Cincinnati Reds Live Blog (6/26/07)
| 6
|
by user Kevinsecaur
In his last start, Cincinnati Reds rookie pitcher Homer Bailey pitched seven innings of one-run, two-hit baseball. Bailey is 2-0 in three career starts and is on the hill for the Reds again tonight. I’ve given up on the Reds, the team with the worst record in MLB, for this season. However last week’s stellar outing, in which Homer took a no-no into the fifth inning, was more than enough to seize my attention. Now, one gets the feeling that every time young Bailey takes the mound, the possibility of something special occurring looms. With that in mind, I parked in front of the TV to live blog Tuesday’s Reds-Phillies game from Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
6:36 – During the pre-game show, we find out the Reds are 6-18-1 in series so far this season. That, my friends, is the blueprint to holding the worst record in all of baseball.
6:42 – Reds’ pre- and post-game host Jim Day describes Homer Bailey as “lackadaisical” and tells us Bailey reads novels before his starts. Day means this to be complimentary (I think), but it doesn’t exactly come across that way. Why do I picture Bailey as more of a Louis L’Amour guy than a War and Peace reader?
6:53 – I’ve lost Fox Sports Ohio. Please note that my cable didn’t go out as every other channel on the dial comes in loud and clear; only FSN Ohio ceases to function properly.
6:55 – Hey, did you know Kevin McHale and Detlef Schrempf are the only two players in NBA history to win back-to-back Sixth Man of the Year awards? It seems as though I’ve stumbled across an episode of “Stump the Schwab” on ESPN Classic.
6:59 – The Schwab “strikes out” meaning he’s missed three questions and is thus “stumped.” A rare loss for the Schwab and an even rarer occurrence for him to miss three questions in the showdown. Stuart Scott tells some college kid that he has “reached sports trivia immortality.” Easy on the superlatives there, Stu. Booyah!
7:03 – FSN is back on and not a minute too soon. I’m keeping my fingers crossed as live blogging a game that you can’t actually see could prove difficult.
7:06 – Kyle Kendrick is making his third career start for the Phillies this evening. Both pitchers in this game are 21 years old, and neither has faced of any of the hitters in the opposing line-up before tonight.
7:09 – Scott Hatteberg works a seven-pitch, leadoff walk. Ryan Freel, currently on the DL, is something of a media darling here in Cincinnati which should come as a surprise since he’s one of the most mediocre players in baseball today. No offense intended, but I’d take Hatteberg over Freel as my #1 hitter every day of the week and every week of the year.
7:14 – Brandon Phillips and Ken Griffey Jr. hit back-to-back singles into right. Junior’s was a screamer but Hatteberg got a late break and had to hold at third, loading the bases with nobody out.
7:16 – Adam Dunn follows with a rare RBI sac fly to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. Phillips advances, putting runners on the corners with one away.
7:24 – Kendrick sandwiches a walk in between Edwin Encarnacion and Alex Gonzalez pop outs to get out of the inning without suffering further damage.
7:27 – Jimmy Rollins leads off the game with a single through the right side. So much for the no-hitter.
7:32 – After a walk puts two men on, Bailey coaxes a grounder out of Chase Utley, and the Reds turn a 4-6-3 double play. Two out and Rollins on third. That could be huge for Homer’s confidence.
7:33 – …And so much for that. Ryan Howard tattoos that baseball over the fence in right field, and just like that it’s 2-1 Philadelphia. Well that puts an end to the theory of something special happening with Homer on the mound, at least on this night.
7:41 – Reds’ color guy Chris Welsh seems to be pretty impressed with Kendrick’s stuff. Welsh’s mustache tells us he has “a live arm” as Kendrick works a 1-2-3 second inning.
7:46 – After Shane Victorino led off the inning with a single, Greg Dobbs executes a picture perfect hit-and-run. Dobbs’ base hit puts runners on the corners with no one out.
7:48 – The third straight single of the inning, this one by Carlos Ruiz, drives in a run and gives the Phillies a 3-1 lead.
7:51 – Bailey then commits a cardinal sin by walking the pitcher to load the bases, still with nobody out. Rollins does what amounts to a huge favor for the Reds by swinging at the first pitch and bouncing into a 4-6-3 DP. Cincinnati gladly gives up the run in exchange for two outs.
7:54 – Homer walks Michael Bourn. Bourn promptly steals second base and Ruiz takes home on the throw down to second. The score is now 5-1, and Welsh tells us that play is something you’re more likely to see in a high school game. Are you listening, Reds marketing execs? “Cincinnati Reds Baseball: As good as any high school team in town!”
7:55 – Utley rips an RBI single to right. In what seems like the blink of eye, Cincinnati’s deficit is now five runs and Homer Bailey gets the hook.
7:58 – Lefty Mike Gosling is on to pitch for the Reds. Bailey finishes the shortest (and worst) start of brief his career with a line of 1.2 innings pitched, 6 runs, 6 hits, 3 walks and a strikeout. Somebody remind me never to do a live blog for one of Homer’s starts ever again.
8:06 – Junior continues what is by far his finest season in a Reds uniform with a double in the gap. Cincinnati comes away with nothing to show for it, though, and we’re heading to the bottom of the third.
8:09 – Victorino crushes an absolute no-doubter into the seats in left. It’s his eighth of the year and it’s a 7-1 Phillies lead.
8:13 – Dobbs singles and Ruiz follows with a double off the right field fence. That’s three straight knocks again, and Philly looks primed to add to its lead.
8:17 – …But Gosling gets a strike out and then intentionally walks Rollins. He coaxes a routine ground ball to second where Phillips attempts to tag Rollins and throw to first but has the ball slip out of his hands. Thankfully, the umpire says he did get the tag on Rollins, and that’s good enough for the third out of the inning.
8:19 – We’re back from commercial and FSN Ohio play-by-play guy George Grande is tripping all over himself trying to explain the previous play. Grande – who is supposed to be my guy – and Welsh are overlooking the obvious: Phillips had no clue whatsoever that there were two outs, and thus was trying to turn an unnecessary double play. I’ve never understood the knack almost all broadcasters have for making an explanation about 20 times more complicated than it needs to be.
8:20 – Josh Hamilton mashes a homer deep to center, his 12th of the season. Sniff, sniff. Do I smell comeback? (If you answered no, you’d be correct.)
8:31 – With Utley on first, Aaron Rowand hits a bloop double down the right field line. The Reds intentionally walk Victorino to load ’em up with one out.
8:34 – Gosling Ks Dobbs before being pulled from the game. We’re not even out of the fourth, and the Reds are going to their third pitcher of the game.
8:36 – Welsh’s mustache explains why Reds manager Jerry Narron would go to the bullpen again in this situation by saying, “Five runs doesn’t mean much here.”
Reliever Todd Coffey grooves a letter-high fastball which Ruiz rips over Hamilton’s head and off the center field fence. It’s a bases clearing double and it’s now a 10-2 Phillies lead. Hey Chris, does eight runs mean much here?
8:44 – Junior hits an RBI sac fly to center that scores Hatteberg. I’m at the point where I wish FSN wouldn’t have come back on. That way, I wouldn’t have had to watch this massacre.
8:45 – You’re not gonna believe this but Adam Dunn just hit a solo HR with the Reds trailing by seven runs. Un-freaking-real. Dunn is like that guy in the NBA who only plays garbage minutes, but he’ll come off the bench with his team down 24 points and drain three straight triples. Put him up there with two on and two out, down by a run in the ninth and there’s no one in MLB more likely to strike out. 10-4 Phillies.
8:55 – Coffey gives up a pair of singles but manages to pitch his way out of the fifth unscathed.
9:10 – The offensive fireworks have settled down for the time being and, with the Reds getting waxed, I’m finding it more and more difficult to pay close attention to this one. Can’t you just feel the excitement of being a Cincinnati Reds fan?
9:13 – Yet another pitching change as Kendrick leaves the game after six innings of four run ball. I’m gonna go ahead and say the Phillies will hang on in this one and Kendrick will get his second career victory. I may update this if anything earth shattering occurs. Until then, good night everybody.
