Rus Livingood
July 25, 2013 – Reds @ Dodgers – 10:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (58 – 44)
Away Record (26 – 27)
Dodgers Record (53 – 47)
Home Record (27 – 23)
Starters: Latos (9 – 3) vs. Greinke (8 – 2)
The Setting: I have tomorrow off. I am taking a day of vacation as the fraternity that I am an advisor for is hosting the national convention for all of its chapters across the United States (108 chapters total) right here in Huntington, WV at Marshall University. It kicked off this evening with some food and a keynote speaker, Justin Jones-Fosu. This guy was an amazing speaker that was funny, engaging, motivational, and worked in some spectacular dancing and singing. Give him a follow on Twitter at @justininspires if you’d like. Anyway, as I have the tomorrow off and there are a bunch of alumni friends of mine arriving to town, I’m watching this game at The Union, which you may remember is a place you should drive to and eat so I can retire early.
The Game and Analysis:
•There was no audio for the game as the music was playing in the bar, and there were conversations galore going on. I missed several plays here and there, but I actually saw every run scored, which I found amazing considering the circumstances. The Reds got ahead early and never looked back as they kicked off the series with the Dodgers with a 5 – 2 win.
•Xavier Paul got the Reds on the board in the first inning with a solo homer. Five pitches, two strikes, two swings, and the Reds had a 1 – 0 lead on Greinke and the Dodgers. Joey Votto would pick up a single before Greinke got Brandon Phillips to ground into a double play to end the inning.
•The Reds got another run in the second inning on a double by Todd Frazier and a single by Cesar Izturis to drive him in. That was Frazier’s sixth double in his last five games. Maybe he is finally busting out and going to be the slugger he was expected to be this season. The RBI single by Izturis was another two-out RBI, something that carried over from yesterday’s game with the Giants.
•Through the first three innings, Mat Latos had only given up a single to Adrian Gonzalez. In the fourth, the Dodgers would get on the board via an unusual error (or rare circumstance to be more precise). Yasiel Puig hit a soft single to center and took a very wide turn. Shin-Soo Choo came up firing to first, but his throw was offline and went into the stands on a bounce. That advanced Puig all the way to third, and he scored on a Gonzalez groundout in the next at bat. We were discussing the play at the bar, and I defended Choo’s decision to throw. It is probably because I am a Reds homer, but I like to think it was because Puig was about 35 feet off of first base and was making the turn back toward first when Choo came up throwing. Had the throw been online, I think Puig would have been out. It was 2 – 1 Reds after four innings.
•That would be the score until the top of the sixth, when Jay Bruce connected on a hanging curveball for a two-run opposite field homer. The shot followed Phillips being hit by a pitch and also came with two outs. The two-out RBIS for the Reds over the last two games has been unreal.
•The eighth inning had a very intriguing play, and a scoring decision (albeit after the fact) that I disagree with wholeheartedly. With Choo on first base, Votto lined a single to center while Choo was stealing second. The shortstop faked out Choo, who had slid into second safely. He got up to return to first, but then saw that Votto had reached safely. He turned around and was easily tagged out. The official scorer later ruled that Votto hit into a force out. Choo had already taken possession of second base, but because he tried to return to first (I guess), the scorer ruled it a force out. What? Whatever makes you sleep at night, Dodgers Scorer.
•Latos would get chased with two outs in the eighth after 106 pitches. Carl Crawford led off the inning with a double, and then went to third on a groundout by Puig. A Gonzalez groundout scored Crawford to close the gap to 4 – 2. Hanley Ramirez followed with a single, and that was all for Latos. He pitched a really good game, giving up one earned run and one unearned run in 7.2 innings. Manny Parra would come in to get the final out of the inning.
•The Reds would pick up an insurance run in the ninth. It was yet another two-out RBI, as Choo chopped a ball up the middle that was knocked down by a diving Skip Schumaker at second. Devin Mesoraco scored on the play to make it 5 – 2.
•That would be the score heading into the bottom of the ninth as Aroldis Chapman was brought in for the save. He struck out A.J. Ellis to start the inning, then gave up a single to pinch-hitter Mark Ellis. Ellis would go to second on defensive indifference, and Chapman would strike out Jerry Hairston for the second out. Chapman was hitting as high as 102 on the gun, and a wild pitch would send Ellis to third and Juan Uribe would eventually walk. With the tying run now at the plate, Chapman fired a pitch that hit 103 on the gun, and it was lined to left for the final out of the game. Whew! When you throw that hard, it doesn’t take much for those balls to find the seats. Chapman registered save number 24 on the year.
What Worked: Latos didn’t give the Dodgers much to work with, and the bullpen held their ground. The Reds had enough offense to maintain a comfortable lead. Votto had an excellent backhanded stop that saw him slide all the way around on his back and then toss a perfect backhanded flip to a covering Latos for the out at first.
What Didn’t Work: Choo’s throwing error set up the first run, and his base running blunder could have cost the Reds further. You never know how things will play out. I’ll tell you what else didn’t work; the official scorer of the Reds. If that is some kind of rule that he got right, it is a stupid rule.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 59 – 44 and trail the Cardinals by 5.0 games and the Pirates by 2.5 games in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: Good win! This has been some road trip, starting off 5 – 1 on this West Coast swing. Overall in the second half, the Reds are 7 – 2. Hopefully they can keep this up and make up some ground.
Up Next: Game two of this four game series is tomorrow night.
