This year the Reds get new uniforms. You can check them out on some very sexy models here. I think I like them. I was never very in love with the vests, so I'm happy to see them gone. Also happy to see that they're not blue. Overall I find them pleasing.
Half of the front page of today's DDN's sports section is a picture of Josh Hamilton. In case you somehow missed the story, Hamilton had some major drug problems and is trying to make his way to the majors after two years of suspension. If he makes it, I think he might be able to help with my continuing bitterness over the loss of my beloved Kearnsy (I don't know if I'm ever going to get over that). If he lives up to his billing (the cannon arm and whatnot) he could be very much like Austin. He's got some curly locks for starters. I guess using him to heal the pain is a little like buying a new puppy to replace the one that just died. It's probably not something he'd aspire to be. It could always lead to actual affection for him, though, like it sometimes does for the puppies. I'll just have to work on not being disappointed if he turns out to be nothing like Kearns. We can't exactly give him to the pound.
Cincinnati got a new radio station somewhat recently. It's taken me quite a while to decide whether I like it or not. On the way to work today I finally made up my mind. During the hour of commercials at 5 they played an ad for Reds' season tickets. I've never heard any Reds advertising on the radio before (which could be because I've never been able to get a station out of Cincy up here until now) other than WLW.
I can't freaking wait for baseball.
Also, Googling yourself is all kinds of fun. Did you know that I have senior pictures from 1979, when I was -3 years old? Or that I am some kind of fashion recruiter?
In case you haven't already heard, Majewski is the center of some unpleasant attention once again. He showed up at camp this year still sporting the shoulder inflammation that caused all the ruckus last year. I feel for the guy, but isn't it about time we figured out what is going on with his arm? That's an awful lot of inflammation to let go.
Also in the news today, Adam Dunn has a brand new lease on life, or at least on his job. He took a page out of Austin Kearns' book, adding excercise and healthy eating to his list of things to do. He also plans to put a lot more effort into his game, mostly in the defense category. I can't wait to see what a healthier, more dedicated Dunner can do.
I also failed to mention before that Joe Nuxhall is being treated for lymphoma in Florida. Sunday he was reported to be "resting comfortably" and awaiting the results of an MRI to help determine his course of treatment from here. Best wishes to Joe and the family.
Apparently Mr. Griffey broke his hand a few months ago. I don't remember hearing about this injury and the conspiracy surrounding it until now. It seems there was speculation that he hurt himself performing daring but dangerous stunts that, while heroic and amazing, would be a breach of his contract.
In reality, he fell on his hand while wrestling with his kids on a yacht in Bermuda. Perhaps his contract should now forbid him any good, clean, family fun as well. The good news, Griffey's hand seems to be working now.
I really like snow. I also really like to watch it snow. Since it's decided to start in the middle of the night, I'm bound and determined to keep myself awake until this mega-blizzard gets good and started. So, whilst I wait, I decided I'd try to get caught up on some of the dealings that went down while I was away. This may not be a bright idea because I'll probably still have to go into work tomorrow and they kind of like for me to be awake while I'm there, but off we go anyway.
Goings of Note
We lost a few players of considerable note during the offseason, namely Jason LaRue and Rich Aurilia. I'm a little sad to see LaRue go. I'd feel a little bit better if I could convince myself it was because the powers that be just felt that three catchers was too many, but that's obviously not the case (I'll elaborate on that in a bit). Aurilia I'm rather ambivalent about. I like him, and he's always good to have around when you need a clutch guy, but also, he likes San Francisco an awful lot, and perhaps he'll be a little less whiney about playing time there. And if he's not, at least we don't have to hear it anymore.
There were others, I am sure, and forgive me for not mentioning them. There's just so much I missed.
Comings of Note
Going back to that thing about three catchers, in place of Jason LaRue, we now have Chad Moeller. He comes from the great state of Wisconsin. Well, techinically he comes from the great state of California, but we got him from the Brewers. I really don't know much about him. I have learned from his page, though, that his batting average over his career is .227. He only played 29 games last year I guess. I feel like I should know a lot more about him, though. His name is too familiar for me not to know anything about him. Maybe he's one of the many people who only play really well against the Reds. Like Yadier Molina, who hits half of his homeruns in games against Cincinnati.
We have three new outfielders. I've never heard of any of them. Two of the guys are newbies to MLB. The other is a former Yankee. That's too bad. It'll take me a while to get over my irrational hatred of all things Yankee. I'll do my best for him, though. Also, Ryan Freel is listed as an outfielder this year. That's different.
There are a few new names among the pitchers and infielders, but no one I really know anything about, so I'll let you learn about them from someone who knows more about judging people based on their stats. You've probably already done that, though. They've probably been around for months.
For the last 5 months or so I've been contemplating shutting this thing down. It started feeling more and more like work and less and less like fun. I thought once I was finished with school it would be fun again, but it wasn't. So, I gave myself some time off, and have now missed so much in the news department it would take hours to get it all in here. But, yesterday I saw that Harang will be in Cincy for the next 4 years and I got all excited, so I thought I'd give the old We Heart the Reds another try. Only now I'm pretty sure it's just going to be Me Heart the Reds. The other half of the team up and moved across the country on me.
And now on with the show (short though this episode may be)! Aaron Harang will be staying with the Reds for at least the next 4 years. He gets 36.5 million cookies for it, too. And he's got an option for 12.75 million cookies for a fifth year with a 2 million cookie buyout. Hooray for Aaron and for cookies!
I'm sorry about the lack of posting going on around here lately. I haven't had time to watch a half-hour sitcom, let alone an entire baseball game, in the last several weeks. Between trying to finish up an internship and being made The Boss at the pizza place, all I've had time for are Girl Scouts, angry customers and employee drama.
In the meantime, apparently the Reds made a decent, last-minute run at the Cardinals, coming up just a few games short. I didn't even realize they'd made up any ground on them until I saw a blip on the bottom of a TV screen that said St. Louis had taken the division. After learning of this themselves, the Reds apparently gave up on trying to play. They let the Pirates walk all over them. The end result of Reds Baseball 2006 was yet another losing season, but much closer to .500 this year (.494). They finished the season in third place, only 3.5 games behind the Cardinals, much higher than the last place predicted for them. Adam Dunn was once again the king of home runs with a nice, even 40, which is 10 times the number of games I attended this year.
The only game I think I saw during the last two weeks of the season happened to contain Griffeys' first at-bat off the toe injury. If he's going to hit game-winning three-run homers every time he comes off an injury I might actually learn to deal with the frequency of them. There's lots more to write about, but I've gotta go be a responsible adult now. Boo.
Since I have failed to report on anything in a while, let it be known that the days that I did not write contained mostly humiliating losses to the lowly last place Cubs and the not-so-lowly Wild Card leading Padres, along with a loss to the Astros. The one win over the Cubs in the duration was once again behind Bronson Arroyo's recently fantastic pitching.
Now onto something I actually saw (on TV) and can actually write about.
Holy crap! They won! Harang has 14 W's! The bullpen tried to keep it familiar, though. They certainly tried their darn'dest to blow the lead. Stormy came through to preserve the win, though, a 5-4 win. After Sunday's debacle it seemed impossible that the Reds would ever win again, but they did. Barely.
Houston scored first, when Luke Scott's RBI triple tried to kill Brandon Phillips (sure, it might actually have been Freel's throw that hit him in the eye, but I'm blaming Scott). Denorfia would have none of it, though, and quickly responded with his first Major League homer, a 2-run affair that put the Reds up by 1. They continued the scoring in the 5th, and by the middle of the inning Cincinnati was up 5-1. The Reds, however, failed to score again, and Cincinnati fans spent the rest of the game holding their breath.
Harang gave up a run in each of the 5th and 6th innings, bringing the score to 5-3. He ran into heaps of trouble in the 8th and handed the ball over to Schoeneweis, who allowed 1 run (credited to Harang) and didn't get anyone out. Weathers stepped in to finish the 8th and 9th rather uneventfully. The Reds scraped out a win and their fans finally breathed again. Is "breathed" a word? It sounds very wrong, but dictionary.com says it is right. Of course, some things that are right sound wrong anyway. Like "dived." Apparently "dove" is no longer a word, so instead of saying, "I dove into the water," you must now say, "I dived into the water." Who decides these things? I want to be on that committee. "Oscillate" must go.
Right, back to baseball. Bronson Arroyo takes the mound in Houston today at 2:05. It's on ESPN! Go Reds!
First off, apologies to Matt Groening for stealing the title from an episode of Futurama (which, by the way, was a fantastic show).
I wanted to point out a few things I've come across/had pointed out to me lately.
That was a close one. For some reason, though, I never felt like the Reds were going to lose. That could be because I didn't get to actually see Franklin blow yet another lead. Brandon Phillips and Jason LaRue get big kudos for their efforts. LaRue did not look very excited about winning the game, though. In fact, he looked a little po-ed. But maybe he's just like that; all business and no fun.
The Reds chipped away at the Padres hold on the Wild Card in what I'm sure was heartbreaking fashion for San Diego. After jumping all the way out to a 1 run lead in the 2nd, the Padres hopes were dimmed a bit when Rich Aurilia smashed a 3-run homer in the 3rd. Cincinnati retained the lead until the 6th, when Ryan Franklin decided to make things interesting (I suppose I should point out that Eric Milton was the starting pitcher. He went 5 innings and gave up one run before leaving with a sore elbow). After Franklin allowed 3 runs on 3 hits in 2/3 innings, the Padres were back on top, 4-3.
In the 8th, however, Brandon Phillips's grounder got Edwin Encarnacion home from 3rd and tied the game at 4's. Neither team scored again until the 11th. Jason LaRue came up to bat with nobody on and 1 out in the 11th for the Reds. He swung at and missed the first pitch, but the second was sent sailing into the stands in left field, fair by mere feet. LaRue came home to the traditional beating and marched his way straight to the dugout, no smiles, though he did take the time to hit a few rocks on his way. When all was said and done, the Reds had won 5-4 and taken a small step closer to making it to October.
It's amazing! Bronson Arroyo is determined to own the world for the rest of September. He's had 3 great games in a row, all of which led to W's. We like W's! That's why the blog starts with one. Okay, not really. Arroyo pitched 8 innings and allowed only 2 runs. Scott Schoeneweis pitched the 9th, giving up a hit and no runs.
During the 2nd inning, Gameday says Juan Castillo grounded out, and was also out on batter interference. I have no idea what that means. He was batting, he grounded out, he was the 3rd out, and then he was out again? Obviously, this is a baseball concept I do not understand. It'd probably make more sense if I knew what actually happened. Other than that, there wasn't much action until the 6th inning.
In the top of the 6th, Chris Duffy and Jack Wilson singled for the Pirates, and later scored on Freddy Sanchez's single. The Reds responded with 3 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Aurilia, Encarnacion and Dunn all scored a run to put the Reds up 3-2. Royce Clayton doubled in the 7th and Aurilia brought him home with a single to bring the score to its final 4-2.
The Reds now sit just below .500 with a record of 71-72. They are 4 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central (just barely holding onto 2nd place), and 3 1/2 games behind the Padres in the Wild Card (just barely holding onto 5th place). That's still better than a lot of the early predictions.
Apparently I was wrong. We did go to the game Saturday after all, but I went with Christina instead of my mom. And we got tickets for free, rather than half-price. Christina's parents' neighbors, whoever they are, are awesome people. They were the best seats we've ever had at Great American, and even more best because they cost 0 dollars.
Our fabulous seats
Unlike the last three games I've been to, it was warm and sunny. A great day for a game. We got there a little late, and instead of sitting down to watch the rest of the 2nd inning, we went hunting for food. We discovered that one hot dog vendor will sell hot dogs for $3.75, while the one right next to it sells them for $8.75. I hadn't noticed that ever before. Apparently people will buy 9 dollar hot dogs, though.Unfortunately, the Reds lost this game 7-4. I blame Ryan Franklin. Or, more appropriately, Narron for using him again and again, knowing that he blows close games again and again. I also blame the cat for waking me up this morning by sticking his claws in my foot. At least the dog just lays on me.
Evil Kitten
Take your best record in the NL Central since the All-Star break and shove it, Pirates! Your bad assness was not strong enough to overcome the power of Kyle Lohse's unusually pronounced name, or Freel's lead off home run, or Javy's multiple home runs, or Dunn's 40th home run (for the 3rd straight year). Winning 9-1 last night makes me kind of sad that we decided against the game tonight. But, if we did go, I'd just have to listen to my mother complaining that she's missing the Ohio State/Texas game.
Lohse looked grand once again, with 7 innings pitched and 1 run earned (on 7 hits). Todd Coffey and Gary Majewski (who has been out so long I couldn't remember his first name) finished out the 8th and 9th innings respectively without allowing any more runs.
As previously mentioned, it was all about home runs for the Reds last night. It was all about home runs for the Pirates, too. Their one run was scored on a homer from Ryan Doumit. If the Reds can just do that every night for the rest of the month, maybe there's still hope. The Cardinals were soundly thrashed by the Diamondbacks last night. That helps.
Two more series, two more wins. And two wins in a row for Bronson. There's a refreshing change of pace. Unfortunately, post-season hopes are dwindling, and fast. The Reds are now 6 games (I think) behind St. Louis and have several teams ahead of them in the Wild Card. And, with their win last night, Houston is now creeping up and threatening to move between the Reds and Cardinals in the division. Alas! But all hope is not lost. Though there are several teams to overtake in the Wild Card, there are only 4 1/2 games between Cincinnati and San Diego (and only a game and a half between Cincinnati and everybody up to San Diego). The Marlins are making the last bit of the season interesting.
On the bright side, Arroyo pitched a pretty nifty 3-hit shutout against the Giants on Tuesday. I missed the last inning because somebody had to watch the end of Big Brother. Or perhaps it was the beginning of Rockstar Supernova. Either way, reality television ruined my evening. The offense garnered only 3 runs, but they were more than enough, thanks to Arroyo's shutout. Arroyo's other win was against the Padres this past Friday (reverse chronological order! AHHHHHHHH!). It was another lopsided game, with the Reds winning 6-2. Is it an indicator that Arroyo is ready to blast us through September like he did at the beginning of the season? I hope so. I also hope that a few more people jump on board and follow suit. Like, the whole team.
Aurilia has been tearing the place up lately. He's had several multiple hit games and has been making some very nice plays on the defensive side. He's jumping on board. Freel's always on board. Griffey can't be on board right now, as he dislocated his toe trying to emulate Freel. No word yet on when he'll be back.
Eddie Guardado will not be back at all this season. Turns out he has a torn ligament in his arm. That's quite a bit worse than tendinitis. Guardado was placed on the 60-day DL to make room for Jason Johnson, whom the Reds acquired last week and I think I didn't mention. He's a pitcher of the long-relief variety. Long-relief for now, anyway.
Cincinnati also picked up Sun-Woo Kim from the Rockies. His 19.26 ERA was scary as can be, but he allowed just 2 runs in his start yesterday. He's going to need a few more of those before I stop being scared for him, but that was a good way to start (Edit: I had no idea the game was on ESPN yesterday, and now that I've read what other people have to say about it, maybe Kim's start wasn't as good as it sounds).
Cincinnati is finally done with California for a bit, as they take on Pittsburgh this weekend. I might be at the game Saturday. I don't know yet. Half-price tickets are awfully tempting.
Let's make it 6 in a row. I expected the Dodgers to be tough, but I was holding out hope for at least one win. I'm not going to be depressed about it, though. Last year the Reds tore through the West Coast and it did very little for them. Considering that, perhaps they can be torn up by the West Coast this year and have very little done to them. Last year they weren't on the brink of making the playoffs, true, but there are only 1 1/2 games between Cincinnati and San Diego and 3 games with San Diego coming up. Plus 3 more later this month. That's plenty of opportunity to stay in the Wild Card race. We'll just have to do something about the Phillies. Kidnap Howard? Don't.
In light of the off day (even though every day feels like an off day when the Reds are in California) Edit: It is not an off day. That was yesterday. I guess that proves my point. I was going to give you a whole bunch of links. However, graduating from college has left me reliable-internet-less. Cursed dial-up is all I have, and right now it refuses to cooperate in any manner, save at least allowing me access to my own blog. I really hate dial-up.
In general, those links were going to consist of:
So far the rest of the road trip hasn't gone so hot, huh? It seems these guys have an affinity for consistency, though. If you're going to lose, at least you can lose by the same score two days in a row. It confuses everyone who didn't actually see the game. After the first 4-1 loss to the Giants I just figured that the 4-1 I saw the next day was still the same game and they accidentally put it up twice. I had hope for a brief moment that they might have won.
The same thing happened today. Lost to the Dodgers 6-5 on Monday, and when I watched Sports Center or something this morning, I saw 6-5 again, and had another brief moment of optimism.
Anyway, if one wants to find a bright spot, there is always the fact that though the Reds have lost 5 games in a row, they didn't lose the Wild Card lead until last night, and they're only a half game back. At least everybody else has been sorta crappy, too. That's not really bright, but it's all I've got.
Harang gets to try to stop the skid tonight. Well, actually, the whole team gets to try that. Harang starts tonight while the whole team tries to stop the skid. That sounds more appropriate. 10:10 again, because we're still in California.
The Reds are tied for first place again! Yay! I tried to watch the game. I got through the first 3 or 4 innings and then fell asleep. Unfortunately I missed the good part. I saw Eric Milton giving up home runs all over the place despite the pitcher-friendly nature of AT&T Park. I saw Brad Hennessey mowing down our lineup like it was his job (haha. I'm funny). I saw a 3 next to SF and a 0 next to CIN on the TV screen.
I did not see Encarnacion's RBI single that started off the Reds' scoring. I did not see the Reds' bullpen mow down the Giants like it was their job. I did not see Ross's solo home run in the 8th that broke the 3-3 tie. I did not see the 2 insurance runs they put up in the 9th. But all of these things happened, and Cincinnati won 6-3.
Dave Williams helped the Mets demolish the Cardinals, and in so doing helped the Reds into the first place tie. Way to still be a team player, Dave!
Aaron Harang looks to keep the good times rolling tonight. It's another 10:15 game.
I had been kind of upset earlier that I didn't get to see what got Coffey thrown out of the game this afternoon. Happily, there is a replay of it on the Reds' site. I don't think it warranted getting tossed. That was a bad time to toss the guy, too. I can't imagine what kind of pressure Franklin must have been feeling, having to come in to a 3-1 count with the bases loaded. And a tied score, no less.
I didn't think Coffey was the kind of guy that would react in a way that would get him ejected. I don't think he did, either. All he said was "Right down the middle" or something to that effect. Can't be positive because I'm basing it on lip reading. On the other hand, his gesture, while probably meant to show the ump where the ball was, kinda looked a little more like where the ump should shove it. However, I maintain that Mr. Bell was just pissy. I did not see these pitches, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of the calls, but I really don't think ejecting Coffey was necessary. Ross was in his face, but he got to stay in the game (not that I'm complaining).
Anyway, though the Reds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning (off Roy Oswalt, no less), a whole lot of bullpen mess later in the game resulted in a 7-3 loss for the good team. I can't say that Coffey remaining in the game would have changed the result, but I'd like to believe that he would have had a better shot at striking out Ensberg than Franklin had at that point.
Chris Michalak started and had a pretty good game, allowing only 1 run in 6 1/3 innings. Coffey came out for the rest of the 7th, walked some people to load the bases, and we know how that one ended. Franklin succeeded in walking Ensberg, and was then taken out in favor of Rheal Cormier, who allowed some runs, but at least finished out the 7th inning. Bray and Belisle allowed 1 hit and no runs between them in the 8th and 9th innings. Cincinnati's 3 RBI were courtesy of Griffey, Hatteberg and Hollandsworth.
So, not the exciting finish I had been hoping for in Houston, but the Reds still won the series. And we can look back fondly on the thrashing they gave the Astros yesterday.
Up next is a little trip out West, starting with San Francisco and their Giants (who just swept the Diamondbacks, which is kind of scary). I'm not a big fan of staying up until 1 in the morning anymore, so I probably won't be seeing the ends of many of these games. But who knows? Tomorrow is my last day of college for the rest of forever (or at least until I finally accept the fact that I'm going to need a Masters degree to get any kind of liveable salary). Maybe I'll celebrate by staying up super late every night until I get a real-life job. Because that's smart.
Eric Milton against Brad Hennessey at 10:15 tomorrow night. Go Reds!
