Loading ...
Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Milwaukee 5
Cincinnati 6
WP: Owings (2-3)
LP: Looper (2-2)
S: Cordero (8)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Nice win for the good guys, without Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips in the lineup. Both those guys came down with flu-like symptoms, and were scratched late. No matter; the mighty second-stringers picked up a big win.
–Jay Bruce hit his 8th homer of the season (tied for 3rd in the NL) to get the scoring started. Bruce still has some plate appearances where he looks like a 22 year-old, but overall, you have to be happy with his production so far.
–Free Laynce Nix! Finally able to squeeze into the lineup, Nix hit yet another double, drove in a run, and scored a run. Plus, in every single at-bat, he really looked like he knew what he was doing. It was interesting to hear Thom Brennaman and (especially) Jeff Brantley on the TV broadcast hammering Dusty Baker for continuing to keep Nix on the bench.
Free Laynce Nix!
–Ramon Hernandez hit cleanup and started at 1B for the first time in his major league career. The worst cleanup hitter ever? No! Hernandez went 2-3 at the plate. In the field, he looked a bit rough early, but Ramon made an outstanding catch on a line drive for the final out.
–Relief pitcher Paul Janish went 2-3 and drew a walk as tonight’s shortstop. Plus, he just looks so smooth out in the field. I’ve never been a huge Janish fan, but the guy can pick it in the field, as they say.
–What more can you say about this incredible Reds bullpen? Nick Masset, Arthur Rhodes (who gave up a quick walk, and then was lights-out after that) and Francisco Cordero were just awesome. That’s the only way to describe it. Those guys are getting it done.
NEGATIVES
–Another error for Jerry Hairston, who can’t hit or field. Dusty insists on batting him second, for some reason.
–Adam Rosales is scuffling a bit right now. Still love the kid’s enthusiasm, though.
ETC.
–I ain’t no front-runner.
–Micah Owings had a decent outing going until he imploded a bit in his last inning of work. He did get a triple, though!
–Okay, a split with the Brewers leaves the Reds 15-13, a half-game behind Milwaukee and Chicago (and 3.5 behind the Cardinals). A good showing in the upcoming weekend series against St. Louis would do wonders for this team.
–I’ll be at the Saturday and Sunday games. Anyone else going?
Three innings of hitless relief. Wow!!
It would be lovely to stomp on the Cardinals this weekend. Wish I could go. Maybe later this month.
Wow, Dusty reverses course on the whole front runner thing and out of the blue basically says Nix is going to get the bulk of the playing time over Dickerson. You’d like to think the manager is making all his on the field decisions, but I wonder if Jocketty threw in some advice on the left field situation. Interesting.
Unfortunately, it appears Hairston Jr. is having the kind of year that you’d expect him to have if you looked at his career statistics. Baseball is a funny game. Somehow he hit like .330 last year while hitting like .205 the two previous years. It seems that he is back to his .205 days. I don’t see him turning it around either. I hope he does, but the numbers usually don’t lie.
I’ll be at the Saturday night game…and I’ll be with a Cards fan. Gonna be a long ride home for someone. Hope it’s not me.
I mentioned earlier that I’ll be at the game to collect my Votto bobblehead.
You can say a lot of things about these Reds, but they are tough. They had every excuse to lose tonight but they fought it out. Big time props to the Redlegs.
Hey, I’ll take 6 innings with a lead from our number 5 starter any day. I also give Owings a little more cushion because he is good to make up with the bat at least one of the runs he gives up on the mound.
I have a man crush on Laynce Nix. There I said it. Maybe he needs to see if Dusty’s daughter is seeing anyone.
Very nice win. I hope Phillips and Votto are OK for the Cards series, I want us to kick their butts.
Masset was used as a middle reliever again tonight. May be only he was available to pitch after yesterday. I do think someone needs to be clear as to who the long man is, or if Baker needs a long man from Louisville.
I’ve never quite understood how someone can have flu-like symptoms and not actually have the flu. What the heck do they have, then, if they don’t have the flu?
Is it just me, or is Micah Owings really trying to pitch just bad enough to force himself to get the game-winning hit? If only he could pitch to himself…
I think it means they starting pooping and puking like crazy right before the game.
A lot of good things to take from this win:
Owings. Right now, he’s got a 5.08 ERA. Not great. But, still, take that plus his bat and it’s a lot better than what we got last year from the 5th starter.
Bruce. Obviously. (Bruce is on pace for 49 HRers but only 98 RBIs. Now, I know that means nothing. But will he get beat up by the fans and by the broadcast booth because his HR to RBI ratio is “so bad” like a certain other Red OFer used to?)
Bullpen. Lights out. They are turning games into 6 inning games. I like it.
Nix getting the start.
I really think the Reds need to take atleast 2 of 3 this weekend. Home games are important, especially against division rivals.
Does anyone think the “flu symptons” were a way to get other atbats for guys while resting the two hottest hitters for a big series? Probally not but i hope for a big series win, wish i could be there.
I’ll be there Saturday with the wife. Section 219. Go Reds!
Hopefully the rest was more of a precaution than anything. You gotta believe Phillips was sick to sit him during his recent streak.
“I think it means they starting pooping and puking like crazy right before the game”
….which, coincidentaly, is how I was AFTER games last year.
After reading ESPN.com’s recap, I don’t think it was precautionary…I think it’s more like what Kurt #10 said. The recap:
Baker had to rework the lineup during batting practice after first baseman Joey Votto came down with the flu. He totally overhauled it after second baseman Brandon Phillips also got sick a little while later, forcing Janish into the lineup at shortstop.
Can’t say enough about the bullpen. Esp last night. Not only was it three innings oh hitless ball, but 6 of 9 outs were Ks. Dominance.
Is anyone else worried that now that Taveras hit a HR, he will get Coreyitus and start swinging for the fence?
Nix really looks comfortable at the plate right now, unlike Rosales, who really looks uncomfortable right now.
Oh, and I will also be at my first game of the year on Saturday. I can’t miss the Joey Votto bobblehead. And like John (above), I will be traveling from the River City with two Cardinal fans (Ugh, I know). I hope the weather holds. Anybody want to meet during the game for a beer?
Redleg Nation begged for Rosales. We got him. We begged for Nix, we got him. A Gomes move can’t be more than a week or two away.
Great, gutsy win. Sure hope Votto and Phillips can go tonight. Must. Stop. Pujols.
Will Taveras get Coreyitis? No. He’s only hit more than 1 HR in a MLB season twice. His career high was 3.
I’m pretty sure he knows he’s not a HR hitter.
Patterson usually hit double-digit HR’s with a career high of 24.
Taveras’ slugging % must’ve gone up a hundred points. It’s suprising to see Bruce on pace for 40+, but not suprising his RBI totals will stay low. Chad is right, he still looks like a 22 year old too often, giving away a lot of at bats. When he puts it all together, he’ll be an MVP candidate……and his defense has been a difference maker more than once already this week.
Owings was better than his line score indicated. Some real bad luck in the 3rd.
Nice to see we called up Rosales just in time for his cool off period. At least he can bunt well.
Rosales is only up and starting so frequently because Edwin is on the DL.
RLN “begged” for Rosales to be up as a bench player.
RiverCity Redleg – no I’m not worried that Taveras hit a homerun. If anything it shows that at GABP anybody – ANYBODY – can hit it out. It’s nice to see a little pop in his bat. I’m calling an inside the park job during the Saint Diego series.
Why even pitch to Pujols – less the fact he is on my fantasy team?
I don’t really think Willy will get the Coeyitus, either. Just saying, HR do tend to do funny things to people, when you hit one, you want two. I will assume that Willy is a professional, though, and I am just throwing out fodder.
David, he would have had an inside the parker the other day (in either Atlanta or Florida) but it bounced into the seats and they ground ruled him back to second. There was nobody close to the ball.
Point well taken Greg (@22). Beggars can’t be chosers I guess.
It’s suprising to see Bruce on pace for 40+, but not suprising his RBI totals will stay low.
Already someone complaining about a LH outfielder who doesn’t have enough RBI’s relative to his HR total.
It’s the same issue as the other LH slugger that hit 40+ homeruns as a Red the past few years…
-he’s batting 5th
-behind a player with a 30% obp
Why does someone like Ryan Howard collect more RBIs?
-he’s batting 4th
-behind a player with a 40% obp
Shouldn’t Bruce have more RBI? Marty tells me that a slugger’s RBI total should be more than double their homerun total…
To highlight my response to that point, let’s look at who’s on base when Bruce and Phillips come to bat:
Phillips: 111 plate appearances, 5 HR 18 RBI
Bruce: 106 plate appearance, 8 HR, 16 RBI
Phillips:
56% of his PA are with runners on base.
That’s 62 PA with runners on.
He been at the plate with 89 total runners on base.
Bruce:
45% of his PA are with runners on base.
48 PA with runners on.
He been at the plate with 67 total runners on base.
To be fair, I don’t think anyone was complaining about Bruce yet. I read the post (#11) as simply starting to see the similarity between Bruce and Dunn and wondering if the same drama will unfold. I know that I’ve noticed a lot of Bruce’s HR’s are solo shots, but I don’t care. And as you pointed out Greg, the team OBP is leaves very much for wanting. I say mash on Jay Bruce Almighty, mash on.
Or, as I see, your post was more directed @ comment 21, to which you answers again resolve the issue. I would hope nobody is truly knocking Bruce.
Jay also plays better defense and gives the impression of hustle. He’ll be fine in the media.
Defensively, you could have two Adam Dunns in LF and not give you the range or armstrength of one Jay Bruce in right.
How much longer until we DFA McDonald and call up Gomes? That move HAS to be coming, doesn’t it? We need some right-handed-hitting firepower!
One would think, but I’m not confident it’ll happen any time soon.
Great idea, RCR! Two Dunn’s could cover left field adequately, and I’d love to have them both in the lineup, as well.
We just need to find two Dunns, and petition MLB to let us play 10 players.
The Reds would be contenders immediately!
Imagine 80 HRs and 400 Ks from one position.
Chad – You could easily do that with 9 players…
I lot of folks seem to think that Edwin is a LFer. Just slide Edwin out to play a shallow left with Dunn. Have the rest of the infielders play a shift to their right, and we’ve got it all covered!
Let’s steal from hockey… pull the catcher!
Slow pitch softball (what I play) has 10 players on the field (4 outfielders) and in the lineup. When we had Dunn, Willy Mo, Junior, and Kearns all at the same time, what a great softball OF !
People criticizing Bruce already for his RBI numbers is just nuts. Instead of 40 HRs and 100 RBIs, would Marty prefer 30 HRs and 100 RBIs ? Ryan Howard gets his RBIs because he has the likes of Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins hitting in front of him, that makes for a lot of 3 run homers.
The main complaint about Dunn’s hitting, in addition to the Ks, was his taking too many walks with runners in scoring position. This is not the issue with Bruce.
Last year Dunn was, in the second half, extending the strike zone on the outside part of the plate with runners in scoring position, going the other way and driving in some runs (an observation from following all the games, I don’t have the numbers).
Ted Williams, arguably the greatest hitter of all time, would never swing at a pitch outside the strike zone under any circumstances, and bristled at anyone who suggested he should. Part of the reason why he has the highest career OBP of all time.