Boxscore

While the Diamondbacks-Reds game had two top 5 Cy Young finishers squaring off in Aaron Harang and Brandon Webb, the Cubs and Brewers showdown was no slouch, either. And their pitching beat expectations.

Ben Sheets and Carlos Zambrano matched each other’s zeros as both went into the seventh with shutouts. Zambrano’s pitching seemed remarkably free of the meltdowns he’s so famously entertaining for, but he did leave the game for forearm cramps. If it’s not tantrums, it’s cramps. Given that Zambrano admitted to not drinking enough water, perhaps that’s the key to future opponents’ success: secretly slipping Zambrano water. That or just waiting for the Cubs’ bullpen to blow it.

Wood allowed 3 runs in the top of the 9th to give the Brewers the lead. Of course, Eric Gagne, the Brewers’ closer, blew the save, too, giving those 3 runs right back to Kosuke Fukudome, who launched himself into Cubs’ fans good graces with a game-tying 3-run blast. Then Bob Howry, the other reliever previously in the Cubs’ closer sweepstakes, failed to get the job done and allowed the go-ahead run to score in the 10th. David Riske held on for the Brewers in the 9th to pick up the save, with Gagne getting the win.

If the first game is any indication, the top two NL Central teams from last year continue to be evenly matched. The games between these teams should be fun.

Boxscore

Ah, baseball! How I’ve missed thee. Thy glorious green fields. Thy majestic stadiums. Thy–eh, enough of that. Let’s have some fun with a game wrap!

Here is a verbatim transcript of the Reds’ lone scoring effort in their loss to the Diamondbacks to start the 2008 season today.

RHM: Gameday has stopped responding; it’s stuck on Griffey.
CTS: Well, Griffey pissed Dusty off by walking.
CTS: And then, in a surprising turn of events, that clog of the bases resulted in a run somehow when Phillips tripled.
RHM: This is exactly what the game wrap should say.
CTS: It gets better.
CTS: Phillips is clogging up third. But somehow, he scores when Dunn grounds out to short.
CTS: Now EdE’s clogging up first. There are 2 outs and Javy’s up.
CTS: Ah, and Javy ended the inning.
CTS: Strange. 2 runs scored without a single solo homerun.
RHM: Amazing.
RHM: Something just doesn’t add up there.

There wasn’t a whole lot of other action for the Reds outside of the 4th when the above happened. An Encarnacion error and a Harang wild pitch got the Diamondbacks on the board first, giving them a lead they never relinquished. Of course, the two solo home runs that Harang allowed in the 3rd didn’t help the Reds comeback efforts any.

Still, a solid performance from Harang. I’ll expect him to do better as the season wears on, but he’s definitely gotten better at dealing with the unusual sold-out stadium and the opening day pressures. I’d like to see him overtake Mario Soto’s record for thenumber of consecutive opening day starts. I think he’s halfway there.

The game didn’t feel quite right, though. It wasn’t until it was over and I was reading about the Cubs-Brewers game that I realized what it was: the Carlos Zambrano meltdown™. It just isn’t opening day in Cincinnati without the Big Z throwing a hissy fit on the mound.

The loss puts the Reds in last place in the Central, a game behind the Brewers. The Reds and the Diamondbacks take a much needed day off before game two of the series on Wednesday, when Bronson Arroyo starts against Dan Haren.

In 1990, the Cincinnati Reds’ starting catcher (Joe Oliver) hit .231. The guy who got the most playing time at first base (Todd Benzinger) wasn’t even the best hitting first baseman they had (Hal Morris). The second baseman (Mariano Duncan) had never hit above .248 in a season before then. The guy at third base (Chris Sabo) had 17 career taters to start the season. The center fielder (Eric Davis) was brittle. The left fielder (Billy Hatcher…yes, that Billy Hatcher) was coming off a season in which he hit only .231 and at the start of spring training was on his third team in less than a year. They had changed managers during the offseason. They had gone 75-87 the year before. They probably had no business being anywhere near the top of their division.

So naturally, they won the NL West by five games over the Dodgers, who had a 20-game winner in the rotation, a lineup that included Eddie Murray, Hubie Brooks, and Kirk Gibson, and were managed by Hall of Fame skipper Tommy LaSorda.

The Pirates team they played in the NLCS had a 22-game winner on the staff, had Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla in the lineup, and was managed by Jim Leyland. The Oakland team they played in the WS had won it all they year before, had Mark McGwire, Rickey Henderson, and Jose Canseco in the lineup, had three guys with 17 or more wins in the rotation including the eventual Cy Young winner, had Dennis Eckersley closing, and was managed by Tony LaRussa.

The ‘90 Reds took the NLCS four games to two, then swept the World Series in one of the biggest upsets in baseball history. Hatcher set World Series records with seven consecutive hits and a .750 batting average for a four-game World Series (previously held by Babe Ruth, who had batted .625 in 1928). Davis hit a mammoth two-run dinger off Dave Stewart in the first inning of Game One to help snap Stewart’s six-game postseason winning streak (The classic Cinci Post headline the next morning read “DAVIS STUNS GOLIATH”). Game Two was won by Oliver’s tenth-inning bouncer down the third base line. Game Three was The Chris Sabo Show (”Spuds” belted a pair of homers). Game Four was a pitcher’s duel that Rijo won with Myers getting the final two outs.

What’s any of that got to do with this year’s Reds? Well, absolutely nothing. Except that if David Ross hits .231 he will have improved by 28 points over last year’s average. And that the guy who gets the most playing time at first base for the Reds this year (Scott Hatteberg) may not be the best hitting first baseman they have (Joey Votto). And that their third baseman (Edwin Encarnacion) is a guy who, like Sabo in 1990, may be ready for a breakout year. And that their right fielder (Ken Griffey, Jr.) is brittle and their center fielder (Corey Patterson) just got here after making the team as a non-roster invitee. And that they went 72-90 last year and changed managers in the offseason and probably have no business winning the division.

With that in mind, here’s my predicted order of finish in the NLC: Reds, Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, Pirates, Astros. Perhaps that’s insanity. Perhaps not. It’s a weak division. The Reds look like they might have some pitching for once. They have the best manager they’ve had since Jack McKeon and haven’t won a division crown since Davey Johnson was here, so they’re well overdue. I think the Brewers took a step backward this offseason, and the Cubs, are, well, The Cubs. The Brewers will finish at .500, the other four teams will have losing records, and the Astros will be so bad that the Pirates will actually escape the cellar.

The Reds will win 87 games and the division title. Not quite as lofty as the 91 games the Reds won under Lou Piniella in 1990, but winning even a weak division gets you into the playoffs, and wierd things happen in the playoffs (just ask the 2006 Cardinals).

Mind you, I am not predicting that the Reds are going to win the World Series this year. Even I’m not that insane! But fasten your seat belts and hold onto your hats, friends…I do have a hunch that this season is going to be an interesting ride.

And I thought the sports radio talk show hosts in Cincinnati were bad.

Apparently, it’s worse in St. Louis, where the host doesn’t even bother attempting to know anything about baseball, instead sneakily getting coaches on-air and baiting them to embarass themselves.

Aren’t there a lot more interesting things to talk about on the eve of Opening Day? Sure the Cardinals aren’t being predicted to win the division or anything, but that hasn’t stopped them from surprising fans before.

If you can’t be positive and optimistic right before the season starts, when everyone’s in first place, perhaps there’s something wrong with you.  Or maybe you’re a sports radio talk show host.

Opening Day is here, and I know you don’t feel like concentrating on work. It’s time to get out the fun!

This awesome Who Wants to be a Millionaire-style quiz tests your knowledge of NLC teams: current trivia, history, and Red Hot Mama lore. Well, I think it’s awesome. Whether you do is about to be seen, I reckon. I bet you will. After all, it’s not work.

Thanks to the Crack Technical Staff for making this quiz work. Now go play!

Who Wants to Be an NLC Expert?

(Game modified from a Flash template provided at Flash Kit.)
Get the latest version of Flash here.

The real games start tomorrow. Well, for the Reds anyhow. Of course the Red Sox and A’s began their seasons last week when everyone wasn’t paying attention. I hardly noticed myself.

Looking back on my bold spring training predictions, I’d say I did pretty good. I had Volquez making the rotation, I had Bailey and Bruce being sent down, and I had a dog fight between Hatteberg and Votto for first base, with Hatte making a strong case to start on opening day. I even had Paul Bako possibly making the team and driving everyone crazy, which he has done.
Considering C. Trent is bragging about only being 2 spots away from his roster prediction which he made only two weeks ago, I’d say I did pretty good having made my predictions before they even played a practice game.

Where I went wrong was not foreseeing the Corey Patterson signing. The writing was clearly on the wall with Dusty scoffing at OBP as an overrated stat, and even mentioning Corey by name when discussing centerfielders available via free agency. Somehow I just thought our duo of GMs woould veto such nonsense having two qualified leadoff candidates in Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper already on the roster. So I missed on that one.

I will now predict what goes down in the opening month, which is such a critical time as it sets the table for the rest of the year. A disastrous start, and the team may never recover. An early winning streak and the momentum can carry deep into the season. Momentum in baseball is huge. Once the fans and the talking heads start believing in you, the psychological trickle down effect actually makes the players think they are better than they probably are and anything becomes possible. Of course the opposite is equally true.

So let’s peer into the crystal ball and see what’s in store for the 2008 Reds in the opening month. Harang and Arroyo will be solid if not spectacular. Cueto, if slotted to pitch behind Arroyo, is going to struggle. His last 3 starts of the spring indicated he is not as major league ready as the scouts and media claimed he was after his first couple of outings. His M.O. the past 3 starts was to put base runners on immediately. Two of the starts he then struggled to throw strikes and took damage. His last start he struck out the side to escape trouble. In all three of his past outings he tallied up a high pitch count early and was pitching from the stretch often. While he clearly has more command than Bailey, his control definitely needs improvement, especially when he has runners on base. Personally I have him slotted as the #5 pitcher and I am hoping it still falls that way, but Fay and C. Trent have been pretty consistent in projecting him as the #3 starter simply because that is his schedule. However, Volquez has not pitched in 5 days and if he is not needed in emergency relief the first two ball games he is available to be the #3 starter as well. So I will make the bold prediction that Dusty gives the not to Volquez, not Cueto, for game #3. Edinson has a spring ERA of 2.70 compared to Johnny’s 5+ ERA, and his spring K/BB ratio of 26 to 3 is simply awesome. How can you not give this guy the #3 slot?

I believe Hatteberg gets the start on opening day [update: C. Trent is indeed reporting that Hatte is in the opening day lineup]. He had a superb spring, batting over .385 while Votto struggled barely cracking the Mendoza line. Votto made the team though, so I expect him to get some starts, perhaps when the pitching match up is more favorable. By the end of April he may be ready to assume the every day job.

GO REDS!

…candid photography, snap-snap, click-click, know what I mean, nudge-nudge, say no more.

I got back from Florida last night. Two days of driving each way…but probably the smarter choice, given all those people sleeping in airports while the planes are inspected for cracks. (And yes, if I’d flown, it would have been Delta.)

I went to six baseball games in six days, and took a ton of photos at all of them. Weirdly, one of the ushers at a Reds game told me that cameras were not allowed in the stadium. WTF? Who ever heard of a rule like that? Practically everyone there had a camera and was snapping photos left and right, but he singled me out and told me to put the camera away. Jeez. I thought they were Nazis at Yankee Stadium, but they allow cameras there. (I simply moved to another section and continued taking photos.)

Yup, I’m afraid it’s the moment you’ve all been dreading: I’m inflicting my vacation photos on you.

Continue Reading »

Got an email about this yesterday and thought I’d pass it along. Seems like good info if you’re going to be in the Queen City for Opening Day.

BuyCincy, CityBeat’s “Best Blog” in their 2008 Best of Cincinnati issue, is pleased to announce its 2008 Opening Day Guide. As a part of our mission to highlight the area’s best locally owned businesses, we have given the lowdown on where to eat, drink and watch the game locally, and even the best places to see the Opening Day parade! We thought your readers might be interested in our guide, which can be found here:
http://www.buycincy.com/buycincy-opening-day-guide.html

Opening Day is nearly here. Or technically I guess it’s already done, since it apparently happened on the other side of the world when I was getting ready to drive to work. What the hell is wrong with Bud Selig?

But the real Opening Day is nearly here, and after following these teams for a spring, it’s difficult to predict who will be the worst in the coming year.

I mean, there’s the perennial winner, the Cardinals, who are just awful. They’re counting on Rick Ankiel and Chris Duncan for all their offense other than Albert Pujols, and their rotation is empty without the great Chris Carpenter to anchor them. But on the other hand, Ankiel and Duncan do have some potential and they have rid themselves of David Eckstein.

They don’t look so bad when you look at the Astros. The Astros, not content with the worst farm system in the league, have completely dismantled their major league pitching organization to bring in the likes of Miguel Tejada and Kaz Matsui. Then again, they’re just starting this push for homers.

The Reds have been going down this ill-fated path for years. That won’t be a problem this year. The Reds promised to search the corners of the earth for just the right manager, and then hired the first guy who walked through the door. A guy who prefers lead-off hitters who get out more. A guy with a history of running young pitchers into the ground. A guy who really understands that black and Hispanic players are better than white players in day games.

But at least the Reds have some talent. How about those Pirates? There’s a team that wouldn’t know how to sign a number one draft pick even if they could manage to perform enough below mediocre to get one. And talk about a history of losing: 2008 is going to be consecutive losing season number 16 for this franchise.

Of course, no one can outdo the Cubs for losing. Losing their minds to blow all that money on Kosuke Fukudome, leaving them with no choice but to include Jason Marquis in the rotation. At least Ryan Dempster didn’t make it. Oh wait.

Which brings us to those Brewers.

Well, they’re pretty OK actually. I mean, they’re no Big Red Machine, but at least their fans don’t sit in such a constantly deranged state that they think just now cutting Mike Stanton heralds good things for the team.

So, yeah, I’ll go with them.

Reds LHP Mike Stanton has been told by the club that they plan to let him go, according to an article by John Erardi on the Cincinnati Enquirer’s web site.

The move will cost the Reds $3.5 million (Stanton’s salary this year plus an option for next year).

If you ask me, I think this indicates two things.

One, the Reds have again shown that they’re not afraid to eat some salary. They could have kept Stanton on in light of the $3,500,000 it’s going to cost them to cut him - and presumably been forced to cut or option a better player in order to keep Stanton. This shows that improving the team is the primary concern, rather than the bottom line.

Two, it would appear that one of the non-roster invitee lefty relievers has made the team. For what it’s worth, my money’s on Kent Mercker.