Rus Livingood
April 15, 2013 – Phillies @ Reds – 7:00pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (5 – 7)
Home Record (4 – 2)
Phillies Record (6 – 6)
Home Record (3 – 3)
Starters: Lee (2 – 0) vs. Arroyo (1 – 1)
The Setting: The bubbling oasis of my living room, as I hope that I can get some good mojo going back for the Reds by watching in my living room. These guys depend on me!
Storylines: The Reds have lost five in a row, and the ship needs righted immediately. Bronson Arroyo and Cliff Lee will face off in what should be a good pitchers duel.
The Game and Analysis:
Bronson Arroyo’s perfect start only reaches one batter this time. Brandon Phillips with a great diving stop to rob Jimmy Rollins and prevent the Phillies from setting the stage for a big inning. Ryan Howard gets under one and flies out to shallow center and WE ARE OFF TO A GREAT START! Sorry, I am eager to watch the Reds do good things tonight.
The announcers are talking about Cliff Lee’s horrible run support last year that gave him an equally horrible record. Joey Votto got the monkey off his back yesterday. Could that get him going? He grounds the first strike he sees straight up the middle for a single. That’s all the Reds get, though, and we are scoreless after one.
You just don’t see anyone throw with 90 different arm angles like Arroyo. You can’t argue with his success since coming to the Reds, though. Good inning for Arroyo there.
Opposite field single by Jay Bruce, and I really hope he can get going as well. Holy crap what a catch in centerfield! That might be the bet catch I have ever seen. Ben Revere dove straight out away from home plate to rob extra bases and likely saving a run. The relays back in beat Bruce by 45 feet, because everyone besides Revere knew that ball wouldn’t be caught. There will be years of highlights on that one!
Arroyo gets another solid inning, as I blister my dog’s butt for eating my daughter’s puffs after she left them on her kiddie couch. Punkin will have trouble sitting for a bit, but she probably thinks it was worth it.
Revere with another great catch as he leaps into the wall to catch a drive by Ryan Hanigan. He is making a name for himself with a lot of people likely watching. Shin-Soo Choo with another hit and I love having him on the team. No score after three.
Arroyo is really looking good tonight, but of course he did the last game before he blew up. That off-speed breaking stuff seems to fool the batters often.
Votto strikes out looking at a ball that couldn’t have missed the corner by a hair, and I am really tired of this ump loudly calling strikes. That annoys me to no end. The Reds cannot get their offense cranking. I need a 14 run explosion to get me–I mean the Reds–back on track.
A couple of hits are nullified by Todd Frazier getting the lead runner on a fielder’s choice and starting a double play a couple of batters later that was aided by a great pick at first by Votto.
The Aflac Trivia Question answer was Roger Salkeld. Who? I’m a huge Reds fan and I don’t remember him at all. The Reds used to throw up a lot of questionable starters there for a while.
As I ponder my schedule this week, I realize that we are through 5 1/2 innings of scoreless baseball, with both pitchers being efficient and quick. The half inning started about an hour and 15 minutes after the start of the game. Cliff Lee was at 57 pitches through five, and Arroyo threw 70 through six. Lee finishes the inning sitting at 67 pitches, and still has not walked a batter this year.
Another tremendous inning by Arroyo, and he is at 79 pitches through seven innings. This is a great pitchers’ duel.
Votto gives me more hope that he is locked in by getting another Joey Votto two strike hit. Phillips follows with a two strike double but Votto is held up at third. Bruce needs to do some damage here as they have Lee on the ropes for the first time. As Bruce battles and works the count, a passed ball gives us our first run of the game. They are calling that a wild pitch, but I put that on the catcher. Bruce draws the first walk of the year off Lee after getting behind 0 – 2. He fouled off several balls that helped run up Lee’s pitch count. Frazier follows with a deep sac fly to make it 2 – 0 Reds. Chris Heisey hits a comebacker to Lee for what looks like a double play, but Lee bounces the throw past second and everyone is safe. He is clearly lost right now. He gets a double play to get out of the inning, and we head to the eighth with the Reds holding a 2 – 0 advantage.
In the top of the eighth, Arroyo has given up a hit but then gets to quick outs. Chase Utley is brought in to pinch hit for Lee and promptly hits a two run, game-tying homer. I have never liked Chase Utley. I am definitely not going to start now. 2 – 2 tie heading to the bottom of the eighth.
Derrick Robinson blazes down the line with an infield single to begin the Reds’ inning. Choo bunts him over, and then Zach Cozart drops in a hit by a sliding Laynce Nix. Runners at second and third, and of course they are intentionally walking Votto. If Votto gets intentionally walked, Phillips has to make the teams pay. This time, he does by getting a two run single. The Reds are up 4 – 2! Bruce followed with a rocket single, but Votto holds at third to load the bases. We get no further than that, and it will be up o Aroldis Chapman o close the door on the game.
I can barely keep my eyes open as Heisey barely gets to a short fly ball for the first out of the night. Must have been that 15 minutes of sleep that I got the last five days. Chapman dials up a 100mph fastball nod follows it with that filthy slider for a strikeout. Ryan Howard strikes out swinging as the Reds get back on the winning track!
What Worked: This was a total team effort by the Reds. Arroyo pitched great and only made the one mistake to Utley. The Reds were able to play small ball and get the victory for Arroyo, as well as bring their five game losing streak to an end. Choo, Votto, and Phillips were great at the top of the lineup.
What Didn’t Work: Dusty Baker decided to leave Bronson Arroyo in against Chase Utley, who promptly homered to tie the game. Arroyo had been cruising to that point, but you have the game’s most dominant pitcher against lefties in your bullpen. This is one of those times where you complain if leaving Arroyo in backfires, but it is never brought up if he gets Utley out. If Sean Marshall were available, he could have gotten the call in that situation.
Where They Stand: The Reds are now 6 – 7 on the year and are two games back from the Cardinals in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: Woohoo! It feels good to get back on the winning side. It also feels good to sleep and try and make up for these last several days.
Up Next: Game two against the Phillies tomorrow night.
