Max Scherzer fanned 8 and walked 4 over seven innings, capped with a
five-pitch seventh. The Indians also went down on just six pitches in the
ninth, but scored a run on Travis Hafner’s solo homer. Derek Lowe walked the
bases loaded to leadoff the fifth, but escaped only allowing one run on Prince
Fielder’s sacrifice fly. Johnny Damon and Casey Kotchman teamed up for most of
the Indians offense by walking and homering to lead off the third (this
probably represents their shining moment in
I’ve posted examples of my landscape scoresheet before – it’s nice to have extra room but I prefer being able to see the entire game without having to flip back and forth as my portrait-orientated standard scoresheet permits.
The highlight of the game was Jay Bruce’s 3-4 with a single, triple, and homer. I’m not going to say it.
There wasn’t anything particularly notable about this late spring training exhibition, but I included it here because it shows the alternate, pictorial way of representing hits that I sometimes use. This allows me to distinguish between left/center/right for location and grounder/line drive/fly ball for trajectory, which is less granular than I typically use for location at least, when numbers and letters allow for more detail to be recorded. It is inspired by, if not exactly adopted from, LL Bean’s scoring system. I think a few examples will make it easy to figure out the code:
Phillips ^2 : HR to left on flyball
Grudzielanek v2: single to right on line drive
Marson v3: single to center on groundball
Gomes ^5: ground-rule double to left on line drive
Phillips ^8: single to left on flyball
Grady Sizemore led off the game with a homer, and the Indians added another
tally in the first and three in the third (Eric Wedge thought it should have
been at least four – he was run arguing with that Mark DeRosa had scored rather
than been gunned out at the plate to end the inning). Shin-Soo Choo added a
two-run shot in the fourth, and it was 7-0
Tampa Bay starting coming back against Anthony Reyes, scoring three in the
fourth and two in the fifth. In the seventh they cut it to 7-6 on a Jensen
Lewis wild pitch. Ben Zobrist homered off Rafael Betancourt to tie it leading
off the eighth. Meanwhile, the Rays bullpen (including Troy Percival) was
shutting the Indians down, yielding just one hit and two walks over 5 2/3
innings. In the bottom of the ninth, BJ Upton walked off Luis Vizcaino with a
homer to left. From 7-0
Tampa ran wild on Victor Martinez in this one – BJ Upton and Carl Crawford each swiped two bags, Ben Zobrist one, and while Aki Iwamura was caught stealing, they also benefited from two wild pitches.
I usually can look at a scoresheet and find some kind of angle to comment about here. Sometimes the game itself was interesting, because of the season/series situation or how it played out. Other times there’s an individual feat, or a theme that I enjoy is players in places you don’t expect them/don’t remember them. Since this is primarily a scorekeeping blog, it can often be a technical aspect of the scorekeeping – how I record an unusual play, a new wrinkle I added to my scoring system, etc.
This one is coming up empty on all fronts. This was a run of the mill, dog days game better two teams that would miss the playoffs (the Indians had been a pre-season favorite off their 2007 AL Central title; the Twins would fall just a game short of the White Sox). And so maybe as I write this just over twelve years later, that’s the angle – run of the mill games should be cherished and celebrated just the same. Baseball is great, and March – July 2020 has reminded me never to take it for granted.
I was surprised that I hadn’t previously posted this scoresheet. Daisuke Matsuzaka was all the rage in 2007, and here he was in just his second start (and first at home) matched up against King Felix. Matsuzaka wasn’t bad – he wound up going seven, allowing three runs, fanning four and walking one – but Felix was spectacular. He set down the first eight before Dustin Pedroia worked a walk, and took a no-hitter into the seventh. In the eighth, JD Drew grounded the first pitch up the middle to end the no-hit bid, but Hernandez set down the last six Red Sox to polish off a one-hitter with six strikeouts and two walks on 111 pitches.
This was a dramatic game to boot. Ben Sheets shut out
Two outs, and Scott Spezio hit for Yadier Molina. Down in the count 1-2, he
lined a triple to right to clear the bases. Adam Wainwright would yield only a
two out walk in the ninth in recording the save, and
I can sense the excitement of the moment from the scoresheet alone, but sometimes it’s fun to watch the video too:
https://youtu.be/TZy3EiPRIWE?t=7393
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
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.
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
