There were a few changes in Rosterland over the weekend. Rather than go over it all for you again, I'll just link you to a bunch of stuff from Marc.
This post brought to you by the letter "R" for "rain delay." Now that my sister is officially married, she no longer owns my soul and I can return to blogging action. The rain delay in Chicago is at least convenient for catching up on the long weekend. I hope y'all didn't melt while I was away.
The series with the Diamondbacks was very similar to the last series. Two pretty frustrating losses followed by what I'm sure was an exhilarating win. Cincy lost 3-0 on Friday and 7-0 Saturday, and then won 5-4 on Sunday.
Eric Milton had a great game on Friday, giving up 3 hits and one run while striking out 9 over 8 innings. Unfortunately, the offense gave him 0 runs to back it up. Todd C0ffey allowed 2 runs in the 9th, bringing his ERA all the way up to 1.26. The infuriating Brandon Webb held the Reds to just 7 hits over the entire game. I don't remember if I had a Least Favorite Diamondback before this weekend. If I did, it should have been Webb, because he irritated me last time, too. If not, it's Webb now.
It looks like Saturday was just an ugly day. The Reds added two more errors (one for Dunn and one for LaRue) to their already sky-high total. The Snakes scored 4 runs on Aaron Harang, only 2 of which were earned, and 3 on Kent Mercker, all of which were earned. Matt Belisle allowed no hits and no runs in his 1 inning. Once again the offense failed to produce, getting just 5 hits.
Sunday was much better. Javier Valentin saved the day with a walk-off home run after the Reds had been down 4-3. Bronson Arroyo started for Cincinnati, the win went to David Weathers, and Chris Hammond pitched in between. All 4 of Arizona's runs were credited to Arroyo. Ryan Freel, Scott Hatteberg and Valentin all had home runs. Yay for a win!
Monday the Reds went to Chicago, where they were slapped around a bit in a 7-3 loss to the Cubs. I'm blaming it mostly on Mercker, but I'm not sure it's entirely his fault. After all, Elizardo Ramirez and Rick White gave up runs, too. It's just that the tiny bit of the game I managed to catch involved Mercker giving up a 2-run homer. Dunn hit his 17th home run of the season, which I heard was also his 17th career home run at Wrigley. I don't want to take the effort to verify that, though, so I'm just going to assume whoever told me that knew what they were talking about. Alas, the home run was not enough, as the Cubs took out their We Suck Frustration on the Reds.
Now the two teams are in the midst of rain delay during game 2 of the series. The Reds are up 1-0 in the middle of the 4th after Edwin Encarnacion singled in Dunn. Brandon Claussen is going against Greg Maddux. Maybe the game will resume here in a bit, but the storm's a big'un according to the Color Weather Radar channel.
In a strange turn of events, the Brewers beat the Reds 6-2 last night while Adam Dunn and Felipe Lopez warmed the bench (on Felipe Lopez Bobblehead Night, no less). Also strange, Prince Fielder, Bill Hall and Rickie Weeks took little to no part in the beating. Much of the loss can probably be attributed to Brandon Claussen's infamous troubles with Milwaukee, but all the same, one would hope the Reds could have put up more than 2 runs.
With Lopez having the night off, even though the next day was an off day anyway, and Ryan Freel out of the lineup, Brandon Phillips led off. Though he seems to hit well against the Brewers in general, he was just 1 for 3 last night. The Reds 2 runs were from Griffey's RBI grounder in the 3rd and Austin Kearns solo homer in the 6th. Austin was also charged with a throwing error, though I'm still not convinced it shouldn't have been Jason LaRue. Lopez did come in for the last 2 innings, but it was hardly noticed.
Claussen went 6 innings, walked 2 and gave up 5 earned runs on 7 hits. Matt Belisle was charged with the other run. Brian Shackelford, Rick White and David Weathers combined for 2 2/3 innings of 1 hit, 1 walk, 0 run baseball.
Tomorrow the Diamondbacks are in town, assuming these storms leave a town for them to visit. Eric Milton will go against Brandon Webb. Hopefully Milton doesn't look so rusty this time.
Oh! Also, the Mets now have Williams and the Dragons get some guy named Robert Manuel. I guess I'm glad Williams didn't have to hang out there in limbo all that long. Also, the Cubs got T-Wo. HA!
And while we're throwing links around, check this out. Buy a car! For me! Bronson wants you to.
The Brewers took a beating from the Reds again yesterday. Though they were behind 3-1 in the 5th, the Reds (Ken Griffey Jr. in particular) fought back and won. All 3 of the Brewers' runs were scored on Prince Fielder's bases-loaded double in the 3rd. For once the defense didn't rack up error after error behind Elizardo Ramirez and he got the win. Chris Hammond pitched 2 innings, giving up 2 hits and no runs. Todd Coffey also pitched 2 innings, giving up 1 hit and no runs. It's nice to see a 4 run lead last.
The Reds got on the board in the 1st again, when Griffey came home on Rich Aurilia's single. The Princes put up their 3 runs in the 3rd. Irritated by being behind the Princes, Griffey hit another 3-run homer in the 5th, after which the rest of the team decided to play, too. The remaining 3 runs were scored on a series of sacrifice flies from Griffey, Aurilia and Jason LaRue. Felipe Lopez, Brandon Phillips, and Austin Kearns scored the runs. Tada! Reds win 7-3.
The Reds have secured a series win at last. The final game's tonight. Brandon Claussen pitching. It seems like he just started three days ago.
You all will be happy to know that Tiny Casey has at last been saved by one DevilsAdvocate. So congrats on collecting your fantastic prize and thanks for rescuing my man! For those who are interested, Blade "Boys Don't Play With Dolls" Stevens kidnapped him. Reading a book my arse. That book hasn't even been released yet.
Welcome home Tiny Casey!
According to the Reds pregame show, Adam Dunn walked on a 3-2 count during the first last night. There was no 4th ball. I'm not going to complain, because I like having 15 runs and it's not like having that one run back would have done the Brewers any good, but how does one let that happen?
15 to 5 was the final score in Cincinnati last night. The Reds seemed to be quite happy to be home again. Bronson Arroyo started, going 7 innings and giving up all of 6 hits and 1 earned run, while the offense backed him up with 15 runs of their own. I was apparently exhausted yesterday evening, as I passed out almost as soon as I turned on the TV. The cheering for Ken Griffey Jr.'s 3-run homer in the 1st woke me up. That was quickly followed by Austin Kearns's 2-run homer. 5 runs before a single out was recorded.
The Reds struck again in the 3rd. Dave Ross doubled with the bases loaded to bring in 2 more runs. Due to the Brewers run in the 2nd, the score was 7-1.
The 6th brought 6 more runs for the good guys. Arroyo scored on a Brandon Phillips single, Adam Dunn followed shortly thereafter with a 3-run homer, and another 2 RBI double from Ross brought the score to 13-1.
Quinton McCracken singled in Felipe Lopez for the 14th run and Phillips scored the 15th on Scott Hatteberg's sac fly. And thus the Reds went into the 8th with a 14-run lead. Sounds like a good time to get our not-so-frequently used bullpen some playtime. As usual, this produced some runs for the bad guys, but a 14-run lead is hard to screw up. Mike Burns, who was not long for the big club, gave up 3 earned runs in the 8th and Brian Shackelford gave up another 1 earned run in the 9th, creating the final score, 15-5.
Tonight Elizardo Ramirez will go against Dana Eveland.
I don't follow the Tigers enough to know if everyone calls them the Bengals all the time, but I'm going to assume that it was just FSN trying to be funny, and quite frankly, it irritates the crap out of me. The Bengals play football. They are not from Detroit.
Anyway, the game on Friday was muchos fun to watch. The Reds won 9 to 4. En route to the victory Brandon Phillips smacked a ball to the back wall for what would officially be scored as 3 RBI and an error, but I'm calling it an inside-the-park grand slam because that's more fun. Brandon Claussen was pitching. I'm sure the vast dimensions of the park probably helped him a little, but it was a good day for him, too.
Saturday could have been fun to watch, too, but I was living it up at Dave and Buster's for my sister's bachelorette party in Columbus. If you take "living it up" to mean drinking virgin strawberry daiquiris, kicking everyone's ass at basketball and asking strangers to do weird things on the bachelorette scavenger hunt card. Milton got off to a less than uplifting start, but he's been out for a bit. Griffey made it all better with a real grand slam later, which put Cincinnati up by one. Then we come to yet another blown save. Thanks again, Weathers! The Reds lost 7-6.
At least Friday's game meant we couldn't be swept, because Sunday was another one of those games where it would have been nice to have some offense. Granted, there were hits, there were people on base, there just weren't people making it home. The same can be said for Detroit. Their only run (the only run of the game) came as a result of a throwing error on Aaron Harang. Reds lose again, 1-0.
Luckily the Brewers would come to town on Monday.
Also, Tiny Casey still needs saving, folks. Come on! There's free stuff involved! How can you not want free stuff?! 
Lots of people coming back from the DL means lots of people being moved elsewhere. I guess "lots" is really "two." Ray Olmedo was sent back down to Louisville upon Aurilia's return from the DL on Friday. Also, Dave Williams was DFA'd when Milton was activated on Saturday. A little shocking, it seems. Most people expected Ramirez to be sent down (including me), but Lizard Man has been doing well. I'm glad he gets to stay. Things about unused options could be said here, but as I have a very minimal understanding of exactly what that means, I'll just leave it at that.
The Reds also picked up Joe Mays after he was released from the Royals. I know three things about him: he's a pitcher, he and Krivsky were in Minnesota together and the Royals don't want him anymore. He was signed to a minor league contract, so I guess we'll see what happens.
I don't remember specifically what show I was watching, but one of the baseball shows on ESPN last night said people in Detroit are looking forward to this weekend's series as a World Series preview. I don't know that I'd be bold enough to say that, but wow. At least Detroit thinks we're for real.
It's our last chance to save Tiny Casey!
THis is tHe last letter I sHall be sending to yoU. If yoU can’t find Tiny Casey after tHis, yoU will never see Him again. As yoU can see from tHis latest pHoto, yoUr friend is in qUite tHe precarioUs sitUation. Better HUrry.It's difficUlt to tell, bUt tHat is water below
Him.
So, in case you missed anything, other information is here, here and here. Red Hot Mama, JD, Blade, Shawn and Scott all deny any involvement. Someone's a liar. Help save Tiny Casey! Get a handsome reward!
It wasn't pretty, but they did it. After these last couple of weeks no one would have believed the Reds could come back from a 1st inning 6-run deficit, but they did. By the 7th inning they were tied at 7. By the end, they were ahead 9-8. And so, the losing streak ends, and it looks like the offensive slump might be coming to an end, too. Now, I say that after only one finally decent game from the offense, so don't put too much stock in it. The bats were finally there to bail them out, though. The pitching, however, was the reason they needed bailing out.
The teams went through a combined 11 pitchers during the game. Dave Williams only made it through 3 innings. To be fair, he was doing marginally better in the 2nd and 3rd. He only walked one and allowed no runs, but he also struck out zero batters. Obviously not riding the high of his season-best last outing, Williams gave up 6 earned runs in the 1st inning. 4 were thanks to a Jason Bay grand slam (which, combined with the fact that I think of Overbay every time I hear his name, has helped Mr. Bay usurp Chris Duffy's place as my Least Favorite Pirate, though I was about to bestow the honor on the whole team), while the other two were the result of an error by Jason LaRue and a single from Jose Castillo. Elizardo Ramirez pitched in place of Williams in the 4th and allowed 1 hit, which happened to be a solo homer off Jeromy Burnitz. Belisle came in for the 5th and 6th, allowed 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and struck out 0. That's a lot of zeros, but they're mostly of the good variety. Weathers got 2 innings of work as well. He, however, allowed 2 hits and 1 run. Todd Coffey closed the game without shenanigans, and that should total 8 runs for the Pirates and 1 save for Coffey.
The Reds offense finally looks to be waking up. All of the starters, save Williams, had at least one hit. Ryan Freel went 3 for 5 and LaRue went 4 for 5. Lopez, Griffey, Kearns, Encarnacion, LaRue and Freel all contributed RBI. Half of them had 2 each. LaRue and Kearns each had a home run (though Marty had me fooled into thinking Kearns had two). They still left a lot of runners on base (12), but they got more than 2 or 3 home this time, too, so I'll take it. Final score was 9-8.
Hopefully this was a harbinger of a return to good ball playing. It will be very useful against the Tigers this weekend. Brandon Claussen pitches in Detroit tomorrow. Rumor has it that Rich Aurilia could be reactivated tomorrow and Eric Milton is supposed to start Saturday. Go Reds!!
I miss being able to count on our offense to do something. I'm sure one of these days we'll get back to that. I really hope "one of these days" translates to "tomorrow." I'm not throwing this season away. It's still much too early for that. But I am getting more and more concerned. You can only say "They can't slump like this forever" so many times before you begin to wonder if they actually can. Losing 5 in a row, and two of those to the Pirates, is no fun. I think I might seriously have forgotten what last season felt like.
On the bright side, According to one of the guys on FSN Ohio, Cincinnati's record (23-17) is still better than it was at this point in their last two winning seasons. And it's still above .500. They also pointed out yesterday that the Reds play much better when the temperature is above 70. I'm going to take that to mean that this summer will be awesome. We just have to get through this fake October first.
Yesterday, instead of using their fury over having been swept by the Phillies over the weekend, our guys seemed to have continued their offensive naptime. I'm hoping that offensive juice and cookies time is about here, which ought to lead into offensive play time, where the Reds kick everyone's boo-tays and we all celebrate again.
Anyway, Harang had a pretty subpar outing. Among other things, he walked 3 in a row. But, at the same time, he struck out 8, which is good. But then the walks are bad. His 7 runs weren't very good either. Sure, only 3 of them were earned, but the other 4 were a result of his own error, so they might as well all have gone on as earned runs. I'm going to assume the not-so-great showing was a result of role reversal, in that the bottom of the rotation had such a great weekend that the top had to compensate. Arroyo did a good job of reinforcing that theory tonight. Matt Belisle and recently recalled (and slightly less recently sent down) Mike Burns allowed no runs on a few hits. Brian Shackelford gave the Pirates their final 2 runs, bringing the total to 9. The Reds put up a grand total of 3 runs, thanks to pinch hitting Dave Ross's two-run homer and Felipe Lopez's solo shot. Loss number 4.
Tonight was really much of the same. Arroyo, furthering my role reversal theory, made it through just 6 innings (9 hits and 4 runs). Not exactly terrible, but not up to his usual standards. He had a brain meltdown in the 2nd and completely missed the damn pitcher stealing 2nd. I don't know if he forgot he was there or what. I wouldn't have been surprised to see Ross slap him in the face when he went out to talk to him, though. His control wasn't all that great, either. Todd Coffey came in for the 7th, gave up 1 hit, walked one and struck out 3. Rick White managed to screw things up again, effectively putting the game out of reach in the 8th by giving up 3 more runs.
The Pirates only managed 7 runs on this occasion. Always accomodating, the Reds knocked some off the top of their previous day's total as well and only scored 2 runs. Kearns sacrificed in Freel in the 1st. Later, in the 5th, Griffey singled, which brought in (surprise!) Freel.
I don't really have much to say about that. The Reds have lost 5 in a row. It's gotta stop. Williams is pitching tomorrow. I don't know if I should be hopeful or terrified. It's all so confusing!
There was no letter today. Just a picture. It speaks for itself. A turtle beating Casey with his very own bat. Alas! He must be saved soon! JD says he cannot have kidnapped Tiny Casey because he was watching the Sopranos that night. Red Hot Mama has offered a handsome reward for the safe return of my little man. The others have yet to respond. How sinister. No one's off the hook yet, though. Not until Casey is returned and the kidnapper is identified.
Previous clues here and here.
It's a little late, but here's some fun from Saturday's game with the Phillies. You can't hold the lateness against me. I can't operate well with Tiny Casey being MIA (and don't miss the clues here if you haven't seen them already). Anyway, onward. It rained pretty much all day up until the time the game started. That was quite lucky, as we were pretty sure that once we got there we'd be turning right around and going home.
There were stacks of Adam Dunn figurines right inside the gates. 40,000 Tiny Dunns is quite a sight to behold. I hear that Griffey said they were an excellent likeness to Austin Kearns. Apparently
some people didn't care much for their Tiny Dunns, as there were headless and armless Adams everywhere. Poor Tiny Dunns.
The game began with not one, but three ceremonial first pitches. One by a guy that survived a stroke (I have a feeling I was supposed to know who he was, but I didn't recognize his name), another by a racecar driver I'd never heard of, and I can't remember who threw the third, but whoever it was threw it far above Mr. Red's reach.
The only thing I can really say about the actual game is that it was over way too fast. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it was getting colder very fast by the end. However, innings three through seven are pretty much a blur of various outs. By the sixth or seventh inning we decided one solitary hit would be just as good as a win. Quinton McCracken had a pretty bad time of it after dropping what should have been an easy flyball out. The worst part of it was that he had it. It was in his glove, and then it was on the ground. Yes, he should have caught it, but the booing during his next at-bat was just awful. It's a pretty common thing in Cincinnati, but I really hate it. I think Christina and I were the only ones not booing.
Anyway, after that debacle, Ryan Howard (Least Favorite Philly) was on second instead of out and the inning continued instead of ended. David Bell doubled shortly thereafter and put the Phillies up 1-0. Now, if that were the end score, people could blame McCracken all they wanted, but it wasn't. The Phillies scored again, and the Reds lost by 2, so, all said, McCracken's error doesn't really matter. Unless you want to say that the run pushed all the momentum to the Philly side, which I won't deny.
Dunn, on Tiny Dunn day, with Tiny Dunns being waved at him from every direction, had an opportunity to end the game in the same dramatic fashion Griffey had employed earlier in the week. Instead of a two-out three-run walk-off homer (or even a base hit for that matter), Dunn struck out, and thus ended the game. The Phillies won 2-0. Then, without fanfare, we left Cincinnati, had waffles at Waffle House, and went home. Very surprisingly, there were no drunk kids in the Waffle House. There was no one at all. Just another strange event in the week of weirdness.
I got another letter from the kidnapper today.
HI There,I also got another photo. He's going to be fried! I was going to throw in some joke about Kentucky Fried Casey, but the situation is just too dire for lame jokes.
Have you fIgured ouT whaT I've done wiTh TIny Casey yeT? ObvIously you haven'T, so here's some more InformaTIon. You wIll fInd The lITTle guy aT www.-------.com/casey. To fIll In The blanks, keep lookIng for The clues.
It is a sad, dark day here at We Heart the Reds. I returned home from my parents' house yesterday to discover that Tiny Casey was missing. In his place I found this letter:
We HeaRt the Reds types,
I have kidnapped Tiny Casey. To pRove you aRe woRthy of him, look foR the clues in this and lateR letteRs. They will diRect you to the secRet site wheRe I have concealed youR fRiend. If you fail to discoveR this location, ceRtain peRil awaits the miniatuRe man.
Regards,
Casey's KidnappeR
I know the kidnapper has to be either Red Hot Mama, Shawn, Blade, Scott or JD. They've all been very jealous of my relationship with Tiny Casey. I never thought it would come to this, though. There's a reward for the first person to find Tiny Casey and correctly identify his kidnapper.
Please help me find him. I cannot imagine life without my tiny pal. Tinier Dunn is hanging around to keep me company and take care of Rex, but it's just not the same.
According to my family, my being at the game on Saturday is the sole reason the Reds were swept this weekend, so I apologize. I tried to explain to them that Saturday was the first time they lost a game I had attended. Granted, they lost the first game of the double-header last summer, but since they won the next one (the one we paid for), I've decided it doesn't count.
All three games featured surprisingly decent pitching from three men in whom I have little to no confidence. The Lizard King pitched 6 innings with 7 hits and 3 runs, only two of which were earned. Williams had his best outing by far, going 8 and a third with just 5 hits and 2 runs, only one of which was earned. Claussen also looked much better than his last game. 8 innings, 4 hits and 1 run. His run was entirely earned. The bullpen blew it over and over again. Pretty soon it's going to get to the point that I can't hear Weathers' name without assuming the game is lost. I'm also about done with Rick White. But, the starters looked pretty darn good.
Unfortunately, so did the Phillies' starters. And their bullpen didn't blow it. Their pitching staff held the Reds to 5 runs on 16 hits over the three games. Cole Hamels looked especially good, giving up 1 hit over 5 innings in his major league debut. He was kind enough to walk 5 in the process, though.
Friday was a pretty close game until the 9th when Shackleford gave up four earned runs to put the Phillies up 8 to 2. A minor rally in the bottom of the inning got the Reds up to 4, but they were stopped short and lost 8 to 4.
Saturday wasn't actually all that horrendous. Williams' pitching vastly exceeded my expectations, and he even made it into the 9th. The game lasted all of 2 hours and about 15 minutes and ended with the Phillies ahead again, this time 2 to 0. More on that game to come when I get it all sorted out in my head. It wasn't as cold as last time, though that might just be because I was better prepared.
Sunday brought the Reds' last hope for a win against the Phillies. The game started out about as actionless as the previous day. Actionless, that is, until LaRue swung his bat in all its pink glory to smack the ball out of the park and put the Reds on the board first. The Phillies tied it up in the 8th with a home run from Ryan Howard (who later earned the distinction of becoming my Least Favorite Philly). For the second time this week and this season, the Reds got to see some extra innings, only this time Fate did not smile upon Griffey. Instead it was Ryan Howard's turn, who hit his second homer of the game, and took up his position on my Least Favorites list. Final score: 2-1.
The Reds were swept and it's kind of sad. But, the Phillies are on a mega hot streak and the Reds' offense has been a little chilly of late. Later on, we'll get 'em.
Up next, a nice little pick-me-up with the Pirates. First in Cooperstown on Monday for the Hall of Fame exhibition game, and then in Pittsburgh on Tuesday for a three-game series that goes on the record. Harang's pitching on Tuesday. Monday just might feature someone I've never heard of, but it appears we'll have to wait a bit to find out.
Precognitive credit for Griffey's walk-off homer goes to me and friend Jon. Jon called it right on the nose. I said it was gonna be in the 9th, but since the game didn't end there I'm taking credit for it anyway. I enjoy his "I'm too freaking awesome for you" post-home run strut. Walk-off three-run home run in the 11th. That's fantastic. I don't care who hits it. It was rather appropriate that it was Griffey, though.
Encarnacion singled in Lopez in the 5th and by the 9th I thought the Reds were going to have another 1-0 win until Weathers had to go and blow it again and the Nationals tied it up at 1's. Before that, however, Phillips made another spectacular defensive play, pretty much throwing Zimmerman out at first while lying on his back in the outfield. I called for a walk-off homer from Griffey in the bottom of the 9th, but he wasn't even up to bat. Not much action in the 10th. I had all but given up hope by the middle of the 11th after Washington put up 3 runs, but that was not to be the end. Olmedo singled and moved to third on Freel's single. Freel was thrown out trying to stretch that single into a double. Lopez singled to score Olmedo. Then, for reasons unknown to me, they walked Encarnacion (intentionally I believe) to bring up Griffey, who saved the day with the three-run homer. I fully anticipate seeing it on ESPN many times. Reds win 5-4. Whoo!
The Reds host the Phillies this weekend. What a thoughtless name. At least the Reds had to think a bit farther past the name of their city.
