Behind The Box Score

Just call it a 13 month break. Edinson Volquez went 6 strong tonight, giving up only 1 run and 3 hits in in his return appearance after having Tommy John surgery last July, en route to a 8-1 win. He dominated the Rockies (49-41) after a bumpy first inning, retiring 15 out of the 18 batters in the 2nd through 6th innings. The bats came alive tonight, supporting the pitching staff with 8 runs, 7 of the 8 runs came in via the long ball, 4 home runs hit by the Reds tonight, Stubbs adding two of the blasts. Thoughts from tonight:

• Volquez looked like Read the rest of this entry »

As half of the 2010 season is in the books for the first-place Cincinnati Reds (sounds weird, doesn’t it?), BtBS is going to take a look at the big wins, losses, plays, and what needs to be done to stay ahead of those dreaded Cardinals to clinch a playoff birth for the first time since 1995.

Best Wins of the 1st half:

May 18th: Reds 5, Brewers 4- Dreading the 9th inning against all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, the Reds find the rally at the perfect time, retaining at the time a short-lived stint as the NL Central leader. Janish led off the 9th inning with a double, and was knocked in as Rolen hit a blast into the left field seats (the deck below where we had been sitting in the bleachers). Hoffman crumbled under the pressure by giving up a double, walk, and Joey Votto ended the game with a long single that allowed Heisey to come around to score the winning run, capping the comeback that seemed impossible when Cincy trailed 4-1 in the bottom of the 8th, and before Votto’s 8th inning blast, 9 reds had been retired in a row.

April 8th: Reds 2, Cardinals 1- A rough start by dropping the first two night games of the 2010 campaign were erased with one swing of the bat by none other than Jonny Gomes, who hit a walk-off blast into the left field seats to cap off win #1 of 2010. Bronson Arroyo worked his day game magic in the victory, going 8 strong with only 4 hits and 1 ER. This helped Cincy avoid a dreaded sweep by St. Louis, keeping the Reds around for the time being (see below).

May 16th: Reds 7, Cardinals 2- Another big win over the Cards to take over first place in the central for the first time all season. Scott Rolen was the big man of the night, going 2 for 4 with a big blast in the first inning to help the Reds jump on STL and Brad Penny early. Bronson worked his magic again, going the distance, giving up only 2 ER and 7 hits, en route to his 3rd win on the season.

Rough moments of the 1st half:

5 game slide/Swept in Pittsburgh (April 14th-18th): Moments to forget from this stretch include: 30-160 (.188 BA) from the plate, 2 terrible bullpen appearances in the 9th inning in consecutive games (Masset on Friday, Cordero on Saturday). Add to the batting part with amazing run outputs of: 3,2,3,4,3. Yikes. At this point, I think about how finishing anything better than 5th or 6th would quite an accomplishment.

The collapse in Atlanta: Up 6 runs going to the 9th. Single, single, single, single, walk, error, strikeout, grand slam. That’s all for that one.

The collapse in Philly: Up 6 runs going to the 9th. Double, flyout, single, single, home run, flyball, walk, home run. Lost in 10th. ‘Nuff said, again.

For the Reds to win the division/wild card, they must…

• Not have any more meltdowns in the 9th inning. Those two games in Philly and Atlanta are games you will look back on at the end of the year and realize how they could have changed the season if they fall short.
• Take care of business against the teams they should take 2 of 3 or sweep with ease. They get Houston for 9, Pittsburgh for 6, and the Brewers for 9 as well.
• Have Nick Masset figure out which Nick Masset he wants to be, whether it be 2009 or 2010 Masset, he needs to decide so the bullpen can get more stability.
• Figure out Coco Cordero, and every save cannot be a “thrill a minute” as Marty goes on and on about. It’s just not what we need. Some of those thrills turn into BS’s and L’s in the stat column.

If the Reds don’t make the playoffs, it will be because…

• Teams figure out the rookie core of pitchers and we get rocked night in and night out. I don’t see this happening though. They are too strong and capable to adjust on the fly. This is the future of the Reds right here.
• The bats all of a sudden come to a halt. There have been spurts of this during the season, and it scares me a little bit, if in a big series against STL this would somehow happen.
• They choke on the infamous west coast swing. We have not been able to win on the west coast at all, example being the debacles in Seattle.

Prediction- This team has the right mix of everything. The batting has been amazing at times, pitching off the charts, and the core of young players don’t have a lot of September expierence, but i feel like they can make the playoffs and dethrone the Cardinals. A new decade calls for a new leader of the division, and the NL Central will belong to the Cincinnati Reds.

Let’s get him back too.

To some like me, sports are everything. You learn a lot from organized sports. For example:

-how to play the game the right way

-how to play fair, with rules

-how to interact with others and be a helping hand towards a greater cause

-how to grow as a person

-how to deal with the situation your forced with

-how to make your teammates that much better

-and lastly, MOST importantly, Read the rest of this entry »