Jesse Winker’s 2-out grand slam in the 2nd inning set the tone for the Cincinnati Reds on the day as they clobbered five home runs in a blowout win over Atlanta that also featured another strong start for rookie starter Vladimir Gutierrez.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (62-54) |
12 | 14 | 2 |
| Atlanta Braves (59-56) |
3 | 7 | 1 |
| W: Gutierrez L: Muller |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
The Reds wasted a leadoff double and a walk by Joey Votto in the top of the 1st inning as they came up empty. They wouldn’t waste their opportunity in the 2nd as a 2-out rally got started with a Tyler Naquin single, was followed up by a single from pitcher Vladimir Gutierrez, and then a walk by Jonathan India. Jesse Winker came to the plate hitting .170 with four extra-base hits in 116 plate appearances against lefties this season. He was facing lefty Kyle Muller who lefties had gone 3-28 against on the season (.107) without an extra-base hit. There’s a reason they play the games, though, and Winker came through with a grand slam to give the Reds a 4-1 lead.
The next inning the Reds would find some more success against Kyle Muller. Joey Votto led off with a single and after Tyler Stephenson grounded into a force out, Aristides Aquino walked. That was enough for Braves manager Brian Snitker who headed to the mound to make a pitching change and bring in Josh Tomlin to face Eugenio Suárez. Tyler Naquin followed up by clobbering his 14th homer of the year to make it 8-1 and the rout was seemingly on. If anyone doubted it, Jonathan India added an exclamation point with a solo home run to make it 9-1.
After being shut out in the 4th and 5th innings the Reds went back to work. Jesse Winker led off with a double in the 6th. Kyle Farmer, who made an outstanding diving play to end the bottom of the 5th, followed up with a 2-run homer – his 11th of the season. That made it 11-1 for Cincinnati. In the top of the 9th Tyler Stephenson got his cheering section right behind the Reds dugout going with a leadoff solo home run that made it a 12-2 game.
The Hometown Kid.
What a moment for @Tyler_Step22! pic.twitter.com/ESC9Y8M2hp
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 13, 2021
The Pitching
Walks will haunt. Or so that’s how the saying and beautiful scoreboard graphics go. Vladimir Gutierrez learned that the hard way in the 1st inning as he walked both Jorge Soler and Austin Riley ahead of a Dansby Swanson, who singled in a run to put Atlanta on the board. A ground out would end the inning and the threat.
After he helped himself with a single to extend the inning in the top half and scored on Jesse Winker’s grand slam, Vladimir Gutierrez breezed his way through the 2nd inning. He’d do the same thing for the rest of his outing, mostly, too. That one run in the 1st inning was all he would allow through six before turning the game over to the bullpen.
Jeff Hoffman came out for the 7th inning and he gave up a 2-out solo home to Ozzie Albies as the Braves cut the Reds lead to 11-2. Hoffman returned for the 8th inning and tossed a perfect frame this time around. Amir Garrett took over for the 9th with a 10-run lead. He had to try and work around an error on a pop up by Eugenio Suárez, but later in the inning a wild pitch would bring that runner in to score and make it a 12-3 game. That was all Atlanta would get as the Reds avoided a sweep with a blowout win.
Notes worth noting
Vladimir Gutierrez lowered his ERA to 3.95 on the season with his quality start tonight. Over his last four starts he’s allowed five earned runs in 25.1 innings (1.78 ERA) with eight walks and 21 strikeouts.
https://t.co/PnEiDwY08D pic.twitter.com/oXD7FFI4fZ
— Redleg Nation (@redlegnation) August 12, 2021
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds vs Philadelphia Phillies
Friday August 13, 7:05pm ET
Tyler Mahle (9-3, 3.78 ERA) vs. Zack Wheeler (10-6, 2.42 ERA)
Good grief the Reds have three outstanding rookies right now.
Creating high expectations for the next few years.
I like Santi as a reliever too. He will show his value, I believe, when he gets a chance.
I agree. He should be in the BP next season. There is going to have to be a fair amount of purging in the pen prior to next season. We have a good nucleus of BP arms if they can stay healthy plus potential additions via trades and free agency.
And Jose Barrero beating on the door. Only Farmer’s unbelievable run since the All Star break has kept him at AAA where he can play every day. Bats’ official Twitter just tweeted this about Barrero
Louisville Bats
@LouisvilleBats
Barrero’s 9 homers as a shortstop this year are now the second-most in a single season in Bats history since 1998.
Trails only Zack Cozart – 17 in 2010
Barrero has played in 100 less games
https://twitter.com/LouisvilleBats/status/1425987772028968962
I wish they would bring him up now and move Farmer to 3B. It has to make the team better immediately. I guess you could put Barreo at 3B some and leave Farmer at SS.
@Alan>> And would you believe unless my Twitter timeline is confused, Barrero just homered again (tweet referred to his second of the game)!
They can’t hold him back much longer. They need to get it done.
I like Kyle Farmer. I’ve said before he’s easy to root for, and he absolutely has a place on this team in any iteration for this season. And I hate to be the poopy-pants on him but I think the hype he gets around here reaches hyperbolic levels at times. If Barrero is ready, you bring him up. If Moose is around and healthy, he takes the majority starts at 3B.
Kyle Farmer had an incredible month of July. Probably the best month of baseball he’s had in his career. For July he slashed .395/.456/.691/1.147. No doubt about it, Farmer was huge for the Reds in July. He’s also a solid fielding SS and has brought some stability to the position playing there every day. But, that slash line came with a completely unsustainable .443 BABIP. It also came with a power surge as nearly half his doubles and home runs for the season came during the month. He went on a tear, and the Reds absolutely needed him to. We should be thankful he stepped up when he did. But we should also recognize the month for what it is, an outlier.
It was one month of extremely hot hitting baseball. It’s highly improbable that a soon to be 31 year old having a career best month can keep that going. For the first 3 months he was sporting a .592 OPS which is even well below his career OPS (.701). Through his first 4 seasons his OPS+ was between 68-74. What we were seeing early on was just Farmer playing to back of his baseball card numbers. Since the calendar flipped to August he’s reverted back to his mean (SSS) with a .675 OPS.
Appreciate what Farmer has done as it was completely unexpected and a bright spot. Appreciate the stability he’s brought to the SS position. Appreciate that he has role to play on this team and appears to be a class act. But if Barrero is ready, (and I’m not saying at this moment he 100% is) he’s the future and you play him. You don’t let recency bias and an outlier month cloud the decision on what’s best for the team now and moving forward.
Seems to me you bring Barrero up in Sept. call-up and ride Farmer for all he’s worth. Tearing up AAA is good, but doesn’t necessarily translate to the majors…let him work his way in. Next year will be the tell.
Barrero’s might be a casualty to the numbers game. There was a change to the September call up rules. Now it’s only 28. Remember, Senzel and Antone are both due back soon.
“teams would be allowed 26-man active rosters from the start of the season through August 31, as well as the postseason. From September 1 to the end of the regular season, two additional players (28 total) would be active. Teams would be limited to carrying 13 pitchers, except from September 1 to the end of the regular season, when this limit would increase to 14”.
Great win and just what this team needed
Gutierrez and Hoffman rested the pitching staff
Alan Zinter gets the game ball
Blow out is almost an understatement
Gutierrez’s delivery reminds me of Tom Seaver. He gets a lot of push out of his legs and his right knee almost hits the mound. Great delivery.
That is a good thing in my opinion. It is called drop and drive and is text book pitching mechanics to take most of the pressure off the arm/shoulder during delivery transferring it to the legs and the larger back muscles. The arm motion is largely a follow through through to the torque created by the legs and back. it is not what they teach now because you stay low to the ground and don’t get the downward trajectory you get when you deliver in an upright standing delivery. That is why scouts like taller pitchers.
That is why my favorite modern pitcher was Tom Seaver and my favorite position player was Willie Mays(pitching has nothing to do with Mays).
Tom Terrific was something special. Big loss for the baseball loving world.
He was a joy to watch pitch and I loved it when the Reds were able to trade for him. He almost never had an arm problem and usually pitched much past the 5th or 6 innings the starters today generally do.
Just like I said before the game. I love watching Gutierrez pitch the kid has some good talent and I could see him a big part of this rotation for the future.
Righted the ship. Head into Philly beat them too…. Dead fish and bears after that
Don’t look now but Vlad is 8-3 and should be in the discussion for some award! Maybe ROY if he continues to lower his ERA! Still hope India wins ROY over Rogers of Miami!
I think that’s a marginal case, but to have 3 Rookies in the running like we do … that’s something special.
The thing that might hurt Stephenson is that he doesn’t play every day and Gutierrez will have only pitched around one half a season in the majors. I think India is in the driver’s seat at this point. We have roughly 6 weeks left in the season.
As of now India racks the fairly substantial stats across the board but the Reds splitting their vote probably works against him https://africa.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/_/name/cin/table/batting/sort/avg/dir/desc
Pretty cool ROY betting odds graph way down the page, click on top 1o to see Stephenson https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/mlb/al-nl-rookie-year-odds/
Reds might have 3 of the top 5 candidates for ROY. How cool is that??
It shows that we are finally drafting/signing well and developing well. It hasn’t always been such.
I’d also say 3 of the top 10 for MVP as well. Maybe 4 of top 15.
Drafting good and signing good I give Dick Williams most of the credit for us having a much better minor league system with the guys he put in place as scouts and draft day employees.
Tomorrow is a big game – facing a pitcher who might be the front-runner for Cy Young Award at season’s end. A win tomorrow would be a terrific way to start off the series with the P-heads, and might set us on for a winning road trip.
A lot of “big games” coming. The 3 in Philly would be easier if we win the opener. I made a comment about there not being “plenty” of time left (and got dissed just a bit) and I’ll stand by that logic. It’s mid-August and we have the Brewers extending their little magical run for the title. Still might catch them, but a lot will hinge on some head-to-head stuff. We have most of the NLW ahead of us which is tough enough if we’re battling for Game 163 and the lotto ticket. We’ve got teams who upgraded breathing down our necks, one of whom beat us 2 of 3.
Need Nick C. to get completely healthy and find his groove (even if he’s walking). Nick S. back would probably help. Barrero would be nice even if it forces tough decisions. And if they have innings left to burn, one of Greene or Lodolo would be a good thing in the bullpen.
All based on my PoV here and I don’t claim anything different. Wins like tonight do seem to loosen up the team. That’s always good.
Agree with everything except Greene. His innings are getting up their and I don’t think they will take a chance with him. Lodolo is a different story.
there.
One of those 3 East teams is going to get the division champ slot. I haven’t done any serious number crunching but my sense and thought are that among the 3 of them, they are going to beat up on each other enough that if the Reds get by the Padres, the 2nd place team in the East should also be trailing them at the end.
Then again….. I just took a look and starting tomorrow, 13 Aug, the Mets play an incredible 13 straight vs the Dodgers and Giants. They play LAD three at home then go on the road for 3 vs SF plus 4 more with LAD then after an off day play 3 at home vs SF.
Following the Reds, the Phils have a total of 8 games combined (not consecutive) with Padres, Tampa, and Brewers. They only play Mets and Braves 3 each.
The Braves have 14 combined with Pardes, Giants, Dodgers, and Yankees plus 3 each with Mets and Phils.
I’ll stick with what I said above, if the Reds get by the Padres they will also be ahead of the 2nd place east team.
Reds are seeing young players develop.
Winker is an all star.
India Rookie of the Year
Stephenson outstanding hitter and young catcher
Gutierrez 8 wins
Why would the Reds not pivot in mid august and move to the next level of young players over those who are old or arent getting it done?
Aquino is the next in line. Play him more. He’s elevated himself to a potential RF of the future.
Senzel is the next in line when healthy
Barrero needs to come up soon
Santillan needs to pitch
Greene can come up after Labor Day.
Suarez and Akiyama and Hembree and Garrett need to give way to the next generations of players.
Agree on all except maybe Greene(not because he isn’t deserving but innings). Bringing Barreo and Santillan up now will make the team stronger if they don’t leave them on the bench.
Yep. Greene will come down to innings and likely won’t make the call-up (unless it’s way late in September for a game or two). He’s doing well and rushing him in any way that puts his arm in jeopardy isn’t what we want.
I would keep Greene in AAA for now and give him 4-5 more starts in August and Early September in AAA. That would be another 30 innings or so to add to his 85 and get him about 115.
Could bring him up in September for a spot start or 2 then off to the bullpen he goes for a season well done. Can you imagine the crowds at GABP for his first start? They could taper things at AAA in early September and give him a spot start against the Dodgers the weekend of Sept 18th. That would be must see TV and probably the game of the week in MLB.
Barrero tonight for the Bats: 3-4, 2 HR, a double, and 4 runs scored.
I can’t imagine any other organization in a pennant chase leaving a guy hitting like Barrero in the minors, especially when you factor in that he is a plus defender in a system that is deficient defensively.
Just seems to me like he’s a better option than Suarez or Moustakis at this point. I’d sure like to find out for certain.
They are making it a case of where they would have to bench Farmer in order to let Barreo play. For some reason Suarez is untouchable at 3B. It shouldn’t so but I would be against taking Farmer out of the lineup right now. Suarez on the other hand should have been benched long ago.
IF Barrero is called up, and IF he is played at SS, and IF they then bench Farmer and yet continue to play Suarez at 3B, it should be taken as proven beyond any reasonable doubt that this organization suffers from terminal rectal / cranial inversion.
It is so ridiculous that it might actually happen. Because “we aren’t gonna pay Suarez all that money to sit on the bench!”
By that logic they’re paying Moustakas far more than Saurez. Like I’ve been saying maybe 4-5 days a week depending on foot and oppo pitcher situation Moose is gonna spot Votto like he did today and give India the occasional day off at 2nd and play 3rd while Geno spells Farmer a breather here and there until the situation changes. Loosely rotating 5 infielders across 4 positions
It also should be a rule if you say so and so needs to roster up here you’ve also got to say who it is corresponds going out
I think the roster crunch is very real and could drive some decisions. For instance, if Senzel runs out of rehab days before 1 Sept, maybe they recall him from rehab but leave him on IL until then because if he is on IL Sept 1, they can activate him as one of the expansion spots (or if someone else gets hurt) but maintain his playoff eligibility.
And the pitching situation is even more complexing. If vets are DFA to create spots and leave the organization where does that leave them if somebody else goes arm lame as guys who have missed considerable time earlier are often prone to do?
What would be your thoughts on Farmer in CF. Obviously 3B would make the most sense if Barrero were to come up, but if the Reds feel the need to keep putting Suarez out there and Moose occasionally, it’s not like anyone’s been dominating the CF position.
He may be too slow for CF. His only fault at SS is range.
@Alan I don’t think anyone expected his defense at SS to be as good as it has been. Maybe he’d surprise everyone in CF, too.
I was all for giving Barrero more time in AAA but I think the Reds need to call him up and stick him as the everyday SS. That has nothing to do with Farmer and I would not be opposed to him being the 3B for the rest of this year (or until his post-AS hot streak ends). I don’t think there is any world where Farmer should be the everyday SS next year but he has filled in admirably this year and the Reds still need to play him nearly every day. I think the best option (because they aren’t sitting Geno/Moose) would be to use Farmer’s versatility as the option for Bell’s desire to rest people as much as possible. Farmer could give India, Winker, Castellanos, and Votto breathers throughout the week and even probably play CF for a game or two.
That leads to the roster crunch. The Reds would have to make some tough decisions without harming any player who could help the Reds next year. The first move is to bring up Senzel and I would send a bullpen arm down (the bullpen is far from taxed) for two weeks or DFA someone. Hoffman and Doolittle would be at the top of my list. The next move would be Barrero which would be the hardest call. You are looking at the three backup quality OFs (Akiyama, Naquin, AA). I don’t think AA is an option here. He is too talented and has no options remaining. So it comes down to Shogo and Naquin. I’d probably lean towards attempting to option Shogo to AAA for a few weeks but I’m not even sure if he technically has options left. If he doesn’t, I would just DFA Naquin who won’t be a part of the Reds future.
Naquin has two options.
Dang we beat them so bad they optioned the starter
i almost think that guy may have been tipping his pitches besides grooving non-elite hard stuff
ii wonder how many stupid cubs fans will be attendance next week at gabp?
also I give credit to Bell. say what you want about him but he knows his players and knows his team. how many times have reds fans thought the world was going to end because he sat a starter and the reds win in blowout fashion anyway. ?
Many Cubbie fans expected at GABP next week. It’s a convenient trip from ChiTown.
glad to see bats wake up on this road trip. 3 rookies tearing it up – love it. something obviously wrong with Moose – has barely played since his 3 double night. Its a shame because we need him. Good game by Naquin too – he’s had a good year in CF. Quite the dilemma to sort out next year – 4 potential center fielders – Naquin, Shogo (prob. best one defensively), Senzel, and Aquino (who I think can play there).
He really only hit on his 3 double debut against pitiful Pirate batting practice pitchers. I’m thinking they may not have even had a live scouting script of exactly how they wanted to to pitch him or else he correctly extrapolated from last season. The next night he walked twice but got no other hits among the 14 everybody else hammered, The next game was an early vet rest day after night action, then Cleveland, and you saw how he handled the wily vet lefties in Atlanta. No real live pitching above AAA level for 2.5 months can do that to you
And @AZ is hammering Sam Diego 8-2 bottom of the 4th
I’d have to disagree that Naquin has had a good year in CF. He was really good for the first month or so of the season but has been Suarez-level bad for months with a good game or two sprinkled in every month. He is hitting .238 with an OBP below .300 since May 1st. He is a 5th outfielder and shouldn’t be looked at as much more than that. He and Suarez hitting back to back most of the year have been brutal to watch. The CF job should be Senzel’s and no one is close to him talent-wise…it is just a matter of him staying healthy. I’m not convinced Aquino’s defense should be an option in CF. He is an above-average RF and LF but I’m not sure he gets quick enough reads on the ball for CF.
Hoping J India gets rookie of the Year. He has solidified 2nd base for the Reds and also leadoff batter for the Reds.
And PHI only got 4.1 innings from their stater and taxed their bullpen to boot for a best of both worlds scenario in topping the Dodgers 2-1 so we’re 7.5 back of the still makeable WC1 prize
De Los Santos o.2 5-4 pitches/strikes
Neris (H, 4) 1.o 12-9
Bradley (W, 7-1) 2.o 22-14
Kennedy (S, 19) 1.o 26-14
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/bullpen-usage.php?team=PHI
Have to say this team bounces back after brutal losses (and there have been many) better than any Reds team I can remember. Says a lot about the character of these players not to get down on themselves. Now let’s take Philly! We’re not done yet.
Allen Toussaint “Hang Tough”
I am fairly certain today is the day Tyler Stephenson became the starting catcher.
Catching is a very taxing physical position. Barnhart is also having a very nice year. The balance Bell has employed at the catching position is working very good as is. Don’t think you’ll see a change at this point.
Agree. That is why you hang onto Barnhart going forward. Between 1B and DH you can get plenty of ABs for whoever isn’t catching.
The Reds can’t pay everyone though. I mean they could if they were willing to go back to Bauer/Iggy payroll levels, but they actually never had to pay that either due to the 60 game season.
What will it take to resign Lorenzen and Givens? I’d give up Barnhart’s 7.5 if thats what it takes? Maybe they can move Geno and only have to eat half of his $11 mil salary? Its going to be interesting.
IRM- Big Bob loves fans like you. Telling him he cant pay everyone. 7.5 mil is peanuts to these billionaire owners.
If we can rid ourselves of half of Suarez and Moose’s contracts. i.e. we absorb the other half of money in a trade with little or nothing in return, that could make a difference. If Castellanous opt out that is another close to $17 million freed up. It all depends on how the cards fall. Those things could potentially free up money for trades/free agent signings and resigning current players. I think we are in the position where we need to ramp up spending to continue being competitive.
Curt Casali is making is $1.5M to back up Buster Posey with the Giants. That’s the same job scope as the #2 catcher in Cincinnati will be next year.
The Reds are not going to pay Barnhart (or anyone) 5x that $1.5M amount to do the same job behind Stephenson. Perhaps the Reds would go higher on Barnhart than $1.5M but probably not over $3M at most.
JB,
The Reds were like 12th in payroll with Bauer/Iggy. They’re still 17th and they’re lucky to draw 18K on a weeknight. Everyone wants top ten payroll but its not their money? Mlb isn’t setup like the NFL where everyone is guaranteed to be a billionaire.
I hope so. The lineup is very balanced when Stephenson is in there. I cry a little inside when I see the 6-9 spot filled with Suarez, Naquin, Barnhart, and pitcher.
Barnhart’s OPS since the All Star break is hovering around .600 (.604 this morning). His seasonal OPS is back into his career range, .733 vs .705 career.
Naquin is right in range with his career OPS numbers. .741 this year, .759 career.
Suarez, well that’s been beaten into the ground around here….
A great get-away win to carryover into Philly and then home to face the Cubs and Marlins.
Went to bed and SD was up 2-0. I couldn’t believe they got crushed 12-3. The Padres are in trouble. Musgrove is their only pitcher that seems to be rolling along. Snell has had a bad year and Darvish left with back issues last night. Paddack is on the IL. Ryan Weathers has been getting bombed and hitting the rookie wall. He’s only 21. I expect them to get some beatdowns when they get to the 19 games with LA/SF.
not sure why so many are eager to get rid of hoffman. i dont have the numbers but he’s put up a lot of zeroes from the bullpen, with multiple inning appearances as well. as a starter, awful, yes. but he looks like an important piece in the pen.
I don’t think “eager” is the right word exactly. He seems to have a future in relief. He definitely isn’t like Tomlin with Atlanta yesterday. Eats up innings, but also turns 5-1 into 11-1 or whatever. The problem is 14 pitchers is kind of stupid because its hard to give everyone enough work and then Professor DoubleSwitch has nobody left off his short bench by the 9th. Lorenzen should be taking alot of BP!
So if you bring up Senzel, Antone, and maybe Barrero then somebody has to go. Rosters go to 28 on Sept 1 so theres that.
Wait 2 more weeks before you do anything other than replace Suarez.
I wouldn’t get rid of Hoffman. There are several others I would let go before him. We may have to eat some money on them also. If we can make a couple more weeks until roster expansion it should give us the opportunity to get a longer look at players such as Hoffman as well as a few call ups from the minors. We can do that and still compete for a wild card spot I believe.
I agree. It looks to me like Hoffman has found his place in the pen. He was mopping up with the Reds in a good lead and he pitched a couple innings with panache.
Some random thoughts.
Farmer’s offensive upgrade may be real – he made a change to move up upon the box and started hitting much better. This may be a fundamentally different Kyle Farmer at the plate. Add that to – Suarez has not hit for more than a year, and Moustakas is not 100%. I’ve been reluctant to push Barrero but I think his time has come. Barrero to SS, Farmer to 3B, Senzel splitting time between CF and 3B.
Extend Castellanos now. With him a little banged up he may realize that a huge payday in free agency is not guaranteed. He appears to love playing with this team. At the very least those conversations need to be happening.
I’m hoping the Reds can extend some combination of Lorenzen, Givens and Cessa – at least two of the three – to solidify the bullpen for next year. Add Antone, Wilson, Sims, and perhaps Hembree, Warren, Hoffman and Santillan and that looks pretty solid to me.
Finally, the Field of Dreams game last night was pretty special. I hope everyone had a chance to check it out. If not there are tons of highlights online. Do yourself a favor. Goose bumps guaranteed or you’re not a real baseball fan!
I agree on Farmer and Barreo. I also think Farmer might take his hitting forward. Not yet sold on Sims and we would need a 2nd lefty in the pen(probably no one on the current roster).
I must not be a true baseball fan. The whole FoD idea just didn’t appeal to me. 😉 Perhaps that’s because I am old enough to have seen pretty good semi-pro Sunday league baseball played in similar settings on a regular basis?
I believe going to Crossley Field a couple of times a year to see the Reds was my personal field of dreams experience. For weeks afterwards, I’d stand at the home plate of my side yard baseball field and try to imagine the soaring height of the Crosley grandstand surrounding me.
But I am happy for all of you that really got into it to have had the experience.
I didn’t catch the Field of Dreams game, but my brothers, neighborhood kids, and myself grew up in a field of dreams in Trenton, Ohio, where a wonderful neighbor gave us kids a good size corn field that we made into a replica of Crosley Field and occasionally, if not catching, I’d be Paul Summerkamp, the park announcer, announcing the Red’s lineup of those days.
Plus 100 on Crosley memories. Got to see Bench as a rookie. Pete playing right and going after somebody in the stands who was harrassing him the whole game. Saw Roger Maris up close, Juan Marichal and Willie Mays. Not to mention all the Reds of that era. Though I only saw a few games as a kid,(mostly knothole night games) I’ll never forget them.
Fair enough Jim, but for those of us whose first Reds stadium was Riverfront, with similar parks in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and others that cornfield setting is pretty compelling. Plus, not only was it a wonderful movie but W.P. Kinsella is a terrific read across many baseball novels. And I loved the Sox throw back jerseys!
Yes, the Field of Dreams game was quite the moment–I enjoyed it immensely!
The talent is surfacing all over the place for CIN now and it is there time. They have passed CHC and PIT, and especially if Arenado opts out, STL. That leaves MIL as the rival and their SP is incredible.
The window is now to determine if this CIN team can take that talent and add in the kind of drive/hunger to win big games and shine in big moments. I am pulling for all of them big-time!
Tonight is indeed that test.