Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
San Diego 4
Cincinnati 9
W: J. Cueto (14-5)
L: R. Ohlendorf (3-2)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–My goodness. They just keep winning, don’t they? 13 of 14. That was a nice comfortable win, too. I don’t know about you, but I needed one like that.
–Plenty of offense today, but let’s give a special nod to Scott Rolen and his 3 for 4 afternoon. His second half stat line including today’s game: .364/.463/.491 (h/t Greg Dafler).
–Even if Rolen keeps hitting, they’re going to have to find a way to play Todd Frazier. He just keeps getting it done.
–Johnny Cueto gave up 4 runs (though it easily could have been 2), but that was still a very good start. He’s 14-5 now.
–Zack Cozart made an absolutely fantastic play (Cairo wasn’t too shabby either) to get Cueto out of the sixth. If you haven’t seen it, go take a look.
–Dusty Baker used two relief pitchers today. Ondrusek and Arredondo. We disagree with the Duster a lot here, but I like that decision. Those two are so erratic they should be the last ones out of the pen against Pittsburgh. Everyone else will be fresh now.
–Joey Votto was spotted taking ground balls today! He won’t be back for Pittsburgh, but a return is coming soon. Good news for Reds fans everywhere.
NEGATIVES
–None.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Three in a row. What say they make it six by the end of the weekend? Seriously, I can’t underscore the importance of this series. Right now, the Reds are 3.5 up (Pirates are off tonight, so it will stay that way) and here’s how the weekend could play out. Pirates sweep: Reds half a game up. Reds win 1: 2.5 up. Reds win 2: 4.5 up. Reds sweep: 6.5 up.
–I still can’t believe the Reds and Pirates are playing meaningful games in August. I think both cities deserve it.
–Xavier Paul had a rough game today, so I went to take a close look at his stats (I had been irritated by all the people agitating for him after 15 plate appearances) and you know what? He has fantastic minor league numbers and not even a full season of ML at-bats. I have no idea if he’ll be good, but I don’t know why he keeps getting cut loose. You’d think someone would want to give him a real shot. He’s 27, so he should be hitting his prime right now.
–One of the things I find myself doing daily is heading over to Cool Standings to check their playoff odds. Right now, the Reds are listed as having a 91.4% chance of making the playoffs and a 58.6% chance of winning the division. Those will both go up a bit once they process this latest win. Fun stuff.
–The Reds are 23 over .500. The last time that happened was Sept. 4, 2010. If they get to 24 over, it will be the farthest they’ve been over .500 since 1999. They still have the best record in baseball. They are now on pace for 99 wins. They haven’t won that many since 1976.
Source: FanGraphs