Two wins, one tie, and no losses so far for the Reds in their series of games against teams. That led them to a 6-4 record, but they managed to come out of PNC Park with a 6-7 record, thanks to a sweep at the hands of the Pirates. The Pirates. Yeah, that happened. So, Dusty is pissed, as are we all. Where are the bats, yo?
As well he should. And also perhaps the MVP of the league, though there was pretty much no doubt Sid the Kid was going to snag that one. But dang, THIRD in MVP voting??? That's just a sin, especially considering Luongo got 2nd, and the only feat he accomplished was eating Brodeur's dust in setting wins for a season. Pssh.
Nice goat, Marty.
Weathers gets Hafner looking!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4-3 Reds!!!!!!!
Homer Bailey is the winning pitcher!!!!!! 1-0!!! Retire while you're on top!
Someone predicted Bailey would go 5 and give up 3, and they're dang close because you can expect he will not be out there when Inning 6 comes a-calling and he will probably be done before then. He maybe should have already been done, but he's out there now nearing 100 pitches.
Sizemore up and Sizemore figured him out. Early. He's on with a single.
Holy balls, Sizemore has 18 stolen bases this year. And appropriately, Bailey makes his first-ever MLB pickoff move. Doesn't work, though. Casey Blake with a nice pop out. Could use more of those. Anything to cut this half-inning short and get this kid to the dugout with a lead. The only problem with that idea is the next 2 batters are Hafner & V-Mar.
You can tell Hafner just wants to crush one. And he's over 100. Pitches, that is. Instead he walks. Getting into dangerous territory again. Can we call on a sac fly DP? Haha, I doubt it.
V-Mar with 2 on and no sign of Narron coming to the rescue. The kid is on his own. It's his game to win or lose and the odds are looking like a big L right now. Holy bazooka, V-Mar threatened with a 3-run homer but Hopper gets it in his mitt AT THE WALL. That would have been a DEVESTATING way to end his first major league outing, but things are looking a little better for the kid. Just one more to go.
You never know what the wily Trot Nixon is gonna do. Better start him off with 2 balls and get him guessing early, right? Hmm......or 3 balls. Might as well load 'em up to get some real nerves and some real adrenaline flowing.
Delluci is up and crazy things happen when this guy bats. 2 walks, 110 pitches, and he's still in? Hard call to make, but dang, Narron is not only overworking the arms of his trusted vets and aces, but he's overworking The Savior in his first outing! That's Narron for you, though.
Alright Homer, you got into this mess, not get out of it! It's only the top team in the ALC.
AND THE STRIKEOUT SEALS THE DEAL!!!!!!!!!!
You couldn't call it any better than that, folks. The bases loaded, the kid working out of the jam, and he throws the K to Delluci. Unbelieveable stuff. I am sure GABP is going nuts right now. Well done, kid, well done. That's bigtime heat right there and he got through it alright.
A solid outing for The Savior. He's done, right? He has to be.
5 innings, 5 hits, 3 Ks, 4 BBs, 1 HBP, 2 runs.
Getting no help from his teammates tonight. In fact, outside of the whack Phillips put on the ball, Bailey probably had the best at-bat of anyone else on the team thus far. Sad or impressive? Both?
The big bad V-Mar up to bat, the RBI man of the night. Bailey is again working his favorite corner, down-and-away. It got him 2 early strikes. Followed up by two high fouls. Sprinkle in 3 balls and you've got yourself a full count. He's all over the zone, where will he go next? Right down the middle for another foul. Martinez knocks one Griffey's way and he's 2/2. That's 70 pitches already, only 3.0 innings in the books. This'll be interesting.
Nixon doubles and we've got trouble brewing my friends. If Bailey escapes this jam, that would be pretty awesome and would give some hope for the future. Not that he will dash hope with his outing tonight, no matter how ugly it ends up. He's still The Savior.
Delluci wastes no time in swinging at the first pitch and it turns into one of the weirdest plays I've ever witnessed. A sacrifice double play??? Who knew that existed???? Anyway, Delluci flies out to bring V-Mar home, and V-Mar scuttles home. Hopper throws to Conine who promptly throws to EdE for the double play, Nixon out at 3rd. What an odd sequence of events. Well, the bases are cleared and only one run scored so we've got that to be thankful for. Not sure what Trotty was thinking.
Barfield takes Bailey long and he's just throwing too many pitches on every batter. Barfield gets beaned and he's on base. One of the many HBP's that Bailey is going to throw in his lifetime. Barfield advances on a balk. Does Homer know all the rules?
Rouse gets the intentional walk, I'm sure he's feeling like a big man now. The pitcher Cliff Lee up next.
Lee puts it in play as Conine throws to Bailey at the bag on first.
Whew, what an inning. An interesting experience.
1 inning, 2 hits, 1 HBP, 1 BB, 1 run. Only 1 run out of that.
4 innings, 4 hits, 2 Ks, 2 BBs, 1 HBP, 2 runs.
He's already thrown 48 pitches.
2 balls again. At least it's Sizemore this time. Haha and again!!! Sizemore with the 2nd K after there were no more balls to be given. Thanks buddy.
2 balls again. Casey Blake with the groundout. I'm surprised Cleveland is being so aggressive with their swings after the initial 2 balls. I'd sit around and wait for the other 2. But Bailey is getting bailed out a little bit.
Now back to the guys with the hits. Again with 2 outs. We'll see what happens this time around.
Hafner looks at a first-pitch strike. There's something new. Good tactic. Hafner with the groundout to Gonzo. Looking good.
1 inning, 1 K, 0 runs
3 innings, 2 K, 1 BB, 2 hits, 1 run
The Reds got him a run back so we're all even.
A leadoff walk to Delluci on 5 pitches. Not pretty. If there's one thing you can give Bailey it's that he challenges hitters and goes right at them, throwing strikes. Not in this case, though I guess we can let The Savior allow a guy a base-on-balls every now and then. Would like to see another K, though. Get Sizemore back up here.
Barfield comes precariously close to the wall, but Adam Dunn makes the snag and keeps Delluci at first base.
2 balls to Rouse and it's becoming habitual. Does the strike zone shrink from Triple A to the props? You'd think not. Full count now and Rouse mercifully flies out to Hopper right in the middle of the field.
Bailey is working the down-and-away corner like a madman and he's been throwing a lot of balls because of it, but he throws 3 straight nice looking strikes down in the corner, forcing Lee to swing at a grounder that is played by Gonzo.
1 inning, 1 BB, 0 runs
2 innings, 1 K, 1 BB, 2 hits, 1 run
Man, I wish I could be there. It must be electric right now. Or at least I wish I could watch it on TV instead of following on the Interwebs. Ah well.
First batter - STRIKEOUT!!! Doesn't get much better than that. He was just fooling with Sizemore, Grady's got no game.
Bailey gets the crafty vet Casey Blake to ground out to EdE after he fools with him a little bit.
Watch out, here comes The Big Hurt2. And a single. I thought Bailey had him, he was doing what he wanted, but Hafner is a heckuva hitter and he drops one in there to spoil the no-hitter. At least we got that out of the way.
Dang, didn't realize the Indians lineup was so STACKED. Any team in the league save the Yanks/BoSox would pay top dollar to have this lineup 1-4. Anyway, Victor Martinez is up and he's looking at 2 balls. Well....alright, never mind. Is Hafner going to steal his first base of the season?
Ouch. V-Mar rips the double, scoring Hafner and sending Bailey's ERA through the roof. It was a likely scenario, but do we really need any more bad news for the Reds? I think we would have been satisfied if Homer would've taken a no-hitter through 7. But it was not meant to be.
Two more balls and now he's just got to get out of the inning. I have a feeling he'll get a standing ovation no matter what happens, unless it's just downright awful. I hope nobody boos the man. And Trot Nixon lines out to Griff.
1 inning, 2 hits, 1 run
He's wearing my number, baby! 34 to the bank!
His miraculous first outing is mere minutes away....
2007 Stanley Cup Champions
Gotta give it up for Scott Neidermayer, that's for sure. Glad he got the Conn Smythe trophy, but I had him ranked as #3 behind:
#1) J-S Jiggy
#2) Andy Mac
But he was the heart of the team, and there you have it. Blew my prediction out of the water. As Ottawa was shredding the Eastern Conference, it became obvious that they would wipe the mat with the Ducks when it was supposed to be the Red Wings after all. But what became clearer was the fact that the West was the best.
It certainly became hard to cheer for Ottawa when Pronger was suspended but Neil wasn't, and then when there were NO repercussions when Alfredsson shot the puck right at Neidermayer in Game 4. Oh well. The better team won, and that's always fun.
Well, no. Not really. But it is clearly the single biggest highlight of the year since Opening Day. I'm pretty excited. Chances are he'll do poorly, he'll do average, or he'll do a dang impressive job. Chances are 50-50-50 across the board. They do add up to 150%, I am aware of this fact.
What's interesting to me is the kid's name is Homer. He's a PITCHER. His name is Homer. Not a great connotation. Better than Grant Balfour, I guess.
Remember when we thought the Reds were going to be good? Or at least average. Do you remember this? I remember the blogger roundtable, the first one I was part of. The sense of optimism that is only natural every spring. But dang. There go the Reds again. Once again, they are not good. They almost made it to .500 last year, and you have to wonder how they did it, especially coming back with a better team (supposedly) and sucking it up. They might get close to average, but they sure won't be good. Sorry to hear it.
Is there any doubt that the actions of the Reds winning two straight and me coming back to blog action are beyond coincedence? You can thank me later. Or now.
Another French Open, another first-round exit for America's Andy Roddick. Time to give up the French? Maybe. Clay certainly ain't his bag, but he hasn't been the same for quite a long time.
I hear it, a voice from the distance. It's Kelly Clarkson. What the flip? Wait......she's singing. What's the song? I think it's called "Since You've Been Gone." I think, yes, she must be, asking me via song. I think it's a personal message directed towards me. How odd.
Hmm.........what's happened since I've been gone? What's happened in the span of a month?
Well..............
The Mavericks blew one of the best records in the NBA by losing in the first round to the Golden State Warriors. #1 losing to #8 had NEVER happened in the history of a 7-game series. That was painful.
Three days later, the New Jersey Devils lost to the Ottawa Senators, who I proclaimed would be the next Stanley Cup Champions. They got off to a bit of a bumpy road, losing the first game of the Finals to the Anaheim Ducks, but I still believe they are the better team. If Ottawa prevails, it will be the second year in a row that the Devils have lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions. Not an encouraging stat, but it does soften the blow a bit.
The Reds, since I posted, have been downright awful and it's a new problem all the time. Hitting goes flat, defense goes awful, pitching goes softball. You name it, it's happened. Sitting at 19-33 is not a pretty sight, that's for sure. They returned basically the same ballteam as 2006, although probably a little improved. Who would have guessed? Well, they are right where many pundits predicted, in dead last. Sad to see it happen like that.
Thankfully, the Raiders haven't played any games, so they haven't had a chance to go awry.
But dang, do I not deserve some love? I'd like to think so, after having 3 of my 4 teams crash and burn so badly in such a short span of time. Being such a diehard fan, I thought I'd be losing my mind, wallowing around in depression, but thankfully I'm doing a lot better than I thought I would be. Not sure how, but that's how it goes. I guess life > sports. Or something like that. That's what we tell the grandkids, anyway.
Well, if there isn't some good news out of the whole Ryan Freel Tries to Kill Himself thing, it's that Tim Mo is back to blog a little bit. I don't know why, but seeing the story/video of Freel's suicidal dive for the ball all over news outlets (including the almighty Drudge Report) just sort of made me want to blog again.
Not that it really matters. It doesn't. I'll be doing things quite differently this time around. I got caught up in the game too much. Trying to blog a substantial amount for 4 different sports teams is very difficult, that's why you don't see it too much. But it killed me. At the same time, school was getting crazy and I just had to quit whenever it was, at the end of April or so, because I couldn't do it. In coming back, I am blogging more for myself and doing what I want to do. So less news reports, less game recaps, less of everything pretty much. Fewer posts for sure, probably more insight (however inaccurate) and more fun. It won't be journalistic excellence, that's for sure. But it will be something. Although I've probably lost all the readers (all 3 of you!) that I had before, but then again, I'm doing it more for myself this time around.
Glad to see you again. It's only been less than a month. Come on people. Thanks be unto Ryan Freel and his death-defying collision.
Alright I had a huge post but then it got erased, so that blows.
In short, the Devils had to win this game. Not technically, but you don't want to go down 2-0, especially losing both at home. That goal in double overtime by Jamie Langenbrunner may have changed this series around.
The Devils flat-out dominated the first period, leading in shots on goal by 16-5. Then they stopped. The rest of the game, the Senators outshot the Devils 40-17. While it was bad, it wasn't as bad as it seems due to the many missed shots by the Devils, whether due to aim or deflection. So it was a little more even than it appears, but it was pretty bad to put up 4 shots on goal in the 2nd and 3rd periods. The defensive dominance in the first period gave way to goaltending dominance, with Brodeur stopping 43/45 shots for the 3rd star when it probably should have been the first star.
The goal with 3/10ths of a second left in the first period was huge for the Devils. If they don't get that goal, they don't win the game. It helped a lot.
Still annoying that the Devils sat back and waited for the Senators to come at them. They got lucky they only let in 2 goals, but Brodeur was back there making sensational plays. But that's not the way to play the game, as John F. definitely agrees with me over at In Lou We Trust. Go check his blog out every dang day because it blows mine away. Props to Tom Lycan as well for posting within seconds after the victory was completed.
It was a good win, but it could have been a terrible loss due to the fact that the Devils exhibited no offensive pressure throughout the rest of the game. I would imagine that to be fixed come Game 3.
