Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 5
St. Louis 3
W: A. Simon (1-1)
L: A. Wainwright (7-9)
S: A. Chapman (12)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–The Reds beat the Cardinals. That is always a positive. Always.
–Brandon Phillips had a heck of a day. 3 for 4 with a double will always get it done.
–Ryan Ludwick tripled. I enjoyed that. Happy birthday to the Ludster.
–I take back everything bad I may ever have said about Alfredo Simon.
–Aroldis Chapman throws a baseball hard and highly paid men with lots of practice seem unable to touch it. He struck out the side tonight. Delicious.
–Todd Frazier started.
–Did I mention that the Reds beat the Cardinals?
NEGATIVES
–The top three batters in the order were 0 for 11. That is not so good. Votto has been scuffling a bit lately, and the Reds could really stand for him to get going again. Stubbs and Cozart I expect you know about and I’m just not going to go there.
–Marshall let a run in. It got scary for just a minute there.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–The Reds have two series remaining against teams with winning records other than the Pirates and the Cardinals. What that basically means is that if the Reds beat the Pirates and the Cardinals, they will be in the playoffs. Tonight, the Reds beat the Cardinals (did I mention that yet). Winning a series against the Redbirds sure would be a nice way to start the second half.
–Mat Latos wasn’t great, but he still allowed only one run. I think we’ll cut him a bit of slack there. Every pitcher is going to have starts like that on occasion.
–I am so glad baseball is back.
Source: FanGraphs