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Homer Bailey, fresh off his no-hitter last Friday, will attempt tonight to become the third Cincinnati starter to win fourteen games this season. It’s the last game of a very special regular season. More fun to come, we all hope.
Discuss the game here. Go Redlegs.
Am I the only one having trouble coming to grips with the fact this is the end of the regular season? The seasons have always seemed to go by more quickly when the Reds were winning but it just doesn’t seem like it is that time yet this year even with the post season action to come.
Reds Line up versus the Cards tonight. Intersting that they are playing it for real at least at the beginning of the game:
Brandon Phillps, 2b
Zack Cozart, ss
Joey Votto, 1b
Ryan Ludwick, lf
Jay Bruce, rf
Scott Rolen, 3b
Ryan Hanigan c
Drew Stubbs, cf
Homer Bailey, rhp
Ok, can anyone riddle me this: the Yankees and the Orioles, if they end up in a tie tonight, play tomorrow. Does that win count on the regular season record, the postseason record, or neither? Would Oakland become the one seed if this goes to a tiebreaker or is it more complex than that?
@RichmondRed: I would guess it will be treated like a “Game 163″ similar to 1999 with the Reds and Mets.
No, they aren’t doing that any more, is my understanding. The game only breaks ties, and does not constitute a 163rd game for standings purposes.
There is a good article about circumstances and the setup about the playoffs on espn.com right now
@RichmondRed: The Yankees and Orioles wouldn’t play a tie breaker tomorrow, because both are going to the post-season.
Who gets the wildcard, and who wins the division will be determined by tiebreakers, and I believe Baltimore has the season series lead.
@wally mo: Actually, if the Yankees lose and Orioles win tonight, they have the same record and would have to play a tiebreaker game tomorrow. The location of the tiebreaker game would be Baltimore, since the O’s lead the season series against the Yankees. The loser of the tiebreaker “Game 163″ will play the Rangers, and the location will depend on the season series between the wildcards.
Not true. with this year’s format they would have a 1 game playoff tomorrow if they end up tied after tonite.
I imagine that the starters tonight will see only a few innings. I bet a lot of guys will see some time on the field.
And, yes, there is a tiebreaker game to decide division winners. The only tiebreakers based on head-to-head are used to determine seeding of #1, #2, and #3.
Thanks for confirming the tiebreakers everyone, I confess I was getting confused.
Does who gets the garbage time innings tonight tell us anything about the postseason roster? We will all know soon enough, but I still find those last couple bullpen spots interesting, and if Simon or Logan get appearances…
And ESPN is suggesting Bailey will be left off the first round roster entirely:
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/olney_buster/id/8456339/the-status-playoff-contender-heading-postseason-mlb
Not sure the thinking behind that, keep Leake as the long reliever and emergency PH in a short series?
I feel a bit down that they will not get a number 1 seed, they cannot eliminate the Cards, force a play-in game, and that this game is meaningless. I do not like going to SF, but I have made a pact with myself to let certain things go and to not complain about line-ups and the pitching rotation despite how much I disagree with it…
I am sure I will have many in game decisions to blow my mind the next week. Here’s hoping for a 3 game sweep and Nationals losing their series, so nothing really matters as far as the last week
Reds play at 6:37 p.m. Saturday, according to Marty
6:37 PST, 9:37 EST
(although, I guess he means California time? he didn’t actually say …)
Does Joey have the league lead in walks yet? Feels like he should.
JV is losing by 1 in the NL walks category to Dan Uggla.
Counting the one he just got? Or he needs 2 more this game? He could get one more, I doubt two unless he actually tries for it.
I thought they were tied going into today, Uggla got one this afternoon, now they are tied. Is there no chance at Votto winning a batting title, with added outs and all the other miscellaneous things like walks, HBP, SF, to make him eligible?
Zero chance of a batting title. Be funny if he gets the walks lead despite missing a couple months though.
I think it’s even more incredible that he’s going to lead the league in intentional walks while missing 2 months.
Love to see Jay get to a 100 rbi’s tonight. Only symbolic, I know, but it is a hurdle that would be nice to cross. 100 looks a lot better, than 99, on the back of a baseball card.
The Reds need to send a message to the Cardnials, in case they play again.
Any message you send against this AAA lineup isn’t going to mean anything. Same thing we’d say if we were running the Cairo/Valdez train out there.
If this Miller is still no hitting us when Dusty pulls the starters, we will never hear the end of this from the WLBs.
I dunno … It would just be one MORE rookie pitcher that the Reds couldn’t solve this season.
Speaking of rookie starters.. I don’t like our chances in a 1990 rematch this year.
I vote Hanigan on that text poll.
Right now, Bruce Bochy is on the phone with the Fresno Grizzlies…
This is an extremely disturbing stat- from Sept 1 on we’re averaging 2.96!!!! runs per game 2.96!!!! are you freakin kidding me! Everybody better get their head out of their you know what at the plate or we’ll getting swept again.
You know how awful 2.96 per game is………………. .7 less per game than the 1906 White Sox(better known as THE HITLESS WONDERS).
Well, scoring the least in MLB in September while playing at GABP is quite an achievement.
I can guarantee one thing: if the Reds go 3 and out and don’t hit in the postseason, the team and the media both will conclude that going into the playoffs not hitting was a bad thing.
Doesn’t mean it’s true, but that’s what is going to be said.
For me, I think the playoffs are an independent thing, but I’d still prefer the Reds not go into it hitting quite as badly as they are right now. If only for the purpose of making me feel better.
93 mph fastball, that’s gonna leave a mark. ouch!
Thom and Chris can’t have it both ways. They just got done gushing about how great Miller is tonight, but then in the very next discussion, it was all about how disinterested the Reds are in this game. Which is it?
Stubbs getting acclimated to AAA hitting.
I know this game means nothing but.. sheesh. If this is how they’re going to approach things why not let the young guys go mix it up?
There we go, early spring training time now.
I find it hard to believe, as someone said previously, that Bailey might be left off the roster entirely. That cannot be right.
Those are some young kids we got out there now!
This inability to make contact and/or remove the bat from the shoulder is all part of a grand Dusty Baker strategy. Convince the opposing pitchers that they can just throw any old pitch right down the middle and the Reds won’t hit it, then later when it counts they can turn on those cookies and mash-em. Dusty is expert in coaching for the human element, don’t you know. (Or maybe, the Reds just suck at hitting?)
I wants to see me some Tony Cingrani tonight.
Holy cow I find myself agreeing with Thom.
Now Thom does some fast backtracking. Still, that was funny.
The good news is that when the post season starts, the Reds bats will be “like new” or “gently used” Which means there will be a ton of base hits and home runs stored in the barrel of those bats ready to unleash a tsunami of hits and runs against the opposition. Well, sounds good to me anyway. Go Reds!
Now that is funny.
A+ WOULD LOL AGAIN
Would everybody relax, they are getting their no-hitter out of the way during the regular season. Who here thinks they take out Bailey to keep him fresh for Sunday’s start in SF
That’s a good one.
@Billy Joe in Chi-Town: Yep Dusty’s employing the old “Play Possum” routine.
our Most Valdez Player breaks up the no-no!
Wilson Valdez *would* break up a no-hitter in the 6th,
Never thought I’d say this, but Thank God Wilson Valdez spared us from being no-hit by a AAA first timer.
Nationals beat Philly’s to clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Is anyone else terrified that JJ Hoover will miss the playoff roster in favor of someone like Arrededondo? Hoover may be left out since he wasn’t with the Reds for several months, but he’s been lights-out lately.
As long as Baker is making decisions, I’m concerned about the roster.
Baseball Prospectus had this strange bullpen leverage graph. I will not pretend to fully understand it, but the trend seems to be Hoover is being used in more high leverage situations while Arrendondo has been used less. I am hoping that is a sign…
Tony La Russa will probably make an AB before tonight’s game is over.
Even the Cards announcers said he was out.
That’s funny b/c Thom & Chris agreed he was safe. I should switch broadcasts.
Cingrani time.
HAHA they scored that a hit!
Reds are probably relieved that at least this won’t go to extra innings. “C-A-L-F-O-R-N-I-A D-R-E-A-M-I-N”. They fly straight to SF tonight, right?
make that 2.86 runs per game since sept 1.
So? What was our win/loss record, that is the only numbers that matter.
Not really since we didn’t play any series against playoff teams except this 1 series vs the WLBs. Now that we’re going to face real pitchers; a sweep by the Giants is inevitable at this rate of Reds “offense”.
Giants: 4.96 runs per game since Sept 1.
Bruce’s baseball card back will stay at 99. See you all on the flip side.
In the last 20 games, Bruce’s OPS is .479. So he finishes, probably unsurprisingly, right where you’d expect, with an OPS+ of 118. Same as last year. If you ignore all the peaks and valleys, don’t get too excited or too angry with him, this is the player that he is. A good, but definitely not great, RF, at a good price.
Looking forward to Saturday, that’s all I can say. Go Reds!
@LVW:
Ok, I really am hoping this is a reverse jinx sort of post. Otherwise, seriously lets look forward to what we are going to get to watch as opposed to predicting doom.