fox box

For the past 15 years or so, there's been something on TV screens that allows you to know exactly what is going on with the game.  It is called the Fox Box, named after Fox television which was the pioneer in the field of constant information during a game.

In the past, the score of the game was never really given unless you were at the end of the inning.  Now, whenever you need it, you have the score, inning, and what not else.

The Fox Box in the upper left hand corner

So what information can you get from the Fox Box?  Most importantly, you get the score.  In this instance, the score is STL (St. Louis) 3, and ATL (Atlanta) 2.

You also know it is the 9th inning, which is indicated to the right of the "STL."  The little down triangle below the "9TH" indicates it is the bottom half of the inning.

To the right of the "9TH" is the location of the runners.  In this instance, there was a runner on 1st base.  If there were runners on other bases, they would be highlighted.

The count on the batter was 0-1 (0 balls and 1 strikes).

There are two outs, as you can see there are two highlighted circles below the 0-1.

With this information, you can tell a lot of information about the game, rather than having to bug a stranger if they "knew the score?" like you had to for many years prior.