Box Scores

Box Scores that count are back! Yesterday, March 29, 2018, was opening day for Major League Baseball. 26 of the 30 teams played their first game; two games were rained out. I love checking out box scores even though I never got into playing fantasy baseball.

I was able to watch the last 7 innings of the Yankee game in Toronto.  I missed Giancarlo Stanton's HR in his first at bat as a Yankee but saw it on replay. He later hit another HR and a double. Luis Severino pitched well, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 7  in 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

The box score for the White Sox win over Kansas City provided the first surprise of the season. Who is DH Matt Davidson? He hit 3 HR's, drove in 5 and scored 4. I confess that the name didn't sound familiar. He just turned 27 a few days ago and hit 26 HR's for a 67 - 95 Chisox team last year. He played in 31 games for  Arizona in 2013 and 1 game for the White Sox in 2016. I admit it's possible I didn't check out White Sox box scores very carefully last year because they were such a bad team.

The Giants blanked the Dodgers 1 - 0 as second baseman Joe Panik (who played his college ball at St. John's University) homered off Clayton Kershaw in the 5th inning. CK was 2 for 2 at the plate but the first 5 batters in the Dodger lineup went hitless.

The next night:

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Panik became the first player to homer for his team in back-to-back 1-0 victories. In a sport as old as baseball, that's impressive enough. But to do it at Dodger Stadium, against Kershaw and Jansen, in the season's first two games -- that's a case of truth being stranger than fiction.

Speaking of the Dodgers:

The first major league baseball game I ever attended was in 1956 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. I was 10 when I went with the Cub Scouts to a Dodger - Cardinals game won by the Dodgers 12 - 4. 

Here's the box score of that game from the best baseball website I know of, Baseball-Almanac.com, "where what happened yesterday is being preserved today". 

St. Louis Cardinals vs Brooklyn Dodgers August 4, 1956 Box Score The box score below is an accurate record of events for the baseball contest played on August 4, 1956 at Ebbets Field. The Brooklyn Dodgers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals and the box score is "ready to surrender its truth to the knowing eye."

"The box score is the catechism of baseball, ready to surrender its truth to the knowing eye." - Author Stanley Cohen in The Man in the Crowd (1981)

Baseball Almanac Box Scores St. Louis Cardinals 4, Brooklyn Dodgers 12 Game played on Saturday, August 4, 1956 at Ebbets Field St. Louis Cardinals ab   r   h rbi Blasingame 2b 4 0 0 0 Dark ss 3 0 0 0   Morgan ss 1 1 1 0 Musial 1b 2 1 2 0   Nelson 1b 1 1 1 2 Boyer 3b 4 1 2 0 Moon rf 4 0 1 1 Lockman lf 4 0 1 0 Peete cf 4 0 0 0 Smith c 3 0 1 0 Blaylock p 0 0 0 0   McDaniel p 2 0 0 0   Sauer ph 1 0 0 0   Liddle p 0 0 0 0   Repulski ph 1 0 0 0 Totals 34 4 9 3 Brooklyn Dodgers ab   r   h rbi Gilliam 2b 4 2 2 0 Amoros lf 4 2 1 0 Snider cf 3 2 2 3   Cimoli cf 1 0 0 0 Furillo rf 5 1 2 2 Robinson 3b 2 1 0 1   Jackson 3b 3 0 1 0 Hodges 1b 4 2 2 0 Campanella c 3 1 1 0 Fernandez ss 4 1 1 4 Erskine p 4 0 0 0 Totals 37 12 12 10 St. Louis 0 0 0   2 0 0   0 2 0 – 4 9 5 Brooklyn 5 1 0   2 0 0   4 0 x – 12 12 0     St. Louis Cardinals IP H R ER BB SO Blaylock  L(0-2) 0.1 4 5 3 1 0   McDaniel   5.2 5 3 3 1 0   Liddle   2.0 3 4 4 2 0 Totals 8.0 12 12 10 4 0     Brooklyn Dodgers IP H R ER BB SO Erskine  W(10-6) 9.0 9 4 4 3 2 Totals 9.0 9 4 4 3 2   E–Dark 2 (19), Boyer (13), Lockman 2 (8).  DP–St. Louis 2. Dark-Musial, Boyer-Blasingame-Musial, Brooklyn 2. Erskine-Fernandez-Hodges, Jackson-Hodges.  2B–Brooklyn Gilliam (7,off Blaylock); Snider (16,off McDaniel).  HR–St. Louis Nelson (5,8th inning off Erskine 1 on 1 out), Brooklyn Snider (27,4th inning off McDaniel 1 on 1 out); Fernandez (1,7th inning off Liddle 3 on 1 out).  Team LOB–6.  Team–5.  SB–Gilliam (13,2nd base off Liddle/Smith); Gilliam (13,2nd base off Liddle/Smith).  U-HP–Jocko Conlan, 1B–Artie Gore, 2B–Bill Jackowski, 3B–Vic Delmore. Game played on Saturday, August 4, 1956 at Ebbets Field