Daily Archives: July 18, 2012

July 18, 2012

Aroldis Chapman’s day in court

Aroldis Chapman’s mug shot after getting arrested for driving with a suspended license.

Fresh off a one-out save that many feel was a waste, Cincinnati Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman will be appearing in court today regarding his speeding charge from last May.

Chapman was charged with going 93 miles-per hour in a 65 miles-per-hour area on Interstate 71.

Chapman, who holds the current record for the fastest pitch speed in Major League Baseball at 105.1 mph, is scheduled to appear at 1 p.m. before Magistrate Donald Breckenridge in Grove City Mayor’s Court, a court employee said this morning.

The original hearing date, scheduled for June 6, was postponed until today from a request from Chapman’s lawyer. Considering his suspended license, hopefully, Chapman is driven to the hearing.

July 18, 2012

Game 90: Diamondbacks 0, Reds 4

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Reds 10300000-451
W: Cueto (11-5) L: Bauer (1-2) S: Chapman (14)

Boxscore

After dropping the first game of the series, the Reds bounced back yesterday with a 0-4 win.

Johnny Cueto started for the Reds after being pushed back a couple days with a blister problem. It must have been mostly cleared up, though, because he worked 6.0 innings of shutout baseball. He gave up 4 hits and 4 walks and found himself pitching out of jams later in the appearance, which is how he ended up with a pitch count of 105 despite the short (for him) appearance.

Jose Arredondo and Sam LeCure pitched the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Each gave up one hit and zero runs. Sean Marshall came in for the ninth, but just when you thought he might finish a game out, Baker swapped him out for Aroldis Chapman for the last out of the game. There were two guys on, making it a save opportunity for Chapman, but it seems like kind of a dick move to yank Marshall. I wish Dusty Baker were as hard on actually bad players as he’s been on Marshall.

The offense was a one-man story. Ryan Ludwick owns all three of the Reds’ RBI for the night (the first run having come on a wild pitch and therefore didn’t have a corresponding RBI). He hit a long ball over the left field wall while Zack Cozart and Brandon Phillips were on to provide plenty of padding for the rest of the game.

There were a lot of walks to be had last night; in fact, the Reds got on base more from walks (6) than from hits (5). The much maligned Drew Stubbs got aboard twice: once on a hit and once on a walk. That’s just the same as Cozart and Ludwick (and once less than Scott Rolen, who walked twice) but it feels like more of an accomplishment in Stubbs’ case.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 51-39. Tonight the series continues with Arizona at 7:10 p.m. Mat Latos (7-2, 4.10 ERA) defends against Ian Kennedy (6-8, 4.55 ERA).

July 18, 2012

Reds win without Votto

Last Game
A strong outing from Johnny Cueto and a 3-run home run from Ryan Ludwick were too much for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Reds win 0-4.

Next Game
The third of the four-game series between the Reds and the Diamondbacks is tonight at 7:10 p.m. Mat Latos (7-2, 4.10 ERA) takes the hill against Ian Kennedy (6-8, 4.55 ERA). Both pitchers have the potential for greatness but have had up-and-down seasons and are coming off rough outings.

Right Handers Everywhere
Joey Votto had his (successful) arthroscopic knee surgery yesterday, and Jay Bruce was out of the line-up for a routine day off after he didn’t really get an All Star break. That left the Reds’ line-up devoid of left-handers, and, lo, there was a righty on the mound.

Even if you didn’t care about the match-ups, just the sheer number of left-handed hitters and switch-hitters in baseball makes that seem pretty surprising. And, in fact, it is quite unusual. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the last time a team started an all-right-handed line-up against a right-handed pitcher was over 7 years ago, April 22, 2005 when the Astros did it against the Cardinals’ Jason Marquis.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Arthroscopic surgery, the kind that Votto had done on his knee yesterday, is most often an outpatient procedure. It can be performed using general, spinal, regional, or local anesthetic, and if the local anesthetic is used, there may be no pain immediate after the procedure. After the procedure, the patient is left with several quarter-inch long incisions on either side of the joint.

Source: MedicineNet.com