Yearly Archives: 2012

June 27, 2012

Daily Brief: Forever to be known as ‘A-roll-dis’

Last Game
After two series losses in a row, the Reds finally ensured a series victory last night by beating the Brewers 3-4 in the second game. Bronson Arroyo had a no-hitter through seven and a third but still got a no-decision when he suddenly lost his magic and let the Brewers tie it up in the eighth.

Fortunately, Sean Marshall and Aroldis Chapman were able to hold the Brew Crew back long enough to make Drew Stubbs’ home run in the bottom of the eighth into the winning run.

Next Game
The brooms are in hand as the team goes for the sweep this afternoon. It won’t be a walk in the park though; Homer Bailey (5-5, 4.20 ERA) takes on Zack Greinke (8-2, 2.81 ERA). Greinke is actually on a hotter streak than that even with a 1.46 ERA over his last 5 starts.

Let Me See that Tootsee Roll
Before last night, Aroldis Chapman had blown his last two save opportunities, making himself (specifically, the suitability of his particular talents to the closer role) the primary topic of conversation among Reds fans.

So, you’d expect him to be excited when he shut down the Brewers to protect the 1-run lead in the ninth inning. But did you expect him to do two forward rolls in exuberant celebration?

Dusty Baker wasn’t that excited about the demonstration of human emotion, saying, “I know he was happy, especially after that bad week, but we don’t play like that.” And some of the other players weren’t so keen on it either. Brandon Phillips said in a tweet “Great all around W tonight except for the 2 front roll flips at the end, but at least he didn’t get hurt!”

Fans are either saying, “so what? he was excited,” or “he’s broken the unwritten rules by showing up the other team and brought down the wrath of the baseball gods upon us!” It’s probably true that the Brewers will hit someone during today’s game in retribution for “being shown up” even though even they must surely realize those flips had everything to do with Chapman and nothing to do with them. With their 33-41 record and fourth-place position in the NLC, frankly, the Brewers aren’t worth showing up.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Today’s pitcher, Homer Bailey, has been the victim of the most blown saves this season with 3. If he can get the win tomorrow, maybe he’ll be doing cartwheels.

June 26, 2012

Votto triples 2nd place in All Star Voting

Joey Votto is clearly running away with the NL’s first base All Star position. So much so, that I think it’s easy to lose perspective. Here’s a couple facts to help increase the resolution on this number:

  • Since last week’s tally, Votto has received over 1.3 million votes. The second-place vote getter has only 1.5 million votes for the entirety of the voting.
  • Votto has about 3 times as many votes as the second-lace finisher, but he also has more votes than 2nd, 3rd, and 4th combined.
  • If you were to try to single-handedly pull Lance Berkman into first place, it would take you 342 days of submitting one vote every 10 seconds, with no breaks for Skyline chili or sleeping.

So, I think Votto’s safe.

Brandon Phillips, on the other hand, is still lagging. He’s less than a million votes behind, but voting ends midnight Thursday. He really does deserve it, but with Tony LaRussa managing the NL team this year, he’s not likely to get in unless folks start putting in some serious clicking.

Have you done your clicking yet? All you have to do is go to MLB.com to fill out your ballot. You can vote 25 times per email address, and if you’re like me, you’ve got several email addresses, including one or two you would even give to MLB.

Tallies as of June 26, 2012:

FIRST BASE

  • Joey Votto, Reds: 4,475,180
  • Lance Berkman, Cardinals: 1,516,737
  • Freddie Freeman, Braves: 1,462,586
  • Brandon Belt, Giants: 1,291,982
  • Ryan Howard, Phillies: 873,526

SECOND BASE

  • Dan Uggla, Braves: 2,641,361
  • Brandon Phillips, Reds: 1,870,966
  • Jose Altuve, Astros: 1,479,652
  • Rickie Weeks, Brewers: 1,202,051
  • Omar Infante, Marlins: 1,093,119

OUTFIELD

  • Matt Kemp, Dodgers: 4,118,524
  • Carlos Beltran, Cardinals: 3,717,483
  • Ryan Braun, Brewers: 3,168,617
  • Melky Cabrera, Giants: 3,045,884
  • Andre Ethier, Dodgers: 1,948,973
  • Matt Holliday, Cardinals: 1,880,342
  • Andrew McCutchen, Pirates: 1,685,543
  • Angel Pagan, Giants: 1,613,948
  • Hunter Pence, Phillies: 1,610,283
  • Michael Bourn, Braves: 1,553,285
  • Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies: 1,506,613
  • Shane Victorino, Phillies: 1,365,023
  • Jason Heyward, Braves: 1,322,217
  • Jay Bruce, Reds: 1,195,031
  • Martin Prado, Braves: 1,142,946

To see the tallies for the other positions, you can go to this story on MLB.com and scroll all the way to the bottom.

June 26, 2012

Game 72: Brewers 1, Reds 3

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W: Latos (6-2) L: Gallardo (6-6) S: No Thanks

Boxscore

The Reds got their winning streak up to 1 last night by beating the Brewers in the first game of the series.

Oh, Mat Latos. This was a performance we really, really liked. Let’s stop worrying about proving that it was worthwhile to trade for you and just keep pitching like that, huh? In 9.0 innings of work, Latos allowed 1 run (earned) on 4 hits and 2 walks. He struck out a career-high 13, giving all the fans at GABP free pizza and ice cream. A yummy performance all around.

And if that weren’t enough, Latos brought his bat as well. He went 2-for-3, though no one could seem to bring him in. Drew Stubbs, freshly off the DL, also went 2-for-3, but he also got to score 2 of the Reds’ 3 runs. Joey Votto, though hitless on the night, scored the other run thanks to a walk in the fourth inning.

The RBI belonged to Brandon Phillips (1) and Jay Bruce (2). The Reds didn’t hit any home runs last night, but that’s how the Brewer’s got their one run. Whatever.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 40-32. Game 2 against the Brewers is tonight at 7:10 p.m. when Bronson Arroyo (3-5, 4.19 ERA) defends against Marco Estrada (0-3, 4.50 ERA).

June 26, 2012

Daily Brief: Latos shows his stuff in complete game

Last Game
It was the Mat Latos show in the Reds’ 1-3 win over the Brewers last night. Not only did he go complete game and eliminate the opportunity for anyone to blow his save, the .130 hitter also went 2-for-3 at the plate, posting 2 of the team’s 7 hits.

Next Game
Bronson Arroyo (3-5, 4.19 ERA) takes his turn on the mound against the Brewers’ Marco Estrada (0-3, 4.50 ERA). It will be Estrada’s first start since May thanks to a stint on the DL. First pitch at 7:10 p.m.

Stubbs Returns from DL
Drew Stubbs came off the DL for last night’s game, and he was the only guy other than Latos to contribute more than 1 hit. Baker was excited to get him into the line-up because of the spark he adds through his base-stealing. Though he only went 1-for-10 during his rehab assignment (and not getting on often has a negative impact on the running game), he was apparently just saving it up. He was 2-for-3 with a walk, 2 runs scored, and a stolen base.

Stubbs missed 8 games with a strained left oblique muscle before they put him retroactively on the 15-day DL on June 15. The Reds optioned Willy Harris to make room on the roster, which makes sense, since Harris is who they brought up when Stubbs got hurt in the first place.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
The Cardinals have strung together a 4-game win streak to pull themselves back into a tie for second in the NLC. The Pirates and Cardinals are both 2.0 games back.

June 25, 2012

Reds induct Sean Casey to team hall of fame

Nice hatsThis weekend was the big Reds’ Hall of Fame induction gala when the Reds welcomed three first basement of various eras to the hallowed halls of its HOF:

  • Sean Casey played with the Reds 1998 – 2005
  • Dan Driessen played with the Reds 1973 – 1984
  • John Reilly played with the Reds 1880 – 1891

That last one must be the “museum” part of “Reds Hall of Fame and Museum.” I don’t know the era well enough to know whether his numbers were actually any good, but at 6’3″ in the 1880s it’s little wonder they called him “Long John.” He must have been quite a beast.

Plenty of folks had an up-close view of the gala, and it sounds like it was a zany-fun time. Check out some of these posts to help take your mind off last night’s game:

My personal thought about the induction, though, is a little different than the others. What I notice is that if Casey were on the roster today, he wouldn’t even be the oldest one: Miguel Cairo has his beat by two months.