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Message #: 28227
After a semi-successful road series last week, where things merely went as they should for the first time in 1992, Cincy returns to rock bottom this week as once again our division-best talent is absolutely submerged by the some of the worst luck in league history. HAL's sadistic treatment of the Reds was never more evident than in the series finale.... Game 1: Our one break in this series came in the 9th inning of today's game when, down by a pair with 2 outs and nobody on base, Reggie Sanders walked and was doubled home by John Kruk. Kruk actually tripled but was forced to stop at second by "rule". So when the next pitch went to the backstop, Kruk only made it to third instead of scoring the tying run and the odds were about 1,000 to 1 that he'd die there. But no! Joe Oliver then came up with the improbable roll of 6-2 off of Rod Beck and the even more improbable split card of 10 (a card as low as 10 IS highly improbable for a Reds' batter) and it turned out to be a game-winning homer after Rob Dibble actually held the lead in the bottom of the 9th!!! Final score: 6-5. The Reds needen't have bothered to show up for the next three games. ================================================== Game 2: Luckless Jose Rijo has one bad column on his otherwise excellent card; guess which column, out of 6 possible choices, HAL found nearly FIFTY PERCENT of the time today (13 times in 29 batters). Good guess. It cost him in the first inning (4-column double, 4-column single, 4-column single) but Rijo was permitted to survive that surgery in order to die from a far more severe operation later. With the Reds leading 2-1 in 7th, 2 outs and nobody on base, the scalpel struck again: 4-column single, 4-column single, 4-column single. HAL didn't even notice when Norm Charlton came in: 4-column single. Now down by a run, Charlton mixed in a bad result from a different column and sealed the 5-2 defeat. The Reds had numerous opportunities to score, but somehow found 3 rally-killing DPs at the most inopportune moments. And 3 in a game would not even be our maximum for this series.... ================================================== Game 3: Despite no offensive output at all -- Scott Fletcher went 3 for 4, the rest of the team *1 FOR 25* -- the Reds actually had a 1-0 lead in the 5th when 4 hits and a timely throwing error gave the Giants 3 runs and the ballgame. Final score: 5-1 after the CIN pen donated a couple of helpful but unnecessary insurance runs. Cincy starter Chris Hammond pitched well and deserved a better outcome, but we could say that about 20 other games this season too and at least Hammond has a winning record overall to show for his efforts, like very few of his mates. ================================================== Game 4: A contest that saw 11 runners cross home plate was scoreless through 6 innings as Luckless Greg Swindell was having one of his best outings though his offense, as ever, couldn't draw a split card to save its life and had hit into 3 DPs by that time -- and wasn't done yet. Swindell's "luck" ran out in a big way in the 7th as he choked up 5 baserunners, the last 3 coming with 2 outs and the final one being a 3-run surgical split card gopher from Robby Thompson. The Reds got a homer of our own 3 batters later, but it was a solo shot because the previous batter had naturally hit into yet another extremely costly DP. Down 5-1, the Reds may as well have quit but instead pecked away at Beck in the 9th. Three singles opened the frame and Eddie Taubensee then amazingly duplicated Thompson's feat! Tie game! The Reds quickly found out why we were permitted a momentary lapse from our otherwise miserable fortune. With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, Dibble choked up a split-card double to Mark Leonard, who then raced home with the losing run when the next batter just happened to find our worst fielder on an x-play. A 1-base botch wouldn't have plated the run, so HAL made it 2. Final score: 6-5. Alan |
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