This is from a while ago. Had a chance to watch the Reds beat the Mets, 7-2, in a game that was close most of the way, until the Reds blew it wide open in the 7th. We were in the second-to-last row from the top. Hard to see the ball, but at least the view's nice.
Showing posts with label reds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reds. Show all posts
Reds def. Mets, 7-2
Reds Report
When the Reds went on a that long winning stretch at home, I thought that this was it, all that young talent and a couple veterans have finally coalesced and we won't lose very much anymore until September. And they played well for a little longer, then they lost 2 of 3 to St. Louis, 2 of 3 to Boston, and got swept by the Dodgers. That did it for me. They would have to play almost perfectly to make any postseason this year. I guess there's always next year.
One thing to watch are all the young pitchers. Case in point, this weekend series with the Yankees, won by the Reds 2 games to 1. Starting pitchers in this series: the rookie Volquez, the rookie Thompson, and the rookie Cueto. Their lines:
- Reds win, 4-2. Volquez: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 0 HR, 1.71 ERA
- Reds win, 6-0. Thompson (ML debut): 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA
- Reds lose, 4-1. Cueto: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 0 HR, 5.01 ERA
Photo by Bill Kostroun/AP
Speaking of Volquez, the Josh Hamilton trade may have been the most mutually beneficial trade in the history of baseball. That's my unofficial opinion.
- Hamilton: .316 AVG (7th), 19 HR (1st), 76 RBI (1st)
- Volquez: 10 W (tie 2nd), 1.71 ERA (1st), 110 SO (1st)
Speaking of positions, the Reds lost their fourth short stop of the season on Friday, losing Jolbert Cabrera (who was 4-for-4) to injury. This certainly has not helped their record, but the season's starting short stop, Gonzalez, was never supposed to hit much in this lineup. The two subsequent replacements, Keppinger and Hairston, Jr., were upgrades, IMO. So then who hasn't been hitting? How about the 3 and 5 hitters, bringing in averages of .249 and .219 respectively. Griffey, Dunn, WTF?
BRUUUUUUUCE!!!
Sunday was a great day for baseball... Griffey on the verge of 600, Cueto on the mound, and some kid named Jay Bruce everyone's been talking about. Griffey didn't hit #600, but he did go 2-3. As did Bruce, with a HR and an RBI double, in a 6-2 Reds win. He raised his career average to .591.
Most Entertaining 28 Seconds I've Had Today
Mr. Redlegs falls! Good thing that dude's got all that padding around his head.
via OMGreds.
Cueto, Henry Leave Fans Speechless
The Bengals cut Chris Henry after his fifth transgression with the law in the last 28 months. I say good riddance. He was a walking punchline off the field. On the field, he had some spectacular plays, but he wasn't clutch.
What's especially disappointing is that Henry was a model player and teammate, behavior-wise. There was an ESPN article on Bengals' off-field problems a while ago:
But inside the Bengals' locker room, Henry is regarded as a model teammate. And therein lies the difference between the kind of character that matters to teams and that which matters to fans. Henry's coaches and teammates say he shows up on time, pays attention in meetings and goes about his football business as quietly as a mouse. When he does speak, Henry addresses coaches with barely audible "Yes, sirs" and "No, sirs." He works hard in practice, has played through injuries and has quickly developed into the Bengals' No. 3 receiver, with 29 catches for 451 yards (15.6 ypc) and 7 TDs, the same number as Chad Johnson.That tells me that Henry was for the most party a good person, but makes bad, really bad, snap decisions, and has a bit of a temper, when in social situations and not beside a coach.
In Reds news, Johnny Cueto made is major league debut yesterday. His line in a 3-2 win:7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO, 92 NP, 1.29 ERAI'm sure I join thousands of Reds fans when I say:
"...!"
Cue CuetoMania.
Opening Day 2008
Here are a few pictures from the Opening Day parade on Monday. I thought I was going to get drenched, but the rain held off. I couldn't stay for the whole thing, and only caught the first hour's worth before returning to work. They said that this was the largest field ever, with over 200 groups in the parade.
You can see all my parade pictures here.
The parade started off with a police motorcycle formation. Bright and shiny!
The mayor rode with his assistant in the D.A.R.E car. I saw Pepper and Portune, and most of city council.
One of the nicest things to see in the parade.
This plug-in, 100 mpg, electric car caught me eye. If I haven't said so before, my belief is that the electric car can remove our country's dependency on foreign oil. They get 100 mpg, they're proven, and they've been around for 100 years. You park 'em in your driveway and plug 'em in overnight. But why doesn't anyone have one? Technology? Please. I believe that the oil and car industry will not let them come to market.
This woman had a cooler scooter.
My shot of Peanut Jim Tarbell didn't turn out so well.
The Bockfest goat always entertains.
This T.A.N.K. bus is a Reds fan!
The Chick-Fil-A cow, exhorting me to eat more chicken.
A unicycle gang.
Some sort of lawnmower formation.
A portable tennis match.
Urban Planning 101
On the way back to my car, I snapped this picture standing in-between 2nd and 3rd Sts.
Not to beat a dead horse, but I just love how the neighborhood around the ballpark has taken off ever since they decided to build it on the river. So many lively bars and restaurants.
Of course, by "neighborhood" I mean "12 lanes of highway," and by "lively bars and restaurants" I mean "homeless living underneath the bridges." But whatever.
Joe Nuxhall R.I.P.
When I heard the news about Joe Nuxhall on Friday morning, I cringed a bit, and felt a wave of sadness pass through me. I went down to the ballpark - not sure why - maybe for no other reason than because it was a clear morning.
News crews were already down there doing location spots.
On Saturday afternoon, Sarah and I went for a walk and ended up back at the ballpark. By that time, the memorial had grown.
At some point, this guy from 700WLW with a handheld DVR asked me a few questions. You can see more of my salient thoughts on the video here.
Rest in peace, ol' lefthander.
How To Save Cincinnati
Okay, I don't know how to save Cincinnati. I did try to compose something more coherent, but after wasting a lot of time just staring, I think I'll just try a list.
1) John Fox's editorial in last week's Citybeat caught my eye. In it, he wonders why the corporate powers-that-be have never sought to sponsor Midpoint Music Festival but fall all over themselves to get behind the Bengals, when arguably MPMF in many ways is a more important event for the city than the Bengals have ever been in recent times, despite their success. He referred to an old CityBeat article on the Creative Class with this quote: "And here's the kicker -- there isn't a density of high-tech workers in a place without a thriving music scene."
2) Why do people move to a city? Jobs? Culture? Friends? Family? Reputation? There are people who move to California because they love to tell people that they live in California. There are people who move to New York City for the same reason. But there are people who move to California because they love the weather. There are people who move to New York because they love walking to the store and riding the bus and taking the subway to see a play and so on. There are people from Cincinnati who think Cincinnati is nothing, and move to Chicago. There are people from Grayson County, KY, who think Grayson County is nothing, and move to Cincinnati to live in a great city. I don't know of anyone who moved to, say, St. Louis because they didn't like it in Cincinnati.
3) I read this article a long time ago about how to be Silicon Valley. He claims that the two main requirements to duplicate the Valley are nerds and rich people. Pittsburgh has lots of nerds, but no rich people. Hence you don't hear about the next Google coming from the Steel City. The same applies to Miami, which has lots of rich people, but no nerds. In considering things like personality, creativity, and youthfulness of a city, I like the following passage:
...Most good startup ideas seem a little crazy; if they were obviously good ideas, someone would have done them already.Does that last paragraph sound familiar? Does it sounds like a description that has ever been applied to Cincinnati?
That's the connection between technology and liberalism. Without exception the high-tech cities in the US are also the most liberal. But it's not because liberals are smarter that this is so. It's because liberal cities tolerate odd ideas, and smart people by definition have odd ideas.
Conversely, a town that gets praised for being "solid" or representing "traditional values" may be a fine place to live, but it's never going to succeed as a startup hub.
4) If Zipscene is successful, it will have been in the face of the extraordinary limitations of where Zipscene started. Namely, Cincinnati. I love this town, but this is no place to start a internet-type startup along the lines of Google, or Facebook. One of the reasons I joined Zipscene was the idea of being a part of the first real consumer internet success in this city. I cannot think of anything else that comes close. (That's not true. Up4Sale.com would probably have been successful back in the 90's were it not acquired by eBay early on. There's also SparkPeople.com and PlanetFeedback.com (before it was acquired by Intelliseek) with varying degrees of success, but have you heard of them?)
5) Now, I love this town. But Larry Gross is right in this week's CityBeat when he says, "We have some very nice people here, but there is a tenseness -- some kind of a vibe that covers this city." I know this vibe. I've emanated it myself, I'm sure. It's the same vibe as, "Ohmigod, you're a stranger, can't talk to you." In Cincinnati, family is important. So is working hard, shutting up, and doing what you're supposed to do. It's why clubs like Club Clau and Bang get so much guff. It's why people take comfort in things that have been the same and familiar for so long, and why people get upset when the Fountain gets moved 30 ft. to the north. It's why the most successful businesses here are still in manufacturing, consumer goods, and insurance, despite the best efforts of Pill Hill and the likes of Zipscene. It's why the man with the most hits in baseball, who for 20 years worked hard, shut up, and did what he was supposed to do, can do no wrong in this city. This is why Cincinnati loves Pete Rose, and always will.
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