Let’s recap today’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Chicago Cubs 0
Cincinnati 1
W: M. Latos (1-0)
L: J. Samardzija (1-4)
S: A. Chapman (4)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Mat Latos was fantastic today and has been all season. Good to see him finally get a win today. The Reds really do have an excellent rotation.
–Jonathan Broxton really slammed the door in the 8th. That was an excellent performance.
–Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Shin-Soo Choo was on base more than once today.
–Todd Frazier homered. That was important.
–Zack Cozart made a great play in 8th to keep the Reds in the lead.
–Chapman gonna chap.
–Reds finished the homestand 8-2. That’ll do boys, that’ll do.
NEGATIVES
–None
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–I have been a really big supporter of Ryan Hanigan and we are certainly still looking at small samples with Devin, but I’m really starting to feel the roles should be reversed when Hanigan comes back. The staff certainly isn’t imploding from pitching to Mesoraco.
–I have been listening to Marty Brennamen call games since I was a kid. He’s been irritating for several years, but his criticism of Votto is absolutely the height of idiocy. I do believe the game may have passed him by. He’s completely unwilling to change his views based on new information. Thus, his analysis is intellectually worthless.
–For all the hand-wringing preseason, I feel like Choo has been fine in center. He has his moments, but I don’t dread him running out there.
–I’m probably in the minority, but there really isn’t anything I like better than a 1-0 game. So much tension, it’s a great time.
–The Reds head out on a ten game road trip tomorrow against the Nationals, Cardinals, and Cubs. Let’s hope this one goes a bit better than the last one.