Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 2
Chicago 7
WP: Rich Harden (1-1)
LP: Micah Owings (0-2)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Jay Bruce hit a homer in his first AB, then drove in a run with a rip into left field later. It’s the best, and most comfortable, he’s looked at the plate all season. The rest must have done him some good.
NEGATIVES
–This team just cannot hit. This is a recording. It’s an embarrassment. They’ve been outscored 63-48 by the opposition on the year (and that’s just not going to cut it). As was mentioned on the game thread, this team is exactly what we thought it would be going into the season. They can’t hit, the defense is slightly, but not appreciably better, and if the pitching isn’t pretty good, it’s going to be very tough to win night in and night out.
–Chris Dickerson completely butchered a fly ball in left field tonight, which led directly to the three runs that put the Cubs up 5-2. Just as I was thinking, hey that was something Adam Dunn would’ve done, my brother called me from DC to tell me that Adam Dunn had just crushed a homer. Strange. (Chris Dickerson didn’t hit any homers tonight.)
–Mike Lincoln is just brutal right now. He came into the game with two outs and two on…and five pitches later, he had hit a batter and walked in a run. Awful. Then he promptly loaded the bases in the next inning, and two of them came around to score. Lincoln’s ERA: 18.56.
ETC.
–Micah Owings deserved better. He gave up 5 hits and two earned runs, but he walked too many. Still, it could easily have been a quality start if Dickerson hadn’t flubbed an easy fly ball to keep that inning going.
–The Reds really did Alex Gonzalez a disservice by not finding some reason to DL him, keeping him in extended spring training, then sending him on a rehab stint. The guy hasn’t played in a year and a half, he’s been through a lot of stuff in that time, and remember that he could barely play a full game by the end of spring training. Gonzo is trying as hard as he can, and he hit a couple of balls hard tonight, but he just isn’t ready to make a return to full-time baseball, no matter how much Dusty wants him to be.
–Very ugly game tonight. Johnny Cueto will go tomorrow. Maybe we’ll have some better luck.