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Message #: 30335
The Reds continue to reel on the road, playing way below our talent level. Perhaps we should avoid playing close games which are more likely to be decided by luck, of which we have none to spare. The Reds racked up league-leading one-run loss #7 in this series, and came one miracle comeback away from racking up another one, not to mention being swept.... Game 1: Luckless John Roper had another decent start (6 IP and just 7 baserunners) but he was victimized by the powerful hitting of pint-sized pissants Otis Nixon (who doubled) and Brett Butler (whose 2-run gopher sealed the defeat). When they weren't trying to bunt for hits, they were pounding the ball all over the park. Roper & Todd Jones combined on a 5-hitter, the Reds outhit the Dodgers but lost by the not-very-close count of 4-1. Cincy took a 1-0 lead in the second inning via a sac fly which represented our *fifth* adverse split card in just the first 8 batters of the game, 3 of those splits missing out on home runs. Roper was down 2-1 seconds later and Butler's display of strength completed the scoring in the L.A. 5th. Ricky Bones (5-1, 2.09) continues to lead a charmed life for the Dodgers. In another "It Could Only Happen To The Reds" moment, Tony Fernandez fell for the hidden ball trick and was picked off second base in the 4th. Something like that might happen to other teams, but the really odd part was that he had doubled "down the line" yet the ball was fielded by center fielder Butler, who apparently covers more ground than anyone in the history of the position, and he held the speedy Fernandez to a mere double in the process as well. =========================================================================== Game 2: A 5-hitter didn't get the desired result, so today we only allowed 4 hits -- and took an unearned, undeserved loss by the score of 2-1. It didn't help that the massively talented but massively underachieving Cincinnati offense was held to 2 hits. One of the two was a Barry Larkin homer in the top of the first which gave the Reds another lead to blow. It took just 3 batters for the Dodgers to tie the score on an unearned run and we lost it in the 3rd when L.A. plated the final run of the day. The Dynamic Duo of Nixon & Butler were key again: a 2-base error on Butler's bunt in the 1st donated the first run, and his exquisite bunt in the 3rd plated Nixon, who had doubled. How good has CIN starter Kevin Gross been in 1994? Ricky Bones-good, that's how good! Gross took his first unearned loss today (now 5-1) and his ERA dropped to 1.88 in the process. Then again, it was Gross's own error which led to that unearned loss. =========================================================================== Game 3: The Reds loaded the bases with nobody out in the first, then pulled off the requisite K/DP combo to terminate that threat. In between however, Kevin Mitchell came up with a 1-run single, which gave us another lead to blow. It took all of 5 batters to accomplish that today, as HAL wasted little time in trashing Luckless Jose Rijo yet again. The blown lead seemed to mollify HAL for a while, and nothing but zeroes went up on the board for either side until a clutch 2-out single gave L.A. an insurance run which jeopardized Cincy's chances of adding to our 1-run loss total. Kevin Mitchell (who has not been permitted to roll in his loaded 2-column at all since Week 1) fanned to open the CIN 9th and Felix Jose followed with another out. With just one out to go, the Reds rose from the dead when Tony Fernandez coaxed a walk out of Jay Howell and Lenny Webster doubled him in to make the score 3-2. One-run loss #8 was therefore assured when Roberto Hernandez strode confidently to the mound to replace Howell, and pinch-hitter Jeff Branson tapped a weak game-ending grounder to Dodger 1B Eric Karros -- who booted it. Bret Boone worked the L.A. closer hard, fouling off a couple of good pitches, and then found something rarer than a needle in a haystack, that being a good split card. It resulted in a 3-run homer which gave the Reds an unearned (in our favor for a change) 5-3 win when we were inches away from being swept for the second road week in a row. The Reds LOBbed a mere 6 today -- doing it with the bases loaded twice, but LOBbing nobody in another other frame due mainly to not having any runners to strand. Alan |
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