The Cincinnati Reds bullpen was lights out after entering the game in the 5th inning. They didn’t give up a run until the 13th and that was when starting pitcher Chase Anderson had come into the game as the bullpen was depleted. Unfortunately for Cincinnati he gave up three runs and that was too much for the offense to overcome in the bottom of the inning as the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 5-3 win to take the series.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis Cardinals (76-55) | 5 | 8 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (51-78) | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| W: Pallante (6-4) L: Anderson (0-2) |
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| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Cincinnati only had a single from Donovan Solano through the first two innings but they went to work in the 3rd inning. Aristides Aquino singled to lead off the inning and Jose Barrero followed with a walk. They would move up on a ground out and then they would each score on back-to-back singles from Jonathan India and Nick Senzel. The India single extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
In both the 4th and 6th innings the Reds singled twice but couldn’t get that third hit to bring a run across the plate as the game remained tied up at 2-2. With the game tied up in the 8th Stuart Fairchild drew a 2-out walk, but he was picked off and sprinted for second before being easily thrown out at the bag to end the inning.
The bottom of the 9th inning began with a bunt single by TJ Friedl, who may be the best bunter in professional baseball. Jose Barrero battled for a 9-pitch at-bat but came up just a few feet short of a walk-off home run as he flew out to the warning track in left field. Jake Fraley struck out and then the Cardinals went to the bullpen to bring in Ryan Helsley to face Jonathan India and he walked him, moving Friedl up to second base. Austin Romine came to the plate next and he popped up to Paul Goldschmidt in foul territory to end the inning and send the game to extras.
After Reiver Sanmartin kept the Cardinals off of the scoreboard in the top of the 10th inning the Reds had an opportunity to walk it off once again with Austin Romine starting on second base. Kyle Farmer grounded out to third, keeping Romine at second. Donovan Solano then struck out to bring up Alejo Lopez. St. Louis chose to walk Lopez to face Stuart Fairchild, but David Bell called on Colin Moran to gain the platoon match up against the hard throwing Helsley. He struck out on three straight pitches over 100 MPH.
Colin Moran began the 11th inning on second base and TJ Friedl beat out an infield single to second base and put runners on the corners with no outs. St. Louis opted to bring an extra infielder on and all of them playing in against Jose Barrero and for the time being that drawn in infield worked as Barrero grounded the ball to first base, moving Friedl up to second but not bringing in Moran at third. Jake Fraley came up and the infield remained packed. He grounded the ball to Tommy Edman at shortstop who fired home and the throw was a bit wide, but Molina jumped back to get the tag at the plate for the second out of the inning. David Bell came out to challenge the play – both whether he was safe or not and whether Molina was blocking the plate or not. The Reds lost the challenge as the play “stood” as called. Jonathan India was then walked intentionally, bringing Austin Romine to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. He would ground out to end the inning and the game headed to the 12th.
The bottom of the 12th began with Austin Romine on second and he moved up to third base on the first pitch of the inning when Kyle Farmer laid down a sacrifice bunt. That led to the Cardinals going back to their 5-man infield. They then intentionally walked Donovan Solano to bring Alejo Lopez up to the plate from the left side of the plate. Lopez grounded the ball to short and Romine broke for the plate and was tagged out on the eyeball as he slid headfirst. With two outs and runners on first and second Colin Moran hit a ball about 45 feet, but he beat the throw to first base to load the bases for TJ Friedl, but he grounded out to second base to end the inning and once again the game went to another inning.
Cincinnati needed a big rally in the bottom of the 13th after the Cardinals. Jose Barrero grounded out to first base and moved TJ Friedl over to third base. Jake Fraley then singled to make it a 5-3 ballgame and bring Jonathan India to the plate and he would draw a walk to put the tying run on first base. Austin Romine struck out for the second out of the inning, leaving the game up to Kyle Farmer. He grounded into a force out on the first pitch to end the game as the Reds lost the series.
The Pitching
Mike Minor helped himself out a bit in the 1st inning by inducing a ground ball double play after a leadoff single. In the next inning he helped out out himself and Donovan Solano on a grounder that Solano threw off target to a covering Minor who barehanded the throw before stepping on the bag.
Mike Minor with the play, Joey Votto with the call! pic.twitter.com/OQQkuaO2fD
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 31, 2022
The Reds took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning, but the lead didn’t last for long. In the top of the 4th Minor gave up a leadoff single to Paul Goldschmidt and then a 2-run homer to Nolan Arenado. Those would be the only two runs that he would give up on the day, but after giving up a 2-out single in the 5th inning he was replaced by Ian Gibaut who came on and stranded the runner to keep the game tied up. Arenado led off the 6th inning with a double, but he was thrown out on a fielders choice at third base later in the inning to squash the Cardinals threat.
Art Warren came out of the bullpen to take over in the 7th inning and he ran into trouble by giving up a leadoff single and a 1-out double to put the go ahead runs in scoring position. That’s when the Reds turned to Buck Farmer to come in and he got out of the jam with a strikeout and a ground out. Hunter Strickland pitched a perfect 8th inning to follow and keep the game tied up before Alexis Diaz came out for the 9th inning. He had to work around a walk but did just that and gave the Reds a chance to walk things off in the bottom of the inning.
The offense didn’t walk it off, so Reiver Sanmartin entered the game for the top of the 10th inning with Tommy Edman standing on second base to start the inning. He would strike Corey Dickerson out, but walked Paul Goldschmidt to put him on first. The lefty then came through with a big time ground ball to Jose Barrero who flipped to Alejo Lopez, who then fired to first base to turn a double play and end the inning.
Sanmartin returned for the top of the 11th to face Albert Pujols, who has crushed lefties this year. Sanmartin got Pujols to fly out to right, but Nolan Arenado advanced to third base on the play. Tyler O’Neill followed up with a 99 MPH laser that Jose Barrero snagged and fired to first after looking Arenado back to third base. After a walk put runners on the corners Sanmartin struck out Yadier Molina on three pitches to keep the game tied up.
Derek Law entered the game for the 12th and walked Brendan Donovan to lead off the inning, but he retired the next three batters in a row to keep the game tied at 2-2, giving Cincinnati yet another chance to bring in the winning run in the bottom of the inning. Chase Anderson, who started just two days ago, entered the game for the 13th inning. A ground out moved Paul Goldschmidt to third base and a sacrifice fly from Albert Pujols put St. Louis in front for the first time all day. They quickly added to their lead after a walk and a 2-run homer from Lars Nootbaar that made it 5-2.
Notes Worth Noting
Aristides Aquino went 3-3 with a run scored. It was his first 3-hit game since September 26th of 2019.
The Cardinals went 0-17 with runners in scoring position in the game.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies vs Cincinnati Reds
Friday September 2nd, 6:40pm ET
TBA vs Luis Cessa (3-2, 5.36 ERA)
Too many non hitters in the lineup. Great way to waste good pitching that only happens once every blue moon.
I am glad to hear Aquino is making adjustments. Eric Davis made some great observations about his setup and swing the other day. Good for Aquino for adjusting.
If Aquino could be a .250/.260 hitter & with his great arm in the outfield…he could be a valuable player on the team….is it too much to ask a player to hit .250/.260?
It seems like it these days doesn’t it? Eliminating the shift should help even though I still think it’s stupid that players can’t/won’t overcome it. To put it in the words of Chris Welsh recently, “The only reason teams use the shift is because the defense thinks the batter is stupid enough to pull the ball every time”.
Melvin, heard an interview of Kevin Millar recently. On this topic, he said the reason players dont do it (bat to defeat the shift) is because it’s really hard to do. If I recall correctly, he described it as is a skill that most just hitters don’t have, tho am not sure if its because they physically can’t or its a skill most players don’t bother (or incentived) to develop.
Also, I think pitchers are pitching to the shift. It’s hard to go the other way on pitches that are inner half. Many guys would rather try to go over the shift than fight it off.
I’d say it’s the latter. Think about it. In order to go the other way a batter has to wait longer for the ball in the strike zone before hitting it. The idea that it’s too fast is ridiculous. If anything it should be harder to pull the ball rather than go the other way. Not only that but if a batter has a hard time doing that one way to help would be to have an exaggerated closed stance. If the defense has an exaggerated positioning on the field than why can’t the batter? If the defense sees that he’s doing that and tries to switch back then the batter can do it too much easier and faster. The batter clearly has the advantage if he wants to use it and is humble enough to take it. I agree with “The Cowboy”, Chris Welsh and many others. If you notice more hitters are starting to go opposite field more and more. I believe MLB will eliminate the shift at least to some degree anyway. The game is boring most of the time the way it’s currently being played most of the time. It used to be not that long ago the an HR was the most exciting thing in baseball. Not so much anymore. It becoming more and more enjoyable to see a bunch of base hits, hit and runs, steels etc. It used to be not too long ago the striking out was an embarassment. Not so much anymore. If MLB wants to win new fans, lifelong fans, it better find a way to get more action in the game. I’m not saying anything new. I’m just agreeing with those who have this viewpoint.
If a pitcher is throwing inside then the batter can stand away from the plate a little more. As I said he clearly has the advantage if he is willing to think, practice, commit and humble himself. On most shifts all the batter has to do is hit a slow grounder in the hole the shift created.
It might just be a phase, this period of analytic driven baseball. Someone just needs to figure out how to defeat it, like introducing bogus patterns in player tendencies so that data crunching algos pick it up and tell a team to do the wrong thing. Maybe have batters waste a couple of swings in blowouts by intentionally whiffing in ways they are normally good at. Bring back the knuckler, which defies analysis?
I don’t know how baseball can solve the excitement problem. Maybe switch to a 60 minute game clock, and you squeeze in as many innings as you can… players have to run in and out of the dugout like a hockey line change. From my experience, even womens roller derby is more fun to watch than modern MLB, baseball is just painful to watch, even on TV…. I see no way to square the game as is with the short attention spans that tech devices have imposed on humanity in the last 2 decades or so.
You have some pretty funny ideas MadMike. lol
Baseball has gotta think out of the box to survive 🙂
yikes, that is not many walks.
i’d prefer he could be a 0.250/.0300 hitter.
that 0.300 OBP wouldn’t be great, but would go better with the 0.250 Average.
I don’t think hitting the opposite way is all that easy. You need to know what kind of pitch to hit (some are more conducive to going the other way, but only if the pitcher gives you one and you have the discipline to go for it when he does and to lay off when he doesn’t). OR, if you are really good at bat control and are able to hit a pitch inside out.
Ted Williams was flumoxed by the shift, tried going the opposite way without much success and decided to just hit the ball over the shift, Easy enough for him I guess. Hard hit line drives or even ground balls can beat the shift some. Bring back the bunt…that would help too.
Too Little too late.
Time to wish him the best and say good bye.
Take Anderson, Mouse, and Fairchild with you
“culture” win for the cardinals of the game and series. No way they were going to let our reds beat them 2 days in a row.
Loved listening to Joey today about fighting and going for it. And his comparisons between the cards and reds. especially this century, there has been just such a difference between the 2 franchises. forget the playoffs and world series wins. the cardinals have won 56% of their games while the reds have won 47% since 2000. That is a HUGE difference for nearly a quarter century of games. The 2 cities are similar (although i do think St. Louis does have an economic advantage as far as the surrounding areas) so why do the Cardinals consistently win and we consistently lose? I think a lot of it is just culture and confidence that the reds just haven’t seem to have since the 1990s.
Branch Rickey, a native of Stockdale, Ohio, and a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan U. was a member of the Cardinal’s front office from1917 until 1942 that included 17 years as general manager. The Cardinals culture of winning was, in general, established during that period with their first World Series win, of eleven, coming in 1926. In 1919, Rickey established the first ML farm system for St. Louis, and the farm system has been a key in the Cardinals overall consistent winning tradition to the present.
I believe Rickey also was the first to fully develop a farm system for finding and nuturing talent. Given the Cards ability to continue to field good young players, I’d say that tradition has been maintained.
On a positive note, Reds fought 13 innings against a much superior roster, Aquino went 3 for 3 and Barrero didn’t SO. On the negative side, Bell could have ordered some IBB just like the Cards did in the latter innings and Anderson doesn’t have it anymore.
Also another good game for Fairchild 2/3 plus a BB.
His full seasonal MLB level OPS/OPS+ are up to .720/92 (46PAs) and as a Reds player .948/150 (38PAs).
Just give the guy regular PAs and see what happens.
Thus, a prime example of where Bell’s use of relievers sucks. He used them up so quick in a close game that he had to go to a pitcher who just started (sucked in that start) 2 days ago, where I could see 2-4 other relievers who had been in the game potentially going another inning since they had a fairly clean inning.
i mean, at least, aren’t all pens suppose to have a long man out there? One who could go 3-4 innings when the starter gets pulled early?
Steve injuries have killed our pen. Hoffman was originally our long man. He is injured. Trade and injuries have sapped our starting rotation. We are using Cessa as a starter. Rarely if ever do we have a pitcher go 7 innings. Bells use of the pen is not awful it’s the limitations in resources that is the problem. We use the pen every night for multiple innings. Using relief pitchers for multiple innings means you can’t use them in back to back nights.
So, that means he can’t use a reliever for more than 1 inning? Not at all. The injuries have little to do with how Bell uses players.
So why does he use players the way he does? The pen is unreliable, with the exception of Diaz and, maybe, SanMartin. And it has to pitch 4 or more innings every game. It’s not as easy to come up with a formula when you don’t know who might be effective. There is also a good deal of recency bias in fan reaction: Lopez has a good game and we clamor for him to play. Next game he’s 0 for 5.
Bell at times does use relievers for more the 1 inning. but when you get starters who only give you 5 to 6 innings it may be very wise to not over work you bull pen.
Not upset we lost this game but I don’t understand how a team has 12 hits and 7 walks in regulation and only scores 2 runs. That is a good offensive night. That ratio of hits to runs defies logic.
Bell has to do more with moving base runners. More hit and runs. Hitters have to get more sacrifices. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a major league team have 14 hits and not 1 be an extra base hit.
Use of pitching also not good. When you’re bullpen is on fumes the starter has to pitch more than 4.2 innings. Otherwise you sacrifice the next couple games too. Why pull minor after 4.2 innings?
That would be like talking about making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear!
Minor wasn’t setting the world on fire. He has generally been ineffective after a few innings.
I’m not interested enough to pull the stats, but if my memory is correct Minor is usually decent for 4/5 innings, after a few times through the lineup he is far less effective
That’s my recollection, too.
Reds win 11 games in month of August. Still baffles me that they only won 3 games in April. That is really hard to do. LOL Its funny as some have said just when I think I am done with the Reds for the season, they pull me back in. I, as many are just frustrated with how things unfolded in offseason and beginning of spring training. Then start of the season and here we are now.
I go back and forth but do believe some of the prospects they got will be good in the coming years. I do hope at least 3 make the team next year.
I think Phillips, Williamson, and Abbot will be the next wave, but hopefully 1 is a bullpen guy as we know about Reds pen issues.
Interesting as I am looking at Louisville box score.. McGarry is now in triple A. Hopkins as well and Steer is doing well. Those three players are already 24,25
Then it hit me the minor league guys lost a year when the minor league season was shut down in 2020. So their development is likely a year behind.
In saying that if I am the Reds I am looking at the three players mentioned as well as Siani, and Cruz for 2023. Steer as well
The lost pandemic year also hurt a guy like Fairchild who will be 27 a couple of weeks ahead of opening day 2023.
In 2019, his age 23 season, he played the 2nd half of the year at AA then played in the Arizona Fall League where he had an AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS line of .353/.405/.471/.876.
This would seemingly have set him up to start his age 24 season at AAA in 2020; and, given his subsequent AAA performance, he could have been pushing for an MLB roster spot by 2021, his age 25 season.
Instead, he made the cut for the Reds alternate Prasco site in 2020 but due to the Reds outfield depth couldn’t breakthrough and ended up being traded out of the organization late in the abbreviated 2020 season; and did not see AAA action until his age 25 season in 2021 with the Dbacks org. And now here he is considered a fringe prospect by many because of his age when in fact he is younger than Sensel, Friedl and Fraley and has AAA numbers matching or topping all 3.
Romine came up an awful lot in key situations late, at the plate and on the base paths. Kind of makes you wonder about the value of the double switch earlier in the game taking out Senzel to add Fraley in. Especially as Senzel had two hits and we ended up having to play Lopez in LF by the end of the game.
I usually let the Bell beating be done by others because much of it is so off the wall it just doesn’t pass a checksum verification. However, last night I felt as if Bell was outmanaged at every turn from the double switch to the end of the game.
He was early pulling Robinson for a pinch hitter to lead off the 7th inning. Let Robinson bat. If he reaches then consider running for him. Bell complicated that error by switching out Senzel (2/4 on the night) who ended the inning 2 batters later so he could leave Fraley in the game just 2 positions earlier in the next rotation of the lineup than Senzel would have been.
In the 8th and again in the 10th Bell pulled 2 of his hottest hitters in the game, first Aquino (3/3) and then Fairchild (2/3+ a BB) with 2 outs and a runner on 1st.
For those who have played video poker, this is a real life inside draw trap. The numbers don’t favor getting the extra base hit or multiple hits to score the runner. Bell is the home team and guaranteed another turn at bat in the next inning. Take the push and save his resources for a better chance then. Instead Bell ended up with a LH pitcher facing both Friedl and Fraley in their next PAs.
The double switch in the 7th and the following pinch hitting for Aquino (8th) and Farchild (10) tainted nearly everything that came after them.
Fraley had to face a LH pitcher and K’d. He later failed to drive in the winning runwhen a hit or comfortable fly ball (i.e. Pujols in the 13th) would have won the game.
Romine came to the plate (instead of Senzel) when a single could have won the game.
Moran who PH for Fairchild in the 10th and K’d was subsequently the ghost runner in the 11th and was out at the plate trying to score from 3B on a play he clearly should have beaten to tally the winning run (this would have been Fairchild had he remained in the game in the 10th and made the final out).
Bell beat himself in this one then had the audacity afterward to say that (for the most part) he had just let the players play the game.
Reds should have won despite Bell as they often did when Dusty was here.Nothing left to be said about Bell.We will see last night again this year and next as he just does what he does.Hopefully in 2024 the Reds roster is better with help from the minors and money being spent that is tied up in 3 or 4 players right now.Then if Krall hasn’t seen by then that Bell doesn’t belong well I don’t know what to think.I did not hear Bell’s comments that you are alluding to Jim but it really doesn’t surprise me.His job is safe at least through next year.
@RG>> Agree the Reds could have, should have won anyway in spite of Bell. I wish they would have shown some sort of wide angle view of the entire play when Moran was out at the plate in the 11th. Was there indecision on his part whether to come home and a subsequent late break or perhaps he pulled up then restarted? Did he not run hard the entire time?
For those who have not seen the play, the batted ball was a slow grounder by the mound that a Cardinals player fielded at the edge of the grass in front of 2B. It was basically a grab and heave desperation play by the fielder. The throw was approaching 10 feet wide of the plate on the 1B side. Molina had to go out and get it with his back to the plate then turn about 180 degrees to charge/ run back to home to make the tag.
Moran slid in and Molina appeared to get him high on the side of his leg just as his feet came across the plate. The ump called out. The review ruled that the call stood but was not officially confirmed.
Just to my eye, not mentioned by the commentators. I thought perhaps Moran stumbled or perhaps pulled up a bit as he started his slide perhaps because he wasn’t sure whether to slide or just charge at the plate in hopes of beating Molina there. It was almost like a play at 1B where the guy running from home slides when it would be quicker just to run on through the bag.
Jim W I agree with your comments. As far as Moran goes, I never thought he was going flat out at any time. Whether indecision or whatever, he needs to run harder than that, and so what if he runs into St. Molina, more the better.
Takeaways:
Frustrating finish, and disappointed with some of Bell’s choices, but not worth harping on most of them. Squeeze bunt would have won the game in a couple of places. Was it even considered?
Nice night at the plate for Aquino. Something to build on?
Encouraging night for Barrero (including his defense). Something to build on?
Romine is slow. No surprise. Moran is slower. Why is he on this roster?
The five or six inning conversation between Votto and Larkin was compelling. I can’t remember the last time I sat through the whole game in real time, but I didn’t want to miss a single exchange. I reaaally hope Votto can come back healthy and produce at a high level again. Who knows if it’s possible, but that would be such a gift for Reds fans.
The third base ball guy can pick it!
mlb traderumors says Steer is coming up.
Any word if/ who they might bring as a pitcher? The rules are a moving target anymore but my understanding is they can bring 2 (roster to 28) but only 1 can be a pitcher against a 14 man limit on pitchers.
This was intended as a comment for CFD3000’s above comment
Steer coming up hopefully means less playing time or demotion for Barrero
Hopefully, 3rd base. Or maybe 2nd, with India playing some 3rd??
Steer isn’t coming up to play SS. He has been mostly at 2B/3B in the minors. He is going to be at one of the corner spots or the OF
+500. I don’t think they will mess with India on the fly during this last month but keep an eye out for him at 3B or even LF come spring, at least to see how he looks at those spots which could open 2B for Steer.
He has played of late some first base.If it were me he would play every day the rest of the way at third base.Learning a new position in the majors any time is tough.To even try it in a lost season is well dumb and just complicates things.I can’t see him however taking over at third because we know Farmer is there and that is off limits nor can I see him playing every day.We need to see more of Solano,Farmer and Moran because well I am sure there is a good reason and it will come to me so Steer won’t be taking their place.Maybe Krall steps in and demands Bell play him every day.Where is Indy when you need to make a wager?
Nothing quite like managing one’s self into a situation where Moran and Romine keep turning up in game deciding situations when it could have been Fairchild and Senzel who were both dialed in and having good games. ‘-)
Humbug! I’ve gone crazy or the software has. Couldn’t be me!
This was intended as a comment for CFD3000’s above comment
Agree Jim. I get that as the home team, when it’s tied in extras and you’re coming up, you want to score and win. But don’t you have to also plan a little for what happens if you don’t score? Replacing Fairchild with Moran ended up costing them the game at least twice – once when Moran struck out, though Fairchild might not have done better, and once when Moran was too slow to score on the offline throw to the plate. So many managerial missteps but that was the worst. Also, and in general, why is Moran on this roster? He’s not an upgrade from any other options (and a downgrade in some ways) and he’s so clearly not part of the Reds future.
13-inning games are brutal on the roster, with or without the DH and Ghost Runner. We had chances multiple times to seal the deal but couldn’t convert (I mean I know a 5-man infield is tight, but a simple fly ball to medium depth does the trick.
Much needed off night tonight. Then bring on the beer-league team from Coors!
I liked what I saw from AA and Barrero much more last night.
Agree on Aquino and Barrero Mark. Anyone hoping Steer coming up means Barrero gets benched or demoted is… misguided. I want to see AA and JB get as many reps as possible in these mostly meaningless games.
A sacrifice bunt to win the game would have been exciting…too bad Friedl wasn’t up in those situations. Yes, Senzel and Acquino if still in the game might have made a difference, but geez, all we needed was a sacrifice fly. Romine and Fraley should have been able to supply one. Have to hand it to the Cards pitchers who pitched endless number of ground balls.
The ageless wonder and bane of the Reds, Pujols showed them what was needed in the 13th before the HR salted it away.
Sounds like a good ole baseball game to me. Both teams battled and Reds had chances. More know from watching than I, however games like that are great if you win and tough if you lose. I do like the competitiveness the bullpen showed. Kudos to them, well maybe not Anderson, but he did come in and pitch after pitching Monday.
Thought it was a dumb move by Bell pinch hitting Moran for Fairchild with 2 outs in the 10th. He knows as well as I do that if Moran makes an out, he is the one running at 2B in the 11 th inning. One of your slowest baserunners and Fairchild is fast.Yeah, I can hear him now that he was trying the win the ballgame in the 10th. Tell me Analytical crowd, what are the increased odds of Moran (vs Fairchild) getting a hit in that situation vs Heasely? Certainly less than 10%. But the odds of Fairchild (vs Moran) scoring in the 11th on a single or infield hit or fly ball is possibly 50% greater. As it turned out Moran was thrown out at the plate by a step. Bell should have played the better odds here. He should have accepted that it was extremely unlikely for the Reds to win the game in the 10th when he pinch hit for Fairchild. Now if you were pinch hitting Ted Williams, i might feel differently. Cost the Reds a win in my view.
It did, and Moran did not look as if he was going full out, dogging it? Don’t know, but did not look to me like he was hell bent for leather. . Afraid to run into Molina? Thats the one guy they should want to run into.