Loading ...Reds and Cubs finish up the first three-game set of the season today at GAB. Kyle Lohse will toe the rubber for the first time this season, and he will be opposed by Chicago’s Jason Marquis.
I’m told that there is a possibility that Josh Hamilton will start today. We’ll see when lineups are announced.
Hopefully, all our technical difficulties are behind us. Thanks for your patience and sorry for the inconvenience.
Now talk it up in today’s game thread!
UPDATE: Nope, no Hamilton. Here’s the lineup for the Redlegs:
Freel CF
Dunn LF
Phillips 2B
Griffey RF
Encarnacion 3B
Hatteberg 1B
Gonzalez SS
Valentin C
Lohse P
Wouldn’t it be nice to win this first series?
Anyone else get the feeling that the Reds aren’t quite ready for the season to start? Hitting-wise, Dunn, Freel, and Griffey look okay, and the pitchers have been great, but there have been several mental errors already. Freel set up his personal circus on opening day; then the crap with the sac bunt yesterday, Dunn not running really hard on his “single”…
With Lohse and Marquis going today, it would seem to have the potential for a high scoring affair. The weather may influence that, however. Lilly was really on last night, so I won’t panic over that one; but if we don’t get to Marquis today, there may be a problem.
I dunno, Chris, I don’t really get that vibe. Maybe it’s because we’re only two games in.
Ross is the only one that concerns me. He looks like he’s been sleep-walking all spring.
I agree about Ross. Maybe Hot Wheels Valentin will give us something today. Or Moeller tomorrow. Or our fourth catcher on Saturday (we do have four or five catchers on the roster, don’t we?)
Yeah, I’m kinda concerned about Ross myself. Of course he would have had a jack last night in warmer weather. He hit the ball as hard as anyone. And there is a reason he’s batting 8th (behind Gonzales even). If he can hit .260 with 15 HRs he will still be above average for that spot in the order.
True, he crushed that ball last night.
I just don’t want to get my expectations out of line with Ross. Last year was way beyond anything we’d seen from him before. He probably won’t duplicate that.
But preach is right that he doesn’t have to duplicate that to be a good catcher for this team. He plays good defense, and if he can be an average hitter, I’ll be more than happy.
Fearless prediction: Jason LaRue will out-hit David Ross this season.
While I hope I’m wrong about that, I’m still cheering for LaRue to have a good season. He was a good Red for a long time.
Cubs:
Alfonso Soriano CF
Matt Murton LF
Derrek Lee 1B
Aramis Ramirez 3B
Jacque Jones RF
Michael Barrett C
Mark DeRosa 2B
Cesar Isturis SS
Jason Marquis P
So, why no Hamilton today? I thought it was going to happen.
Did Narron just say Hamilton or his wife were sick on the pre-game show?
Here we go!
Let’s go Lohse. Let’s go Reds!
Two quick outs, then two quick hits. Exactly the inconsistency that I fear from Lohse, on a small scale.
Agree re: Lohse’s inconsistency.
A third fly ball out there, though. Each outfielder got one in the first inning.
Looked like the wind was blowing out. Hope that’s not a bad sign.
Lohse is already looking predictable with all those outside pitches. Let’s hope this trend doesn’t continue.
Two pitches, one out. Way to be patient as the leadoff hitter, Freel.
Base hit by Dunn. Nice.
Was that on the first pitch, though?
will Dunn ever hustle out of the box?
Double play. Crud.
I think Marquis threw 4 pitches that inning. I think everyone wants to get this game over with quickly.
So far this B Phillips hitting in the 3 hole experiment is an unmitigated disaster.
Dunn wasn’t hustling on that one? I didn’t see it.
Maybe Dunn’s just THAT slow?
Phillips should never have been hitting in the #3 spot…and he’s looked almost as bad as Ross early on.
Is it just me or does Ted Lilly look like a munchkin from wizard of oz?
Man, Derosa is killing us this series. 1-0 Cubs.
That’s hilarious, Baumer.
ughhh….up and down as usual for lohse..
Five straight fly balls off Lohse to start the game. The last one flew all the way over the fence.
Lohse is terrible.
Phillips in the #3 hole is a disaster. He needs to be batting in the bottom half of the order. Unfortunately, you can say that about 6 of the Reds’ hitters.
Can J. Hamilton pitch?
I like that Whirled Champions UDF ad behind home plate!
I wouldn’t go so far as to call Lohse “terrible.” I think you’re forgetting what a terrible pitcher really looks like. See Jimmy Haynes, Eric Milton, Dave Williams, etc. I think Lohse is just “lousy.”
6 outs with only one ground ball…very scary. it would probaby 5-0 if it were 20 degrees warmer out.
way to work the count hatteburg…maybe the other reds should take notice.
Yeah, Dave. I was going to amend that comment, and say that “Lohse is terrible today.” I still have hope that he can be decent.
not able to watch or listen to the game today. You guys are my lifeline. Appreciate the updates.
Stupid job…..
ouch! that can’t feel good.
Lohse really is living (and occasionally dying) on the outside corner.
Lohse really is living (and occasionally dying) on the outside corner.
Of course, he just came inside on Aramis, broke his bat….and gave up a single on it. Negative reinforcement.
Having a bat break in your hands on a day like this has GOT to hurt…
alright…Lohse actually didn’t look too bad that inning. The single given up was just a solid professional hit that really could be avoided. Good work..now let’s get the bats going.
couldn’t be i meant to type
Gonzales (needs a nickname) just got a flare to right. That’s the sort of offense I expect from him.
i’m enjoying the pitcher’s bunting so far this season.
Nice sac bunt by Lohse. (Arroyo had a nifty bunt hit last night).
come on….basehit freel…lets’ manufacture a run for once.
not good
Freel flies out to right. Heading to the top of the 4th. Still 1-0 Cubs.
kick some dirt lou!!
Man, these Cubs announcers are killing me.
Effing Izturis (career OPS 631) is hitting the Reds like he’s ARod.
Lohse must have ADD or something…looks great for a hitter or two then just decided to leave a fat one over the plate that even Izturis can crush.
Izturis and DeRosa are making claims to join Bill Hall on the ‘we love to play the Reds’ All-Star team.
has Dunn stuck out yet this year? He’s seems to be making a lot of contact which is a good thing.
alright phillips…way to fight one off….let get something started
YES!! nice job Edwin…
wow, I assumed the offense would be pathetic, but this is bad.
manufacturing runs sucks.
Hey, manufacturing runs wins games. We’re not knocking the cover off the ball, but last I checked, an RBI single counts on the scoreboard.
How did the Reds score?
I missed it because I had to go do some actual work.
Phillips stole second, then Griffey moved him over with a groundout to 1st, then EdE singled into right to score Brandon.
or maybe that single was into left. . . either way, tie game.
Thanks, Dave.
BTW, I agree with both you and Matt. Manufacturing runs does suck…you should want your team to crush the ball and put up runs by the dozens.
On the other hand, in a game like this, manufacturing a run or two could be the difference in the game.
Bob Brenly, on the Cubs broadcast, said that Valentin doesn’t run well. Doesn’t he know that Valentin’s nickname is “Hot Wheels”?
2 on, 2 out for Adam Dunn.
. . . and he goes down swinging.
Oh no, Dunn K’s. What is Marty saying?
manufacturing runs does not win games. scoring more runs than the other team does.
Sigh. Yes, Matt, scoring more runs than the other team does win games. That said, we’ve become so accustomed to having the Reds smack homeruns to win that we forget about small ball. And without the offensive prowess we’ve had in years past, we will NEED to manufacture runs to win games this year.
Marquis got a couple gifts against Dunn, got ahead in the count, then threw a sick changeup for the strikeout. I think 99% of ballplayers whiff on that series of pitches.
I have to disagree with Brenly, Valentin has tremendous form when running, so yes he does ‘run well’.
sigh.
I think you misunderstand me Dave. SMALL BALL SUCKS.
the Idea that you have to sacrifice offense to have good pitching and defense is dumb.
We didn’t win enough games with great hitting and crummy pitching and defense
We won’t win enough game with good pitching and defense and crummy hitting.
THe notion that you can win with just pitching defense, and small ball is 100% false.
He’s given up a lot of fly balls, but only 2 runs through six innings. Could be worse. We need to score something…
We have scored 7 runs in 3 games so far and Dunn is responsible for 4 of them.
matt:
We won more games last year than in the previous two years. We had diminished offensive output, but better pitching and defense. So i would disagree with you. Of course you can’t win by small ball alone, but with Griffey and Dunn in our lineup, I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that.
Then again, with EdE at third, it’s debatable that our infield defense is that much improved.
Nice move by Lohse to pick Soriano off first.
But here’s the thing, Dave. The Reds won a lot of games early last year – when the team had a kickass offense and good starting pitching. They had a bad record in the second half, after certain trades were made that sacrificed hitting for relief pitching and alleged defense (I’m looking at you, Royce).
That’s a good point Chris, but I would also add that our pitching collapsed almost as much as our hitting did at the end of last year.
I must be in the minority that enjoys a little small ball. I love moving runners over, stolen bases, sacrifice flies, etc. I am especially a fan of such things when I know we have a duo in our lineup who can account for 80 HR’s and you don’t have to rely on small stuff to constantly win games. It’s being able to do both that will win this division.
We won 7 more games in 2006 over 2005 while giving up 89 fewer runs. Not to mention this team is MUCH worse off offensively this year.
Anyone else surprised to see Santos out there again?
Lohse made a nice start out of it, after all. Kudos to him (and the wind).
Santos is coming in. You have to think he’s the guy to go if Milton really comes back to pitch on Sunday. Maybe the make a deal to send Burton down?
SMall ball is what you have to do when your offense sucks. Besides teh 85 Cardinals it doesn’t win championships, it is just a crappy cliche’
I like WATCHING guys get moved over too…its exciting when a play is executed correctly. But it doesn’t mean its right or will help you win. More often than not giving up outs to score one run is a bad move.
Theriot makes a baserunning error. That’s about the 48th time in this series I’ve heard the phrase “Lou Pinella is not going to be happy about that.”
At some point, you’d think that if the guy is such a badass and stickler, that his teams wouldn’t play like a bunch of idiots.
I can’t imagine Santos pitching much, unless they are planning to go with Belise and Saarloos in the event Milton can’t go (which I hope occurs, but that’s a topic for a different thread).
I just wish Krivsky could find a way to have good pitching AND good hitting. And I still say no-error defenses are overrated in the long run.
I’d almost prefer a low-scoring environment like we had in the 70s and 80s. I think “small ball” – especially the speed game – is wildly entertaining. Unlike the “chicks” that Glavine and Maddux knew, I don’t really dig the long ball.
All that aside, in today’s environment, it’s just bad strategy to give up outs by bunting, stealing bases at below a 70% success rate, or otherwise trading outs for bases.
Did anyone else see the piece on Pinella on REAL SPORTS a couple weeks ago? Apparently he’s a lot more mellow than he was back in the day, but he is still a scary dude to have yell at you, I’m sure.
When the weather warms up, so will the bats…or something.
I really, really like Victor Santos. I can’t believe he almost didn’t make the roster.
I love watching small ball. It’s by far the most entertaining form of the game, for people who really enjoy the intricacies of this sport.
Unfortunately, Chris is right. It just doesn’t make sense in today’s offensive environment. When the other team is beating you over the head with three-run homers, manufacturing a run means less than it otherwise would.
That said, in a game like today’s, where everyone is trying to get the game over with quickly, small ball and a single run or two mean much more.
I hope you’re right, Hammer!
Ragtag,
From a micro level I agree. As as strategy to build a team in this day and age…it sucks.
Methinks having Conine in the on deck circle doesn’t exactly strike fear in opposing pitchers.
If I was King of the Reds, Santos would be the #5 starter.
Stupid small ball ties the game.
I love small ball! It works every time!
Conine pinch hitting b/c Hamilton is sick, probably. Doinks one into CF to tie it up. Huzzah for small ball.
Pinella may fall into the trap of bringing an inferior lefty in to face Dunn. With a man on.
Freel walks. Bases loaded for Dunner!!!
Agreed, RagTag. Which is why teams should be able to be proficient in small ball. Small ball is how you overcome the crazy shift (not as likely to defense you that way if the fielders have to be concerned about a slap bunt or stolen bases). The key is balance. While it’s not always a good idea to give up outs for bases, sometimes it makes good sense. Every day is different. The weather, the pitchers, the ballpark, etc can all determine your style of play. And nothing says you have to play small ball all game. Some situations just demand it.
Chris, that’s what happens when you manage by the book.
I’m with you, preach. I want a team of sluggers and good pitchers and good fielders…who can play small ball or play the power game.
I’m not asking for much, am I?
my sentiments exactly, preach.
Two in scoring position. If Dunn strikes out again with two outs, Marty will kill him.
Full count.
Woo-Hoo! 3-2 Reds!
But looking at Yahoo (since I can’t watch or hear the game), I see that the small ball side has scored a little victory.
“Lou Pinella is not going to be happy about that.”
Walk, wild pitch, Conine scores!!!
And nice baserunning by Dunn to advance to second.
Now, can the pen hold it???
Small ball rules !
just need 1 out to survive Dunn’s blunder
Just turned the game on and marty is railing against Dunn. Game is getting exciting, huh?
Am i the only one who didn’t think Dunn’s error was that bad? It was an attempt at a diving catch and he missed it . . . this is a “horrific error” as the cubs guys are calling it?
Way to go, Hatty.
Castro in for EdE at third.
Stormy Weathers makes me nervous, but so far so good.
Board is slow loading. But this one belongs to the Reds.
Dunn’s error was pretty bad. He completely misjudged the ball to begin with, and the the ball was still at eye level when he dove. Should have been caught. It was fortunate the ball didn’t go by him to the wall and that it came with 2 outs. No harm done, luckily for Dunn.
Sorry about the problems with the site again today. It will be fixed ASAP, I promise!