Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cleveland 8
Cincinnati 2
W: J. Masterson (6-6)
L: B. Arroyo (7-7)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Brandon Phillips was the offense tonight, going 3-4 with two homers.
How positive is that line? My six year old son is the biggest Brandon Phillips fan alive, and he got a kick out of being at the ballpark tonight to see BP go deep twice. Before he went to sleep last night, he told me that he hoped BP hit a homer for him.
Tonight, he’s convinced that he is Phillips’ good luck charm. Combined with the fireworks show after the game, he couldn’t care less that the Reds were destroyed by Cleveland.
–The bullpen was pretty good, especially Aroldis Chapman.
NEGATIVES
–Pretty much everything else.
–Bronson Arroyo gave up eight runs on nine hits in 4.2 innings. Three homers were the biggest problem, and we’ve seen that act from Bronson before.
–The Reds only had two hits from players not named Brandon. They hit into double plays, they were caught stealing…just a pathetic performance in front of a capacity crowd.
–Our cleanup hitter has an OPS of 694. That, my friends, is bad.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–The Indians have just embarrassed the Redlegs this year. I had hoped Cincinnati would begin to get some measure of revenge against Cleveland, after the Indians swept the good guys earlier this season. Nope.
–Not much else to say. Tonight was disgusting. Tomorrow will be another sellout. Let’s hope the Redlegs can bounce back.