Reds Punched Away By Cards
It was being called the biggest series in Cincinnati in years. It was going to be when the Reds showed the Cardinals who they really are and that they were the best team in the NL Central. It turned out to be anything but, as the Reds got punched in the face by the Cardinals. At least they didn't go down without a fight, literally.
Going into Monday the Reds had a full 2 game lead on the Cardinals, so all they had to do is just win one game and they would still be in first place. But they didn't even do that. No, they had to go out and get swept and now fall a full game back of the Cardinals. This series was a great chance for the Reds to show the Cardinals that this is their division to lose and that they are the team to beat. But I saw a team get beat in every aspect of the game.
Monday's game was featured on ESPN, which gives the nation a chance to see the Reds, but the Reds and Bengals never play well on national television. Plus Chris Carpenter was on the mound, who has dominated the Reds, and he did just that. Throwing 7 innings and giving up just 2 runs in route to his 9th straight victory against the Reds. If that wasn't bad enough Mike Leake, the Reds rookie of the year thus far, pitched very poorly giving up a Grand Slam to Skip Schumaker in a 7 run 4th inning. Leake lasted just 3 2/3 and gave up all 7 runs with 6 of them being earned. Reds lose 7-4. So, off to a great start as usual. It can only get better, right? Wrong.
I went to the game Tuesday night with some friends and let's just say it started off very exciting. In the bottom of the first inning, Brandon Phillips lead off the game with his usual routine by hitting the catcher and umpire on the shin guards with his bat. No big deal, right? Wrong again. A note worth mentioning is that Brandon Phillips was quoted as saying that he hates the Cardinals more than the Cubs and that they are all a bunch of complainers. Well, several Cardinals players did not think too highly of his comments and one of those players was Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who just so happened to be catching Tuesday night. A chance for fireworks perhaps.
Well, Molina did not care for Phillips hitting his shin guards or his comments for that matter, what a baby, and words were exchanged and before you knew it the benches and bullpens had cleared, and the brawl was on. Every member of the teams was at home plate trying to break up Molina and Phillips. Then Dusty got into it with my favorite Manager Tony LaRussa. The guy complains more than old women, about every little thing. For example, the balls were not rubbed down properly and are too shiny, or Mike Leake is wearing a yellow Livestrong band on his arm while pitching, or Bronson Arroyo has pine tar on his hat and is putting it on the baseball. Give me a break, you think he could find something better to do with his time than complain. Like, I don't know, watch and manage the game. Not to mention he uses a different pitcher for every batter after the 6th or 7th inning. I don't care for the guy, if that wasn't clear already.
Just when you thought it was over Scott Rolen pushes Chris Carpenter into the netting behind home plate and Johnny Cueto gets pinned back there as well and starts kicking his way out of the scrum. Seven minutes later the brawl is over, Dusty and LaRussa have to hit the showers early, and I have just witnessed one of the most exciting and unbelievable things ever at a baseball game.YouTube it for a better picutre, if you haven't seen it already. It's quite a scene. The fight was better than some of the fights actual pay to watch on TV, but in the end it might have done more harm than good. As the Reds lose to the Cardinals again 8-4.
Having already lost the first two games, the Reds had their so called Ace, Bronson Arroyo, on the mound to try and salvage at least one win in the series. The only problem was that Adam Wainwright was the opposing pitcher. Wainwright has arguably been one of the best pitchers in the leauge this season and the Reds found out why. Wainwright went 7 innings, gave up no runs and allowed just 2 hits as he improved his record to 17-6 on the year. Arroyo pitched well until the 5th inning when he allowed a 2 out double, intentionally walked Albert Pujols, then walked Matt Holliday to load the bases. Then instead of getting out of a jam he created himself, he gives up a Grand Slam to Colby Rasmus, the second Grand Slam for the Cardinals in the series, to end any hopes of a Reds win. Cardinals sweep the Reds with a 6-1 victory.
I might have felt better if the Reds had barly lost the games or played really played well and just ran out of luck, but that wasn't the case. In fact it wasn't even close. The Reds were outscored 21-8, and the have the highest scoring offense in the NL. The Cardinals three best pitchers, Carpenter, Garcia, and Wainwright combined to go 19 1/3 innings and allowed only 6 earned runs. Arguably the Reds had their three best pitchers going in the series as well, these would be the three pitchers I would want going up against the Cardinals, but the results were not so pretty.
Leake got rocked like a mentioned eariler, giving up 7 runs. Cueto pitched ok giving up 5 runs (4 earned), but had no help from his defense, as the Reds had 3 errors in the game. Coming into the series the Reds had the second best fielding percentage in baseball, sure didn't look like it. And it's a safe bet that getting pinned behind into the backstop during the brawl didn't help him either. Arroyo didn't live up to being the Ace, as he surrendered a Grand Slam to dead center and lasted just 5 innings. So, add it all up and the Reds starters pitched a combined 16 innings and gave up 16 runs, including 2 unearned runs. And these are our so called "three best pitchers." They sure as hell didn't pitch like it.
So, who is to blame for the Reds getting swept? The weather? The umpires? Bad luck? Inexperience in pressure situations? The bottomline is the Reds can only blame themselves. They were out coached, out hustled, out hit and out pitched. I saw a Reds team fold pressure and come up empty in pressure situations. That's why I feel that the Reds are still a arm and a bat away from being a great team. Jim Edmonds is not the bat I'm talking about. Not a big fan of that trade, but whatever. They need to get a power bat before the season ends or in the offseason to help beef up the lineup. And they still need another pitcher in my opinion. An experience pitcher to go along with young pitchers Leake, Cueto, Volquez, Bailey and Wood. Everytime I see Cliff Lee pitch it makes me wonder what he would be doing in a Reds uniform. Their is no doubt in my mind that if Lee had pitched in the Cardinal series the Reds would still be in first place. Their is lots of good young pitching, but the Reds need a guy like a Cliff Lee to help complete their rotation. But they can still win the division with what they got.
The last three games were some of their worst of the season and they sure picked a bad time to start playing bad. The only bright spot is that their are still 47 games to be played and plenty of opportunities for the Reds to eat their tomatoes and ketchup. But it will not be easy. The Reds still have to go to St. Louis one more time and a still have to go out to the West Coast. It's not secret that the Reds have strugggled on the West Coast, but if their was a time for that all to change, now is the time. They have series' in Arizona, Colorado, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Hopefully, the Reds take the good swift kick in the pants they got from the Cardinals and use it as motivation for the rest of the season.
A great team goes out to the West Coast and has a winning road trip, wins the NL Central and goes to the playoffs. Are the Reds a great team? You will have to wait until October to find out.
Going into Monday the Reds had a full 2 game lead on the Cardinals, so all they had to do is just win one game and they would still be in first place. But they didn't even do that. No, they had to go out and get swept and now fall a full game back of the Cardinals. This series was a great chance for the Reds to show the Cardinals that this is their division to lose and that they are the team to beat. But I saw a team get beat in every aspect of the game.
Monday's game was featured on ESPN, which gives the nation a chance to see the Reds, but the Reds and Bengals never play well on national television. Plus Chris Carpenter was on the mound, who has dominated the Reds, and he did just that. Throwing 7 innings and giving up just 2 runs in route to his 9th straight victory against the Reds. If that wasn't bad enough Mike Leake, the Reds rookie of the year thus far, pitched very poorly giving up a Grand Slam to Skip Schumaker in a 7 run 4th inning. Leake lasted just 3 2/3 and gave up all 7 runs with 6 of them being earned. Reds lose 7-4. So, off to a great start as usual. It can only get better, right? Wrong.
I went to the game Tuesday night with some friends and let's just say it started off very exciting. In the bottom of the first inning, Brandon Phillips lead off the game with his usual routine by hitting the catcher and umpire on the shin guards with his bat. No big deal, right? Wrong again. A note worth mentioning is that Brandon Phillips was quoted as saying that he hates the Cardinals more than the Cubs and that they are all a bunch of complainers. Well, several Cardinals players did not think too highly of his comments and one of those players was Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who just so happened to be catching Tuesday night. A chance for fireworks perhaps.
Well, Molina did not care for Phillips hitting his shin guards or his comments for that matter, what a baby, and words were exchanged and before you knew it the benches and bullpens had cleared, and the brawl was on. Every member of the teams was at home plate trying to break up Molina and Phillips. Then Dusty got into it with my favorite Manager Tony LaRussa. The guy complains more than old women, about every little thing. For example, the balls were not rubbed down properly and are too shiny, or Mike Leake is wearing a yellow Livestrong band on his arm while pitching, or Bronson Arroyo has pine tar on his hat and is putting it on the baseball. Give me a break, you think he could find something better to do with his time than complain. Like, I don't know, watch and manage the game. Not to mention he uses a different pitcher for every batter after the 6th or 7th inning. I don't care for the guy, if that wasn't clear already.
Just when you thought it was over Scott Rolen pushes Chris Carpenter into the netting behind home plate and Johnny Cueto gets pinned back there as well and starts kicking his way out of the scrum. Seven minutes later the brawl is over, Dusty and LaRussa have to hit the showers early, and I have just witnessed one of the most exciting and unbelievable things ever at a baseball game.YouTube it for a better picutre, if you haven't seen it already. It's quite a scene. The fight was better than some of the fights actual pay to watch on TV, but in the end it might have done more harm than good. As the Reds lose to the Cardinals again 8-4.
Having already lost the first two games, the Reds had their so called Ace, Bronson Arroyo, on the mound to try and salvage at least one win in the series. The only problem was that Adam Wainwright was the opposing pitcher. Wainwright has arguably been one of the best pitchers in the leauge this season and the Reds found out why. Wainwright went 7 innings, gave up no runs and allowed just 2 hits as he improved his record to 17-6 on the year. Arroyo pitched well until the 5th inning when he allowed a 2 out double, intentionally walked Albert Pujols, then walked Matt Holliday to load the bases. Then instead of getting out of a jam he created himself, he gives up a Grand Slam to Colby Rasmus, the second Grand Slam for the Cardinals in the series, to end any hopes of a Reds win. Cardinals sweep the Reds with a 6-1 victory.
I might have felt better if the Reds had barly lost the games or played really played well and just ran out of luck, but that wasn't the case. In fact it wasn't even close. The Reds were outscored 21-8, and the have the highest scoring offense in the NL. The Cardinals three best pitchers, Carpenter, Garcia, and Wainwright combined to go 19 1/3 innings and allowed only 6 earned runs. Arguably the Reds had their three best pitchers going in the series as well, these would be the three pitchers I would want going up against the Cardinals, but the results were not so pretty.
Leake got rocked like a mentioned eariler, giving up 7 runs. Cueto pitched ok giving up 5 runs (4 earned), but had no help from his defense, as the Reds had 3 errors in the game. Coming into the series the Reds had the second best fielding percentage in baseball, sure didn't look like it. And it's a safe bet that getting pinned behind into the backstop during the brawl didn't help him either. Arroyo didn't live up to being the Ace, as he surrendered a Grand Slam to dead center and lasted just 5 innings. So, add it all up and the Reds starters pitched a combined 16 innings and gave up 16 runs, including 2 unearned runs. And these are our so called "three best pitchers." They sure as hell didn't pitch like it.
So, who is to blame for the Reds getting swept? The weather? The umpires? Bad luck? Inexperience in pressure situations? The bottomline is the Reds can only blame themselves. They were out coached, out hustled, out hit and out pitched. I saw a Reds team fold pressure and come up empty in pressure situations. That's why I feel that the Reds are still a arm and a bat away from being a great team. Jim Edmonds is not the bat I'm talking about. Not a big fan of that trade, but whatever. They need to get a power bat before the season ends or in the offseason to help beef up the lineup. And they still need another pitcher in my opinion. An experience pitcher to go along with young pitchers Leake, Cueto, Volquez, Bailey and Wood. Everytime I see Cliff Lee pitch it makes me wonder what he would be doing in a Reds uniform. Their is no doubt in my mind that if Lee had pitched in the Cardinal series the Reds would still be in first place. Their is lots of good young pitching, but the Reds need a guy like a Cliff Lee to help complete their rotation. But they can still win the division with what they got.
The last three games were some of their worst of the season and they sure picked a bad time to start playing bad. The only bright spot is that their are still 47 games to be played and plenty of opportunities for the Reds to eat their tomatoes and ketchup. But it will not be easy. The Reds still have to go to St. Louis one more time and a still have to go out to the West Coast. It's not secret that the Reds have strugggled on the West Coast, but if their was a time for that all to change, now is the time. They have series' in Arizona, Colorado, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. Hopefully, the Reds take the good swift kick in the pants they got from the Cardinals and use it as motivation for the rest of the season.
A great team goes out to the West Coast and has a winning road trip, wins the NL Central and goes to the playoffs. Are the Reds a great team? You will have to wait until October to find out.
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