Rus Livingood
April 3, 2013 – Angels @ Reds – 7:05 – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (0 – 1)
Home Record (0 – 1)
Angels Record (1 – 0)
Away Record (1 – 0)
Starters: Wilson (0 – 0) vs. Latos (0 – 0)
Storylines :
Ryan Ludwick had surgery on his right shoulder and is expected to be out for three months until around the All Star break.
Who do you bring up to replace him? Who bats cleanup? They decided to bring up outfielder Derrick Robinson, adding him to the 40 man roster. Brandon Phillips will move to the cleanup spot, and Chris Heisey takes over in left and bats second.
Hearing this, I immediately think of how Phillips tended to try and pull the ball or try to hit home runs as the cleanup hitter, and how he was a much better hitter when he was hitting the ball away and how that was a great fit in the two hole.
How will this affect this game and even more, the first half of the season?
The Setting: My house in Huntington, WV in front of my 65″ HDTV
Ah, the comfort of my own home! I enjoyed the Opening Day party, but it will be nice to be able to concentrate on the game and pause it if needed.
My daughter is a little sick, but my wife took her upstairs to play.
That means I can type out my notes as the game goes on. It’ll be very different from the first game, and great for posting tonight after the game with a day game tomorrow.
The Game and Analysis:
Latos is establishing the strike at the bottom of the zone. A couple of Angels are complaining to the ump regarding strike calls. The announcers mention that Latos hung a tennis ball from the ceiling in his garage in the offseason and would be sure to touch it every time as he practiced his throwing motion. This means a higher, more over-the-top arm angle which has him pitching downhill and theoretically keeping the ball down in the zone more often. Very interesting, and it will be nice to see how it plays out this year.
Phillips batting cleanup and immediately skies a ball to the warning track. Sign of things to come with him thinking he has to hit homers in the four hole?
Mike Trout’s ground rule double showed what he is capable of but saved a run for the Reds by bouncing over the wall. Trout’s compact swing is amazingly powerful!
Latos’ pitch count through the first three innings is going to make it hard for him to go past six innings unless he gets a couple of quick innings.
The bottom of the strike zone being established earlier rang up Hamilton in the fourth, and the pitch tracker on the screen showed it to be an amazing pitch on the very bottom of the outside corner. Latos is dealing!
The Reds have three hits through 16 1/3 innings this year. Heisey’s walk at that point was the first baserunner of the night for the Reds.
The stat showing Phillips’ hitting being better in the cleanup spot was surprising. And then he jacked one for a 3-0 lead. I still have my worries about him going for the homers.
Bruce followed with a triple (later changed to a double and an error) that missed going over the wall by a foot. Frazier tattooed a ball up the middle to give the Reds a four run lead. Wilson’s control problems lead to this.
They chose to intentionally walk Hanigan to get to the pitcher, which I agree with nearly every single time. Latos nearly dropped in a hit, but ultimately struck out.
After pitching down all game, Latos left two straight up in the zone and they were crushed.; a homer by Kendrick and a single off the top of the wall by Callaspo. A double play and a strikeout was just what the doctor ordered after that.
Heisey stole a base and took the throw to the face! His hand deflected it slightly, but it hit him right in the eye/nose area. THAT is why you slide on your right leg and keep your head looking away from the catcher as you slide. Your face is protected, and you are looking toward the outfield already in case the ball gets past the guy covering the bag. Teach your kids!
Another intentional walk by the Angels pays off, as Bruce flies out to end the inning.
Alberto Callaspo’s second straight rope sent Latos from the game after 6 2/3 innings. His stuff looked great, but he was leaving pitches up in the zone later in the game. Against this lineup, that is dangerous. That was still a very promising start to the season for Latos.
The announcers made a worrisome mention or three about J. J. Hoover being brought in after throwing around 50 pitches in game one. He walked Ianetta, gave up a single to the pinch hitter, but then struck out Trout looking. Dusty loves to play the lefty and righty matchup game, and he definitely was not going to bring in Sean Marshall there. It was interesting to bring in Hoover against Ianetta, who hit the game winner off Hoover in game 1. Perhaps it was to keep Hoover’s confidence up, but it ended up being a non-issue.
Still, this is two games into the season, and Dusty has made two questionable management decisions according to some. This was definitely questionable considering the pitch count from two days prior, but Hoover was lights out all spring and is considered a future closer by a lot of people.
In the eighth, Phillips knocks down a grounder but couldn’t recover to get the out. Frazier then booted a grounder by Pujols that could have been a double play, but definitely one out. Hamilton grounded out but moved the runners, and then Trumbo grounds out to drive in the tying run.
During Hamilton’s groundout, Phillips argued that the ball hit Pujols, but the quick replay from the live angle didn’t show it conclusively one way or the other. Errors kill you, which is why the Reds have been much improved over the last few years. They have been stellar defensively.
The Reds still can’t get their bats going in the eighth, and with the exception of the fourth inning, have looked abysmal this year.
Chapman comes in and starts off with a strikeout. After a flyout, Brendan Harris walks, bringing up Mike Trout. Chapman got him to pop up to second base, bringing up the top of the order in the bottom of the ninth.
Choo reaches by getting hit, and then Dusty has Heisey sacrifice him to second. The announcers immediately say that the Reds are taking the bat out of Votto’s hands for the second straight game. The Angels decide to pitch to him, though, and he hit a hard grounder that squibbed through allowing Choo to score the game winning run.
With no outs, the manager’s book says to get that guy in scoring position, especially for your perennial MVP candidate. Remember what I said in the first game. . .if it doesn’t work, you get second-guessed and if it works you are a genius. Dusty made the right call, and it would have been the right call had it not led to a run.
What Worked: The intentional walks by the Angels, even though they decided not to try that tactic against Votto in the ninth. Phillips batting cleanup paid off in spades. Not only did he crush a three run homer, but his presence in the cleanup spot likely played a factor in manager Mike Scoscia’s decision to not walk Votto and bring up Phillips.
When Latos was pitching downhill and working the bottom of the zone, he was nearly unhittable. As a notoriously slow starter, that made for a pleasant surprise in how dominant he might be once he gets going and keeps his command for an entire game.
The sacrifice by Heisey was the right call, no matter what the announcers were lamenting prior to Votto’s hit.
What Didn’t Work: Heisey’s slide into second during his stolen base. As soon as it happened, I immediately thought he was lost for a long time, being the second left fielder in as many games to go down with a bad injury. I also immediately wondered how major leaguers cannot do the fundamentals like sliding on the correct leg in various situations.
The Reds bats also didn’t work for the majority of the game.
Where They Stand: The Reds have split the first two games against one of the league’s best. They look to be very evenly matched teams. It is still very early, and the Reds are 1 – 1 on the season.
Overall Thoughts: As I said, very evenly matched teams so far! Votto came through in the clutch, and that is what he does day in and day out.
The Reds bats will wake up as they did last year, but they also might continue to not be an elite offensive team just like last year.
Cueto and Latos look to be a great one-two punch.
Up Next: The Reds host the Angels for the third and final game of the series tomorrow at 12:35pm.
I’ll be at work trying to follow the game on the radio and computer.
