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Message #: 33443
After one of our patented chokes in the series opener the Reds needed a few breaks -- and got some of them! -- in fending off the team with the worst record in the league, enabling the most talented team in the division to cling to its narrow lead for a few more days.... Game 1: Scott Kamieniecki made his 1995 debut for the Reds and did a fine job of outpitching his miserable card, therefore it was left to the Reds' increasingly underachieving defense to deprive him of any chance of victory. Two batters into the game the Reds had a 2-0 lead thanks to a leadoff single and Kevin Jordan's home run. The lead was halved when weak-hitting David Bell gophered one over the wall in his first plate appearance of the season. Bell would wind up this series with more homers (2) than he really had in nearly 150 AB in real life (1) but he was facing the Reds after all. Moments after we racked up some more LOB in the process of getting -- what else? -- zero hits in 7 AB in clutch situations today, a blown-x hit followed by a timely error on a Cardinal bunt put the go-ahead run on base and Kirt Manwaring delivered a double to plate both undeserved runners and put the Reds down by 1 while ruining Kamieniecki's day. Since hitting in the clutch is impossible for the Reds, we tried a new approach in the 7th: just stand there. Jeff Parrett walked 4 Cincy batters and Eric Davis' sac fly tied the score with no hits being needed. That simply set the stage for Jeff Shaw's 6th loss of the year when the first batter in the SLN 9th let another gopher out to play. The Reds achieve 1-run loss #22 of 1995, easily the most by any contending team in either league, by the count of 4-3. ================================================================================ Game 2: When Kent Mercker starts for the Reds, the saboteurs can't resist being on their worst behavior. As in the series opener the visitors took a 2-0 lead in the first via the longball (recently activated Billy Ashley doing the honors today), and also as in the opener that lead was choked away before much time had elapsed. Mercker himself delivered the first run on a silver platter with a wild pitch in the SLN 3rd and Eric Owens, in his first game ever, blew the first x-play hit to him ever to make the score 2-2. HAL again found a weak spot in the Cincy D one frame later and the 2-out blown-x double which resulted put St. Louis on top 3-2 and it remained that way until the 8th. Chris Sabo opened the CIN 8th with a pinch-single and 2 outs later still stood at first base. Chad Mottola came through with a double, but the slow-footed Sabo had only a 35% chance to chug around and score, even with 2 outs. The Reds routinely lose runners at 95% so 35% seemed a bit risky. Sabo ran through the stop sign.... and jaws dropped throughout the stadium as he scored! Mottola moved to third on the throw and Thomas Howard stepped in to pinch-hit while the Cards' dugout gave the "pitcharound" sign. They pitched around him all right -- all the way to the backstop as Mottola raced home. Jeff Parrett was so unnerved that he completed the free pass to Howard and Chad Curtis launched the first pitch he saw into orbit and the Reds suddenly had a 6-3 lead. It took CIN reliever Buddy Groom no time at all to give a run back, but the offense thrashed Parrett for 3 superfluous runs in the 9th and Groom held on for his 2nd save of the year. Final score: 9-4. ================================================================================ Game 3: The Reds scored early while also LOBbing as many as possible, and in the 2nd Buddy's weakling son hit his second homer in the space of 9 at bats to put the Reds down again. We finally got to Andy Benes for a pair in the 6th when Eddie Taubensee homered, but seconds later the ballpark finally held a Bell line drive (a mere double) though it was still good for an RBI and the contest was tied. Dale Sveum made his Cincy debut and despite a super-loaded card took no chances of getting a hit in his first three times up (walk, walk, walk). Sadly he was no statue at third base, as his 2-base throwing error gave St. Louis an unearned run in the 7th and it surely looked as if the Reds would take yet another unearned, undeserved 1-run loss. Sveum led off the CIN 8th and was instructed to take a bat with him this time. He doubled, as did 3 of his teammates in that frame, while 4 others emulated Sveum's prior form and just stood there (hbp, walk, iw, iw) as the Reds scored 5 times to turn an all but certain loss into an 8-4 win. The comeback came just in time to get Donne Wall (12-3!) a W and although Groom was again ineffective out of the pen, A.J. Sager retired both batters he faced to close it out. ================================================================================ Game 4: CIN starter Kevin Jarvis doubled and scored in the 3rd to give the Reds a 1-0 lead, then atoned for that miscue by making a timely error which permitted the Cardinals to tie the score one inning later with an unearned run. That was the only run that Jarvis would allow all day, but the Reds didn't exactly bash around SLN's Doug Linton -- what bashing we did accomplish was all LOB -- and both starters exited with the score still 1-1. Just as Jarvis was leaving however, his team got on the board with an unearned run in our favor for a change, an error by Tim Salmon (who earlier had reached on the botch by Jarvis, so that was nice) being sandwiched by a double and triple and the Reds scored 4 in that frame. Russ Springer then provided 3 solid relief innings for his first save while Jarvis' record went to 6-1 as the Reds get more solid performance from scrub pitchers while our few good ones continue to underachieve. Final score: 5-1. St. Louis stranded only 3 runners thanks to the 5-hitter pitched by Jarvis/Springer and those pitchers issued 0 free passes as well. Alan |
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