Before yesterday, I had never kept score for a baseball game. Since my interest in baseball really took off when I had access to a high-speed internet connection at my fingertips, why would I have? Instead of paying careful attention to a game for 3 hours, I could point, click, and repeat as necessary to get the play-by-play for any game I wanted.

Yet, I felt a little guilty not having scored a game at least once before. So, with the help of ESPN's stat pack, I printed out a scorecard and sat myself down in front of the TV for Game 2 of the Mets series at home. I have to say, the whole thing worked out nicely. 4 home runs plus a couple of hits strung together gave the Cubs a comfortable 7-run cushion over the Mets. What was more impressive, however, is that the Mets didn't score at all as Greg Maddux, Michael Wuertz (who got out of a bases loaded jam nicely), and Mike Remlinger pitched 9 innings of 3-hit ball. In a night of encouraging signs, that one protrudes higher than the rest.

Although the scorekeeping went well, I have to say I'm not all that impressed with ESPN's scorecard in their stat pack. It's a shame, really, because they provide all the necessary team information, but they're missing some important stuff. How come I can't track walks? Or how about a little box on the end for a hitter's total strikeouts? Or a box for total fly balls and ground balls? Number of pitches per at-bat? Well, that last one might require a little too much attention, but it'd still be nice to have. ESPN does a good job with what stats it makes available, so I'm kind of surprised to see how primitive the scorecard still is. Sure, I could pencil it in on the side, but damn it, a few more boxes isn't much to ask for.

The problem is I don't know where to find a better scorecard. The team information is extremely useful when substitutions are made, but that can be replaced by looking it up before the game. There's a couple of homemade scorecards out there (this one seems a little better than average), but nothing that I found really has everything that I want. Maybe I'll get ambitious and make my own, but until then, let me know if you find or already have a good one that you use.

All in all, the scorekeeping was pretty satisfying. It's not something I'd do for every game, but once in a while it lets you really focus on what's happened and shows you what trends are emerging as the game progresses. For example, in the first 8 outs either Greg Maddux struck out the batter or Jeromy Burnitz caught a fly ball. Doesn't mean a whole lot, but it's kind of neat to see that every other player was getting a little break in the first third of the game. Also, Ramirez hit the ball to the left side of the infield 3 times (2 groundouts, 1 popup) before hitting a double in his last at-bat. Maybe Ramirez was consistently ahead of the ball last night. Answers may not be apparent from numbers and diamonds on the sheet, but if you step back and look at them, it can make the game a lot more interesting. After scoring one game, it's suddenly much clearer to see why baseball statistics are absolutely vital to the popularity of the game.

Anyway, I wanted to attribute the Cubs' win to the fact that I was scorekeeping - like every other sports fan, I can't help but be superstitious - but since I can't keep score for today's day game, I'll chalk it up to the fact that I wasn't wearing socks instead. One game does not a corner turn...or something, so let's hope the Cubs can repeat their very pleasing performance today.

(This post originally appeared on Old Style Cubs. Please read responsibly.)