#175---STL @ CIN, 4/10/2015

The highlight of this sheet is the pair of two-run homers launched by Joey Votto in his first two trips to the plate against John Lackey. He would later add a steal in an interesting spot, taking second with one out in the ninth and the go-ahead run already on third in the form of Billy Hamilton. Hamilton drew a pair of walks and created havoc while on base, scoring twice after taking bases via balk, steal, and wild pitch.

#174---CLE @ MIN, 7/21/2014

This game was decided on Josh Willingham’s eighth inning homer off Bryan Shaw after the Indians had slowly clawed back from a 3-1 deficit. One thing to note on the scoresheet is the note on top of a challenge. If you follow the boxed C you will see that it occurred during Chris Colabello’s second inning PA. The note means that on pitch A (which would become just an ordinary foul), what had been a triple down the left field line was overturned. In the early days of replay I felt compelled to note every review and what the original call/call sought by the challenging team was. It’s exhausting and clutters the sheet – now I try to exercise patience when a call appears close, only writing down the final outcome and only noting the situation if it is crucial to the outcome of the game or otherwise interesting.

#173---NYN @ CLE, 9/8/2013

This late season 2-1 game lasted 3:43 as twelve pitchers worked, and Daisuke Matsuzaka needed 103 pitches to go 5 2/3 despite only allowing 6 baserunners true to his form. His opposite number Danny Salazar needed 80 to go four, allowing a homer to Justin Turner.  The Indians reliever parade kept the Mets off the board until closer Chris Perez yielded a run in the ninth. David Murphy was on base five times for the Mets.

The Indians only run came on a bases loaded hit batter to cap a two-out sixth inning rally. In the ninth, Jason Giambi led off against LaTroy Hawkins with a single. Mike Aviles pinch-ran, and after Lonnie Chisenhall flied to right, he attempted to steal on a 1-0 pitch to Drew Stubbs. He was called out, leading to his ejection. Stubbs struck out swinging to complete his golden sombrero and bring the game to an end.

#172---NYA @ NYN, 7/23/2012

For eight innings of this game, the Yankees managed just two hits and two walks off of their subway series rivals. Alas, the seventh was a quick but decisive blow for the Bronx Bombers. Mark Teixeira saw seven pitches coaxing a leadoff walk from Chris Young, but then Nick Swisher collected his 1000th career hit on a double and Raul Ibanez tied the game by pulling a homer down the right field on the next two pitches. In came Jon Rauch, and after striking out Russell Martin, he got up in the count 0-2 on pinch-hitter Eric Chavez before the latter homered down the left field line. A committee of Yankee relievers would make it hold up (including Rafael Soriano with the save; this was the year that Mariano Rivera tore his ACL).

Note that right before the carnage, Chris Young had made Ivan Nova and the Yankees pay; he lined a first pitch single to right after Josh Thole was intentionally walked with two outs and a man on third in the bottom of the sixth. Also, Lucas Duda in right field was a thing?

#171---DET @ CLE, 5/1/2011

Ahh, those heady spring days of 2011, when the Indians were winning enough games to delude their front office into believing they could challenge the Tigers for the division crown. Although to be fair, looking at the Detroit lineup on this day, it’s hard to imagine that this would be a 95 win team: Will Rhymes, Ramon Santiago, and Don Kelly batting in front of Miguel Cabrera? It would look a lot better with regulars Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta in the lineup for sure.

After each team put up an early two spot, there wouldn’t be many scoring threats in the third-seventh as only twice did Cleveland get a runner into scoring position with less than two outs, while Detroit only managed it once. In the eighth, the Tigers chased Justin Masterson by getting their first two hitters aboard, coaxing a sac fly off of Rafael Perez to take a 3-2 lead. But Joaquin Benoit did not have it on this day, yielding three runs to the Tribe. Chris Perez made it interesting in the ninth, but got Brennan Boesch to fly out on the first pitch with runners at the corner to “save” the game.

#170---CHA @ BOS, 9/4/2010

Both Sox were trying to make the playoffs and would ultimately fall short. The two runs the ChiSox pushed across against John Lackey in the seventh made the difference. Note Manny Ramirez was back in Boston playing for the White Sox, a tenure I don’t really remember. We also see Chris Sale working in relief against his future team, but what really caught my eye was Daniel Bard, who worked through the eighth with three flyouts to center. The night before I wrote this, it was announced that Bard’s long exile from the majors had ended when he made the Rockies’ roster.

#169---PHI @ WAS, 4/13/2009

Scoring note: You can see a briefly-lived endeavor by me to track the number of strikes thrown by the starting pitcher each inning in addition to total pitches. I quickly decided that this space would be better used for a running total of pitches.

This was a wild home opener for the Nats against the defending champion Phillies. Each team got five of their runs on three homers, with the biggest the three-run shot from Ryan Howard in the seventh after the first two batters of the inning were plunked. The Nats tried to come back with a pair of two-run blasts from Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman, but Brad Lidge recovered from the latter with a pair of strikeouts and a grounder to first.

Some of the names on the Washington side are great: Lastings Milledge, Cristian Guzman, Elijah Dukes, Nick Johnson (this team would finish 59-103).

#168---NYA @ CLE, 4/27/2008

This was a good early-season duel between CC Sabathia and Chien-Ming Wang. Sabathia gave up a leadoff single to Johnny Damon and walked A-Rod later in the first, but then set down the Yankees through the fourth sans a Ryan Garko error. In the fifth, Robinson Cano beat out an infield single, but Sabathia picked him off before he even threw a pitch to Melky Cabrera. Good thing too, as Cabrera hit the next pitch out for a homer. That would be the game’s only run, as for the rest of the game the only blemish on the lines of Sabathia and reliever Masa Kobayashi were a Jeter double. On the other side, Wang retired the last four batters he faced, and then Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera closed it out with a pair of perfect innings.

#167---CLE @ LAA, 5/9/2007

The Indians got two in the first off of Jered Weaver, and Paul Byrd tried to make it hold up and it did for sixth. But in the seventh, Erick Aybar singled on a chopper to the mound and Kendry Morales followed with a two-run blast. In the eighth, Gary Matthews hit the first pitch from Fernando Cabrera to put the Angels up, and K-Rod got the save with a 1-2-3 ninth against the bottom of the Tribe order.

Travis Hafner was involved in a couple plays worth noting on the scoresheet. In the first he reached on catcher’s interference, and in the fifth his grounder was deflected by first baseman Casey Kotchman to Aybar, who threw back to Kotchman for the old 343, with my “d” prefix denoting that the position number that followed deflected the ball. I would now score this play “3-43”.

#166---CLE @ DET, 4/15/2006

Fausto Carmona (actually Roberto Hernandez) made his major league debut a success, allowing one run over six innings while walking two and fanning four. The Indians five run fourth off of Jeremy Bonderman removed all doubt; Bonderman was relieved by Jordan Tata, who I do not remember at all (eleven career appearances for Detroit over 2006-07).