Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Philadelphia 3
Cincinnati 0
W: C. Lee (15-7)
L: D. Willis (0-4)
S: R. Madson (25)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Jose Arredondo and Aroldis Chapman tossed two and a third innings of shutout baseball.
–Drew Stubbs had two hits. Jay Bruce had a hit and a walk. Joey Votto had a double, Cincinnati’s only extra-base hit of the night.
NEGATIVES
–The offense was spectacularly bad once again. A lot of teams have trouble hitting against Cliff Lee and this Phillies staff, however.
—As a friend of the Nation noted, Todd Frazier has pinch-hit each of the last two nights, and has struck out looking at a pitch right down the middle both times.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Two straight shutout losses. Will the Reds ever score again?
–All of a sudden, the Reds are two games under .500 again.
–Dontrelle Willis’ start wasn’t bad, by any means — three runs allowed in 6.2 innings, on five hits and five walks — but his control has suddenly become iffy again (after making progress in the minors). That is cause for serious concern.
–The Phillies are good.
–Related: the Philadelphia TV broadcasters are not good. Unfortunately, I’ve been forced to watch the Philly broadcast the last couple of nights because Jeff Brantley and Jim Day have been the Reds TV team. It is astounding how bad those two are. Brantley is the worst MLB broadcaster I’ve ever heard. He’s that bad.
–Can the Reds avoid the sweep tomorrow?