When Hitter Pence hit a double to right to drive in 2 runs, I jumped up and started screaming – OHMIGAWD we’re FINALLY gonna beat Coco Cordero. After all these years we FINALLY scored some runs against him.
My niece, sitting on the couch next to me said – but we beat him last August – remember? And Chris Sampson won that one too. Actually, I didn’t remember at all, which was strange, until I went and looked it up and saw that I’d been on a weekend away with Husband. A baseball-free weekend.
Roy pitched very well, as usual. He went 7 innings, gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, 2 K and 1 run. I thought he was fer SHER going to pitch a complete game, but he ran into trouble in the 6th. He got 2 quick outs on 6 pitches, then suddenly lost command, giving up a double, an RBI single, then another double. He then intentionally walked lefty Votto, then FINALLY got the last out on Encarnacion. 28 pitches, and there went his lead and CG.
But he came in and pitched a good 7th, getting a single, a groundout and a GIDP. The GIDP was his best friend, seeing as how he sems to have lost his ability to strike out guys. He almost got into trouble in the 4th, with Miggy not turning the 1-6-3, but the NEXT batter did him a favor and also GIDP.
Lance hit homer #5, but the rest of his ABs weren’t good. He had a 6 pitch walk in the first inning, but he just looked at 2 very hittable fastballs – midthigh, outer third. In the 4th, he swung at a FB straight down the middle and only fouled it off. He struck out looking at another decent pitch midthigh, outside corner. Something is STILL terribly wrong. I hope he gets it together because it sure seems to me that his timing is off. Maybe he needs lasix?
sigh
I hope he doesn’t go all Dale Murphy.
Chris Sampson pitched 1.1 innings and got the win. He now has 2 wins – 1 more than Wandy, 2 more than Roy. This is, um, sort of ironic, seeing as how the team was always determined to find some excuse to not let him start and now he has more wins than the top 2 starters combined.
And speaking of Wandy, he faces Harang tomorrow. Harang had a terrible year last year, but he’s recovered quite nicely this year, going 2-2 with a 2.00 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP with 5 BB and 19 K over 27 innings.
I hope that for once, Wandy gets a little run support.
At the GAB, Wandy is 2-0 over 27 IP – 5 HR, 10 BB, 19 K with a 4.26 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. The good thing is that he won’t be facing Griffey, who knocked him all over the place.
Also, I think that Valverde won’t be available again as he said that pitching last night made him worse. Maybe Sampson will be made the closer in absentia. It would be kewl because he sure as heck doesn’t fit the stereotype one bit.
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros
Roy seems to not be able to buy a win. He easily could have had three the last three outings had he got any run support, and not had the one bad inning against LA. He is not striking people out, but still, whenever I feel like he’s lost it, I just check out last years numbers up to this point:
5 starts
2008 – 30 IP, 41 hits, 20 er, 7 HR, 6 BB, 22 K 6.00 ERA
2009 – 32 IP, 35 hits, 14 er, 6 HR, 9 BB, 18 K
3.94 ERA
While his K/BB might be down so far this year, every other stat is better. Last year I legitimately thought the Old Roy was gone forever. This start just mirrors his ones in earlier years, except he is winless, which we can attribute to Valverde blowing one win and lack of run support today. Roy is the least of my worries…. Lance is the most worrisome by FAR.
it is why i don’t really pay no nevermind to a won-loss record.
i learned my lesson during the roger clemens years. all the games he lost/had ND while giving up 0 or 1 run – was mindboggling
and yeh i am a LOT more worried about lance than roy. i always said it ain’t HOW you get outs, it is THAT you get outs.
“I jumped up and started screaming – OHMIGAWD we’re FINALLY gonna beat Coco Cordero”
I had the same sort of reaction when the Reds finally beat Oswalt….and I’m 100% sure that was the only time
Riddle me this – who is this quote about?
“Team is trying to find out why XXXX is struggling so much early in the season, striking out substantially more than is the norm for him. XXXX is too good of a hitter not to break out of his slump and to bench, but right now, he is falling well short of expectations at the plate.”
Answer: David Wright
Boy is that pudge something else. at 37 is still as quick as a cat with a rifle for an arm.Those 2 plays that he jumps out from home plate to nail the speedy tavares on a bunt and the soft hit out from home between home and the pitcher to nail another speedy runner were just outstanding. There is no way in hell that Quintero, towles or ausmus make either one of those 2, not in a month of sundays. defensivly he is still one of the best catchers in the majors, and he stills throws out close to 45% of basestealing attempts. He also has been a very big stabilizing force for Wandy and has helped him with his confidence.
erik,
i remember that game. harang beat him 3-2.
bruce,
please remember that david wright is unclutch or something and is not a leader or something else that the NY media hates. if they don’t want him i’ll take him. as well all know, there will never EVER be a 3rd baseman who is fit to even THINK about touching scott brosius’ jockstrap
jimbo,
quintero is SUPPOSED to be good defensively, but i haven’t seen it. ausmus USED to make plays like that. i saw towles make a play like that last year before coop decided he hates him. but i do agree that pudge has looked good with the glove/arm except for that one throw into center
The amazing thing is that pudge is still doing it on a regular bases at age 37 and after 18 seasons behind the plate, and no player is perfect,and ausmus is not doing it any longer, and towles is only 25 years old and should do it at least once in awhile.also pudge is beginning to come thru at the plate as he had the decisive RBI in 2 of our wins and came up big in wandy’s win with a homer that broke up a 1-1 tie and put us ahead for good and a double that just missed going out scoring 2 runs and driving in one.i think he also walked once.
am relieved that pudge is FINALLY starting to hit. even if he only hit singles and didn’t GIDP so much i would have been happy.
and he walking a LOT for a guy who averages 15-20 walks/620 AB
Actually pudge has thru his first 18 years of his career averaged 33.6 base on balls for every 620 abs. In his career he has GIDP 3.3 % of time while Ausmus and Tejada have a 3.2% GIDP and Pujoles has GIPD 3.4% of the time. I am not sure but I guess the ML avg. is somewhere around 3%.