Reds @ Astros...Game 2

• osu45804

  

  Cueto's Line: 8IP 4H 1BB 6K's 121 Pitches
• mhs95_06

  Johnny maintains his composure and gets the next three hitters to keep the shutout thru 8 on 122 pitches.
• mhs95_06

  Heisey is way more productive as a pinch hitter than when he starts the game! He is quick on those up and in pitches. He is doing a very good job filling a difficult role on the team, even though he is young.
• osu45804

  

  Reds Win!!! 7-0 and move to 1/2 game ahead of St. Louis at 55-44
• wildcats20

  

  The fact that the Reds could be in first place on August 1 is unbelievable to me.
• mhs95_06

  Cueto with a great game. His progress in his career:
  
  2010 10-2 3.18
  2009 11-11 4.41
  2008 9-14 4.81
  
  For the last six weeks he has not allowed more than 2 runs in any start. He is being more economical in his pitches. Tonight's game was tied for the Reds' quickest of the year at 2:16, the same as when Cliff Lee worked over the Reds in Seattle. I think the new pitching coach has really helped, he gets on Johnny when he starts flying open and falling off to the his left. I think it was last game Price hustled out to the mound two different times in the game. Brantley said that the reason his slider was so good tonight was becasue he kept his left shoulder "in". Also I think Johnny watching how Leake and Wood get the batters out has helped too. I was disappointed that he went to a 3 ball count on I think it was four batters tonight after he had the 6-0 lead. That helped him run the pitch count all the way up to 122, but for 8 full innings, and of course the Cabrera error contributed to that also.
• Ironman92

  

  THAT.....felt like a win!
  
  Cueto was awesome!
• mhs95_06

  Nix with a great game with 3/3 and two doubles off Oswalt, and two RBIs, and an intentional walk off Oswalt with the bases empty. Brantley said it was intentional by Oswalt, even though the catcher didn't stand up!
• wildcats20

  

  One of those unintentional intentional walks?
• mhs95_06

  Before the game, off Oswalt, Nix was 7/15 with two HRs, now he is 9/17. No wonder Oswalt wanted no part of Nix! No wonder Dusty put him in the 4 hole, and he didn't disappoint!
• mhs95_06

  mhs95_06;431702 wrote:Heisey is way more productive as a pinch hitter than when he starts the game! He is quick on those up and in pitches. He is doing a very good job filling a difficult role on the team, even though he is young.

  
  As a pinch hitter: 7/17(.411), .524 OBP with 6 R, 6 RBI, 4 HR, and a triple
  Non pinch hitter: 15/57(.263), .333 OBP with 2 HR and 3 RBI
  
  I was impressed with Heisey when I saw him play in person in the home 4th game of the SF series in June. My daughter and I were two of 19,241 who attended this non-televised game on a beautiful day. He entered the game in LF on a double switch in the 6th with the Reds trailing 5-4 and came up and singled in the 6th with one out and no one on. Then in the 8th with the Reds down 6-4 he came to bat with a runner on first and no out. He scorched a line drive to LCF that the new defensive left fielder took a line on he though would allow him to catch, but it was hit harder than he thought and it got past him for a double that put the tying run on 2B with no out. From there the Reds scored 3 in the 8th and held on to win 7-6. I thought his double was the biggest hit of the game becasue it got the Reds right to the position they needed to tie the game. It could be argued that the Phillips triple that followed to tie the game and put the lead run on 3rd with no out was bigger. The re-cap tells all about the Phillips triple, but does not even mention Heisey's key double that put them "in business"! So those two hits that day were not pinch hits that contrributed to his pinch hitting record, but nevertheless were important late inning replacement hits that were very important. That would make his stats as a starter even a little worse than his non-pinch hitter stats!
• Azubuike24

  

  mhs95_06;431776 wrote:As a pinch hitter: 7/17(.411), .524 OBP with 6 R, 6 RBI, 4 HR, and a triple
  Non pinch hitter: 15/57(.263), .333 OBP with 2 HR and 3 RBI
  
  I was impressed with Heisey when I saw him play in person in the home 4th game of the SF series in June. My daughter and I were two of 19,241 who attended this non-televised game on a beautiful day. He entered the game in LF on a double switch in the 6th with the Reds trailing 5-4 and came up and singled in the 6th with one out and no one on. Then in the 8th with the Reds down 6-4 he came to bat with a runner on first and no out. He scorched a line drive to LCF that the new defensive left fielder took a line on he though would allow him to catch, but it was hit harder than he thought and it got past him for a double that put the tying run on 2B with no out. From there the Reds scored 3 in the 8th and held on to win 7-6. I thought his double was the biggest hit of the game becasue it got the Reds right to the position they needed to tie the game. It could be argued that the Phillips triple that followed to tie the game and put the lead run on 3rd with no out was bigger. The re-cap tells all about the Phillips triple, but does not even mention Heisey's key double that put them "in business"! So those two hits that day were not pinch hits that contrributed to his pinch hitting record, but nevertheless were important late inning replacement hits that were very important. That would make his stats as a starter even a little worse than his non-pinch hitter stats!

  Was in LF for that one when the Reds came back on Guillermo Mota. They didn't deserve to win that game, but they did. Heisey was the key player, especially with that gapper in the 8th. Hard to say if he's gonna be a future starter, but he certainly has earned a shot to get some more PT.
• CinciX12

  

  We beat the hell out of Oswalt. I have literally never seen that, or at least don't recall it in my entire life.
• mhs95_06

  CinciX12;431790 wrote:We beat the hell out of Oswalt. I have literally never seen that, or at least don't recall it in my entire life.

  
  I think they said that 4 runs was the most Oswalt had given up to the Reds in any game in his career. I wouldn't say he was beat up so bad that the Reds "knocked him out of the game". All the six runs came in the firt 3 innings, then he got zeroes for the next two innings, then the Astros took him out after five for a pinch hitter after throwing just 70 pitches.
• justincredible

  

  This is the only time I remember them beating the crap out of Oswalt. At one point, wasn't he 21-0 or something?
• justincredible

  

  If so, that means they have got to him lately.
• mhs95_06

  Azubuike24;431778 wrote:Was in LF for that one when the Reds came back on Guillermo Mota. They didn't deserve to win that game, but they did. Heisey was the key player, especially with that gapper in the 8th. Hard to say if he's gonna be a future starter, but he certainly has earned a shot to get some more PT.

  
  We were in the very top row of the upper deck right behind home plate. I agree he has earned a shot, but with the the players they have playing now in the rotation being used, I think it is just fine the way it is. It is very difficult to find a player that can do that well coming into late inning roles with that little playing time, and Heisey is very valuable doing that. I wouldn't play him any more unless there are outfield injuries or one of the others falls way off in production from where they are now!
• mhs95_06

  justincredible;431797 wrote:If so, that means they have got to him lately.

  
  I believe they said tonight, that not including this game the Reds had won four of the last five games that Oswalt had started against the Reds.
• rugbywrestler

  mhs95_06;431802 wrote:I believe they said tonight, that not including this game the Reds had won four of the last five games that Oswalt had started against the Reds.

  
  Seems crazy that the Reds could change their luck so abruptly
• mhs95_06

  dave;431591 wrote:I'm pretty excited to see what this team can do tonight with the chance to take over 1st place again. Janish gets rewarded with the start after missing a sign, I guess that's Dustyball. Rolen should be available to pinch hit, so Gomes, Rolen, Hanigan, Heisey is a pretty solid bench if they can keep Oswalt from going real deep.

  
  It is not Dusty's style to reward or deny playing time the next day because of performance. In fact there was a time this year that a player made a bonehead play, I think Stubbs, and he was out the next day and Dusty was quick to point out that is wasn't due to the poor play, but a planned day off.
  
  I think there has been maybe just one or two cases of performance changing the amoung of playing time this year. One is Gomes doing so well that Nix' playing time has been reduced. I thought at the beginning it would be pretty much a platoon situation in LF with Nix and Gomes with Nix probably getting more since there are more righty pitchers. I also thought that Dickerson and Stubbs would platoon more in CF, and that didn't happen even though Stubbs wasn't doing that well, then the Dickerson injury took care of that. The 2nd situation that may have been rewarded with playing time would be Hanigan, Before he got hurt he was playing about half the games compared to Ramon playing the majority early. I don't know if that was planned as the wear and tear of the season progressed, or Hanigan doing well, especially in knocking in runs, was a factor in Dusty's mind.
  
  In my mind Dusty needs to make just one change in playing time, Cabrera/Janish. Cabrera gets tired easily and needs more time off. Tonight he cracked three hits his first 3 ABs, then he looked spent after that and hit into two double plays, and seemed to be spent running the bases on his last hit, and the two DPs.
• mhs95_06

  rugbywrestler;431804 wrote:Seems crazy that the Reds could change their luck so abruptly

  
  That is what happens in baseball. Look what has happened to my fantasy star, Ubaldo, for the rockies lately!
• jordo212000

  

  mhs95_06;431805 wrote: In my mind Dusty needs to make just one change in playing time, Cabrera/Janish. Cabrera gets tired easily and needs more time off. Tonight he cracked three hits his first 3 ABs, then he looked spent after that and hit into two double plays, and seemed to be spent running the bases on his last hit, and the two DPs.

  
  Could be. Or it could be the fact that it is extremely hard to get 3+ hits in any given game. There's a reason most major leaguers get out 70+% of the time.