Game 9 Cincinnati at Chicago
On a beautiful spring day, my boss made us all leave work early today. It was like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, without calling in sick and hanging out with my friends in Chicago on a crazy adventure. Besides that, my day paralleled all facets of the movie.
I made it home to take a powernap, and I was up and eating meatless hotdogs right at the start of the game.
The Reds have now won two out of three series (the Reds split the 2-game Cubs series to begin the season). That’s truly the main ingredient to earning a divisional championship. The series against the Cubs was particularly impressive because it was the first road trip of the young season. To throw a divisional rival into the mix made this series even more meaningful.
Eric Milton continued the string of Reds’ starting pitchers not only pitching well, but doing it offensively, too.
Adam Dunn opened things up with his fifth homer of the year, a solo shot, in the top of the first.
In the top of the third, Milton reached first on a fielder’s choice. For reasons only known to him, Cubs’ starter Carlos Zambrano attempted to pick off Milton without first baseman Derrek Lee holding Milton on. A balk was called on Zambrano, and this caused Zambrano to go into his meltdown mode. This was a stupid play by Zambrano for two reasons. One, DeLee wasn’t even covering the base. Two, Milton has never stolen a base in his eight year career. On the very next pitch, Zambrano hit Ryan “I’ll Have Another One” Freel in the thigh, and Felipe "Flip" Lopez made Zambrano pay, hitting a 3-run homer. Flip’s homer put the Reds up 4-1.
Zambrano has absolutely nasty stuff, but until he gets his act together mentally, he’ll never be the 20-game winner that many project.
In bottom of the fourth inning, Cubs’ leftfielder Matt Murton hit a solo rainbow shot to center field off of Milton (4-1). Two good things for Milton on this homer: At least it was a solo shot and it wasn’t a cheap homer.
In the fifth inning, Milton hit a triple. The rarest of all hits was done by a pitcher. The only thing bad about the play was Milton looked like he was pinching one off as he was rounding second and straining (no pun intended) to reach third base. Zambrano, in an attempt to foil the sacrifice squeeze, threw over to third to see if Milton would be caught heading for home. Zambrano’s throw was errant and sailed into the stands. Milton walked home, pushing the lead to 5-1. Again, this is Eric Milton on base, not Freel, not Flip, or Phillips, but ERIC MILTON. I bet the absolute last thing on manager Jerry Narron’s mind with a 3-run lead was a sacrifice squeeze.
Article comments
1 - Benjamin
The Red's really did show some amazing pitching. The comments about Mercker are too funny!
2 - M.D. Sandwasher
Benjamin,
Thanks for the compliments.
We'll see how long the Reds' pitching can hold up. It went south last year at the end of April. St. Louis will be a huge test for the staff.
3 - boohiss
Yeah, the key is the Cardinals. If the Reds can just make it even with them this year, then they got a real shot at postseason.
4 - M.D. Sandwasher
The Reds appear to finally have a respectable stable of starting pitchers. With Aaron Harang, the newly acquired Bronson Arroyo, the resurging Eric Milton (I think his newly grown beard is playing a big part in his big for Comeback Player of the Year), the Reds have 3 formidable starting pitchers. The fourth and fifth starters are not chop liver either. Brandon Claussen and ex-Pirate Dave Williams are a luxury have at the end of the rotation. And, don’t forget that Paul Wilson should be back from injury very soon. The only problem will be finding a spot in the rotation for Wilson. Which starter will be kicked to the bullpen? After years of inept Reds’ pitching, this is a wonderful problem. A typical year would consist of a decent number three pitcher, a couple over-the-hill pitchers, and one or two reclamation projects. It’s such a sweet feeling that the 2006 starting rotation does not share any of those characteristics.
5 - Matthew T. Sussman
Your take is a bit different than McSweeney's spring training outlook:
6 - M.D. Sandwasher
I'm not saying that I was high on the pitching before the season started. I know it is very very early and the bullpen leaves a lot to be desired, but if the starters can continue to perform at this pace, many of the baseball pundits that projected the Reds to finish from fifth to sixth place, including me, will be way off.
7 - Matthew T. Sussman
Well the Reds have another surprising young team to also beat up on this year -- the Brewers.
Besides, the real shock this year is that the Rockies will compete for the NL West.