch-hitter Mark Johnson and got a comebacker for the last out.

#240---BAL @ CLE, 9/1/2000

The Indians beat the Orioles 5-2, but the highlight of this game is the second inning triple play turned by Baltimore. Travis Fryman and Wil Cordero both singled and were on second and first respectively as Sandy Alomar came to the plate against Sidney Ponson. Alomar hit a groundball to Melvin Mora, and from there I’m not exactly sure what happened. My note says that Cleveland skipper Charlie Manuel was ejected for arguing. Apparently Fryman was ruled out for leaving the baseline, but the Indians contended (and I, still pretty loyal, must have agreed) that second base was touched first, eliminating the force on Fryman. In any event, it went in the (my) book as a TP643.

#239---CLE @ MIN, 7/6/1999

Most of the scoring came in the first inning, with Manny Ramirez’ two-out, two-run homer off Eric Milton countered by Jacque Jones' leadoff blast off of Jaret Wright. The Indians tacked on a single tally in the fifth, while Wright fanned five and walked three without allowing additional runs through sixth. Paul Assenmacher and Paul Shuey each allowed a single baserunner in shutout innings, turning it over to Mike Jackson. Brent Gates tripled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate, but Jackson froze pinch-hitters Javier Valentin and Corey Koskie to end it.

#238---BOS @ CLE, 4/24/1998

The Indians started quick, with the first three batters against Tim Wakefield scoring after David Justice’s homer. Jim Thome followed with a double and then Wakefield retired sixteen in a row as Boston knocked Dave Burba out with two down in the fifth, now trailing 5-3. Darren Bragg’s two-run homer in the sixth allowed Boston to cruise to a 7-5 win, although the Indians did have the tying run at the plate in the ninth when Nomar Garciparra made a good play to retire pinch-hitter Sandy Alomar for the last out.

One thing that really strikes me about this game though is the three pitchers who worked for Boston and their lofty career totals. There can’t be that many games in history in which a team used only three pitchers (Wakefield, Derek Lowe, and Tom Gordon) who had combined career totals as lofty as 514 wins (200, 176, 138 respectively) and 266 saves (22, 86, 158).

#237---Alabama @ Texas, 2/25/2022

This game was played on a Friday before the weekend that was supposed to mark the start of major league exhibition play, but with the lockout I was forced to settle for college baseball. I typically don’t watch a lot of lower level baseball (minors, college, etc.) not because I don’t enjoy lower level baseball (although I will say baseball is a game that needs to be played at a certain level of skill to be an enjoyable spectator sport – high school baseball can be tough to watch), but because there are rarely opportunities to do so that don’t conflict with opportunities to watch big league ball. So outside of choosing to watch my alma mater when I can, I don’t see much college ball. 

Being a Big Ten guy, I have never really paid attention to the fact that I get the Longhorn Network on my cable package, but it came in handy to view this early season series between the Crimson Tide and Longhorns played in chilly conditions in Austin. It was an entertaining, crisply played affair with Alabama squandering multiple scoring chances, and Texas scoring the game’s only run on a passed ball and wild pitch on consecutive pitches with one out in the seventh. 

#236---CHA @ CLE, 6/3/1997

 

This was a very memorable game for me; a friend called late in the afternoon with the news that his dad had two extra tickets. And this wasn’t just any game; it was Albert Belle’s first game back in Cleveland after signing with the White Sox as a free agent. They were also better seats than I was accustomed to, set well back behind home plate under an overhang in seats that have now been removed Jacobs err Progressive Field. 

I remember taking my scorebook with me, but ended up keeping score in a free program garnered outside the ballpark. With the Tribe selling out every game and in a pre-smartphone era, there was apparently enough advertising dollars to support a market in such things. The score is impossible to follow here, but it was 9-5, White Sox. Dave Martinez (single, double, 2 homers), Frank Thomas (single, double, homer), and the Belle of the ball himself (2 doubles, homer) carried Chicago’s offense. Jim Thome has a walk and 2 homers for the Tribe.

The game was almost secondary to the sideshow of Belle’s return. I would like to think that even then I had a mature attitude towards “betrayal” by former hometown heroes who departed in free agency; unfortunately, I did not yet have sufficient resolve to avoid being swept up with the crowd. Soon I was chanting “Joey, Joey” and laughing at the monopoly money being dropped from the home run porch in left field as Belle stood in the outfield. What a shame when there was such a valid target for opprobrium standing on the field – Ozzie Guillen.

#235---CLE @ BAL, 5/30/1997

 

I believe that with this post I have exhausted my supply of horrible 1997 Excel scoresheets (don’t worry, I have plenty of even worse 1997 Word scoresheets from the playoffs still sitting around).

The Indians jumped to a 4-0 lead on back-to-back first inning homers from David Justice and Manny Ramirez, but Baltimore chipped away and it was tied at five entering the seventh. The Orioles then jumped on Jose Mesa with a leadoff homer from Cal Ripken followed by a BJ Surhoff single and a Jeffrey Hammonds longball. The Indians got the tying run to the plate in the eighth against Jesse Orosco, but Armando Benitez fanned Manny Ramirez and retired Tony Fenandez to end the threat. In the ninth, with Randy Myers on to close it, consecutive errors by Cal Ripken opened the door. After Julio Franco struck out, Sandy Alomar pinch-hit for Jim Thome (it’s easy to forget how petrified Mike Hargrove was of Thome facing lefties at this point in his career). His single loaded the bases, but Myers fanned Matt Williams to end it.