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Message #: 31463
After a 2-1 start to the season, the Reds' league-leading lucklessness has been on full display and we are already in midseason form as far as massive underachievement goes.... Game 1: SFN starter Mike Morgan entered this contest with a slender 47.25 ERA (1.1 IP, 7 runs) but all he needed was a little Cincinnati tonic to set himself right. Reggie Sanders doubled home a run in the first inning -- one of just TWO hits in the game for the top-rated CIN offense -- but then he became the first of 2 baserunners with an 85%+ success chance to be gunned down on the bases. Would that be important? Isn't it always? Brian Williams had an effective start (7.1 IP, 1 run, 10 Ks) for the road team, but a seemingly harmless single in the SFN 4th with 2 outs and nobody on base was anything but harmless. It was followed by 12 straight pitches outside the strike zone, which loaded the bases and proceeded to deliver the gift-wrapped tying run. With the Reds unable to generate any offense whatsoever it was only a matter of time before defeat was sealed. It happened in the bottom of the 10th with 2 on and 2 outs. The losing run was just 90 feet away, but the Cincy bullpen doesn't believe in minor chokes when a major one will do just as well -- so Todd Jones choked up a 3-run gopher instead of a single. Final score: 4-1 in 10. ============================================================================= Game 2: Three innings into this one the Reds were doing more of the same: getting no hits (actually one, a failed split card HR chance that became a double) and no runs and being on the short end of the score. Then UPS finally showed up with our belated delivery of lumber and Wm. Vanlandingham's day turned sour. Down 3-1 in the 5th, the Cincy offense cycled (single, 2 doubles, triple, home run) 4 runs across the plate to erase the deficit, then added some late insurance for a 9-3 win. David West, in his first start as a Red, got the win despite being in rare form -- he was hittable (6 IP, 8 hits) but not wild, walking just one batter. The late-arriving CIN offense made up for lost time with 16 hits and 5 walks (and 12 LOB) and pounded out 32 total bases on those 16 hits. Clutch hitting though, as ever, was not our specialty: as of the end of game 2 the Giants had scored 7 runs, ALL of them coming with 2 outs in an inning. The Reds had scored 10 times, 8 of them coming with less than 2 outs. That sort of clutchlessness and yet another unforgettable performance by the incomparable Cincinnati Arson Squad would prove fatal momentarily. ============================================================================= Game 3: Jose Rijo will never again be an effective pitcher, but he stopped counting the days until his pension check arrives long enough to put on a good show today. Rijo, his arm not quite ready for extensive work, labored for 5 innings and permitted just 1 run (unearned). He left on the happy side of a 5-1 lead, on its way to being 7-1 via a pair of solo homers in the top of the 6th. Would that slim 6-run lead hold up? Would that one unearned run be costly? Does anybody choke like the Reds? The answers are 'No', 'Yes', and 'Have you been on another planet for the past 27 seasons?' Tim Fortugno, our ace lefty arsonist, replaced Rijo and waited patiently (4 batters, to be exact) before finally retiring his first Giant as HAL zeroed in on one super-loaded column after another. After a sac fly plated the second run of the inning, Fortugno helpfully balked a runner from second to third so he could score on a groundout, when otherwise the inning would have ended with no further damage. There was still no apparent cause for concern with the lead still shown as 7-4, but Cincy fans have seen this movie so many times before that they know exactly how it ends. Fortugno survived the 7th inning but permitted a leadoff gopher in the 8th and was yanked for Jones who wasted no time at all in permitting another gopher. A two out (what else?) double on the most surgical split card possible plated the losing runs later in the inning, while the formerly potent Cincy offense, figuring its work had been done, ended the day with the last 10 batters in a row failing to reach base. Final score: 8-7, and one more monster choke for the record books. Alan |
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