Rus Livingood
April 9, 2013 – Reds @ Cardinals – 8:15pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (5 – 2)
Away Record (1 – 0)
Cardinals Record (3 – 4)
Home Record (0 – 1)
Starters: Arroyo (1 – 0) vs. Lynn (0 – 0)
The Setting: My couch and then my bed. I was very tired for whatever reason and fell asleep in the sixth inning. This was my first game this year that I fell asleep before the game was over, which usually doesn’t happen until a west coast road trip.
The Game and Analysis:
•Bronson Arroyo cruised through the first five innings, retiring his first 15 batters for a perfect outing to that point. Then the wheels fell off. Arroyo had thrown 63 pitches, 43 of which were strikes. Batters swung and missed only three times through the first five innings. Jay Bruce aided the effort with a great diving slide. Once the Cardinals hit Arroyo, they hit him hard. He gave up five hits and intentional walk, and there could have been more runs had Shin-Soo Choo not made an excellent throw to nail Matt Holliday at the plate.
•Dusty Baker decided to bat Zach Cozart second in the order for this game, as Derrick Robinson started in left field over Chris Heisey. Our offense stalled, but the top three in the order (including Cozart) had four of the five hits. Dusty’s decision didn’t stall the Reds, their bats did.
•Ryan Hanigan is now batting .043. That is very tough to deal with in any lineup, no matter how good his defense is and how well he handles the pitchers.
•The Reds struck out 14 more times, and they are off to a bad start as far as strikeouts are concerned. There are a lot of people that do not think that strikeouts are worse than any other out, but I am not in that camp. It is much easier to advance batters or score on balls that are put into play than from a strikeout. Also, if you put the ball in play, the defense can make an error or bad judgment that leads to something positive for the offense.
•I don’t want to take anything away from Lance Lynn’s pitching performance for the Cardinals, as he did a tremendous job of handling the Reds. They couldn’t get anything going against him. He struck out 10 in six innings. The Cardinals bullpen was even more impressive once they took over for him.
•It’s amazing that this game was only two hours and forty-three minutes long and I couldn’t stay awake for it. The Central Standard Time start was a factor, but I didn’t realize I was ready for a nursing home lifestyle already.
•As I am writing this up, I learn that Sean Marshall is being sent to the disabled list, and Logan Ondrusek is being recalled. Marshall was not available earlier this year due to shoulder fatigue, and then pitched in one game before heading to the disabled list. Marshall is very important as a lefty reliever, and I hope he doesn’t have any lingering issues.
What Worked: Arroyo through five innings was about as good as you could hope for.
What Didn’t Work: The Reds’ bats and the game in general from the sixth inning on.
Also, my falling asleep during the sixth inning of a game was surprising.
Overall Thoughts: I don’t like losing to the Cardinals, so I was disappointed with the score when I woke up this morning. The Reds need to be more consistent with their bats, as they were nearly invisible this game.
Where They Stand: The Reds are 5 – 3, and are still at the top of the NL Central Division.
Up Next: The Reds finish their series in St. Louis tomorrow with a day game during my work. I will be listening via radio and hoping I can hear a decent portion of the game.
