swamisez wrote: not a bad play, Leake may be one of the best bunters on the roster

Hernandez needs to see it up the line, then advance.

I was thinking they'd pinch run Janish for Ramon and let Hanigan catch the rest of the game.

Votto is usually a cub killer, but Dumpster has made him look dreadful today.

Wouldn't be surprised if they pitched him a couple pitches out of the zone, then just put him on if necessary.

Votto! Fuck yeah!

VOTTO!!!!!!

Votto doin work versus the Cubbies again. Leake back on the hook for the W

Maybe Lou should have spent a little more time on that mound visit

Votto is a player when he had his head on right, that's for sure.

charliehustle14 wrote:

swamisez wrote: not a bad play, Leake may be one of the best bunters on the roster

Hernandez needs to see it up the line, then advance.

I was thinking they'd pinch run Janish for Ramon and let Hanigan catch the rest of the game.

That's what I was thinking immediately when Ramon came safely into 2nd. A pinch runner, not a pinch hitter!

Masset kills me right now. He makes me watch on the edge of my seat.

God damn it Hill, just strike out already. 11th pitch upcoming.

Massett has been great the last few times out. Theriot is hitting everything and he k's Fukodome to end the inning.

What would be wrong with Stubbs laying one down rather than striking out or popping it up? His legs are weapons, and they paid off earlier in the SB for Gomes which turned into a run. Why not put pressure on the defense more often, like they expect him to, and feel threatened by?

Okay Francisco. Do not give a walk to put the tying run on. If he gets one, make him earn it with a hit, even a solo HR is not bad!

Take 2/3 from the Cubs will work everytime.

Nice work Reds..I haven't watched as many games as I usually do, but its nice to see them take down the stupid ass Cubs

mhs95_06 wrote: Okay Francisco. Do not give a walk to put the tying run on. If he gets one, make him earn it with a hit, even a solo HR is not bad!

That is what he did, challenged Lee on the 1-2 pitch and it could have been a HR, but was a fly to CF. that's the difference in a one or two run lead. The he lost concentration a bit and statrted 2-0 on Byrd and went 3-2 and then got him on a good defensive play. Then an easy grounder to 2B on a 1-2 pitch to Ramirez closes the game.

The Reds finally broke the cycle in a good way today. After winning the April 30th game to go above .500, they immediately lost 2 to go under again, but to their credit they haven't lost two in a row since, but hadn't won two in a row either, until today. Losing 3 straight times when they were even at .500. So now that they have broken the trend they need to not even go back to .500 in Pittsburgh, and then progress from there, hopefully to never be at .500 again this season.

Mike Leake is poise, poise, poise, and is well schooled in the game, more so than many players much older and with many more years of pro ball than him. But I think he lost his poise a little bit in that 7th inning and exposed something he hamn't been well schooled in. I looked at a replay of that first run again on the pitch that got away. He looked like he was coming in on line with the batters box on the 3rd base side of the plate, which would have been perfect to take a perfect throw(which was necessary to get the out) right above the corner of the plate closest to 3rd base, and slap the tag down right there on that corner. But in the last few steps he veered sharply into the batters box on the 1st base side of the plate which made it that when Hernandez made the perfect quick throw that he couldn't catch it and slap it down in the corect spot. He was way to far away from that corner to do that.

I agree that visit to the mound right before or after that play might have been the right thing to do, even though you hate to do it to disrupt a guy who seems to be in full control of the situation, so maybe right after the run scored would have been the best. He could be reminded that maybe with the 2-0 count on the lefty, and the tying run on 2nd, he might have the mind-set to not let him tie the game or beat him with two out, first base open and an inexperienced right handed hitter coming up. He didn't make too bad of a pitch, right on the low outside corner, but Colvin was able to jerk it out in the RF corner to give the Cubs the lead, however short lived it was.

Last night the Reds were able to get thru a precarious situation in the 7th also, but without giving up the lead, and then the offense put the game away in the bottom of the inning. Today they gave up the lead, but promptly got it back in the bottom of the inning and then successfully protected it from there. It takes all varieties of wins to be successful in a season. I'd like to see a few more of the "conventional" type: quality start and at least a couple run lead throughout, and the protect it without surrendering the lead, without having the luxury of the game turning into a "laugher"!

Lou Pinella went out ot the nound to speak/discuss with much experienced veteran Ryan Dempster.....the next pitch went 435 feet and lost them the game.

Going to go visit him might have worked and it might have not......most of us believe it's the "right thing to do"

I thought the visit from Sweet Lou maybe should have been a little longer than 2 seconds though. But no one would be saying anything about it had Dempster got Joey out.

Masset CAN be great.

Masset + Rhodes + Cordero is one of the best trios in MLB. It is what has saved the Reds this year. A lot of people are down on Masset because he has been torched a few times, but I actually like that Dusty keeps running him out there in big situations. He is the future closer, it's time to start putting his feet to the fire now.

He's pitched 16 innings and appeared in 17 games this year. In 15 of those games, he has allowed 5 ER, spanning 14.2 IP, which is a 3.06 ERA. It's the 2 appearances where he's allowed the other 9 ER that are killing his stats. The guy is nasty.

If the bullpen continues to progress along with the starting pitching, this team could get dangerous, as long as the bats don't go cold.