(One thing you won't find in ScoreCenter is push notifications--an omission I raise only because may have some users expecting to find the feature in the current version. I don't know the specific reason for the hold-up, but I suspect it has something to do with ESPN trying to find the best way to implement push notifications so that ScoreCenter isn't constantly pinging you with updates. I can think of no hell fresher than my phone beeping out the theme every time a run scores in a Major League Baseball Game.)

We're in a relative dead period on the American sporting scene, with only the baseball season in full swing. But I imagine ScoreCenter presents scores in much the same way across multiple sports--they appear in two columns in white text on a blue background. The color scheme makes it particularly easy to see scores at the briefest of glances.

It's much harder, however, to get a quick look at who won a game. ScoreCenter doesn't do much to differentiate in-progress games from those that are already in the books. There's a "Final" in tiny type at the top of the box, of course, and a small white arrow next to the winning team. That's fine if you don't mind studying the screen to figure out who won what, but ScoreCenter should follow the lead of its competitors. Sportacular, for example, uses color coding--green for live games, blue for completed ones, red for postponements, and gray for games still to be played; the winning team's name is also highlighted.

There's one other minor annoyance with how ScoreCenter displays scores, but it only affects those of us here on the Left Coast. The app lists two day's worth of scores--a helpful feature for seeing not only today's game but upcoming match-ups as well. But ScoreCenter doesn't alter its two-day outlook until noon local time. If you're in the Pacific time zone that means yesterday's scores will still be at the top of the page--even as afternoon games are well underway back east. East Coast Bias rears its ugly head once again.

Both Sportacular and SportsTap also do a better job at providing more detailed information about specific games than you'll find when you tap on a contest in ScoreCenter. Say the Red Sox-A's game has piqued your interest; tap on it, and you'll get the score and inning bookended by logos of each team. Below that, ScoreCenter lists the balls, strikes, and outs, who's pitching, who's batting, and what happened in the last at-bat. There's also a diamond that shows you how many runners are on base, plus a inning-by-inning line score.