May 15, 2010
By
Zeldink
Posted at 1:35 pm
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|
| Cardinals (21-15) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| Reds (19-16) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
W: Garcia (4-2)
L: Harang (2-5)
S: Franklin (8)
Boxscore
In the first game of the battle for first place, the Cincinnati Reds didn’t have quite enough to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis moves to 1 1/2 games ahead of Cincinnati.
Aaron Harang started and was solid, with the exception of two long fly balls to Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick. In most other parks, they would have been caught at the warning track, but in Great American, they fell into the first row of the seats. The perils of being a flyball pitcher for the Reds. They should do something about that. Oh yeah, Mike Leake goes tomorrow.
Both of those home runs were 2 run shots, and were all the Cardinals could manage. The Reds attempted a comeback, but fell short. They scored 2 on their own 2-run shot from Drew Stubbs in the 7th. Then in the 9th, Jonny Gomes singled and was driven in by by Drew Stubbs. The comeback faltered, though, when Ramon Hernandez swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded into a double play.
At the game, I at-first thought I heard the announcer say Chris Heisey was pinch-hitting, but he was instead only pinch-running for Ryan Hanigan. I think I would’ve preferred Heisey over Hernandez. It would have been a gutsy move instead of throwing old “Mr. Clutch” in there.
The Reds send out the aforementioned groundball pitcher Mike Leake today, while the Cardinals counter with Adam Wainwright at 7:40pm. Should be a good one.
May 13, 2010
By
Zeldink
Posted at 3:25 pm
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|
| Astros (13-21) | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| Cardinals (20-15( | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
W: Norris (2-4)
L: Carpenter (4-1)
S: Lindstrom (9)
Boxscore
The Houston Astros finished their sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals today, beating the first place team and the undefeated Chris Carpenter.
The Astros rode the best start of Bud Norris’ career, as he went 8 innings and allowed 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 8.
The Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter got his first loss of the season thanks to a terrible 3rd. Lance Berkman singled in the Astros first run. He was followed by Carlos Lee, who, with 2 on, popped out to the shortstop. He was frustrated by his failure and slammed his bat into the ground.
Apparently, Chris Carpenter has been paying attention to the sore-loser antics of Albert Pujols, and took exception to Lee. After a few words, the dugouts emptied. Eventually, sad, widdle Carpenter–the guy who’d actually won in the battle against Lee–got over his hurt feelings enough to return to playing a child’s game. Except that he didn’t calm down quite enough as Hunter Pence took him deep to give the Astros a 4-0 lead.
The loss narrows the Cardinals’ lead over the Cincinnati Reds to 1/2 game. The series this weekend could be quite enjoyable. I’m hoping for some fireworks. With this many crybabies on the Cardinals roster, it shouldn’t be too hard to get them riled up.
May 12, 2010
By
Amanda
Posted at 2:00 pm
A little part of me thought that there was no way the shutout would last, or at least that the last at-bat would take 25 pitches. But no.
This is a freakin’ hot team, and after an off-day tomorrow, they’re going to have a well-rested bullpen for the Cards. Ought to be a hell of a game.
May 12, 2010
By
Amanda
Posted at 10:38 am
Last Game
Johnny Cueto pitched the best game by a Reds pitcher this millennium last night when he shutdown the Pirates for 9 shutout, 1-hit innings. It was a sight to behold, not that you would know it from Reds TV broadcaster Paul Keels’ flat, emotionless delivery. The guy would have trouble making the first human walking on Mars sound exciting.
Next Game
Assuming the rains stay away, the Reds will go for the sweep of the Pirates this afternoon. That would be nice retribution for when the Pirates swept the Reds earlier this season. Homer Bailey hopes not to be a starting pitcher combo breaker as he faces Zach Duke at 12:35pm EDT.
Heisey’s Night Overshadowed
Dusty Baker has few options at the lead off spot, and with both Drew Stubbs and Orlando Cabrera getting a game off–Paul Janish started! Can you believe it!–Baker turned to rookie Chris Heisey. Heisey had no hits in 7 at-bats going into last night’s game, but Baker’s move paid off. Heisey had his first hit and later, his first home run. If Cueto hadn’t been so magnificent, everyone would have been talking about Heisey. As it is, his performance gets overshadowed a but.
Reds beat reporter John Fay helps in that regard, though. Heisey had an amazing game, but neither his mother or father were present to see it.
Chris Heisey got choked up in the ninth inning Tuesday.
He had just hit his first big league homer. He had taken the field for the ninth when he thought of his father, Craig, who died in October of 2007 of Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Here’s to many more games like last night for Heisey.
What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Reds are now 18-15. The last time they were 3 games over .500 was June 11, 2009, when they were 31-28.
May 11, 2010
By
Zeldink
Posted at 9:56 pm
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|
| Reds (18-15) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 15 | 0 |
| Pirates (14-19) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
W: Cueto (2-1)
L: Morton (1-6)
Boxscore
Now that’s what I call pitching!
Johnny Cueto threw a beautiful game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, tonight, providing a glimmer of hope that his pitch-inefficient days may be behind him. It took Cueto 102 pitches to get through all 9 innings. He allowed 0 runs, just 1 hit, 0 walks, and struck out 8. It was beyond awesome, and I hope he can pitch like that more often than not in the future.
The game was close through the first 6 innings. The Reds took an early lead, thanks to a sacrifice fly from Joey Votto and an RBI double from Scott Rolen.
The Reds really broke it open once they got to the Pirates bullpen, with 2 runs in the 7th and 4 in the 8th. Joey Votto may have had his hitting streak snapped in the first game against Pittsburgh, but he hasn’t slowed down. In addition to his sacrificial fly, he also collected 2 hits, another RBI, and scored twice. Rookie Chris Heisey also had an outstanding game, collecting his first hit and his first home run. He had a 3-4 day at the plate.
It sure is nice to see the Reds playing so well lately. They’re now 18-15, 3 games over .500 for the first time all season. And with how good the starting pitching has been lately, they may have a chance against St. Louis this weekend.
