#370---TOR @ CLE, 3/25/2002

 

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.

#369---CLE v. HOU, 3/10/2001

 

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.

#368---CLE @ ATL, 4/1/2000

 

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.”

#367---LA @ CLE, 3/13/1999

 

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?