Off-Day Puzzle #16: Solution

Is Ubragg as good at creating puzzles as he is at answering them? You be the judge. The answer to yesterday's puzzle is Russell Martin. Here's the solution, straight from UBragg himself:

Step 1: "After getting help from the starting lineups..." suggests that you identify the first names of these former Dodger players to get your first message. The Dodgers all-time roster on Wikipedia is a good reference for the names you aren't sure on.

Team 1	Team 2
Andy LaRoche	Irish Meusel
Davey Lopes	Nomar Garciaparra
Duke Snider	Eddie Murray
Dusty Baker	Alex Cora
Ivan DeJesus	Chin-Feng Chen
Greg Brock	Hiram Bocachica
Ike Boone	Rick Dempsey
Todd Hundley	Oscar Robles
Sandy Koufax	Wilson Alvarez

Taking the first letter of the first name of each player, you get the first message: ADD DIGITS IN EACH ROW

Step 2: "you must then keep official score of the game..." suggests that you keep score. A reference was provided for exactly the notation to use. Here is what my scorebook looked like after scoring.

Team 1:

Team 2:

Step 3: Now, as suggested by the message from step one, let's add the digits in each row, and then convert these to letters using A=1, B=2, ...

• Andy LaRoche: (3+1) + (2+2) + 1 + (3+1) = 13 = M
• Davey Lopes: (1+4+1+2) + 1 + 1 + (1+2+2) = 15 = O
• Duke Snider: 0 + (5+3+3) + (1+4+1+1) + 0 = 18 = R
• Dusty Baker: (6+3) + (6+2+1+1) + 0 + 0 = 19 = S
• Ivan DeJesus: (2+1) + 1 + 1 + 0 = 5 = E
• Greg Brock: (1+2) + 1 + 2 + 3 = 9 = I
• Ike Boone: (3+3) + (1+4+2) + 1 = 14 = N
• Todd Hundley: (4+1) + 0 + 3 = 8 = H
• Sandy Koufax: 1 + (1+3+1+3) + 0 = 9 = I
  
• Irish Meusel: 2 + 0 + (5+2+1) + (5+3+2) = 20 = T
• Nomar Garciaparra: 0 + (4+3+3) + (5+2+2) + 0 = 19 = S
• Eddie Murray: 0 + 0 + 0 + 1 = 1 = A
• Alex Cora: 1 + (3+1) + 0 + (6+3) = 14 = N
• Chin-Feng Chen: (2+2) + 0 + 0 + 0 = 4 = D
• Hiram Bocachica: (8+3) + 1 + 3 + 0 = 15 = O
• Rick Dempsey: 1 + (9+2) + 0 + (8+1) = 21 = U
• Oscar Robles: (3+1) + (4+3) + 1 + (6+2) = 20 = T
• Wilson Alvarez: (6+2) + 1 + 0 + (4+3+3) = 19 = S

So this gives the next message: MORSE IN HITS AND OUTS

Step 4: This suggests that you reinterpret the scorebook as Morse code, using hits and outs as dashes and dots. The insight here is to think of them like official at bats, where walks and hit-by-pitches don't count for anything (X), while a hit (H) is a dash and an out (including fielder's choices, which count against the hitter)(O) is a dot.

• Andy LaRoche: OOHO = dot-dot-dash-dot = F
• Davey Lopes: HHHX = dash-dash-dash = O
• Duke Snider: OOHX = dot-dot-dash = U
• Dusty Baker: OHOX = dot-dash-dot = R
• Ivan DeJesus: OHHO = dot-dash-dash-dot = P
• Greg Brock: OHOO = dot-dash-dot-dot = L
• Ike Boone: OOH = dot-dot-dash = U
• Todd Hundley: OOO = dot-dot-dot = S
• Sandy Koufax: HHH = dash-dash-dash = O
  
• Irish Meusel: HXXO = dash-dot = N
• Nomar Garciaparra: XOXX = dot = E
• Eddie Murray: XXXH = dash = T
• Alex Cora: OOOO = dot-dot-dot-dot = H
• Chin-Feng Chen: OXOX = dot-dot = I
• Hiram Bocachica: OHOX = dot-dash-dot = R
• Rick Dempsey: HOXO = dash-dot-dot = D
• Oscar Robles: OOOO = dot-dot-dot-dot = H
• Wilson Alvarez: OHXO = dot-dash-dot = R

So this yields the final message: FOUR PLUS ONE THIRD HR. This of course refers the memorable "Four Plus One" Game, in which the third home run of the four-plus-one was hit by Russell Martin, which is the Dodger being honored in the exhibition game, and the answer to the puzzle.

Congratulations to Keven C for being the first to solve, followed by Keven C, QuadSevens, drewdez, and J Steve. This one was certainly a difficult one, with only 4 solvers - an all-time low! So those four should really feel proud of themselves.

Thanks to UBragg for a fantastic puzzle. You have shown to be as skilled a puzzle creator as you are a puzzle solver.

Updated rankings coming soon, and next puzzle 7am, Monday Sept 17!