#218---BOS @ CLE, 6/20/2005

 

The hefty lefties squared off here (David Wells and CC Sabathia), with neither faring particularly well. Sabathia allowed just one baserunner through three, but then was crushed for nine runs over his final 1 2/3, including three run homers to cap each inning. Wells did better, yielding four runs over five grueling (111 pitches) innings. The Indians chipped away against Boston’s bullpen, with back-to-back homers from Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez pulling them to within 9-8 in the eighth. But Johnny Damon’s leadoff homer in the ninth allowed the BoSox to survive another Indians threat in the ninth; Jhonny Peralta doubled with one out to tie it, but his pinch-runner, future Boston manager Alex Cora, was stranded there.

Boston would edge out Cleveland by just two games for the wildcard in the end, so this game was pretty important in retrospect. Note that John Olerud made an appearance as a defensive replacement for Kevin Millar – I had forgotten that he ended his career with the Red Sox.

#217---LA @ CHN, 8/14/2004

 

Kerry Wood did it all on this afternoon at Wrigley. He pitched eight shutout innings, walking three and fanning seven. He ran into some trouble in the eighth, walking two and loading the bases, but struck out Adrian Beltre to end it and his outing (with 121 pitches because why not). More notably, though, he opened the scoring when he jumped on the first pitch Kaz Ishii threw in the third for a homer to left.

There are a couple names that seem a bit out of place on this one – Steve Finley, Jayson Werth, and a young David Ross as Dodgers, Nomar as a Cub.

Scoring note: Izturis K in the fifth is circled because it came on a foul bunt. That’s not how I would score it now (K with the squiggly line I use for bunt beneath it), and I’m not sure why he was bunting in an 0-2 hole with two outs and David Ross at first.

#216---SEA @ CLE, 8/5/2003

 

Two excellent lefties with very different styles matched up in this one – Jamie Moyer (7 IP, 1 W, 6 K) got the better of CC Sabathia (8 IP, 2 W, 4 K). Despite the velocity difference, Sabathia didn’t get his first K until he got Edgar Martinez leading off the sixth.

The most interesting play of the game was the first one. Ichiro tripled on a groundball down the right field line, and somehow when the ball was returned to the infield, Travis Hafner threw it away, allowing Ichiro to complete the little league homer. While Seattle would score just one more run, they had ten hits for the game (although their only other run came on a bases loaded walk drawn by John Olerud), while Cleveland would muster just three.

#215---MIN @ CLE, 7/12/2002

 

The Indians were the erstwhile AL Central power, and the Twins were en route to their first playoff appearance in eleven years. This reversal of fortunes was bound to cause some friction, and it evidenced itself in this one.

Minnesota led 4-2 with one out in the top of the fifth when Danys Baez plunked Torii Hunter. Hunter retrieved the pill and chucked it at Baez, leading to his ejection and a benches clearing fracas.

The video (***) is worth a watch, as Torii Hunter misremembers – he thought he had homered earlier in the game, but actually had bounced to third twice.

This game featured homers by two members of the 500 home run club, plus luminaries Dustin Mohr, Luis Rivas, Bill Selby, and Ben Broussard.

On a scoring note, apparently I missed the location/trajectory of Milton Bradley’s eighth inning single as it’s marked with a generic dash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CoTcnb_0Y