Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Philadelphia 3
Cincinnati 2
W: A. Bastardo (6-0)
L: H. Bailey (7-6)
S: R. Madson (24)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Very strong outing by Homer Bailey tonight: 8 innings, three runs on six hits, striking out nine and walking none. The only blemish was a bad pitch to Shane Victorino for a two-run homer that gave the Phils the win.
–Ryan Hanigan just keeps performing: 2-3 tonight with a run scored. Also continuing his hot streak: Brandon Phillips was 2-4.
–Bill Bray and Nick Masset were actually very good out of the pen, in short outings.
–Yonder Alonso played his first professional game at 3B (learning a new position in the big leagues? Really?), and he didn’t make any errors. In fact, he performed beautifully on every single ball that was hit to him.*
NEGATIVES
–Only six hits for the good guys tonight. Unfortunately, in a big opportunity for him, Alonso went 0-4 with three strikeouts.
–The more I see Dave Sappelt, the more I am severely unimpressed. He misplayed a ball in left field that led to Philadelphia’s first run.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Not much to say. It was actually a fairly entertaining game, despite the final score.
–For most of the night, Homer was more dominant than I’ve ever seen him. He was very good today.
–We’ll get ’em tomorrow! Wait…Roy Halladay is pitching tomorrow. Gulp.
*Okay, no balls were actually hit to Alonso tonight.