Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL — 10 innings
Chicago 3
Cincinnati 4
W: L. Ondrusek (2-0)
L: R. Dolis (1-2)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Not many positives, to be honest. Somehow the Reds scratched out a win, thanks to some shoddy relief work and poor defense by the Cubs. I’ll take it however I can get it.
–Joey Votto was 2-3 with a double, a walk, and a run scored.
–The bullpen — Arredondo, Chapman, Marshall, Ondrusek — tossed four innings, allowing zero runs, one hit and one base on balls. That’s getting it done.
–After being down 3-0 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Reds rallied (thanks to a Carlos Marmol meltdown) in the following fashion: BB, BB, E5, 1B, BB, double play, K. That’s only a formula for success if Marmol is on the mound.
NEGATIVES
–TOS*
–In the bottom of the ninth, Dusty Baker let Willie Harris lead off the inning, and let Wilson Valdez hit with two outs and the winning run on third. (Harris walked, Valdez struck out on one of the worst swings you’ll ever see.) Then, in the top of the tenth, he put Scott Rolen and Zack Cozart in the lineup for those two, as defensive substitutions!!! Why not let Rolen and Cozart hit in the ninth, with the game on the line, instead of the two worst bats on the team?
I’ll never understand what goes through Dusty’s mind half of the time.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–What can I say? The Reds were lucky to get a split of this series, but I’ll take it. They finish the homestand at 5-3.
–That was the first start in major league history in which each starting pitcher — Homer Bailey and Ryan Dempster — was celebrating a birthday.
–We can quibble with the term “quality start,” but Homer gave up three runs in six innings. That should be good enough on most nights. It isn’t good enough when the offense is as putrid as we’ve seen at times this year.
–Rolen won the game in the tenth on a sac fly, after the Cubs did their Barnum & Bailey defensive routine on a Chris Heisey bunt and allowed Zack Cozart (who had singled to lead off the tenth) to reach third. The Cubs stink so bad. I can’t believe they dominated the Reds for almost all of two straight games.
–With two outs in the ninth, I saw this gem of a tweet:
Reds have scored as many runs on double plays (2) as non-double plays (2) in the last 17 2/3 innings.
— rpa (@rpa44) May 3, 2012
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–Off to Pittsburgh tomorrow. The Reds need to start hitting the ball and getting some wins.
Source: FanGraphs
*This Offense Stinks.