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Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL — 11 innings
Cincinnati 6
Chicago (NL) 5
W: L. Ondrusek (5-2)
L: A. Cabrera (0-1)
S: J. Broxton (4)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Joey Votto reached base four times: 2-4, 2 walks, a double, 3 RBI.
–Drew Stubbs also reached four times (no, really, he did). Stubbs went 3-5 with a walk and three runs scored…and he drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eleventh inning.
–Scott Rolen was 2-4. He also walked and drove in a run.
–Excellent relief work by Sam LeCure. Again. Jonathan Broxton pitched a perfect 11th for the save.
NEGATIVES
–Ryan Ludwick was “removed as a precaution.” Left groin tightness. We’ll find out more tomorrow, perhaps.
–Stubbs was credited with a tough error in the bottom of the tenth.
–Mike Leake was great until the wheels fell off in the sixth inning. In all, Leake went six innings and surrendered four runs on six hits and two walks.
–I’m not a huge fan of weeknight four-hour games.
–JJ Hoover was pretty bad in the eighth, giving up a hit and three walks. Somehow, he only allowed one run (thanks, LeCure, for putting out that fire.)
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Cincinnati wins their 90th game of the season. Wow. Just…wow. Magic number is three!
–Votto’s first-inning double was his 40th, which tied his career-high.
–Wilson Valdez went 1-5 tonight…and he actually improved his batting average (.199).
–I know you won’t be surprised by this, but the Cubs made two errors in the 11th inning (although only one was actually scored as an error):
Cubs gonna Cub
— Chris Garber (@cgarber8) September 20, 2012
–Magic Number:
Wooooo!
Not sure if that Schoolhouse Rock link was in because of my post in the game thread, but either way, NICE CHAD! Love it right there. So classic.
What a great season. 90 wins!!
Tomorrow’s a day game so Frazer will play at 3rd. If Ludwick is out for a few days, hopefully we’ll see Frazer getting time in LF.
The way injuries and this Reds team go, removal as a precaution for tightness often means it’s torn/broken/etc. Let’s hope not.
LeCure has been making hitters look silly. I believe, other than the guy who got to first on the wild pitch K tonite, he’s now retired 21 consecutive batters.
@Hank Aarons Teammate: Right. The Reds definitely need Ludwick.
Hoover hopefully learned from his experience tonite. He was getting squeezed and responded by overthrowing his fastball. After going 0-2 on Barney, he throws 4 straight balls. He retires Rizzo and Soriano, then Castro pokes a single the other way on a good pitch. Then after a called strike, he throws 8 straight fastballs for balls to 2 weak hitters. Some of them should have been called strikes, but can’t do that.
Wellington Castillo exemplified Cubs’ stupidity in the bottom of the 10th. The Cubs have runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out against Ondrusek, all he has to do is put the ball in play and probably the Cubs win. So he takes 3 mighty swings and misses, going down to one knee, trying to hit a 3 run homer.
It was also Castillo that Hoover walked on 4 pitches. I hope Hoover was watching and thought, crap, I could have gotten that guy out.
I’ll take the W tonight considering the circumstances…to me what is really exciting is that, over the last 10 games, the Reds have seemed to be mediocre and are still tied for the 2nd best record in baseball (7-3) over that time, behind only the Brewers. A few other teams are 7-3 also. Looking like a great chance to clinch at home this weekend.
Leake was going great for 5 and two thirds, 5-1 lead, 2 outs, nobody on, ahead of Rizzo 0-2. Then he throws 3 balls, at least one of which looked like strike 3. As quick as a flash, the score is 5-4 and he gets the final out by picking off a guy.
I don’t think he lost his composure (does he ever ?) but if Leake has to pitch to a tiny strike zone, he’s in trouble.
@pinson343: Very true about Leake having to be fine and pitching to a small strike-zone. Leake has to work on the fringes and if he isn’t getting the calls, especially the calls on the outside corner and the calls at the knees, he’s in trouble.
BP can be way too casual sometimes. On his pop up to RF in the 11th, it’s into a swirling wind but he’s just trotting with his bat in his hand. He could have made it to 3rd on the misplay, instead he goes into second standing up, and is almost thrown out.
Matt Kemp and Ryan Howard both hit 9th inning game winning HRs tonite, keeping their teams alive. I think the Brewers have the best chance to catch the Cardinals, and am rooting for them.
Agreed, though in a perfect world it would be the Pirates.
On Ondrusek’s last two outings.
Negatives: Got away with a mistake to Stanton that could have lost the game.
Got away with a mistake to Soriano that could have lost the game.
Positives; A huge K in each game.
Stubbs looked great tonite. Heisey didn’t.
@pinson343: PS The “huge” Ondrusek K I was thinking of for last nite was Castillo. Of course, he also struck out Soriano – with a lot of help from Soriano – after his mistake to him.
To be fair to Hoover, I thought he was getting squeezed near the bottom of the strikezone before he started missing up to the last two batters. I thought he should have been out of that inning way before they had to pull him; just based on the number of “near strikes” he had near the bottom of the zone. Win some, lose some.
Also, any info on the skipper (sorry, don’t have time to read the whole game thread to look for updates)? As much as we’ve all bashed him, the Reds are a better club with him in the dugout.
Nevermind, just found this: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8401083/cincinnati-reds-manager-dusty-baker-gets-x-rays-rule-pneumonia-stays-hospital
Dusty was treated for irregular heartbeat (which he has had before). He was kept overnight as a precaution and will undergo more tests today. He will NOT manage the game today.
Get well, Dusty!
Thoughts and prayers are with Skip today.
Indeed TC… Indeed. Hope he gets to feeling well again soon.
Reds need to grab the best record. Don’t want to face Matt Cain in Game 1 at AT&T. Much rather play Wild Card winner.
Great Win!! Reds were hitting and putting runs on the score board, although i few of those hits probably should have been outs. Even Stubbs hit the ball several times and had several RBIs. I really thought they could have kept the 4 run lead but then I forgot who was pitching. My opinion I think Leak is not ready for being a SP in the postseason. In the previous game Bailey went 7 plus innings and only gave up one run and Leak went 6 innings and gave up four runs. I might be a fool, but I actually think that not only should Bailey be a SP in the postseason but since the first and second game is played away I would either let him start game 1 or 2 since he’s better on the road. I hope the hitting will continue throughout the rest of the season and through the postseason!! GO REDS!! WOOOOOOOOOO!!
Classic give-away day lineup. I realize today’s lineup doesn’t matter. At all. But just for giggles: How in the world does Miguel Cairo bat second? Why not, oh anyone else in the lineup? Also, if Ryan Hanigan doesn’t have to bat eighth, why can’t he bat second?
Xavier Paul 7
Miguel Cairo 3
Henry Rodriguez 4
Todd Frazier 5
Chris Heisey 9
Denis Phipps 8
Ryan Hanigan 2
Didi Gregorius 6
Johnny Cueto RHP
Maybe Dusty’s lineups are a lot better than we give him credit for haha?
Clubs with young players late in the season tend to start playing well so ya never know, maybe this will be an explosion of offense today?
All jokes and baseball aside, hopefully this thing with Dusty turns out to be nothing. He needs to be in that clubhouse when we clinch so he can celebrate with the players he has worked with all season.
I can honestly say that I think the only reason that Hanigan is in there is because they don’t want anyone else catching Cueto. This lineup is “special” indeed… I don’t really have a problem with it today though. There are some guys beat up and the series win has been assured.
What a screwed up looking lineup that is. I swear this one is just drawn out of a hat. A very sad hat.
I’ve got no problem playing this set of players. Zero. I just can’t figure out the reasoning of the lineup. Sometime I’d love to hear the manager/coaches explain what they value in a #2 hitter. You certainly have to believe that being a good hitter and being able to get on base are too low on the list.
If you were Cueto, how many different shades of pissed off would you be with that lineup?
Even with all the backups playing, Mesoraco can’t sniff the lineup.