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Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Arizona 6
Cincinnati 7
W: A. Simon (2-1)
L: B. Shaw (1-4)
S: A. Chapman (15)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Wooooo! Yeeeehaw!!! (Imagine Jeff Brantley dancing around like a small child and you’ll have the image right.)
–Brandon Phillips. Individual players don’t win baseball games, but he came about as close to doing it as a single player can.
–The one and two hitters reached base 4 times today, thus allowing BP to be Superman.
–Speaking of reaching base. The Reds had more runs than hits today. This positive brought to you by the base on balls as offensive weapon.
–The bullpen. What do you say?
–Aroldis Chapman. I tweeted about this the other day, but he is striking people out an an absolutely unprecedented rate. Among pitchers who have thrown at least 10 innings (yes, 10), only Craig Kimbrel in 2010 has a higher K-rate, and that was in just 20 2/3 innings. I don’t understand how someone can be this good.
NEGATIVES
–Mike Leake, that was a rough day. Everybody has them, though, and the Reds won, so we’ll let it go.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–A series split with no Votto. I’ll take it. If the Reds can keep doing this, they’ll be okay.
–The Cardinals have the day off and are now 5 games back. Pirates are also off and now 1/2 a game back. This baseball, it is fun.
–Seriously, the Cardinals are 5 games back on July 19th. I know we have to take the Pirates seriously, especially with the easy schedule they have, but I mean, that has to make you feel good, right? Even with Votto hurt. It’s pretty sunny in Reds land right now.
Source: FanGraphs
What is the point of ” the leverag index”?
Great win.
And don’t worry about Marshall who now can’t even be trusted to come in and and get a left handed batter out. He’s got great stats.
Hey, stop picking on Marshall! The Reds won, can’t you just focus on the positives?
The strangest looking FanGraphs ever.
Whatever. GO REDS!
You could go look at the Fangraphs from that awful 2010 game when the Reds lost a 6 run 9th inning lead or something to the Phillies.
The Reds should look at the record with each player starting (Wilson Valdez is 12-5) and start
the 8 guys with the best record.
You don’t think so? Well, then maybe Valdez starting based on that is a bad idea.
@Racine Red: I don’t think people are suggesting the Reds do that. But it’s equally dumb to complain when he starts or suggest that the Reds are essentially giving the game away to do so — which I have actually seen people suggest.
@Racine Red: Wasn’t Wood or Leake or someone on the precipice of a perfect game before that meltdown? Or was that another Phillies game? I remember sobbing when I saw Cincinnati were matched with them in the NLDS.
Also, there was that Atlanta game where I felt so bad for Mike Leake and the whole team.
Leake started both those games.
@RichmondRed: You’re thinking of the game Travis Wood was perfect into the 9th, but it was 0-0 the whole way and I think we ended up losing 1-0. For some reason I’m thinking the game we gave up the 6-run lead was against Atlanta and we lost on a Jason Heyward walk-off grand slam.
The Wood game was also against the Phillies. It was that same series as the Cordero implosion (see below), the horrible 4 game sweep. (Of course, the NLDS was worse…)
In the same series the Reds were winning 7-1 in the 9th and Baker left Leake in too long (IMO), and then Cordero imploded. Cody Ransom hit a game tying HR, and then Howard won it in the bottom of the 10th.
In the Atlanta game, Leake also was in line for the win until the Braves scored 7 in the 9th, including a Brooks Conrad walkoff slam off the glove of Laynce Nix. The Reds led 8-0 at one point in that game. I’ll be that TomahawkNation said “game over” kind of like many did here today.
7th inning: Mesoraco grounds out to 3B, 1 out. Xavier Paul pinch hits and walks on 4 pitches. Drew Stubbs walks on 4 pitches. Wislon Valdez reaches on a fielding error. Brandon Phillips doubles to LF. Jay Bruce grounds out to 1B, 2 outs. Todd Frazier singles to LF. This my fellow Reds’ fans is winning baseball.
That win should not be undervalued. Coming back from 6-0, with Joey out, to take a split in the series and retain the division lead. Not to mention doing it with Valdez and Cairo in the game. And with Leake giving up more runs than innings pitched. And with Bruce going 0-4 in the 4 spot. Talk about overcoming adversity (even if some of it was self-inflicted). GO REDLEGS
@CincyGuy:
I’m sure it wasn’t undervalued by the team. Nice attitude adjuster going into a somewhat important series vs the Brew Crew.
I live in Indiana i have a free week of MLB Network, and this game was not on tv why was that? It was a great comeback.
@eric nyc: I’m pretty sure it was Brooks Conrad who hit the walk off grand slam….
What is Phillips’ batting average on swings at pitches in the strike zone? I would bet that he’s one of the highest in the major leagues.
@Larry1980: Larry, not sure whether you mean free week of MLB Extra Innings (picking up all local broadcasts) or the MLB Network, which has several games a week. Apparently, though, neither Arizona nor Cincinnati did a local broadcast of the game, so there was nothing for MLB Extra Innings to pick up, and MLB Network just didn’t have the game on its schedule (and usually doesn’t for weekday games.)
And it wasn’t on-line at MLB.com at least around here, because of blackout rules.
So..for those who watched…did we come back and win this or did AZ give it away?
@dn4192: I’d say the Reds won it. Seemed like most of the important hits were pretty well struck, except for Frazier’s, which just found a hole. Valdez’s double barely got under Goldschmidt’s glove so that was nice, but Cairo did smoke a ball down the 3rd base line that Roberts made a nice catch on.
Just got done watching this off mlb.tv, fun game. Not fun for the first 6 innings of course, but after that.. wow. Philips was impressive, the bullpen was very impressive and Todd had the big hit to win it. I don’t think it was that flukey either, it was one of those typical Frasier swings where he reaches for a ball outside and slaps it somewhere. Bigger story of course was guys taking walks in the second half of the game. First half of the game was just a big hackfest with tons of pop ups and weak ground balls.
Aroldis Chapman. I tweeted about this the other day, but he is striking people out an an absolutely unprecedented rate. Among pitchers who have thrown at least 10 innings (yes, 10), only Craig Kimbrel in 2010 has a higher K-rate, and that was in just 20 2/3 innings. I don’t understand how someone can be this good still be in the bullpen.
The man is unreal.
@Racine Red: Right, the Wood near perfect game was the same series as the blowing the 7-1 lead in the 9th. I remember it well, as I was in Philly for that series, and saw game 4 at Citizens Park, which the Phils won by 1-0 over Matt Maloney, completing a 4 game sweep.
The Friday nite 7-1 9th inning blown lead was largely due to Mike Leake remaining in the game until the score was 7-5. CoCo came in with 1 out, got a 2nd out but also allowed a base runner (a walk I think). Then Wilson Valdez hit a 2 run homer with 2 outs in the 9th to tie it off CoCo. Ryan Howard hit a 2 run homer off Rhodes in the 10th. I witnessed all of that, with a sinking heart, on an airplane.
It was Cody Ransom, not Valdez…bad, but not as bad as if Valdez hit it. The Reds lost 3 extra inning games in a row there too. It was a gut punch game and series.
@Racine Red: Oh right, it was Cody, now with the Brewers. Hit a game winning grand slam against the Pirates last Friday nite.
@Racine Red: And lost two games by 1-0, including Wood’s near-perfect game, which they lost 1-0 in 11.
I turned on my car radio just after the Reds had gone ahead. I never heard Brantley so pumped. He was hanging on every pitch. When Chapman threw a slider for called strike 2 on Kubel, Brantley yelled so loudly that I was afraid Kubel had just hit one out.
Here’s to BP, Frazier, the guys who took walks, and the bullpen for a classic comeback.
They said how the last time the Reds came from 6 down to win was in 2009 (?) against the Nationals. I don’t remember that one. I remember being down 6-0 in the first inning against the Pirates in a 2006 game, thanks to Dave Williams, the pitcher we got in return for Sean Casey. Went on to win 9-8. Big HR by Jason LaRue.
The Reds were on the verge of getting swept 3 in a row by the Pirates before that rally.
Anyone catch Phillips comments about the fan? http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/07/19/phillips-takes-fans-to-task/
It is bad if you have the most fan friendly player on the team making comments.
It’s much ado about nothing.
Weren’t you skeptical that players feel this way about our fans?
I think Brandon said the right thing and put it well. Our fanbase is in danger of devolving into looking like Philadelphia fans.
Yes, and players aren’t going to want to come to Cincinnati because a smattering of boos. I’m sorry, I just can’t see it.
Does Philly have trouble attracting players? Players avoiding playing there because of the unruly fans?
“I’m not going to discuss my lineup with anybody anymore. It’s going to be posted and you guys can look at it and people can have fun with it, but I’m not going to explain on a daily basis why I play certain people. It’s really a waste of time. I mean, if you use a little common sense.”
Sound like someone you know? That’s correct, it’s Jim Leyland. Living here in MI, I hear the Tigers’ stories. And apparently second guessing the manager (and getting a hostile reaction) is business as usual.
Oh….by the way…..first time caller, long time listener. Love the site.
Miredfan: Thanks for the comment. I listen to sports talk radio a bit in NY, and the fans tear into Girardi (and Torre in the past) and whoever the current Met manager happens to be just as much as we do with Dusty.
@Racine Red: Agreed. If you read BP’s whole statement, he says more positive things about the fans than negative. He even credits the fans for the win, saying they got things stirred up after Paul’s walk. Saying “cheer for the home team” is not very controversial.
Real nice surprise. I had to leave just after they went down 6-0 (to take my son to get an X-ray on his hand). A quick check upon my return(to see how badly they lost): Christmas in July.
What a comeback!!!
Go Reds go.
That’s a great feeling.
You think they lost, come back hours later and find there was a miraculous comeback. Another reason why we love baseball.
@Chad Dotson:
Yes indeed.
Stubbs reached base and scored twice, fourth game in a row where he’s reached base at least twice. That’s a positive, now that he’s leading off again he’s getting on base.
As far as Brandon Phillips, he’s done a great job of raising fan support (*cough* picking fights with the Cardinals *cough*) in the past. On Thursday he said it very politely but I think he got the message across that he’s annoyed by unsupportive fans who give up on the team. I don’t think there’s another Reds player who fans would be willing to hear that kind of thing from.
In the past few years the Reds have had a ton of come from behind wins and I’m always surprised to see fans write games off as a lost cause or to leave games early.
@redsfanman: I would never leave a game before the last out, barring an emergency (like an earthquake). If “beating the traffic” is more important than watching the whole game, why go in the first place ?
Stubbs has looked differently since changed to lead off. I think he knows how important the upcoming couple of weeks are for his future (his 2012 future, anyway).
Ondrusek has also looked better since the All Star break, like he looked early in the season. PitchFX had his fast ball as high as 98.1 the other nite. Brantley mentioned this week that Ondrusek was bothered by a back problem for about a month. We never know about that kind of problem until after it’s gone.
The Reds bullpen has pitched 23-2/3 innings over the last 6 games and given up only 1 earned run with 1 inherited runner scoring. It wasn’t that long ago that the bullpen pitching that many innings over a 6 game span would have been disastrous.
@miredfan:
Nice to hear from you. WJocketty likes vets. WJ is DBaker’s boss. We have a hands on owner. From afar, Detroit looks similar. Is it?
In other news:
Edison Volquez tossed a 1 hit CG shutout last nite. Only hit was a comebacker that EV failed to field cleanly.
His ERA is currently 3.34. The propensity for walks is still there though.
Maybe he quit eating hotdogs and decided to work out?
Maybe the fact of getting traded in a 4 for 1 package deal as the only proven ML player woke him up?
Maybe playing in a cavern helps?
@earmbrister: Volquez so far is pitching to very different results at home vs on the road:
12 starts in Petco, 2.84 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 6.0 h/9, 4.5 bb/9, 8.5 k/9, 0.4 HR/9
8 starts on road, 4.17 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 8.3 h/9, 6.4 bb/9, 7.3 k/9, 1.0 HR/9
If the Pads were smart they’d trade Volquez now.
I do wonder who’s going to shell out money for this guy in the form of a long term
contract, given his walk problem.
@Greg Dafler:
Revealing breakdown. Thnx.
I’m not suggesting that fans boo their own players. But to label a fan base based on a small subset of the fans seems unfair. Also, every major league team has fans that call the talk shows, criticize everyone, etc. I’m sure there is a site like this for every team, where the site visitors express their displeasure at players. Without any context (information about other teams), I don’t see making conclusions about fan bases.
Phillips’ comments also make no sense. Is it really better to boo after the Reds lose the game? I don’t think so, at least not by much.
Racine: That comment by BP made no sense. The most disgruntled fans have already left by then, and who would even know what or whom they were booing ? The players would feel they were booing because the team lost, which would be worse.
But as you said earlier, it’s much ado about nothing.
10 player trade between Houston and Toronto:
“The Astros and Blue Jays have completed a ten-player trade, the teams announced. The Astros obtain seven players from Toronto: Major Leaguers Francisco Cordero and Ben Francisco, minor leaguers Joe Musgrove, Asher Wojciechowski, David Rollins and Carlos Perez, and a player to be named. The Astros send Brandon Lyon, J.A. Happ and David Carpenter to Toronto in the trade.”
WOW!
@rfay00: On the surface, that seems like a pretty odd trade for two non-contending teams, a number of guys who will be free agents at the end of the year, though the Astros are getting a couple of prospects out of it.
@rfay00: It seems teams are getting pretty active today. They just announced a meaningless trade between KC and Colorado. Sanchez for Guthrie. Is today the day Walt will make a move? I think at the very least I would like him to help out the bench soon, if not make a bigger splash for leadoff hitter. Man I would love to see Victorino in a Reds uni.
@rfay00: So we get to see CoCo next week !
@seat101: Not sure Detroit is managed from the GM’s chair. I think it’s all Leyland’s doing. Comically, he was getting abused on sports radio a few weeks ago for playing Ryan Raburn (hitting below .200 at the time) and placing him #2 in the lineup.
Same story, different city.
Don’t have much enthusiasm for this due to massacre in Aurora. Thoughts and prayers to all.