Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 4
New York (N) 1
W: H. Bailey (5-4)
L: J. Niese (4-3)
S: A. Chapman (8)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–That’s five in a row now. A win tomorrow would match the longest streak of the year.
–Homer Bailey. I’ve been as big a detractor as I could reasonably be, but I just can’t complain about him this year and especially tonight.
–Everyone in the starting lineup except Homer has exactly one hit. Way to spread it around, boys.
–Jay Bruce hit his 15th homer today and set the tone for the win. He’s having a very nice year.
–Joey Votto got on base twice today. Also, the sun set in the west.
NEGATIVES
–None
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Now that they’ve started to hit the Reds seem almost indestructible. They aren’t, of course, but it’s a nice feeling.
–I remember a time when many people thought Votto should be traded and Alonso given first. Well, before today’s game, Votto had been good for 4.2 WAR while Alonso had generated -0.3 WAR for the Padres (oh, that’s park adjusted, by the way). Anybody still feel that way?
–This is an off-the-cuff rant, but Thom mentioned the quality start a few times today. The QS is a good stat. Yes, it is true that 3 runs in six innings is a 4.50 ERA and that is not very good. Of course, the next-highest single-start ERA you can have is 3.86 (3 runs in 7 innings), and that actually is pretty good. It only gets better from there. So yeah, those ten quality starts from Homer mean something.
–The Reds are ten over .500 now and stay four up on both the Cardinals and the Pirates who both won today. Let us continue to bask in the glory of this team and not complain. Reds go for the sweep tomorrow. Johnny Cueto will be on the mound, and I like those odds. I’ll be watching.
Source: FanGraphs