ST Game Thread 3/5 Phillies vs Reds at Sarasota
By
Cincinnati Reds Video Poker
Posted at 2:01 pm
Lineups according to C. Trent:
PHILLIES
Rollins SS
Victorino CF
Utley 2B
Burrell LF
Dobbs 3B
Helms 1B
Bourn RF
Ruiz C
Lieber P
THE UNSTOPPABLE REDLEGS
Phillips 2B
Hamilton CF
Encarnacion 3B
Dunn LF
Valentin C
Gonzalez SS
Bellhorn 1B
Hopper RF
Wilson P
I'd have to say that Paul Wilson is the favorite for #5 pitcher at this juncture, with Bailey looking like he needed some more seasoning in the minors after yesterday's struggles in the 2nd inning. We haven't seen ELizardo at all, not sure if he is healthy or not. I guess Saarloos and Livingston are in the mix as well, but they can always use Saarloos as a swing man since he has bullpen experience, and I don't know if you want to do that with Wilson who is coming off of a major arm injury.. better to have him in a set routine.
But Votto’s not going to start the season in Cincy, and Griffey’s going to be hurt plenty over the course of the year. I don’t think he’d be much of a blocker.
More and more there’s looking like there’s not as much of a place for our man Griffey. Much as I love the guy.
End of the 7th, 8-7 Phillies leading.
heh…speaking of Votto
Well I can live with a platoon of Hatteberg and Bellhorn to start the season. Cut or trade Conine and then Hamilton, Crosby (or denorfia) or maybe all three make the club. If Bellhorn struggles we can bring Votto up in mid-may or early June and give him a shot… if he struggles we need to trade before the deadline. That would be my plan with the hand we aer holding right now.
The other option is let Moeller make the club as 3rd catcher… a spot opens up if you cut or trade Conine… then you make Valentin the platoon partner with hatteberg. THat might be the best offesnvie option… Javy played 1B in the Latin World Series I think.
Meadows pitches a 1, 2, 3 inning… going to the bottom of the 8th Reds only trailing by 1!
Javy is a decent little 1B.
Griffey right now reminds me of Al Kaline in 1968. You keep him on the bench all year, as a 1B/OF type, and then in the postseason, you put him in right field like Mayo Smith did with Kaline that year, and he hits .379 with two doubles, two homers and 8 RBIs and scores six runs in the World Series. And you win the World Series, like the Tigers did that year.
And after he retires, he goes into the Hall Of Fame like Kaline did.
Dickerson leading off for the Reds. John Ennis pitching for the Phillies.
Dickerson strikes out swinging. Now its Jerry Gil who started that rally last inning. Crosby on deck.
HOME RUN Jerry Gil!!! We are tied at 8-8!
I met Dickerson on the Reds caravan stop. I asked him if he thought he’d make the bigs with all the competition and he said, “no.”
At least he’s realistic about it!
You know, that just might be the best plan I’ve ever heard regarding Junior. He is definitely clutch. You could use him as a pinch hitter all season long sticking him in game tying or game winning spots. Then let him start during the post season. maybe give him a spot start here and there to keep him in shape.
Trouble with Valentin in that role is he’s a career .212 hitter against lefties. They’d be better off using Griffey over there, he’s a career .277 off lefties, not as good as Conine’s .303 or whatever it is, but good enough considering off lefties, once every seven ABs or so, Junior’s gonna put one in the seats.
Bubba is on first. I think he walked.
no! sorry, not once every 7 ABs, one in 7 hits he gets off lefties will be in the seats
:blush:
Hmm, yea I forgot Javier is better against right-handers.
1 in 7 ABs would be the greatest ratio in history!
Crosby steals 2nd.
OK, I am back to plan A of platooning Hatteberg with Bellhorn… but I like the idea of keeping Griffey on the bench as a pinch hitter with just occasional spot starts until the post season or maybe till mid September then you bust him out.
That sort of makes a DH out of Griffey, which I think would suit him pretty well.
What did Deno do? Do the Reds have the lead yet??
Infield hit for Denorfia! We’re playing small ball now with Denorfia and Crosby. Chad Moeller at bat.
Suicide squeeze works! I was gonna recommend a bunt, I swear to god! Great job!
9-8 Reds lead… Denorfia on 2nd with 2 outs.
A productive day for Moeller: HBP, SAC bunt and an RBI. That’s how you make the team when you can’t hit a lick.
Passed ball, Denorfia advances to 3rd.
I’ll go back even farther. You said it way back in the middle innings: Wes Helms is the guy they should have grabbed instead of Conine.
Oh, it’s so excitinig! 🙂
Janish K’s… Reds have the lead going to the 9th! Whose gonna close it out? Weathers maybe?
What about Hermanson? Is he available?
…and the Reds remain UNSTOPPABLE !!!
Ladies and getlemen, the Big Red Machine is back!
Kerry Ligtenberg… groundout to janish at short. One out.
They were gonna have Hermanson face hitters in BP at least one more time before running him out there in a game
Gil had a heckuva game… he’s my MVP for this one. Meadows trying to get the win.
Dickerson makes a catch in center. 2 outs. Ligtenberg one out away from the save.
I’ve never even heard of Gil. Where did he come from?
AND THIS ONE BELONGS TO THE REDS!
Denorfia makes the grab at the warning track.
Yeah, Gil had a double and HR, good a choice as anybody
I can’t believe it. I thought they had their first loss for sure.
Never underestimate the offensive prowess of Cincinnati.
Lights Out by Ligtenberg, the Reds are 5-for-5 in the Grapefruit League, plus a win in the “B” game that doesn’t count for good measure.
I was hoping they wouldn’t get their first loss on the day when you billed them as the unstoppable Reds when you started the game thread, RHM
I can uncross my fingers and toes now
Gil also has relatives with MLB history. Here is his bio:
Attended Colegio La Zafra High School in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic… uncle Josias Manzanillo pitched from 1991-2003 for the Red Sox, Brewers, Mets, Yankees, Mariners, Pirates and Reds (2003)…uncle Ravelo Manzanillo pitched for the Pirates in 1994-95 and for the White Sox in 1998.
2006:
In 128g at Class AAA Tucson and Class AA Tennessee combined to hit .256 with 28 doubles, 27hr and 89rbi…at Tennessee led the Southern League in homers (26) and ranked among the league leaders in RBI (86, 2nd), extra-base hits (59, 2nd), total bases (237, 2nd), slugging (.531, 2nd), runs scored (71, 4th) and triples (6, 5th)…homered once every 17.15 plate apps, best ratio in the Southern League…overall appeared in 100g in the OF, 16g at SS, 11g at 2B and 4g at 3B…prior to 2006 predominately had played SS and had not made a professional appearance in the outfield… was Southern League Player of the Week for 8/14-8/20 and 8/28-9/4…following the season made 5 apps for Azucareros del Este in the Dominican Winter League.
Missed most of 2005 with a knee injury.
Actually that was C. Trent that called them the unstoppable Redlegs. Copy and pasted lineup from his blog.
Well, it was Gil’s home run that tied the game 8-8. And his double started the big scoring rally that got them within 1.
OK, so Meadows gets the W, Ligtenberg a save, and Gil would appear to be the consensus choice as the Red Hot Mama Player of the Game (unless Amanda wants to overrule the rest of us, which she can), for which he will receive a free opportunity to be interviewed on The Red Hot Broadcast.
Cool… fun game… Tomorrow they play TB. l8r folks!
OK..I knew Gil came from The Shortstop Factory (San Pedro de Macoris), but didn’t know he had a couple of uncles who were big league pitchers to take BP against in the D.R. That has to help a kid learn how to hit, eh?
I can’t take credit for calling them The Unstoppable Reds OR for the game thread. smartelf started the thread (thank you!) with line-ups from C. Trent’s blog and the CTS promoted the diary.
It’s like a well-oiled machine. I’m not even necessary!
OK, have a good one, smartelf, thanks for the play-by-play.
RHM, you need to have something at the end here like they do on TV.
This game has been presented solely for the entertainment of our audience, any other use of this blogcast without the express written consent of Red Hot Mama is prohibited. 🙂
And now you’re signing off for me. Soon I’ll be able to retire and let the site run itself!
Too bad so many employers block ports 6660-6670 on their networks or you could do this over IRC, and not have to keep refreshing the page, and then just paste the channel log to a diary later. Oh well. catch you on the comments to the game wrap.
C. Trent shouldn’t do that, though…could jinx ’em.
Wow, you guys had quite a gamethread today.
I was locked behind a corporate firewall, alas, but I was able to follow Trent’s updates.
Bubba got only one at-bat as a PH, but he sure made the most of it. On base with a walk, stole 2B, to 3B on Deno’s hit, scored the go-ahead and game-winning run on the suicide squeeze. What a finish.
It’s so nice to have the flexibility of a speedy guy. The suicide squeeze is the funnest play in baseball.