After the previous Monday where the question provider missed the boat, the Cincinnati Reds Question of the Week is back at Redleg Nation. For this week as decided to ask some of the writers what their most memorable moment of the season was in the 2019 season.
Question: The season isn’t over just yet, but we’re almost there. What’s the most memorable moment of the season for you this year?
Mary Beth Ellis: In the most 2019 Reds thing ever, when Derek Dietrich hit the go-ahead run on Opening Day, my husband turned to me and asked who Derek Dietrich was. And I had no idea.
“The pitcher! The pitcher did that!” someone yelled from the back of the bar. Now, of course, we have a Derek Dietrich (not a pitcher– YET) tee shirt in our home and no more video replays of Yasiel Puig. And what I remember most about any of them doing anything had nothing to do with strikeouts, defense, or run generation. It’s all punching Pirates, throwing one another in the air after home runs, and grim reminders of the “don’t get attached” philosophy. And that’s not entirely a bad thing.
At least I’ll remember–fondly, if not without a great deal of frustration.
Bill Lack: For me, it was the streak that Aristides Aquino had. The 11 homers in his first 17 games were just fun to watch. No matter what the rest of his career brings, it was fun to watch him shred the Major League record book in those 17 games.
Ashley Davis: I have two memorable moments from this season and both involved games I attended, but each was memorable for different reasons. The first was the night Yasiel Puig was traded. The game itself was boring–the Reds lost 11-4. It was the end of the game, however, that made it interesting. From the moment I read tweets about Puig being traded for Trevor Bauer, but remained in the game to the escalating arguments and the brawl between the Reds and the Pirates while everyone was learning of the trade news, I knew it was going to be a game I wouldn’t forget, even though it had nothing to do with actual baseball.
The second moment was a recent game against the Phillies. The Reds got an early lead via a Joey Votto home run. Jay Bruce tied it with a home run, bringing with it conflicted feelings for me. Jose Iglesias untied it in the following inning and Michael Lorenzen capped off the win with a home run. Any time Lorenzen does something good at the plate, it’s memorable. That night was just a fun night at the ballpark. Being a fan of a playoff contender is better, but you can always find memorable moments even when your team isn’t one of the best.
Doug Gray: I’m with Bill on this one, sort of. Mine isn’t the streak itself, though that was incredibly fun. But mine is a game within the streak. August 10th against the Chicago Cubs. The Reds won the game 10-1 and they hit what feels like eleventy-billion home runs in the game. It was only six, but the feeling was there that they were never going to stop. And that’s because Aristides Aquino hit three of them on the day. And not only did he hit three, but they came in three straight innings.
The first one came in the second inning off of Kyle Hendricks, and so did the one the next inning, too. But in the fourth inning he saw a new pitcher, but it didn’t matter. He took Dillon Maples deep, too.
I like the moments you all mention, but to me they were just more little “bright spots” that are similar to past losing seasons. For me the most memorable moment this season was the July 1-4th series against at the time, the first place Brewers.
The first game the Reds had a 3-1 lead going into the 7th. Their bullpen allowed 7 runs in the last three innings and the Reds lost a tough one 8-6, and fell to 6.5 back. That tallied up a 2-6 stretch, which followed that sweet 6 game winning streak in late June. One would be fair to assume the Reds lost their steam.
But they came back the next night and battled. After scoring 2 runs in the first the Brewers took the lead until a Puig homer and Votto double tied it up in the 8th. They went to extras and Puig singled with two outs in the 11th. Then Iglesias hit a single to right, Puig was hustling the whole time and made it to 3rd. Yelich’s throw in was botched and Puig decided to take a chance that paid off, sliding in headfirst and winning the game.
I was lucky enough to attend the July 3rd game in which Sonny Gray took the mound, and boy was he dominate. I remember in the 8th inning after issuing 12Ks he gave up his first walk, and out came Bell. Gray was at 100+ pitches and the Reds were only up 2-0. So with the tying run on base even I wasnt going to get upset at Bell taking Gray out. But he left him in! He pulled a non-analytic thing and said go get him and man was I pumped and so was the crowd. You could feel the energy in the stadium, the emotion, the passion of the fans and the players.
The Reds went on to win, and win on the 4th of July. Winning the series and getting to closest point of the division at 3.5 games back. For a moment, however small, everyone in this city got to feel what winning, competing, baseball was like again…
That was a great moment for sure!! You summed it up perfectly
That was a great moment for sure!! You summed it up perfectly
Puig coming all the way around from 1st and scoring that night is my favorite moment. The lights going off and on while the team celebrated with him, it was pretty cool.
Oh that was a terrific moment! Wins on the 4th of July are somehow always better…
i agree with Ashley, the Pittsburgh fight will be one I will remember for a long time. Puig was charging in from right field like a Rhino! I hope Bauer continues his good pitching but I got to tell you I miss Puig. He and Votto were really trying to change the culture of this club and I think had a special relationship. Oh well, maybe he will be back with the team next year!
I think you are all have great answers but if there is prize money going out Ashley wins hands down, both of her moments had to be in the top of anyone’s list.
Not a memorable moment but many memorable moments where the Red’s offense failed to get runners across the plate resulting in too many one-run losses.
That is an excellent point.
No memorable moments. If I cried about baseball, this season would be a morass of red-tinged tears.
You know, sad to say- I’m going to remember the excitement and anticipation of the All-Star break sweep of the Astros leading into Puig catching fire, and then the insane disappointment of Bauer, Raisel and Amir Garrett, game after game for the last couple months. Nice to see Bauer pitch well the other day, but the rank taste and aimless downward spiral for the last 50 games or so isn’t leaving my mouth anytime soon, sadly.
Iglesias’ rolling throw from his back, and Winker’s insane slide/jump over the 3rd baseman a few months back – also really amazing.