Reds Take Game 1 From Cubs

Jay Bruce (32), Drew Stubbs (6), and Chris Heisey (28) celebrate after beating
the Cubs, 5-4, Friday

By:  Coop


The Reds were coming off of a mediocre home stand, and were looking to look better on the road.  Today, they were opening up a 3 game series with the Chicago Cubs.  This was the first time this season the North Siders and the Reds met up.  The Reds absolutly dominated Chicago last year, and were looking to continue that domination.  Well, they did not really dominate them in this game, but they beat them, 5-4, here is how.


The Cubbies scored first when Matt Garza came across to score thanks to a passed ball by Ramon Hernandez, that was in the 3rd inning.


The Cubs' 1-0 lead was soon demolished.  In the 4th inning, Jay Bruce hit a long one to right field, it was a 3-run jack, 3-1 the score.  That was Bruce's 7th homer of the year, a team high, and his 75th home run of his career.


Chicago would answer back in their side of the 4th when Giovanni Soto grounded into a double play, a run scored, and we were back to a 1-run game.


Cincinnati would have a good 5th inning, as they scored 2 runs thanks to two RBI singles.  One by Joey Votto, and the other by Brandon Phillips.  Both players are having great seasons so far, and coming up big.  Joey Votto has now reached base in all of the Reds games this season, and is just 3 game shy of the club record.  Just sayin'.


So after the top of the 5th inning, the score was 5-2, but the Cubs answered back in their 5th inning when Ramirez hit an RBI single, Barney scored, 5-3.


Then in the 6th inning, Soto hit an RBI single to plate the former All-Star, Byrd, 5-4 the score, and that is how she finished. 


Edinson Volquez did not look to great in this game, but did do good enough to get the win.  He went 5 innings, gave up 4 earned runs, on 6 base hits, 4 walks, and 3 strikeouts.  Usually not good when you have more walks than strikeouts.  Edinson is now 3-1.  


Francisco Cordero gets save #5 in as many chances, as he continues to look very good thus far, hopefully he can keep it up.


Tomorrow the Reds and Baby Bears go at it at 2:20 PM ET, another day game, since we are in Chicago.  The game will be televised on Fox Sports Ohio.

Cincy Pounds 15 Hits, Beat Milwaukee In 10

Drew Stubbs (6) celebrates his home run with teammate, Joey Votto (19)

By:  Coop

The Cincinnati Reds were trying to win the series against Milwaukee, and continue their dominance of the Brewers.  If they were going to pick up the win, Sam LeCure would need to pitch well, and the Reds would have to get enough runs off of Yovani Gallardo.  Well, Same LeCure pitched pretty well, could have been better, and the Reds got a good amount of runs off of Gallardo, as they scored 6 times against the Milwaukee pitcher.  But, those 6 runs were not enough to win the game in regulation, but in 10 innings the Reds came up with the victory, 7-6, here is how.


After the first two batters, Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce, reached base via single, Joey Votto came up to bat.  Well, he did what he is payed to do, hit home runs.  He hit a 3-run jack to left center field, it was 3-0 Cincinnati, that was in the 1st inning by-the-way.  Still in the 1st, with Gomes on 3rd, Paul Janish hit a sac fly, Gomes would just slide in ahead of the tag, it was 4-0 Redlegs.


The Brewers would battle back, however.  In the 3rd, Carlos Gomez hit a 2 RBI single, Gallardo and Weeks would score, the Reds' lead was cut in half, 4-2 the score.  


Then, in the 4th inning, Lucroy would grounded into a fielder's choice, it would have been a double play, but the throw to 1st was just late, allowing Prince Fielder to score, and it was a 1-run-ballgame, 4-3.  


Milwaukee would tie it up in the 5th when Prince Fielder hit a grounder to 1st, Votto threw to 2nd for the out, Renteria then tried to complete an inning-ending double play, but his throw was wild, as it rolled way behind Bill Bray who was covering 1st, that allowed Weeks to score, the game was tied at 4 thanks to the E6.


The Reds would take their lead back in the 6th when Joey Votto hit an RBI single to plate Edgar Renteria, 5-4.  Then they would get an insurance run when Brandon Phillips hit an RBI single to bring in Stubbs, 6-4 the score.  Brandon Phillips has been doing very well recently, hopefully he can continue the success.  


The Reds 2-run lead would not last very long.  In the Brew Crew's half of the 6th, they would tie it up thanks to RBI's by Kotsay and Weeks.


6-6 would remain the score until the 10th inning.  At bat was Drew Stubbs.  Stubbs hit this one well, it is going back to center field, and it is gone!  It was a 415 foot home run to dead center, putting the Redlegs up 7-6.  In the bottom of the 10th, Francisco Cordero earned the save, his 4th of the year, and sealed the game up, giving the Reds a victory.  LeCure gets a no-decision, while Aroldis Chapman picks up the win, he is now 2-0 this year.


Oh yeah, and just-so-you-know, Jay Bruce had a 4-hit ballgame.


Cincinnati now has a 13-12 record, and are tied with the Cardinals for 1st place in the NL Central, but the Cards have not played yet.  If they win, the Reds are in 2nd, if they lose, the Reds are in 1st alone.  Let's root for the Astros tonight.


Tomorrow is an off-day for Dusty's Boys, and will open up a home stand with a 3-game series versus Florida.  They will play Friday at 7:10 PM ET, the game will be televised on Fox Sports Ohio.

Reds Win With A 6-Run 11th

Jonny Gomes (31) scores from 1st on a go-ahead double by
Ryan Hanigan.

By:  Cooper Ledford


After the Reds beat the Padres 3-2 in game 1, they were looking to get the series win.  In order for the Reds to get the win, they would need Sam LeCure to pitch well, and they would need to get some runs off of Clayton Richard.  Well, LeCure pitched great, but the Reds did not get many runs off of Richard, they got them off of the San Diego bullpen in the 11th inning.  This was a crazy game, the game was tied at 2 until the top of the 11th inning, where the Reds scored 6 runs all with 2 outs! Now that is amazing.  The Reds win it 8-2, here is how.


In the 1st inning, Jonny Gomes put the Reds on the board with an RBI double to plate Phillips, 1-0 Cincinnati.


The Padres would answer back in the 2nd when Gonzalez hit one into right field, Hundley would score, to tie the game.  But on that same play, while Gonzalez was going toward 3rd base, there was a throw that got past the Reds 3rd baseman, Scott Rolen, Gonzalez would try to take advantage of it and go home, but Scott Rolen gunned the ball to home plate for Hanigan to apply the tag for the out.  That is why Scott Rolen wins Gold Gloves.


The game would remain tied until the top of the 5th, when Drew Stubbs grounded out, but Bruce was able to come home from 3rd, 2-1 Cincinnati on top.


San Diego would once again tie it up in the 8th when Patterson hit an RBI ground-out Hundley scored, the score was 2-2.  But, the Padres would have taken the lead if it wasn't for the awesomeness of Brandon Phillips.  With a man on 3rd, and Venable was the batter.  Venable hit one to 2nd, almost in shortstop territory, Brandon Phillips barehanded it, and made the off-balanced throw to 1st for the out.  It was crazy, go to Reds.com to see the play.  


Okay, so the game still tied at 2, and we are going to the 11th inning.  There are two outs and a man on.  Hanigan is batting.  Hanigan hit one to left, it would be an RBI double, Gomes would come in to score, and the Redlegs had a 3-2 lead.  But, that was just their first run of the 6 they would score in this inning.  The next run would score when Chris Heisey hit an RBI single, Hanigan scored, 4-2.  The next run scored when Edgar Renteria hit an RBI single to center, Jay Bruce scored, 5-2.  Then, with two on and two out, Drew Stubbs made this one a laugher.  He hit a 3-run home run to center, 406 feet, and the score was 8-2.  That would be how the game finished.


Everyone is talking about this 6-run 11th, but right now I am going to talk about Sam LeCure.  Sam did great, going 6 innings, giving up only 1 hit, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and struck out 8, a career high for him.  Unfortunately he got a no-decision, but he proved a lot in this game.


So the Reds are now 8-3, and are 2.5 games up on Pittsburgh and Milwaukee for 1st place in the NL Central.


The Reds will look for the series sweep as Travis Wood will pitch for the Reds, while Stauffer will pitch for San Diego.  Game time is set for 6:35 PM ET and will be televised on Fox Sports Ohio.

Series 4 Preview

By:  Cooper Ledford


The Cincinnati Reds continue their road trip, as they go to San Diego, California, to take on the Padres.  The Reds are coming off of their first losing series, and look to rebound in this one.  With that, here is the series preview.


Game 1 (Monday, 10:05 PM ET, FS Ohio):  In the first game of the series, Edinson Volquez will pitch for the Reds, while Mat Latos will pitch for the Padres.  Let's talk about Edinson first.  Even though he has done pretty well against Padres batters through out his career, he has not done well this season.  On Opening Day he looked very poor, and in his last start allowed a 4 run 1st inning, but was lights out from there.  In order for him to go to 2-0, he will need to pitch much better.  Now let's talk about Mat Latos.  Only 4 Reds have faced him in their careers, all of them without a hit.  Latos has a 1-0 record lifetime against Cincinnati, but that means nothing.  The Reds have a good opportunity to take advantage of him, as he does not know how to approach them all that well.  Also, the Reds need to take advantage of Latos by making him work.  This is his first appearance of 2011, after he was on the DL for pain in his right shoulder.  If the Reds make him work, his shoulder will feel weaker, and will have to be taken out of the game sooner.


Game 2 (Tuesday, 10:05 PM ET, FS Ohio):  Sam LeCure will take the hill for Cincinnati, while Clayton Richard will take the hill for San Diego.  LeCure has only faced Rob Johnson and Ryan Ludwick in his career, Johnson has not hit off of him, while Ludwick has a .333 average in 3 at-bat's.  So LeCure has not faced many Padre hitters, and has never faced the Padres in his career.  As for Clayton Richard, he has faced plenty of Reds, and all of them have had success against him for the most part.  Cairo, Hanigan, and Bruce all have at least a .600 average against Richard, while Votto, Phillips, and Heisey all have a .500 average against him.  As long as LeCure can pitch well, as well as the bullpen, the Reds should be able to score some runs in this game and win it.


Game 3 (Wednesday, 6:35 PM ET, FS Ohio):  In the final game of the series, Travis Wood will pitch for the Redlegs, while Tim Stauffer will pitch for the Pads.  Only 5 Padre batters have faced Wood in their career, none of them having more than 4 at-bat's against him.  But let's forget about the stats for a second, and just talk about Travis Wood so far this season.  He was great in his fist start against Milwaukee, going deep into the game and only allowing 1 run.  Then, in his 2nd game against a much weaker Arizona team (sorry D-Backs), he did absolutly terrible.  His location was his bug issue, while he did not walk too many batters, he did allow quite a bit of hits, a home runs.  He needs to be better in this game if he wants to get the win.  Okay, now we will talk about Tim Stauffer.  Tim is 2-0 lifetime versus the Reds, but has not faced many current batters.  In-fact, he has only faced 8 Reds batters, none of them having more than 6 career at-bats.  


All-in-all, I think the Reds should win at least two games of this series.  The two they have the best chance of winning is the 2nd and 3rd game.  But, any of these games could go either way, be prepared to watch (well, if you stay up that late to watch them play) a fun and exciting series.

Reds Suffer First Loss Of Season

Sam LeCure got a no-decision in the Reds loss to
Houston, 3-2, on Thursday.

By:  Cooper Ledford 


The Cincinnati Reds were wrapping up their three-game series vs. Houston, as well as their home stand before they head to the desert to take on the D-Backs.  The Reds were 5-0 so far, and were looking to go to 6-0.  If they wanted to do so, they would need to do well against Brett Myers.  They did okay, but not good enough, as they lost 3-2, here is how.


The Astros got on the board first when Hunter Pence hit an RBI ground-out in the 1st, the score was 1-0.


The Reds answered back in the 2nd when Edgar Renteria hit an RBI double to center, allowing Gomes to score, the game was tied at 1.


Houston was able to retake the lead in the 4th when Wallace hit an RBI ground-out to plate Carlos Lee, 2-1.


Cincinnati would tie the game once again in the 7th when Scott Rolen went yard for the 2nd time this season, 2-2.


But the Astros would take the lead in the 9th when Downs hit an RBI double to plate Wallace, 3-2 the score.


In the bottom of the 9th, the Reds tried hard to at least tie it with two outs.  Phillips hit a single, Votto reached as well, then came Ramon Hernandez.  We all know what he did on Opening Day, could he do it again?  Another 3-run walk-off homer?  Nope, he grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game.


Sam LeCure was the pitcher, and he looked pretty good, as he went 5 innings, gave up 3 hits, 2 earned runs, walked 2 and fanned 6.  He gets a no-decision.  Nick Masset pitched the final two inning of the game, and he gets the loss as he allowed 1 run to score in the 9th.  The winner is Abad who went 1.1 innings giving up 1 hit and 1 walk.


So the Reds lose, sending 20,104 people home sad.  But as Jim Day said "161-1 is not bad".  We can hope, can't we?  If you are a Reds fan like me, this is not a big deal, 5-1 is still one of the best records in the National League, and this is only 1 game out of 162.  


Next the Reds will get on the plane and head to Arizona to take on the Diamondbacks for a three-game weekend series.  They will play tomorrow at 9:40 PM ET and will be televise on Fox Sports Ohio.  

Series 2 Preview

By:  Cooper Ledford


After the Cincinnati Reds swept the Milwaukee Brewers to open the 2011 season, they look to stay undefeated for 3 more games.  If they are going to have a 6-0 record, they will need to sweep the winless Houston Astros.  So, with that, I will break down each game of the series.


Game 1 (Tuesday, 7:10 PM ET, FS OHIO):  Mike Leake will be on the hill for Cincinnati, while J.A. Happ will be pitching for the Astros.  Carlos Lee and Micheal Bourn have the most experience against Leake, as 9 at-bats with a .111 average, while Bourn 8 at-bats with a .375 average.  Also, Hunter Pence has 9 AB's and a .333 average.  I would have said that earlier in the paragraph, but I just saw that and am too lazy to move the location of that sentence.  Forget about the stats for a minute.  Mike Leake is only in the rotation because of Johnny Cueto going to the DL.  Mike Leake wants to be in the rotation all season, so he needs to get things off to a good start, have an impressive game tonight, so he has a better chance of staying in the rotation.  Okay, now let's talk about the Astros pitcher, J.A. Happ.  If you remember, he came to Houston from Philidelphia in the Roy Oswalt trade.  No Red has more than 3 at-bats against Happ, and Brandon Phillips has the most success against him, as he is 2-for-3 lifetime.  Here is a surprising fact, not even Scott Rolen has played against Happ.  J.A. is also dealing with a minor injury, as he has a strained right oblique, we'll see if that effects him in anyway tonight.


Game 2 (Wednesday, 7:10 PM ET, FS OHIO): In the 2nd game of the series, Edinson Volquez will be pitching for the Redlegs, while Nelson Figueroa will be on the hill for Houston.  Before we talk about stats, let's think about Edinson Volquez's performance on Opening Day.  Remember it?  It was terrible.  He looked like he was a AA pitcher.  He must get better by Wednesday if he wants to get a win, or even a quality start.  Now the Astros are not as good as the Brewers, but still, they are a Major League team, and anything can happen.  Okay, now let's go to stats.  Hunter Pence has the most experience against Edinson, as he had 14 at-bats.  In those 14 AB's, he has .214 average, not much to brag about.  Carlos Lee is hitless in 10 at-bats vs. Volquez, and in 9 at-bats, Micheal Bourn has a .111 average.  So, Edinson Volquez has been very good against the 'Stros throughout his career.  Now let's talk about Nelson Figueroa.  No Red has more than 4 at-bats against him.  Brandon Phillips has gone 2-for-4 in his career, with a--you guessed it, .500 average.  


Game 3 (Thursday, 12:35 PM ET, FS OHIO): Okay, in the final game of the series, the Reds will have Sam LeCure pitching, while Houston will have Brett Myers on the hill.  LeCure had a very solid spring, and has not had much experience against the Astros, or any team.  So, LeCure will just be trying to prove something, as he, like Leake, is trying to stay in the rotation.  Okay, Brett Myers, he has faced a ton of Reds in his career.  He has faced Edgar Renteria more than anyone else.  Edgar has 27 AB's against him, 2 homers, 4 RBI's, and a nice .481 average.  I bet Dusty makes him his starting SS for that game, huh?


Alright, so there you have it.  The game the Reds have the most chance of losing is the 3rd game, since Sam LeCure is not all that great (sorry Sam), while Brett Myers is a very good pitcher (you're welcome Brett).

Reds Rebound From Loss, Beat KC

Travis Wood went 3 innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs, walked
2, and fanned 2 in his win over Kansas City.

By:  Cooper Ledford


The Cincinnati Reds were coming off of a terrible loss to the Brewers, yesterday, losing 15-2.  They were looking to rebound from that loss, and pick up a win over the Royals.  That they did, as the Reds won 5-2.  Travis Wood was pretty solid in the 3 innings he pitched, but did give up 2 runs and 5 hits, but those 2 runs came from a Billy Butler 2-run-jack, Wood still got the win though.  Anyways, here are the scoring plays.


In the bottom of the 3rd Billy Butler went yard, on a 2-run home run, and KC had a 2-0 lead.


Cincinnati would answer back in the top of the 4th when Drew Stubbs hit a 3-run homer to center, and the Reds, just like that, had the lead 3-0.  4 innings later the Reds would get a run when Fred Lewis grounded out, but Miguel Cairo would come around to score from 3rd, it was 4-2.  The Reds would get their final run in the 9th when Felix Perez (never heard of him) hit an RBI single to plate Ronald Torreyes (never heard of him either), 5-2 was the score, and that would be how she finished.


So a solid game for Wood (see paragraph 1) but also a good outing for LeCure, Willis, and Maloney, who all pitched 2 scoreless innings.  


With this win, the Reds go to 7-4, while Kansas City falls to 7-4.  Next, the Reds will travel to Peoria, Arizona, to take on the San Diego Padres.  That game is tomorrow at 3:05 PM ET and there will be no TV and I am unsure about radio.