Runnin' with the Reds (4/17)

College basketball and the Masters have come and gone, and the NFL season is still more than four months away. Since I refuse to cover the NBA and since the NHL no longer exists, you’re stuck with more Cincinnati Reds coverage. Eventually, I'll also have to come up with a more creative title than “Runnin’ with the Reds” for these blogs. (Note: if you think I should write about something else, I’m open to suggestions. I’d also love to do a mailbag if there were enough people out there reading this crap. With that in mind, you can leave comments/questions on this site or send them to me at kevinsecaur[AT]yahoo[DOT]com.)

See, it’s not that I don’t want to write and entertain the masses. It’s just that there’s nothing to write about in sports right now. Just wait until the Reds are 18 games back in the middle of summer and I start writing columns about Major League Soccer and Roger Federer. Then, all nine of my readers will officially desert me.

But for now … I kept a running diary of Tuesday’s Cincinnati Reds-Milwaukee Brewers game. Here’s what went down:

7:00 – Dave Bush (1-1, 5.25 ERA) pitches for the Brewers tonight, and Matt Belisle (2-0, 1.50) is on the hill for the Reds. Three Reds running diaries in the first fourteen games of the season, two of which have featured Belisle. Major League Baseball – feel the excitement!

7:10 – Thom Brennaman and Jeff Brantley have the call on FSN Ohio. I’m happy we get Brantley tonight because I enjoy his color commentary, but I wonder what George Grande is up to about now. Let’s just say he probably isn’t thrilled to have Thom back in the Queen City.

7:17 – The Brewers go three up, three down in the first, and the Reds are coming to bat with a line-up of 3B Freel, CF Hamilton, LF Dunn, RF Griffey Jr., 2B Phillips, 1B Hatteberg, SS Gonzalez and C Valentin. Freel gets the start at third so the outfield I love can all start this evening.

7:19 – Freel leads off the bottom of the first with a single, and Hamilton follows with a single of his own. Fine piece of hitting there by Hamilton, who knocked an 0-2 pitch into left for a base hit. I’m aware that it’s terribly redundant at this point, but I love watching and rooting for this kid. Two on and nobody out.

7:25 – Griffey Jr. hits a deep drive the other way to left, and a fan pulls a Jeffrey Maier on Geoff Jenkins. It looked like Jenkins had a decent chance to catch the ball, but more likely it would have been off the LF wall. It’s called a ground-rule double, Freel scores, and there are runners on second and third with one out.

7:28 – A JJ Hardy error allows Hamilton to score and Phillips to reach first. It’s 2-0 Reds with two men on and still only one down. Hatteberg singles into right, and Griffey was being waived home until the very last second. Junior slams on the brakes and stops at third, but Phillips had started to go to third and gets caught in a rundown. Instead of Junior scoring and the Reds being up 3-0 with runners on the corners, it’s 2-0 with men on first and third with two outs.

Brantley on Junior’s failure to score there: “Any normal baserunner would’ve scored there. That’s why Phillips gets hung out to dry.” After seeing the replay, Brantley says that was “not full speed running.” Two things here:

1. LITTLE THINGS. The little things absolutely KILL this Reds team. They don’t do them. It’s going to cost you baseball games. Cincy should have scored at least three and probably four runs in the bottom of the first.

2. Does Jerry Narron have to bench Griffey now? In my last running diary, he benched Encarnacion for not getting down the line on a pop up out. Brantley called out Junior for not going 100% on a base hit he should have scored EASILY on, so he should be yanked, right? Can you say double standard?

7:41 – In case you were wondering, the Reds did score only two in the first, and Junior is still in the game. Kevin Mench hits a two-out double to left-center, and Billy Hall, who singled to leadoff the inning, scores all the way from first.

7:42 – Cincinnati decides to walk Craig Counsell intentionally to get to the pitcher, but Belisle throws the ball over Valentin’s head. LITTLE THINGS. The free pass puts runners on the corners.

7:45 – Bush (yes the Milwaukee pitcher) lines a two-out, two-RBI double to left-center. Suddenly, the Brewers have taken a 3-2 lead.

7:48 – Belisle allows a walk and a stolen base but gets Hardy to fly out to end the inning without allowing any more Brewer runs.

7:53 – Valentin legs out an infield single. Yes, you read that right; you don’t see Javier Valentin reach on an IF hit every day of the week. Belisle follows with a sac bunt to move the runner over to second. Hey, we got one of the little things right.

7:54 – Freel grounds an RBI single into CF and ties the game at 3-3. Little things!!! See what happens? Incredible.

8:04 – Johnny Estrada hits a double to right-center. Junior can’t cut it off and Hall, who had singled, again scores all the way from first. Milwaukee jumps back in front by a run, and my guy Belisle is not fooling anyone tonight.

8:16 – Dunn, Junior and Phillips go 1-2-3 in the third and it’s still a 4-3 game. You know, the Reds are coming off of a six-game road trip in which they scored 2, 4, 3, 0 and 1 runs in five of those games. Now, Cincy and Milwaukee combine to score 23 runs in the last 12 innings of play. Home, sweet home, gotta love GABP.

8:18 – We’re back to start the fourth inning, and Bob Uecker joins Brennaman and Brantley in the booth. Just a bit outside! Haha, that joke was awful on purpose. Or at least I’m telling you it was on purpose.

Uecker’s trying to answer the AFLAC trivia question leads to the following exchange… Uecker: I didn’t see a lot of Greg Vaughn’s games. Brantley: [giggles like a schoolgirl] Uecker: I had some problems back in ’99 … with a house arrest. Brennaman: Oh, you had some fun though, right? Uecker: You kidding me? I never stayed home during it.

I have no clue where to go from here. Is this some sort of elaborate inside joke that I’m not aware of? They gotta be kidding around, right, or was Uecker really sentenced to house arrest? The best part of that little conversation (aside from Brantley’s spazzing out and giggling like a woman) is that it gave me reason to google “Bob Uecker House Arrest.” I couldn’t really come up with anything, but I did find out that Uecker used to have a stalker. What a hottie, check her out here. I’m literally laughing out loud right now. Good times.

8:40 – Both pitchers seem to have settled down and not much going on in the game right now, so how about a quick story? I was at the store today and pop was on sale, so naturally I took the opportunity to stock up. When I got up to the checkout line, the lady in front of me asked if I was “having a Mountain Dew party tonight.” Leave it to me to the guy with so much Mountain Dew in my cart that I get questioned by a random lady.

My initial reaction was, “Mountain Dew parties? When and where do said parties take place? And please sign me up now.” I didn’t actually say that. Instead, I told her that I just like to enjoy the occasional soda beverage because Mountain Dew parties don’t really exist … except in heaven, of course.

8:47 – Freel leads off the home half of the fifth with a double. After a Hamilton walk and an out by Junior, Freel advances to third on a wild pitch. Dunn pops up to shallow center, but Hardy trips and falls while going back on it. The ball falls in and Freel scores, but the Brewers alertly throw to second to force out Hamilton. Now it's the Brewers who aren't doing the little things and it has cost them here in the fifth. That’s scored a fielder’s choice and an RBI for Dunn, who’s tied the score at four.

9:01 – Jenkins draws a leadoff walk and Mench singles to put two runners on base to start the sixth. Counsell lays down a sac bunt, and that’s the end of Belisle’s night. Not a great outing but not a terrible one for your #4 starter.

9:06 – Rheal Cormier in to pitch and he’ll face Corey Hart who is pinch hitting for Bush. Cormier hits Hart to load the bases, and that’s it for Cormier.

9:11 – Rickie Weeks hits a grounder to second off of Kirk Saarloos. The Reds get the force out at second, but the go-ahead run scores. Saarloos gets another ground out to end the inning, but the Brewers are back in front at 5-4. Belisle’s final line: 5.1 innings pitched, 5 earned runs, 8 hits, 2 walks and 2 Ks on 100 pitches.

9:13 – Carlos Villanueva comes in in relief for Milwaukee. The final numbers for Bush: 5 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, 8 hits, a walk and 3 Ks on 90 pitches. He stands to get the win, but there’s a lot of baseball left to be played.

9:29 – Villanueva gives up a walk but no damage in the sixth. Stanton pitches a three-up, three-down seventh and looks impressive doing so. Still a one-run advantage for the Brew Crew, and it’s time to stretch.

9:32 – Surprise, surprise, Freel singles to start the inning. He’s now 4-for-4 on the night and has accounted for three of the Reds’ runs (two runs scored, one RBI).

9:36 – Brian Shouse, a lefty who throws sidearm, is on the mound now for Milwaukee. And Hamilton singles to right! He’s now reached base three times tonight. Two on and no outs, and I’m feeling something big in the making for the Reds this inning.

9:42 – …And it looks like I spoke too soon. Dunn and Junior both strike out looking (that completes the hat trick for Dunn), so now it’s up to Phillips with two on and two out.

9:46 – Right-hander Greg Aquino comes on in relief … and Phillips rips a single into left, and that’ll score Ryan Freel! Tie ball game and just a huge RBI from Brandon Phillips.

9:48 – A wild pitch allows the runners to advance to second and third, so – with first base open – the Brewers intentionally walk Hatteberg. They’ll take their chances and pitch to Alex Gonzalez with the bases juiced.

9:51 – “He’s gonna walk him,” says Brantley. Paraphrasing now, but Brantley basically said that throwing two intentional balls to Hatteberg “boxed Aquino in” to walk Gonzalez. And he does on four pitches! Aquino just walked Gonzalez to force in the go-ahead run. Brantley is legitimately giddy because he called it and Brennaman is busy clearing his throat and making choking noises. The kid did choke by walking in what is the potential winning run, but that’s very professional of you, Thom. Nice work.

9:54 – Valentin lines a base hit into right center. Credit him with two RBI, and Hall mishandled the ball in the outfield, allowing a third run to score on the play. Valentin comes through in the clutch and suddenly, it’s a 9-5 Cincinnati lead.

10:06 – Stanton retires the side in the eighth, and the Reds are just three outs away from picking up a W. Unfortunately (for me), I've gotta work at 3:30 a.m. I'm still doing the TV gig two days a week with those shitty hours. Call me crazy but I need the cash.

So yeah, that's in five and a half hours, so I'm going to have to cut this one short and try to get some sleep. Let's just assume Stanton and Weathers close the door on the Brewers, and Marty and I say, "And this one belongs to the Reds!" See ya next time.

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