I am pleased to announce that Sonny, having bounced back from his tryst with Crying Bikini Scammer, pitched rather well last night. Sonny has been the best quiet surprise of this season, particularly after a mediocre start. When he was named to the All Star Team my official professional sportswriter reaction was: “Eh… meh.” But since then Sonny Gray has been shockingly solid. Now he really is an All Star! He’s the first player I’ve not-met who’s had a backwards All Star season. It’s like he found out he was an All Star and went “Aw crap, now I gotta be an All Star” and then became one. He pre-manifested himself right onto that roster. Right now, his ERA is half of what it was a year ago. It’s a little terrifying. And awesome.
Well, let’s go at it against these San Diegoans.
Starting Pitchers
| Name | IP | ERA | SO | WHIP | G |
| Matt Strahm | 96.2 | 5.21 | 99 | 1.27 | 29 |
| Luis Castillo | 148.0 | 3.10 | 175 | 1.14 | 25 |
I have a sad face when I look at Luis Castillo’s ERA. It’s better than Matt Strahm’s ERA, but then I had to put parts of my hand up to the screen over Matt Stram’s abundance of hair to determine if he is cute or not, and it’s just impossible. He’s too hairy. Anyway, I expect more from Luis. More than I do from Tucker Barnhart playing left field.
Starting Lineups
Reds
- Nick Senzel – CF
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Eugenio Suarez – 3B
- Aristides Aquino – RF
- Phillip Ervin – LF
- Freddy Galvis – 2B
- Tucker Barnhart – C
- Josh VanMeter -1B
- Luis Castillo – P
San Diego Padres
- Greg Garcia – 2B
- Josh Naylor – LF
- Eric Hosmer – 1B
- Hunter Renfroe – RF
- Francisco Mejia – C
- Wil Myers – CF
- Ty France – 3B
- Julio Urias – SS
- Matt Strahm – SP
News and Notes
-Today’s game is a BUUUUUIIIIIIIIISNEEESSSSSMAAAAAAANNNNN SPEEEEEEEECIIIIIAAAAALLLLL
-Perhaps the best part of the Surgence of Sonny Gray is that all fourteen people in attendance at the game last night got free pizza.
-NEW TV UPDATE: I am very proud of Josh The Pilot for choosing a TV before the end of the current Presidential administration and plugging it in and everything. Although I feel I should point out that when we needed a garage door opener it took him six months to purchase the garage door opener and then it sat for a few more months until it was installed, but that TV, man, it was up and running before sundown.
-Here is a very important announcement from our own Chad Dotson:
Down on the farm, pitcher Randy Wynne struck out 17 batters and allowed just 1 hit last night.
Cincinnati #Reds minor league pitcher Randy Wynne had the best performance I can recall in my 14 years of covering the farm system last night, striking out 17 batters without a walk in 8 shutout innings. https://t.co/B3riXRVkv5 pic.twitter.com/pqQRiraNN6
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) August 21, 2019
Reds have been struggling to score runs lately. Afternoon games have been one of their worst enemies but hopefully they can get a series win today.
The Meter man is starting against a lefty! Our prayers have been answered!
I had the same thought until I read JB’s post. I am guessing it’s because the pitcher is a lefty.
Baby steps. Let’s just be happy with him playing. I just hope he has a few hits to show Bell that he can hit lefties.
I’m with Chad. Almost had to see the Springsteen fan movie but convinced my wife that we had just seen it the week before when we saw the movie about the Beatles fan in a world where everyone else (almost) had forgotten them. Instead we saw “Ready or Not.”
It was more “not” than “ready.” Dialogue people. DIALOGUE.
Anyway, go Reds! Series win!
Chad is wise in many things.
Senzel looks like kind of lost at the plate, making swing at everything.
That was a gift. Hopefully they can bring him home. And they do.
Did the Padre pitcher get hurt? I see they brought in a reliever.
No and left fielder dropped the ball sending Senzel to 2nd. Which he then scored.
Another gift. Wasnt even close to a strike.
You get a gift and you get a gift and you get a gift…
Need to upgrade in offseason at Catcher badly – Tucker just not gonna be enough offensively – mediocre to below average . Fine with him off bench , but he don’t need to start period.
That’s awesome! Greatly appreciated 🙂 Meet happy.
Give me those glove first-no bat middle infielders Iglesias and Galvis each and everyday of the week, twice on thursdays please.
Thanks to Doug for saving the thread today. #TheRealMVP
I’m not sure what to make of his comments. Right now nobody knows what to think because Iggy is a free agent. If they don’t sign him then Galvis is your SS and VanMeter is your 2b. I think he is also going to let the season play out and see if VanMeter keeps it going. I like Iggy but Galvis does the same and a lot more pop. I hope they let Iggy walk because Vanmeter looks legit. He takes a walk which the other 2 dont.
Bullpen is starting to come back to life. Barring a miracle finish to the season it’s a little to late for this season.
Same here. St. Louis announcers were saying how dangerous the Reds would be if they get into the playoffs.
The Reds wrap up a winning homestand. And Rasiel adds another save. Ten game road trip is the time for the Reds to hit .500 and beyond.
One observation: I don’t think the Reds had one bad base runner in the lineup today. So used to seeing at least one or maybe two baserunning blunders so this is very encouraging.
Best of all we manage to win a day game!