Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 0
St. Louis 1
W: C. Carpenter (4-7)
L: J. Cueto (5-3)
S: F. Salas (15)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Johnny Cueto was nothing short of brilliant: a complete game, allowing just one run on six hits. Strangely, he didn’t strike out a batter but, as Chris said on Twitter, Cueto was just celebrating democracy on Independence Day by allowing his fielders to make the outs.
–Joey Votto was 3-4, and saw 29 pitches in his four ABs. If you watched Votto tonight, you saw why he is one of the elite hitters in the league. He really controlled his matchup against a good pitcher.
–Jay Bruce looked bad at the plate, but he put on a defensive clinic in right field. Gunned a Card down at the plate, made a diving catch, plus a couple of good plays that held a runner from taking an extra base. He’s so good out there.
NEGATIVES
–Everything else. The offense stunk again. Only three non-Votto hits, and no extra-base hits. Ugly.
–Chris Carpenter. That guys is just a “negative” all the way around.
–The Cards won this game on a crappy little infield single, with some guy named Mark Hamilton diving into first base like a moron. Sheesh.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–The 2011 version of the Reds just cannot catch a break.
–Nothing ruins my day more than seeing Chris Carpenter smiling in the dugout.
–104 pitches for Cueto in eight innings. That’s a marked improvement over the lack of efficiency that Cueto displayed before this season.
–I hate the Cardinals with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns.
–I need something to drink. See you tomorrow.