I was absolutely delighted to see Adam Everett starting at shortstop with Chris Burke at second. Rusty as he is from 3 months of inactivity, Adam is still head and shoulders above Mark Loretta. Actually, Burke is head and shoulders with the glove above Loretta and Biggio and watching the two of them was a real pleasure.
Tom Shearn started for the Reds, and straightaway ran into bad luck. The third baseman missed Burke’s hard liner, which went for a double, then Everett’s dribbler dwon the 3B line, which went for an infield single. I guess he got a little rattled because he threw a nice FB low, mid plate, unmoving, to Lance Berkman who promptly sent it over the LF fence. No outs, Astros 3 Reds 0. Carlos Lee comes up and hits an inside FB just inside the LF foul pole. Astros 4 Reds 0 no outs. Pence grounds out, Scott walks, Wiggy grounds out, Munson walks. Then to my surprise, with the pitcher coming up – and a pitcher who barely knows which end of the bat to hold, the Reds manager pulls Shearn. In comes ex-Astro Kirk Saarloos to get the pitcher out – which of course, he does.
Unfortunately, Gutierrez was just as bad as the Reds pitcher. He walks the leadoff man on a 3-2 count. He then gets the next guy, on another 3-2 count,to line out to Burke on a hit and run for an easy 4-3 DP. Votto hits the next pitch to right center for a double. Then Brandon Phillips hits the 3-1 FB on the outside corner over the fence. He’s now a 30-30 man. (I never was sure why the Indians soured on him, but hey, their loss…) ANOTHER 3-2 count and Encarnacion walks. Fortunately, he gets Valentin to pop out to finally end the inning. Uck. 28 pitches, 14 strikes, 14 balls. 2 walks, 2 hits 2 ER.
Second inning, Saarloos gives up a walk and a single before getting Carlos to GIDP to end the inning. Gutierrez goes back out there and he’s worse than ever. Double, single, 2 RBI double to the PITCHER, bunt single, RBI on a 4-6-3 GIDP (and oh LORD was it beautiful to watch Burke and Adam turn it with grace and ease – I didn’t have to do my usual prayer that Biggio and Loretta’s ancient, weak arms might not be able to do the turn, another single, a coaching visit to the mound, then a blessed K to end the inning. 5 hits, no walks, 3 runs. No this inning he only threw 6 of the 23 pitches out of the strike zone, but unfortunately the ones he threw in the zone were too hittable.
Reds 5 Astros 4.
In the third, Pence homered and Lance Berkman hit another bomb in the 4th. In the top of the 5th, with 2 on and 2 out, it was Gutierrez’ turn to bat and with the score so close, I was a bit surprised that Coop didn’t pinch hit, but he didn’t and of course Guti struck out.
Guti, by the way, settled down after the second and got 1,2,3 out for the next 3 innings.
McLemore came in in the 6th and gave up a run. Tie score 6-6.
In the 8th, with 2 out and Jared Burton pitching, Carlos Lee hit a ball into the RF corner and turned on the jets out of the batter’s box and barely beat the throw into second. You KNOW I am always ragging on Carlos for dogging it, which he sure does a LOT of the time. But gotta give credit where credit is due and he went full out on this one. Then Pence hit a single up the middle and Norris Hopper, who has a cannon, picked up the ball and fired home where Carlos, who had taken off at the crack of the bat, was running full speed. Valentin, the catcher, positioned himself outside the baseline and took the throw, which was right on the money, and turned to swipe Carlos who made an absolutely beautiful outside slide to evade the tag and score the winning run.
Oh, and I wanna give props to Cody Ransom who made a great play on a ball hit up the middle, first play, bottom of the 8th. Loretta wouldn’t have gotten NEAR that baseball.
Dennis Sarfate pitched a very nice 7th and 8th. 31 pitches, 22 strikes, 1 hit, 3 K. So far, he hasn’t had the serious control problems he had in the minors. So be it and shall it remain.
I was praying that after 2 long, strenuous nights that Coop wouldn’t send poor Brad Lidge out there again and he didn’t. Qualls came on and gave up a walk, but then got 2 groundouts and a flyout. Amazing – Burke is supposed to have a weak arm, but next to Loretta and Burke, he’s got a Furcal-like cannon.
Berkman went 4 fer 5 with 2 singles, 2 homers and 4 RBIs, which allowed him to get 100 RBIs again, for the 5th time in his career.
So tomorrow, it’s the Wand-man vs Matt Belisle.
Wandy is 1-0 with a 6.17 ERA over 11.2 IP in the GAB. Of the guys on their roster who are actually playing, Norris Hopper is 5/5, Encarnacion is 2/11 and Phillips is 3/8. So youneverknow, he might could actually have a great game…
In other news, Roy’s side is hurting and he has decided to shut it down for the year, a very wise decision. He was supposed to pitch on Friday, but since the game is long sold out for the goodbye Biggio weekend, it really doesn’t matter and besides, the Braves are out of the race too. Biggio is now supposed to catch Backe for a few inning on Saturday.
That is going to be interesting. Makes me feel funny because I was only in second grade when he came up and he was this little skinny guy, smaller than my mama. And you know something? He wasn’t very good at hitting his first couple of years. HE HAD A .604, .738 and a .690 OPS his first 3 years. Oh wait – I forgot – most Astros fans are only about the BA. So it was .211, .257 and .276 his first few years. Man, if modern Astros fans had been watching back then, they would have been screaming that he should be DFAd or traded, like, say, Chris Burke after last year.
Good thing they had a little patience…
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, MLB
I sorta hate to see Qualls pitch the 9th, if only because it’ll fuel all the people who want to see him close next year. Gah. I can understand not being sure of Lidge, but Qualls isn’t the answer, at least not at this point.
It’ll be interesting seeing Biggio catch even though it’ll prob only last a couple innings.
I think the most disappointing thing about this season is how average most MLB teams are. No one team has jumped head and shoulders against the rest. Boston had a great start, Cleveland has really stepped it up a notch late, and the Angels sat on the division lead pretty much all season. No team in the NL has even 90 wins, and the Indians and Red Sox might be the only teams at or over .600 winning percentage. All it would have taken was a few more wins this year and we’d be right in the mix. It’s just sad that this team could never get it going in a year with so many teams on or near a level playing field.
I stand firm on the quote “defense wins championships”. This holds true in most sports and even in some aspects of life. (Granted a little discipline goes a long way too!)
Can’t wait for hockey season now!
rob,
Mr. Selig would be delighted to hear what you have to say. He has been all about parity, parity, parity, and he may not rest until every team is exactly the same as each other.
lisa,
It’s cool hearing you praise so many guys. I don’t have cable (or the time for it) here in Austin, and have come to depend on your blogs for the most realistic accounts of the games. You have made El Tortuga sound absolutely Bagwellian, at least baserunning-wise.
I haven’t heard or seen Coop’s comments, but I’d say he used Qualls last night not because of Lidge’s struggles, but because he didn’t want to put him in there too many days in a row.
Finally, at least at this very moment (5:25 AM), on the Chron site in the “On Deck” section, just above the “Division Standings,” the photo of Wandy looks just like Gutierrez. Maybe it’s Wade’s idea to have a closer-knit team, where everyone is everyone else. More happiness for Bud!
It’ll be fun to watch Biggio catch again before he retires. I never thought about modern fans watching Biggio when he was a rook and wanting him gone. Just shows that a lot of fans don’t really know what they’re looking at.
I would still rather have Loretta at 2B than Burke. And I’m out of patience at with Everett at SS unless he can somehow start hitting. I love good defense, but I get tired of watching the Astros lose 2-1 after they go 0 fer a million with RISP.
jack,
i don’t think qualls is a closer neither
and who knows how brad will be after he gets his knee fixed and comes back
trouble is that fans really REALLY think that a closer shouldn’t ever blow a save, lose a game or even give up hits or walks.
rob
agree that parity means everyone sucks equally. and then winning really WILL be a crap shoot
wags
i try to be an honest grrrl. and if a guy does a great job he should get praise – even if he does a great job all the time. and especially if he hadly ever does a great job.
mark,
getting everett out of the lineup did nothing for the problem of going ofer a zillion with RISP. and i would rather see everett hit 240 than see loretta/biggio miss hundreds of playable balls. it is a LOT harder to pitch when you have no confidence in your fielders. and loretta is almost as bad with the glove at second as he is at short
When Carlos broke Adam’s leg, the ‘stros were eleven games under .500. While Adam was out, they were nine more games under .500. So I don’t think Adam is the cause of the problems, nor does he solve them.
Sure, there are subtle secondary effects — effect on pitchers’ confidence, keeping starting pitching in longer (because more plays are made and they get out of innings more quickly), and so forth. But overall, getting rid of Adam for a better hitter with poorer defensive skills is not going to materially help the club — unless it saves money that is used to get starting pitching. And that seems unlikely.
And while we’re talking about shortstops, consider that Buster Olney (ESPN) doesn’t think Braun should be the rookie MVP. Check this out:
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But the best rookie in the NL this year has been Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies.
His record-breaking numbers are not nearly so gaudy as those of Braun — Tulowitzki’s 23 homers are the most ever for a rookie NL shortstop. He’s driven in 93 runs, with 97 runs scored and 30 doubles. The backbone of his candidacy, though, is in what he has done defensively: Many talent evaluators and advance scouts say Tulowitzki has played Gold Glove caliber shortstop — he leads the NL in fielding percentage, double plays and range factor. He is the centerpiece of the team which has been, by a good margin, the most efficient defensive club in the majors; the Rockies have committed just 65 errors, and when you talk to evaluators and players within their organization, they say that Tulowitzki is the primary reason for the change, with the mid-90s-Nomar Garciaparra-like athleticism with which he plays the position.
One scout said this: “He’s coming at you with a lot of arms and legs for someone at that position. But it’s a lot like Cal [Ripken]: You watch him play a few innings and you realize that he knows what he’s doing.”
The Rockies won 76 games last year, and with Tulowitzki at shortstop this year, they are 86-72. Well, actually, they are 84-67, because on those days when Tulowitzki hasn’t played, Colorado is 2-5.
As of today, Tulowitzki has been on the field for 84 Colorado victories this year. The Brewers were 28-19 when Braun was promoted to the big leagues, and are 1-1 on the days he hasn’t played. So this year, Braun has been on the field for 52 Milwaukee victories. If Tulowitzki was a left fielder, or a right fielder, maybe the fact that he has played in thirty-two more victories than Braun wouldn’t mean so much. But Tulowitzki is a shortstop, and he has played exceptionally at that position all season long.
steve,
very interesting about tulo
i remember being impressed with his glove the 3 games i watched
however, he has the usual significant coors splits and he is mediocre away from denver.
it will be interesting to see who the voters pick. it isn’t so cut and dried as the brewers fans think