TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard (iOS) -FAQ

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mbartschi
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TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard (iOS) -FAQ

Post by mbartschi » Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:33 am

I was looking at the PDF scorecard output from one of my games the other day and noticed something I had always ignored before. Any time a runner is safe at home, the scorecard will shade in the diamond symbol. But there are three different ways it gets shaded in. I took a look at the scorecards, related stats, and game situations of a few different games to try to figure out what each of these shading styles had in common. This is what it seems to be:
  • A lightly shaded diamond is a regular earned run.
  • A dark shaded diamond is a home run.
  • A gradient-shaded diamond (dark near the edges and light in the center) is an unearned run.
I've never heard of that being a generally-accepted norm for paper scorekeeping, but it's a neat little undocumented feature in iScore-generated scorecards.

For the most accurate results, you'd need to have advanced scorekeeping turned on in the options and remember to carefully answer the question, "If the error hadn't occurred, would the runner have been out?" every time it appears. (Also don't forget to "Assign Error" for dropped foul-outs.) If you do that, iScore is pretty solid at figuring out what can otherwise be a very complex game reconstruction exercise in some situations, and the scorecard shading can help you figure out which runs were counted toward the ER pitching stat (and resolve any disagreements with a paper scorekeeper).
Last edited by mbartschi on Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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OhioTex
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard

Post by OhioTex » Sun Apr 23, 2017 5:45 pm

Great post for the community.
(I have made it a sticky)

You can also have unearned home runs
( eg. 2 outs, error extends inning, home run is unearned) scorecard will show a white dot in center of the dark filled home run diamond
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ixamnis
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard

Post by ixamnis » Sun Apr 23, 2017 7:10 pm

I would point out that I don't see this showing up on scorecards produced by iScore on my Android phone.
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OhioTex
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard

Post by OhioTex » Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:43 am

On the topic of reading the iscore PDF scorecard , I thought i would point out there is an online legend that explains iScore notation conventions http://iscoresports.com/baseball/scorebook_legend.php

The legend covers the various notations iscore uses well but It does not include this unearned run 'starburst /white center' notation mentioned in the original post.

Below are a few other notations that maybe obvious to long time users, but new users may not recognize at first glance...

The blue dots in upper left represnt RBI

strike boxes are shaded based on called/swinging/foul.
* no shade = strike looking,
* pink shade = strike swinging,
* yellow shade = foul strike
an x to left of strike/ball box is a foul ball

The thick Horizontal Dark Red Line between batters indicates a pitching change

A thick Vertical dark Red line on left edge of batter box indicates a batter change.(i.e., pinch hitter or substitute)
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mbartschi
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard

Post by mbartschi » Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:17 pm

OhioTex wrote:You can also have unearned home runs
( eg. 2 outs, error extends inning, home run is unearned) scorecard will show a white dot in center of the dark filled home run diamond
Thanks, that's a good point! I have never personally scored that situation, but I'll be on the lookout for that notation if it ever happens. I had found the Scorebook Legend page you mentioned, but it doesn't address the earned/unearned differences. Figured I would post the explanation because the first thing I did when I noticed it was search the forums, and not finding the answer, I did some comparisons on my own to try to solve the mystery. So maybe the next person who gets stumped by that notation will find this post for a quick answer. ;)
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OhioTex
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard-FAQ

Post by OhioTex » Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:24 am

Earned/unearned run determination gets even more complicated when you have relief pitchers and inherited baserunners, in addition to errors and passed balls. Again iscore does a pretty good job. I have tested it against some 'stumpers' and passed where many other programs have failed.

One thing iscore handles, that others miss, a relief pitcher does not get benefit if errors from prior pitcher. Good example, that unearned home run example that happened with 2 outs but unearned b/c of a prior error that extended the inning, that same home run off a reliever would now be earned. As the inning extending error from before does not carry over to new pitcher.

Iscore is not perfect, but it does well if you score with attention like you said, and note if runner would have been out if not for error.
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Tacho47
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard (iOS) -FAQ

Post by Tacho47 » Tue May 02, 2017 6:41 am

The easiest way to display earned/unearned runs would be to FULLY color the diamond for earned runs und HALF color the diamond for unearned runs.
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OhioTex
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard (iOS) -FAQ

Post by OhioTex » Tue May 02, 2017 7:24 am

Tacho47 wrote:The easiest way to display earned/unearned runs would be to FULLY color the diamond for earned runs und HALF color the diamond for unearned runs.
-it basically does that already.

My last comment/post was about the challenge in re creating the inning without errors or passed balls, and calculating the earn/unearned runs, especially with relief pitchers and inherited runners can be tricky.

I have no issue with the current visual icons used in iOS for earned/unearned, to me clear and distinct - even at a glance. I can scan the card and see unearned with a white center- and earned with a solid blue center. no need to change.

As the original post mentioned, this is an easy way to quickly scan a scorecard to see which runs iscore calculated as earned/un earned.. even on phone with no magnification can easily read


P.S. +1 advocate for adding these icons to android version.
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willdresslar
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard (iOS) -FAQ

Post by willdresslar » Thu Jun 22, 2017 6:56 am

Did anyone ever look into the Android issue mentioned by ixamnis? This is a nice feature, but I am not seeing it either on Android. Could somebody post a screenshot of how these look on iOS?
randy21m
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Re: TIP: Quickly Identify Earned vs. Unearned Runs on Scorecard (iOS) -FAQ

Post by randy21m » Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:30 am

Confirmed between my iOS device (just used the first time last night), and my Android device - the Android device does NOT show the difference described as outlined by the OP, but the iOS device does. I checked 4 different games on my Android device, and the Runs are all the same, regardless of ER, UR, or HR. On Android, it's dark on the edges indicating the bases successfully reached, and the box is fully shaded. On iOS, it's as the OP described - the box is shaded only around the edges, and the center is not shaded.

Here's a screenshot:
http://imgur.com/a/6nUt7
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