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Message #: 31720
The Reds take on a very good (almost as talented as the Reds) Los Angeles team and do what the Reds do better than anyone: choke, choke, and choke again. We somehow recovered from that last one in time to avoid being swept. The most talented offense in the N.L. continues to underachieve its real-life counterpart by nearly a record amount, that seemingly unbreakable Smiley record for underachievement being held by -- who else could it possibly be? -- the Cincinnati Reds, who accomplished that feat in the very first year of the league and no other team even came close since then.... Game 1: The Reds got their first look at Japanese import Hideo Nomo and came away suitably impressed. Nomo permitted just 2 hits and 1 walk in 5 innings of work, blowing away 8 CIN hitters in the process. But Cincy's Eric Anthony finally blew past the .100 barrier by going 2 for 3 today, his solo homer giving us a 1-0 lead in the 2nd, and we tacked on an unearned run later in the frame. Nomo departed on the short end of that 2-0 score because Tim Pugh was having a dandy outing for the visitors and he took a shutout into the 7th inning. Moments after a pair of Cincy batters had failed to deliver with RISP, the choking spread into the field. Raul Mondesi opened the L.A. 7th with a harmless single and the next batter hit a harmless grounder to Barry '1' Larkin at SS. That's a DP. Nope. That's a blown-x, and not just 1 base either. One base wouldn't have been enough to put a runner on third so he could score on a bunt, as happened seconds later. Even so, Pugh got tough and escaped further unearned damage. But after the Reds again did the LOB with RISP thing in the top of the 8th, the roof caved in hard on Pugh and today's helpful arsonist, Jeff Shaw. A couple of surgical dice roll walks sandwiched a single and ended Pugh's day with 3 fat juicy runners just waiting for some Cincy pitcher to choke them home. Shaw faced 2 batters, the Dodgers got 2 fortuitous split cards, 4 runs scored and for good measure another reliever replaced Shaw and took all of 1 pitch (to the backstop) to plate a 5th run. It was hardly necessary; the Reds were already dead though we did take the opportunity to put up another 0 for 2 with RISP in the 9th. Final score: a 2-0 lead in the 7th suddenly becomes a 5-alarm fire and winds up as a 7-2 defeat. ======================================================================================== Game 2: The Reds bombarded Mark Langston for 5 runs inthe first inning. These are the Reds; you have to know this isn't going to end well. CIN starter Jose Rijo has been sharp for most of the 1995 season, but today he felt the scalpel early and often. Rijo was abused for 11 hits in 5 innings and gave up exactly as many runs as we had scored for him in the top of the first. At the plate, Rijo contributed one of our three devastating rally-killing DPs to round out a rotten day. Still, the CIN offense didn't evaporate entirely for almost 3 more innings -- then it was gone for good -- and Rijo was in line for the win since he left with a 7-5 lead. It should have been 8-5 rather easily when Chad Curtis tripled leading off the top of the 9th. But Larkin came through again, not with a timely error as in the opener, but with a timely gb(B) to automatically nail Curtis at the plate. Bret Boone followed with critical GIDP #3 of the contest, and it was left to the bullpen to stop putting up zeroes and get down to the serious business of choking. Tim Fortugno had set the Dodgers down without as much as a hit for 3 innings, so of course he opened the Dreaded Bottom Of The Ninth with a pair of singles. And there on the bases they remained, amazingly, as Jeff Brantley took care of the next two batters, leaving just one out left to get and the score still 7-5. Was there ever any doubt? A free pass loaded the bases and put the losing run at first base. Everybody moved up 1 when Brantley defied the odds and choked up a very low probability BP single, then Jerry Browne provided the finishing touch with an automatic 2-base single which scored Mark Parent, the slowest runner in the major leagues, from second base without even the chance of a throw. Final score: a 7-5 lead with 26 of 27 outs in the books becomes an 8-7 choke, and the Reds do it again. ======================================================================================== Game 3: David West had a brilliant start for the Reds, having a 1-hit shutout going through 6 innings. And he never allowed a run, or another hit, because the #1 offense in the N.L. had naturally taken full advantage of the situation by scoring nothing at all to help him. Therefore West left for a pinch hitter in the top of the 7th and that pinch hitter -- miracle of miracles! -- hit his second home run of the series (and of the season) to plate 2 runs and skyrocket his average to .120. It appeared that West might actually get a well-deserved win. Until we had a nearly exact repeat of yesterday's disaster. Today it was a different lefty reliever (Mike Mimbs) shutting down the Dodgers for a couple of innings before falling apart in the Dreaded Bottom Of The Ninth, just like yesterday. Though Mimbs opened that frame by allowing a single, he got the next batter to hit into a DP before putting 2 more runners on base. It doesn't much matter who the Reds bring in to such a situation; they've all got good cards -- and ERAs in the stratosphere. So with 26 of 27 outs in the books, let's try Brantley again. The guy with 6 extremely costly relief losses and 4 blown saves in less than 9 weeks. Make it 5 blown saves but, somehow, not a 7th loss. Brantley immediately loaded the bases with a free pass, just like yesterday, then choked up 2 runs (one less than yesterday!) to tie the game. After the Reds LOBbed another RISP in the 10th, that disease became contagious and the Dodgers began leaving all sorts of men on base, probably just to prolong the agony and exhaust some of the Reds' limited usage before nailing our coffin shut. Good plan, but it didn't quite work. In the 13th inning we finally came up with 3 hits and 2 runs, Jeff Shaw came into handle the bottom of the Lucky 13th... and set down the Dodgers in mundane 1-2-3 fashion to avert the sweep. Alan |
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