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Message #: 30664
The (almost) top-ranked but massively underachieving Cincy offense finally broke a 30-inning road scoreless streak and went on to defy the Strat Gods by actually playing up to our talent level after narrowly averting a patented choke in the opener. Not only that, we treated three excellent ATN starting pitchers with insufficient respect and wound up sweeping the series.... Game 1: Barry Larkin's 2-run homer off of John Smoltz in the 4th put the visitors on top by the count of 2-1, but the Reds were in typical form in the LOB and rally-killing GIDP departments (12 and 2, respectively). Moments after we LOBbed the bases loaded in the 6th, Atlanta tied the score on a sac fly. After self-extinguishing our own rallies via well-timed DPs in both the 7th & 8th frames, Jeff Blauser's surgical split card triple off of Kevin Gross was immediately followed by an RBI and it looked like the Reds had completed yet another routine choke. But in the CIN 9th, Hal Morris came to the plate for the 5th time in the contest still looking for his first official at-bat (walk, walk, HBP, walk). At last he hit the ball instead of it hitting him, but all he managed was a grounder to Blauser -- who threw it into the stands. A walk loaded the bases but instead of LOBbing 3 as is our usual habit, pinch hitter Eric Anthony came through with a 2-run single and Tony Fernandez added a sac fly, and we finally capitalized one one of our numerous opportunities. Blauser had a chance to redeem himself in to bottom of the 9th, and did so with a single which loaded the bases with 2 outs. However, Danny Cox got Tony Tarasco to foul out to avert our second choke of the day. Final score: 5-3. Cincy's LOB total was inflated by the fact that we drew 9 walks & 1 HBP to go with our 8 hits, all but Larkin's home run being singles. ================================================================ Game 2: John Smiley vs. Steve Avery looked like a hilarious mismatch, and not in a good way for the Reds, but somehow it wasn't. Smiley has recently begun to pitch the way he has always been supposed to (3-0 in his last 3 starts, 0 earned runs in 15.2 IP this week) and today he won his 9th game while lowering his ERA to 4.24 -- hardly something to be proud of, but still his best mark of the season so far. Atlanta fans had to be uneasy when the contest was still scoreless after 5 innings despite Smiley's presence on the mound for the Reds. Eric Anthony, the hero of game 1, came through again as a pinch hitter in the CIN 6th by driving in a pair of 2-out runs which combined with the 2 that had scored earlier in the inning to make the score 4-0. Anthony was the first batter that reliever Brad Cornett faced, with the bases loaded, 2 outs, and every chance that the Reds would simply LOB 3 more. After being handed a lead Smiley, to nobody's surprise, quickly found trouble. The two runs he gave back were both unearned but the error which opened the door for the inevitable 2-out, 2-run clutch hit was made by Smiley himself. Cincy got one of those 2 runs back when ATN reliever Greg McMichael returned the favor of an error, and the Reds won by the score of 5-2. We had only 6 hits (to ATN's whopping 7) but as in game 1 drew a lot of walks (6). Todd Jones supplied 2.1 hitless innings to save the day for Smiley, who won his 9th. ================================================================ Game 3: The Reds have a knack for making mediocre or lousy opposition starting pitchers look like All Stars when they face our underachieving lineup; today we completed the sweep after having faced a third consecutive *actual* All Star (or at least 3 prime candidates) in Greg Maddux. Today's pitching hero was Erik Hanson, who tossed a complete game after blowing only half of a 4-run lead. The unlikely hitting hero was lightweight Mark Lewis who got 3 hits (2 doubles and a single) off of his own weak card. It would have been 3 doubles but, like all Cincy hitters, Lewis had trouble trying to convert a slim 1-16 split card chance. Final score: 7-2. Cincy chased Madddux, who suffered only his third defeat of the season, in the 6th after Lewis singled home 2 runs with the bases loaded. Atlanta immediately got up off the mat with a 2-run homer 2 batters into the bottom of the 6th, but Hanson hung in there and went the rest of the way, retiring the last 7 Braves in a row. Four consecutive hits in the 8th put the final runs on the board before we LOBbed the bases loaded again. Today the Reds were limited to only 3 free passes but offset that with 12 hits, 6 off Maddux and 6 off mop-up reliever Goose Gozzo. Alan |
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