Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
New York (NL) 4
Cincinnati 2
W: R. Dickey (5-8)
L: M. Leake (8-6)
S: J. Isringhausen (3)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Mike Leake pitched a very strong game, going six and a third, giving up just two runs on eight hits. Truthfully, Leake probably shouldn’t have come out to start the seventh, and he would have had six shutout innings to his credit. Oh well, hindsight…
–In his first start since being recalled from AAA Louisville, shortstop Paul Janish went 3-4 with a double and a run scored. Clearly, Soft-J is now ready to assume the mantle of greatest shortstop in baseball.
–Miguel Cairo had a couple of hits, plus a walk. Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips each walked. BP also made a couple of brilliant defensive plays.
–Sam LeCure looked very strong in his inning of work.
(Chad Dotson/Redleg Nation)
–Logan Ondrusek has been great this year, but the big guy really deserved the loss in this one. Ondrusek gave up three hits and two runs (and allowed an inherited runner to score), and only secured one out.
–Drew Stubbs, Bruce, and Phillips struck out in key situations.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Another winnable game, and the Reds just couldn’t nail it down. How many times are we going to see that during the 2011 season?
–It’s very possible that every manager is guilty of this, but it certainly seems like Dusty Baker has a terrible proclivity for allowing his starting pitcher to remain in the game one or two batters too long. Perhaps if we were fans of another team, we’d be equally frustrated at their manager, and perhaps Dusty isn’t any worse than the average manager at this particular aspect of handling the pitching rotation.
But it is so very frustrating, nonetheless.
–It makes my head hurt to see Jason Isringhausen finish off the game against the Reds.
–Well, it was a fun night at the ol’ ballyard, anyway. The weather was good, and the Enquirer folks had a great time. Sorry I couldn’t make it out to the Q&A session at the Reds Hall of Fame, but my time management skills were lacking today, evidently.