Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Pittsburgh 4
Cincinnati 1
W: A. Burnett (10-11)
L: H. Bailey (11-12)
S: J. Grilli (33)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–The only positive: 40,107 Reds fans showed up to cheer loudly for their favorite baseball team.
–Okay, one more positive: Joey Votto went 2-4. Votto has now reached base 312 times this season, breaking Pete Rose’s club record. But yeah, Votto is having a bad season, right?
–I lied, here’s one more: JJ Hoover struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect ninth inning.
NEGATIVES
–Those fans must not have cheered loud enough, because Ryan Ludwick — hitting second — went 0-4. He saw nine total pitches in those four at-bats. I’m sure Dusty Baker is pleased with that aggressive approach.
–Homer Bailey wasn’t good. He gave up four runs on four hits and four walks in five innings.
–AJ Burnett was pitching well for Pittsburgh, but the offense was nonexistent, other than Todd Frazier’s solo homer.
–A Dat Dude DP ended the game.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–The Reds still have something to play for; a series win this weekend would give the Reds home field advantage in the one-game Wild Card playoff. That said, it’s difficult to imagine a more uninspired performance than the one we saw today.
–Pittsburgh’s Marlon Byrd hit a ball as far as you can hit one in Great American Ballpark without getting a homer. It barely hit the fence in the corner where the wall is elevated in left-center field, and Byrd was held to a double. Of course, Pedro Alvarez hit one about thirty miles a few minutes later, so Byrd scored anyway.
–You know, if the Reds can just win that wild card game on Tuesday, everything will change in the hearts and minds of Reds fans. People will start getting excited about this team. That’s my prediction, anyway.
–I wanted to try to be more positive through the rest of this season. I really did. But I’m having trouble finding things to be excited about in tonight’s lackluster performance.
The Reds are going to be in the postseason, though. They still have a chance to win the World Series. That’s something, right?
–I hate to use Milton this late in the season…
A terrible showing tonight, Redlegs. Just awful. Milton looks happy, but he’s disappointed.