ByDuane Rhodes, more commonly known to Cincinnati Reds fans as “The Woo Guy” has recorded a song about his favorite baseball team to celebrate the beginning of the season.
Unlike his song about shouting, “Woo!”, there’s no fire crackling in the background this time.
ByThe Cincinnati Reds are 25 games into the 2014 season, and what they’ve shown fans is not terrifically surprising to me. They sit in third place, behind the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals, with a record of 11-14. The team has shown excellent starting pitching, above-average defense, and an embarrassing lack of offense.
The pitching has allowed an average of 3.3 runs per game. If they keep that up for the whole year, that’s going to make for some mighty fine pitching stats. As a point of comparison, that would be just a little better than the Atlanta Braves’ staff was last season. It’s certainly good enough pitching to win plenty of games, so long as the team scores some runs.
Unfortunately, the Reds aren’t. The team is averaging 3.8 runs per game which is down from 4.3 runs per game last year. No one who realized the offensive impact of Shin-Soo Choo should be surprised by that. Considering his disappearance since signing Choo, I’m guessing the Reds’ ineffective General Manager Walt Jocketty is one of those surprised.
Even with that anemic offense, the Reds can still be expected to contend. A difference of 0.5 between runs scored and runs allowed over the course of 162 games should have the Reds with a record around 89-73. That run differential adds up to 81, which in general averages out to a record eight games above .500.
I’m not sure the pitching can keep up its pace, but considering it’s doing it so far without Mat Latos and Aroldis Chapman, maybe it can. It will make for a different kind of season as a fan. The Reds are historically a high scoring team. I’m not sure I know how to watch a team that doesn’t.
By
Wacha Wacha Wacha!
Tonight is the Cincinnati Reds’ first night game of the season, and the team has turned it into quite the event. For Opening Night, players will walk a red carpet and provide autographs to fans, the broadcast crew wears tuxedos, there’s a team calendar giveaway, and after the game there are fireworks.
It’s a fun time, and I’ll be sad to be missing it for the second year in a row. But I’ll be at home, watching as the St. Louis Cardinals send Michael Wacha to the mound to try to avoid a sophomore slump. Of course, I’ll be envisioning Fozzie Bear everytime he’s shown.
In honor of that, here’s some of Fozzie’s best worst jokes.
Hopefully, the Reds’ offense will have a presence in tonight’s game. While they’re continued absence could become quite a joke, it would never be as endearing as Fozzie.
The first pitch is scheduled tonight at 7:10 pm.
ByThe RHM crew had a surprise offer a few days before the Reds’ Opening Day: a couple first-base side tickets right near the dugout to see the Reds try to beat the Cardinals. It was too amazing to turn down.
We arrived a couple hours before the stadium’s gates opened and headed to the Moerlein Lager House to enjoy the wonderful weather in the outdoor park adjacent to the restaurant.
The Great American Ball Park light stacks appear above the Moerlein Lager House.
A few Moerleins and Hudepohls later, we headed into the stadium and found our seats. They were excellent.
Cueto jogs to the dugout after warming up.
Votto crouches at first as the pitch is delivered.
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinals (1-0) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Reds (0-1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
Cueto checks the runner.
The Cincinnati Reds opened the 2014 season yesterday with a shutout loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the first time they’d been shutout on opening day since 1953.
Johnny Cueto started for the Reds and was excellent. Following a trainer’s visit to the mound in the first inning, Cueto was almost unhittable. His only hiccup was in the seventh inning when he allowed a solo home run to Yadier Molina. After that, the bullpen of Manny Parra and Logan Ondrusek took over, shutting out the Cardinals for the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, all that excellent pitching was wasted. The offense from the latter days of the 2013 season was in full force, as the team managed just three hits and no runs. This lack of production despite the Cardinals committing three errors, as if they were daring the Reds to take advantage.
The final tally of Opening Day 2014.
The series continues on Wednesday after a break today, with Michael Wacha taking on Homer Bailey at 7:10pm.
