He Scored!

April 9, 2012

Here’s another scorecard that was submitted as an entry to my April contest. This one comes to us from Jim, over at The Phillies Room. I’ve looked one of his scorecards before, so let’s just dive right into this one.

A few things stand out right away. The penmanship is amazing. Second, he put the first and last names of the players in the game. Clearly, he has never scored a game involving Jarrod Saltalamacchia. (Maybe next weekend he’ll get a chance.) The other thing I notice is that he has himself an older version of the Section 36 scorecard. It’s nice to see the classics come back into style. Now, for the game itself.

The game notes section tells us something very important. This was the 2012 Phillies Home Opener. An exciting time, as the season begins anew. Which is why we can forgive Jim’s error at the top. The Phillies were hosting the Marlins in this game. I can understand why Jim’s first impulse was to start writing “Florida.” But, he recovered nicely with “Miami.”

I’m impressed that Jim managed to get the umpires listed on the card. I always miss those myself.

I mentioned this last time, but I like how he leaves the pitchers spot in one row. Even though there were six players in that spot, he leaves the scoring as if there were only one. He is clearly an NL fan used to having so many players in one spot. I’m alarmed that he maxed out the available spots for the ninth batter. Is six a common number of players in that slot? Is it a low number? I may have to think of a way to add more rows.

I’ve been talking a lot about the aspects of the card, and not so much about the game itself. The reason is twofold. First, I think how other people keep score is the most interesting part of getting someone else’s card. Second, I was sparing Jim from reliving the game too much. The Phillies didn’t do so well in this game. They managed only six hits, and their two runs were too little too late. Cole Hamels didn’t pitch terribly, especially for an early start. It was almost a quality start, and he was piling on the strikeouts. So, that was probably promising. I’m sure the fans enjoyed seeing new acquisition Jonathan Papelbon trot in from the bullpen. But, it wasn’t even close to a save situation. And, he promptly gave up a run. Oops.

So, thank you Jim for sharing this scorecard with all of us. It was great to relive the Phillies opener, even if they ended up losing the game 6-2.

And the scorecard shows us how it happened.