Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL — 10 innings
Cincinnati 1
St. Louis 2
W: J. Motte (1-0)
L: S. LeCure (0-1)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Excellent outing for Johnny Cueto: seven innings, one run allowed on seven hits and two walks, with five strikeouts. Never once did it seem like Cueto had his good stuff, and he was always working out of jams, but then you look up after seven innings and his line looks great.
Cueto is good.
NEGATIVES
–This offense is just a complete and utter disaster. One run, again.
–Scott Rolen: .135/.179/.189. Drew Stubbs: .175/.214/.175.
–Was Richard from Springboro managing tonight? Dusty Baker is out of his mind. First, he makes the inexplicable managerial move to bring Devin Mesoraco off the bench to pinch run for Ryan Hanigan. Nonsensical.
Then, although Logan Ondrusek worked out of the bases-loaded jam in the ninth (that Ondrusek created), Dusty demonstrated that he was willing to lose this game 2-1 without using his two best pitchers (Aroldis Chapman, Sean Marshall).
We rarely call Dusty on the carpet here for his bizarre moves, but there is absolutely no defense for that.
–And it gets worse: who comes out to pitch in the bottom of the tenth inning? Sure, Sam LeCure. I like ol’ Sam and his fancy mustache, but where are your two best pitchers, Dusty? Why aren’t they in the game??? Why take a chance on losing with your 4th and 5th best relievers? I’m clearly not smart enough to understand what’s going on here.
–Then, when LeCure predictably gets in trouble, guess who gets up in the bullpen? Why, Bill Bray and Jose Arredondo, of course.
–Then, in extra innings, Dusty takes LeCure — HIS LONG RELIEVER — out of the game after three batters!
–And, with two runners on and the game on the line, Dusty replaces LeCure with Bray, of course. Not Chapman or Marshall.
“Aroldis is in jail” is the only explanation I will accept, at this point.
— Chris Garber (@cgarber8) April 18, 2012
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–Oh, and that’s not all…Dusty called for a hit and run in the tenth inning — with two strikes, with a batter (Brandon Phillips) who isn’t running at 100%, with a catcher running, and with the heart of the Reds lineup due up next.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–I’m thoroughly disgusted by what we saw tonight.
You lose a game with LeCure and Bray pitching and Marshall and Chapman in your pocket you look foolish
— Lance McAlister (@LanceMcAlister) April 18, 2012
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–There’s really no justification for Wilson Valdez or Willie Harris taking up space on the roster.
–In their seven losses, the Reds have scored 10 runs. Brutal.
–I’m not going to say any more right now. We don’t go over the top about Dusty like you see in some corners of the Cincinnati fan base; he’s mostly harmless usually, and he seems like a really nice guy. Tonight, however, I’m really not happy, and I’m not going to say any more so that I don’t say something I regret. Just a terribly mismanaged game.
Source: FanGraphs