It was a beautiful sight at Dodger Stadium last night. We not only won after an 8th-inning 3-run bomb by pinch hitter Jason Heyward, but there were friends all around. Our Top Deck pals were there: Gilberto, Arlene, Liz and Darwin. I got to visit our Loge amigo Michael with his sister and her family. And my old Times buddy Carlos climbed up to the top row of the Top Deck to say hey. Not only that, but we got a great Teoscar Hernández Bobblehead to boot!
The only thing that bugged me was that the scoreboard operator is still an idiot. At the last game I went to (Aug. 10), I stopped by the Press Box to let someone know that whoever posts the pitch counts on the Right Field scoreboard has been getting it wrong the whole season. This “scorekeeper” counts the 4th ball of a walk as a strike. So, let’s say Evan Phillips walks the first batter he sees, his pitch count on the Right Field scoreboard will read “Total Pitches: 4 – Strikes: 1 – Balls: 3.” It doesn’t seem all that important, but when there are 4, 5, 6, even 8 walks in a game, the pitch count is completely out of whack!
For instance, last night, Walker Buehler allowed 3 walks, so when he left after the 4th inning, his pitch count in the stadium said “Total Pitches: 82 – Strikes: 53 – Balls 29,” when in actual fact, his stats were “Total Pitches: 82 – Strikes: 50 – Balls 32.” I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but accuracy is essential in baseball. For players, for pitchers, for broadcasters and for fanatical OCD fan scorekeepers, like me.
Anyway, at that Aug. 10 game, after I told some woman going into the press box about the problem, the pitch counts were accurate. I thought I had fixed the problem. But alas! The stupid scorekeeper must just have had the night off.
Piewalla's Dodger Blues 