Tuesday, September 30, 2025

#462---BAL @ CLE, 4/8/2001

 


CC Sabathia’s major league debut got off to a rocky start as Jeff Conine took him deep for three runs in the first, but he allowed just one hit and one walk, striking out three over the next 5 2/3 innings. He would wind up with a no-decision as he left trailing 3-2 despite solo homers by Ellis Burks and Russell Branyan, but Juan Gonzalez’s two-out, two-run single off Willis Roberts in the seventh got him off the hook and gave the Tribe a 4-3 lead that Paul Shuey and Bob Wickman made stand. 

Friday, September 26, 2025

#461---CLE @ BAL, 4/6/2000

Only four of them are, but nine of the eighteen starting position players in this game could be in the Hall of Fame. Pat Rapp and Charlie Nagy had battled 2-2 through five, but the game was decided in the bottom of the sixth. After Harold Baines lined out, Cal Ripken and Will Clark singled and Charles Johnson hit a three-run homer. Apparently Tribe skipper Charlie Manuel thought one of the balls to Johnson had been a strike, as he was tossed during Mike Bordick’s at-bat. He was lucky he didn’t see Bordick’s solo homer which chased Nagy. Cleveland mustered very little against Buddy Groom who recorded a three-inning save.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

#460---CLE @ MIN, 4/9/1999


The first six Indians reached off LaTroy Hawkins which set the rout for this 14-5 rout at the Metrodome. The Indians got big days from Kenny Lofton (4-5, 2 D, 2 R, 2 RBI), Manny Ramirez (3-6, D, 3 R, 3 RBI), Jim Thome (3-4, T, HR, 2 W, 2 R, 3 RBI), and Wil Cordero (3-6, 2 D, 4 RBI). Charlie Nagy allowed four runs over seven innings to pick up an easy win.

Friday, September 19, 2025

#459---CLE @ BOS, 4/17/1998


 

Pedro Martinez and Charlie Nagy squared off in this one and it was a doozy. Pedro went nine innings, allowing four hits without a walk and fanning twelve, but Brian Giles drove in two runs with a homer in the third and a single in the eighth. Through eight, Nagy scattered eight hits and a walk with eight strikeouts while blanking Boston. In the ninth, Nagy struck out Darren Bragg in between three singles that brought in a run and put runners at first and second for Nomar Gariciaparra. Mike Jackson came in and allowed a single that loaded the bases, bringing on Paul Assenmacher to face Reggie Jefferson. His sac fly to center tied the game, but John Valentin struck out and the game proceeded to the tenth.

Cleveland got Jim Thome and Manny Ramirez singles off Tom Gordon, but the rally ended there. Boston quickly had runners at the corners with singles from Mo Vaughn and Troy O’Leary, Damon Buford was intentionally walked, and Bragg singled to walk it off.

Some oddities in my scoresheet: The tenth was kept on a separate piece of paper in a sprawling fashion that would have been hard to maintain for a marathon game. I noted extra inning substitutions on the main sheet, and had not yet adopted the common sense solution of referring to mid-inning substitutions by referring to the lineup box (as I was already doing for pitchers, e.g. “Gordon 4-10” meaning Gordon entered the game to face the #4 hitter in the tenth inning), so instead I have clumsy notation like “2B 10 Thome” meaning that John Valentin moved to second base for Jim Thome’s tenth inning at-bat.


Tuesday, September 16, 2025

#458---CLE @ TOR, 5/18/1997

 



The Indians got to Chris Carpenter for seven runs in two and a third thanks to two homers from Matt Williams and one from Sandy Alomar. Solo homers from Orlando Merced and Ed Sprague off Chad Ogea in the first helped keep Toronto in touch at 7-3. The fourth and fifth were quiet with just one baserunner between the two sides before Jim Thome padded the lead with a solo homer in the sixth.

In the seventh, Alex Gonzalez doubled and Otis Nixon singled to knock Ogea out. Alvin Morman got Orlando Merced to fly out, and then Eric Plunk was summoned to face Joe Carter. Carter’s homer cut it to 8-6.

Paul Spoljaric pitched two perfect innings to keep the Blue Jays in it, while Carlos Delgado led off the eighth with a double off Paul Assenmacher. It’s cut off from the scan, but Mike Jackson (circled 5) became the next Cleveland pitcher and pitched two perfect innings of his own to record the save.

Friday, September 12, 2025

#457---Cuba v. Netherlands, 3/7/2023 (World Baseball Classic)


Cuba had just one hit through five innings, but it was a RBI double that allowed them to stay tied 1-1 with the Netherlands as the teams played in the opening round of the WBC in Taiwan. The Dutch took control of the game in the sixth with a three-spot off three singles and a walk, all coming from current or former big leaguers (Didi Gregorius, Jonathan Schoop, Josh Palacios, Chadwick Tromp). Cuba got a run back in the seventh but saw their last scoring opportunity go up in smoke on terrible baserunning by Luis Robert in the eighth. He was thrown out after getting too far off second considering an advance on a would-be wild pitch (with two outs). Cuba was retired 1-2-3 in the ninth and the Netherlands won 4-2. 

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

#456---Puerto Rico v. Mexico, 3/11/2017 (World Baseball Classic)


Each of Puerto Rico’s middle infielders knocked in three runs on homers (Francisco Lindor on two, Javier Baez one) to power a win over Mexico in the first round of the WBC. Baez’s shot came with two outs in the ninth off Joakim Soria to give Edwin Diaz a much more comfortable margin to work with in the ninth. After Diaz allowed two free passes and got a strikeout, the game ended on a looper back to him on which he was able to double Mexico’s Diaz off second. 

Friday, September 5, 2025

#455---Cuba v. Brazil, 3/2/2013 (World Baseball Classic)

 

Brazil made its first WBC appearance in 2013 and played competitively, ultimately losing to Japan, Cuba, and China by nearly identical scores (5-3, 5-2, 5-2). Brazil held Cuba hitless through 4 1/3, but six hits strung together with two walks and a hit batter over the next five outs would allow Cuba to plate five runs and win the game.


Tuesday, September 2, 2025

#454---Japan v. Korea, 3/9/2009 (World Baseball Classic)

 


The WBC employed a double-elimination format for pool rounds in 2009, which wasn’t a bad idea except that two teams advanced out of each pool, yet the final game was played for seeding purposes (and maybe for the purpose of keeping the winner’s bracket team sharp as well). Additionally, there was no crossing of teams from pools until the final round. Thus in each round, Japan and Korea finished first and second in the pools, then both advanced to the championship meaning that they played five times against each other and only four times against other countries.

This was the first meeting in Pool A, and Japan’s victory ensured their advancement while Korea would have to defeat China in the loser’s bracket final. Japan invoked the mercy rule, powered by homers from Shuichi Murata and Kenji Johjima. Ichiro had three hits and steal, while Daisuke Matsuzaka started and allowed a two-run homer in the first but nothing further.


Friday, August 29, 2025

#453---Taiwan v. China, 3/4/2006 (World Baseball Classic)

A two-out, fourth-inning grand slam put Taiwan up 5-0 and a four-run eighth salted away a 12-3 win over their mainland rivals. Hong-Chi Kuo, at this point just coming off his rookie season in the majors, struck out three in the ninth but did allow a run as a double came around on a passed ball and a wild pitch.