Boxscore

I apparently have lost the ability to enjoy baseball games that the Cincinnati Reds lose. Either that, or when the Reds lose–to the Chicago Cubs, of all teams–they play the most boring, uninspired baseball I’ve ever seen.

Hell, I’d rather be removing my old, leaky kitchen faucet than watching this game. Granted, the leak was causing issues in the basement ceiling and a bit more immediate of a concern than the baseball game. But you can bet I would’ve been checking the game more often had the Reds shown any life.

Bronson Arroyo started for the Reds and continued to perform well. So far, he’s been the most surprising starting pitcher of the season, and in a good way. Arroyo turned in a quality start, going 6 innings and allowing 3 runs on 9 hits, 1 walk, and 3 strikeouts. He did allow a couple home runs, though, which did remind me too much of last year.

It almost didn’t matter how good Arroyo pitched, though, as the Reds’ offense didn’t get the memo that today’s game wasn’t rained out. The only run they scored didn’t even result in an RBI. With one out and Joey Votto on third base and Brandon Phillips on first, Jay Bruce hit a grounder to the first baseman. The first baseman tapped the bag to force Bruce and then threw to second to get Phillips tagged out. But Phillips forced a rundown for long enough for Votto to score.

And that was it. In total, the Reds managed 3 whole hits. The pitching was good again, and the bullpen turned in 3 shutout innings. But Dusty Baker better wake this team up or the team will have to find someone else to do it.

I’m sure the Cincinnati Reds can use the day off after playing about 100 games in a row away from home and losing 80 of them*. But I always miss baseball, even after stretches like that. Of course, a bunch of those games were during the day while I was at work, so it was kind of like they were off days to me, anyway.

But today is an actual off-day before the Reds start a series at home with the San Francisco Giants tomorrow. Finding content when the team doesn’t play can be challenging.

• Redleg Nation listed reasons the season isn’t over.
• Red Reporter whipped out the calculator and the maths and stuff to see what kind of holes are in the Reds’ bats.
• And C-ing Red makes fun of a billboard that the Chicago Cubs have in the outfield.

But all that sounds like work. So instead, here’s a picture of Alfonso Soriano missing a routine fly ball.

He misses fly balls and could be yours for just $57 million over 3 years!

Boxscore

The Reds finally won their second series of the young 2012 season today when they picked on someone smaller than them in the Chicago Cubs.

Johnny Cueto took the mound and provided 6.1 innings of five hit, two run (one earned) performance. He struck out seven and walked two. From there, Logan Ondrusek took over to walk a guy and strike a guy out before handing the ball over to Aroldis Chapman. Chapman finished out the seventh and also pitched through the eighth, giving up no hits and no runs, walking two and striking out one. Finally, our rarely seen closer, Sean Marshall gave up one earned run on one hit in the ninth, which was OK because the lead was two. He also struck out two.

Drew Stubbs, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, and Scott Rolen provided the RBI today. Stubbs’ 1-for-4 day with a walk continues a modest hot streak that makes it much more pleasant to watch his at-bats. Votto went 2-for-3 with two walks, bringing his league-leading total number of walks to 17. Dude’s rocking a .444 OBP.

The win brings the Reds’ record to 7-9. Which isn’t that great, but on the other side, the loss brings the Cubs’ record to 4-12, so there’s some perspective for you. Tomorrow they take the day off before heading home to open a series with the Giants on Tuesday at 7:10. Mat Latos will take on the dreaded TBA.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds sent out 18 of their finest players against the Chicago Cubs today, but despite a 4-for-6 showing from Brandon Phillips and defending a lead going into the ninth, the Cubs got the better of them.

In addition to Phillips’ four hits, Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, and Dioner Navarro each contributed a couple. Scott Rolen and Chris Heisey brought the total to 14 with a hit apiece. Fourteen hits (plus six walks) ain’t bad, but when you leave 27 aboard, you’re not going to get very far.

Matt Latos toed the rubber for the Reds, going four and two-thirds innings giving up three runs (two earned) on four hits and two walks. Latos was followed by Justin Freeman, Sean Marshall, Kanekoa Texeira, Clayton Tanner, and Mark Serrano, but only Tanner gave up more runs. Four (earned) to be exact, two of them homers, on four hits and a walk. The lead went along with the runs, earning young Tanner the loss.

The loss puts the Reds at 10-16 for the spring: not exactly worrisome or important, but not exactly exciting to watch either. Tomorrow the team hosts the Angels at 4:05 EDT.

Boxscore

Bronson Arroyo didn’t fare as well in his second start of the Spring for the Cincinnati Reds. Arroyo allowed 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks over 2 innings. He struck out just one batter.

The offense continues to produce runs, as they were up to the task of recovering from Arroyo’s deficit. Todd Frazier homered in the 2nd inning, and Zach Cozart doubled in a couple in the third to bring the team within 1.

The team took the lead in the top of the 7th, only to have Carlos Fisher blow it in the bottom of the 7th by allowing 3 runs.

Sean Marshall turned in a better outing than his previous ones, which is a good sign. Marshall pitched a perfect 4th, striking out 2.

As for Arroyo, I didn’t see any reports on his velocity, so that’s still a concern. Obviously, the overall results weren’t good, but he did manage to strikeout a batter this time. Of all the starters, I think Arroyo is the one who will need to be watched most closely during Spring Training. We don’t want Badrroyo again.