Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL — 10 innings
Washington 3
Cincinnati 2
W: C. Stammen (1-0)
L: A. Simon (0-1)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Finally scoring two runs to tie the game in the 9th inning off Nationals interim closer Brad Lidge. It was nice seeing Scott Rolen with the double to set up the opportunity.
–The bullpen through the 9th inning. Sam LeCure and Jose Arredondo tossed 4 innings of shutout baseball.
NEGATIVES
–I have no idea why the Reds picked up Alfredo Simon. The 10th inning was just a terrible turn of events. The Nationals had just one single in the inning but scored the winning run. Simon hit the lead-off batter, Ryan Zimmerman, who eventually moved over to 3rd base after a single and a groundout. Zimmerman scored on a walk-off wild pitch.
–The Reds only mustered two hits and zero walks in 7 innings against Gio Gonzalez. Yes, Gonzalez is a good pitcher, but he walks a lot of batters and the Reds are expected to hit well off left-handed pitching. Noting that today was Gonzalez’s 91st start in the majors, there’s this tweet today from friend of the Nation, Joel Luckhaupt:
This was Gio Gonzalez's 4th career start (and first since August, 2010) where he didn't allow a walk.
— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) April 12, 2012
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Still not as sharp as Reds fans are hoping from their newly acquired starter, Mat Latos needed 99 pitches to work through 5 innings. He surrendered 2 runs on 5 hits, 3 walks and recorded just 1 strikeout.
–Brandon Phillips won’t be back in action until Saturday or Sunday, according to Dusty Baker on the pre-game show.
–The Reds fall below .500 with today’s loss but will get back on the saddle the next three days in Washington with warmer weather, and hopefully hotter bats, expected over the weekend.