Boxscore

Well, the game started off well. Drew Stubbs continued to fight for the center field job by leading off the bottom of the 1st with a solo home run. Unfortunately, the home run was a true rally-killer. The Cincinnati Reds never scored again.

Bronson Arroyo started for the Reds, but it was his evil, first-half of the season self that showed up. Arroyo allowed 3 runs in 5 innings and was tagged with the loss. He almost allowed the cycle, but opted for a second home run instead of a single. I guess he’s an over-achiever.

After Bad-royo, the Aroldis Chapman experience took to the mound. Although scheduled for 4 innings of work, Chapman lasted just 1 2/3. It was the first time all Spring that he’s struggled, allowing 4 unearned runs in his shortened time. More frightening than his poor outing was the fact that he left early due to concerns over a stiff back.

John Fay interviewed Reds pitching coach Bryan Price about Chapman’s soreness.

“If we had any concerns about his back, we wouldn’t have gone any further right then,” Price said. “We’re not going to have guys out there throwing, knowing they have problems with their back or arm….[W]e noticed him stretching out a little bit. As soon as we saw that, we brought the trainer out to verify that there wasn’t problem. There was.”

Hopefully, it’s nothing more than a reaction to the rigors of Major League Baseball. I do think this will make the Reds even more cautious about having him be with the team on opening day.

C. Trent Rosecrans recently had the opportunity to ask Bill James a few questions.

Although at first, I wondered why on earth Trent was interviewing the former Marvel Comics executive Bill Jemas, I quickly realized it was the stat-head who’s revolutionized the way baseball players are analyzed.

Rosecrans posted the interview in two parts. Read the first here, and the second here.

I’m a big Paul Janish fan, so it was neat to see James say this about the shortstop.

He’s going to be a guy that probably doesn’t hit .260, but I don’t think he’s going to make a lot of outs, either. I think he’ll be all right in the strike zone. I think he’s going to be one of the best defensive shortstops in the next couple of years.

James also had this to say about the petty squabbles between baseball statisticians and traditional scouts.

It is a stupid debate to have. Exactly. I sit beside scouts at games all the time and we’re trying to do the same thing by different routes. There’s no reason for it to be like that.

James also discusses how Barry Larkin compares to other Hall of Famers, dealing with intangibles in choosing players to comprise a team, and how the Reds may fare this year.

In four games this weekend, the Reds were outscored by their opponents 11-12, but surprisingly, the total number of runs scored over four games doesn’t matter. Who knew? In fact, the team won 2, lost 1, and tied 1, making the weekend a pretty successful campaign.

They started off Friday with a 2-6 win over Seattle. Drew “look at me” Stubbs went 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Scott “keeping 3B warm” Rolen and Chris “I’m 25” Heisey knocked in a couple apiece with Laynce “superfluous Y” making it a nice round six runs. Aaron “what is this run support of which you speak” Harang was the guy starting on the mound. He struck out six in five innings.

Saturday was hang-over day, though, with the Reds falling 0-6 to the Giants. Probably the team was thrown off by the fact that the game was televised on a one-hour delay, making any attempts to live-blog the game from the broadcast utterly irrelevant. There was no offense to speak of, unless you count Joey Votto going 1-for-1 with a walk, and there really wasn’t any pitching to speak of either. Travis Wood started and gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits and two walks. He struck out four.

Today was the split squad day. Half the team took on Oakland and beat them 4-3. The other half hosted the Cubs and took them to a 1-1 tie in 10 innings.

Chris Dickerson, Jay Bruce, and Jonny Gomes contributed one RBI apiece in the away game, and the A’s only earned three runs, so that fourth one must have been earned by hitting the “Hit the ball here and get an extra run!” billboard down the right field line. Johnny Cueto took the mound for the Reds and lasted four innings, allowing one run (earned) on two hits and three walks. He struck out four.

The home team’s one run was knocked in by Nix. Justin Lehr started for the team and gave up the one run.

Tomorrow, the Reds host the Rockies at 4:05 p.m. It’s supposed to be on Fox Sports Ohio and MLB Network, though I’m not remotely prepared to guess what time it’ll appear on the MLBN.

Boxscore

I remember in the off-season that Ben Sheets being available as a free agent coming off a year missed due to injury and there was some rumbling about the Cincinnati Reds being interested. I don’t think the money situation could have ever worked out, and boy is that looking like a good thing right now.

Sure, it’s only Spring Training, but it’s very difficult to put any kind of positive spin on allowing 10 runs and leaving the game without recording any outs, as Sheets did yesterday. Clearly, Sheets wasn’t putting anything, much less positive spin, on his pitches, and he hasn’t all spring. This outing pushed his ERA to 31.15.

Chris Dickerson was the hero, being a triple shy of the cycle by the end of the 3rd. He was 4 for 4 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. The whole lineup piled on the hits, accumulating 16 of them.

Mike Lincoln, whom I’m afraid is washed up, was pretty crappy with a 10 run lead. Actually, he was good for his first 2 innings of work, but clearly tired out in his 3rd, allowing 4 runs.

And I’m not sure how I missed this, but John Fay’s article about the game has a gem in there that does nothing but prove Dusty Baker’s mad man-love for all things veteran.

Mike Lincoln, who is competing for the fifth spot in Cincinnati’s rotation…

I read that and did a double-take. Lincoln is competing for a fifth spot? I had assumed he was just starting a couple times because of his massive lack of work the last few years. I mean, why on earth would a team think that a guy who broke down after 23 innings in 2009 could possibly be a starter?

Sheesh. Going with the not-quite-ready Aroldis Chapman would be a better move. Thankfully, two of the Reds young guns, Travis Wood and Mike Leake, pitched better than Lincoln. Between those two and Matt Maloney, I’m hoping the Reds will make the right decision. (Youth, in case you were wondering. Youth is the answer.)