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Message #: 29447
For 2 games the Reds offense played up to its capabilities and stunned the Braves by making their pitchers look like Cincy pitchers (though our pitchers looked no better); then we turned back into a pumpkin and turned what could have easily been a Cincy sweep into a split. Being D.O.A. before most games even begin in 1993 thanks to the far-and-away worst luck in the majors, the massively underachieving Reds haven't had chances to pull off many of our patented monster chokes this year. We got an opportunity in this series and -- of course -- did not waste it.... ======================================================= Game 1: The Reds surprised Greg Maddux by jumping on him immediately for a run in the first, then surprised nobody at all by giving 3 runs back on a 2-out (what else?) 3-run gopher seconds later and proceeding to play Strand-O-Matic (a 12-5 win in the LOB column) all day long. CIN starter Tim Belcher was gophered again to give Atlanta a 4-1 lead but he shut down the Braves for the final 3 frames of his 6-inning stint. Hal Morris's pinch-single got a rally started in the Cincy 7th and two singles later a run was in and Maddux was gone. Reggie Sanders greeted Roger Mason with a game-tying double, and a shocking Mark Lewis home run (on an equally shocking split card) gave the Reds a 5-4 lead. Desperately seeking anyone who can close out a ballgame, Cincinnati turned to future (but not with this team) closer Bobby Ayala. Even with that unusual choice of pitchers, HAL was ready with scalpel in hand -- the first 3 batters all rolled the exact same number on Ayala's miserable card. In the biggest surprise of all, those were the *last* 3 batters of the game -- a thoroughly embarrassed HAL mistakenly zeroed in on an out instead of a hit. Final score: 5-4. Revenge would come swiftly.... ======================================================= Game 2: Another ATN starter was ambushed as the Reds built leads of 5-0 and 7-1 off of Tom Glavine and two (of the 6 the Braves used) relievers before the contest was even 4 innings old. These are the Reds; naturally 7 runs would not be enough to win after we commenced choking -- and they weren't enough. HAL summoned the hapless John Roper for his weekly surgical dismemberment, and this time there were no mistakes. Four runs scored in the fifth after -- you guessed it -- 2 were out, and Roper was wheeled to the morgue after Eddie Murray's 3-run gopher which cut our lead to 7-5. After missing easy BP singles and BP homers galore for much of two games, Kevin Mitchell finally got a BPHR and matched Murray's 3-run blast. Some typical late bleeding, including loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th, got Atlanta closer but the final was 10-7. Larry Luebbers pitched 0.2 IP in the 9th with the Reds up 10-6 at the time he entered, but was awarded the win in an unusual scoring decision because the ridiculously inept starter failed to last 5 IP with a 6-run lead, and the pitcher who followed was also in customary form (i.e., terrible). ======================================================= Game 3: Pretty good pitching today for a change, with Rijo & Smoltz taking shutouts into the 6th. Yet another timely 2-out hit for the Braves put them up 1-0, then ANOTHER timely 2-out hit an inning later (a 2-run gopher) put them up 3-0 and put Rijo and the Reds out. A rally featuring 4 singles among the first 5 batters in the CIN 8th got us within one with 2 on and just 1 out, so the next 2 batters were required to combine for 4 LOB and that was the ballgame. Reds lose despite holding the mighty Atlanta offense to just 4 hits, but the clutch hits went only one direction -- against the Reds -- as ever. Final score: 3-2. ======================================================= Game 4: Having lost in rather mundane fashion, we went for the big-time today. This one started out as so many before it had, with the Reds pummeling an Atlanta starter early -- Steve Avery was yanked 4 batters into the second inning, all 4 of which scored. The Cincy offense then promptly went into hibernation. Even so, John Smiley made the 4-0 lead hold up into the 7th inning, and then Dr. HAL took over again. Smiley, like Avery, let 4 in a row get on base and (also like Avery) all 4 eventually scored to tie the game. However, Smiley left with the score still just 4-2 and it was left to Luckless Larry Luebbers to finish the job. And he sure did -- in typical, unearned, undeserved fashion. L.L.L. faced 3 batters, and the most any of them could muster was a little tapper back to the mound. So of course they scored 4 runs with him on the hill. Batter #1 was generously given a free pass to force in a run. Batter #2 struck out, so Luebbers had to come to the rescue with a timely wild pitch to plate another run, then he committed a 2-base error (one base simply wouldn't have been sufficient) that plated 2 more gift runners, and another in Cincy's endless line of monster chokes was almost in the book. Bret Boone answered with a BPHR leading off the CIN 8th, so it was left to Ayala to seal it up in the bottom of the 9th. HAL wasn't about to let Ayala survive twice in one series, and sure enough he choked up a double that chased home the losing run. Oddly, there was only 1 out at the time instead of 2. Final score: 6-5, another in Cincy's endless line of unearned, undeserved losses. Alan |
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