Game 41 - Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano) at Cincinnati Reds (Homer Bailey)

• Ironman92

  

  Phillips hitting streak up to 7 games....he's going for 38
• wildcats20

  

  Is it 9 straight for Stubbs being on base at least twice?
• Ironman92

  

  9 or 10.....key to the Reds winning
  
  Stubbs is hitting everything hard...good stuff
• Azubuike24

  

  september63;770208 wrote:Cleveland 24-13 Cincinnati 23-17. Cleveland 15-4 at home Cincinnati 10-9 on the road.

  
  I fail to see any reasoning here why the Reds can't win the series...
• mhs95_06

  wildcats20;770675 wrote:lol
  
  I hope so.
  
  Was this a save opp though tonight? I never can remember the "rules" on that.

  Yes.
• mhs95_06

  The Zambrano walking of Renteria ahead of Votto and below in the order with a four run lead and one on and one out was a key contributor to the 7 run inning!
• Ironman92

  

  2 straight games where Edgar works a walk to get huge things going and also 2 straight games of balls that should've been caught by opposing OF to give the Reds huge breaks.
• mhs95_06

  se-alum;770539 wrote:I think mhs95_06 may have put on the wrong bi-focals this evening. I would imagine Jonny got a little tired by the time he got to second, since he hasn't had to run the bases in about a month.

  
  I saw the replay, and sure enough Gomes started out admiring and not getting out of the box. I didn't see what he did after that, but my theory is he had flash backs of Griffey admiring what he thought were HRs going off the wall for singles, and recalled Stubbs shot in the first that didn't even get to the wall, so he in short order put his head down and ran hard so he didn't see what happened to the ball. Either that or he needs bi-focals like me also. I had mine on and with them it seemed to my eyes that that ball didn't clear by that much, for sure not enough to justify a HR trot out of the box!
• Ironman92

  

  That's a Maddux-like amount of thought.....not a Gomes-like amount.
• mhs95_06

  The Reds infield defense is so good, although I'm worried about Rolen right now - he normally often makes a lot of off-balance throws - maybe he has something physical like Chapman that is causing his accuracy to be off, that I think they ought to use their defense more as a weapon like the Cardinals did over the weekend to go all out to try to keep runners from scoring. They played the infield in many times. And they made a couple of good unconventional plays when a good opportunity came up, rather than just doing it by the book. With a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out and the infield back, a shot at the SS resulted in plenty of time to throw the runner out at home with a tag play which they did. I remember Cabrera doing that once last year for the Reds. Just because you are playing to concede the run on a routine grounder doesn't mean you can't take advantage of good fortune. BP always thinks about what unconventional opportunity he can take advantage of. The the Cardinals, Pujols threw a runner out at third who was advancing from 2nd on the conventional grounder to the right side - slow runner and a sharp grounder gave a good opportunity that they pulled off, but the 3rd baseman got a little anxious and muffed the play a little which should have resulted in an out and runner on first, not 2nd. Defense is so, so important to winning baseball. That and not giving walks in stupid situations.
• mhs95_06

  Ironman92;770751 wrote:That's a Maddux-like amount of thought.....not a Gomes-like amount.

  
  lol! There is a thread about why I like baseball, and that is a lot of it, the thought that goes into it both before the play happens and the critical quick reasoning that goes on as the play happens.
• mhs95_06

  mhs95_06;770758 wrote:lol! There is a thread about why I like baseball, and that is a lot of it, the thought that goes into it both before the play happens and the critical quick reasoning that goes on as the play happens.

  
  Just like that critical baserunning play by Bruce yesterday. Did he judge that he had a good chance to beat the throw to 3rd? If so that was a mis-judgement! But if he pondered that if he went and the throw was on line it would probably be pretty much on the same line he was taking to go into 3rd and there was a good chance the throw might hit him, then that was a much more commendable play. I often wonder if the player got lucky, or he thoughtfully put himself in position to take advantage of the odds!
• hoops23

  

  Midstate01;770661 wrote:Idk. I still don't believe they are that good. That division is very very bad too

  
  Dude, we are almost 40 games in and they have the best record in baseball.. They are everything that their record says they are. The young talent is now contributing and the pitching is great. I'm willing to bet you know nothing about the Tribe and are only going off of what they did last year.
  
  And please, it's not like the NL Central is any stronger than the AL Central.. SMH.
  
  Now, does this mean that the Reds can't win the series? No. The Indians have dropped a series to an inferior team already, just as the Reds have and will do so again this season. Every team in baseball will lose series to a team that they are better than.
• hoops23

  

  And before any of you Reds' fans take my last post the wrong way, I'm not saying the Tribe is definitely better than the Reds, just going by record as of right now.. And pointing out the fact that any team can beat any team in a given series over the course of the 162 game season...
  
  Hopefully both teams continue on this run, because I believe both teams are built to do so.
• SportsAndLady

  

  hoops23;770877 wrote:And before any of you Reds' fans take my last post the wrong way, I'm not saying the Tribe is definitely better than the Reds, just going by record as of right now.. And pointing out the fact that any team can beat any team in a given series over the course of the 162 game season...
  
  Hopefully both teams continue on this run, because I believe both teams are built to do so.

  
  See that's the thing..this isn't a "run" by the Reds. They are just really good, and are 7 games over .500 despite getting off to a pretty lousy start for this team's standards. The Indians, on the other hand, you would say are on a run because no one knows if this is just a good start to the season or actually a damn good team. I hope the Indians can keep it up, cuz I like when any Cleveland team has success...but I just don't know if they can go 75% of their season playing as well as they did the first 25%.
• hoops23

  

  SportsAndLady;770878 wrote:See that's the thing..this isn't a "run" by the Reds. They are just really good, and are 7 games over .500 despite getting off to a pretty lousy start for this team's standards. The Indians, on the other hand, you would say are on a run because no one knows if this is just a good start to the season or actually a damn good team. I hope the Indians can keep it up, cuz I like when any Cleveland team has success...but I just don't know if they can go 75% of their season playing as well as they did the first 25%.

  
  SMH.
  
  This is the problem..
  
  The Reds had ONE good season and finally made the playoffs, but suddenly they are this good...
  
  Baseball is a year-to-year sport. Indians proved that in 2007.
  
  The Tribe closed last season on a great run. They have continued that this year. The talent is there. This is by no means a "fluke" or a "miracle" run. The pitching is there, the offense, as usual, is there.
  
  They've already faced injuries and have battled a tough stretch of the schedule going over .500 during that stretch.
  
  Will the Tribe keep up the .658 winning percentage? NO!... No team this season will.. Hell, in 2007 the Tribe won 96 games.. That's only a .593 winning percentage.
  
  Again, the 40 game mark is usually where you judge how good a team is. The Tribe has played 38 games.. Almost a quarter of the season. I think it's safe to say they are legit, as I projected them to be in the offseason.
  
  And yes, the Reds are on a good run... 4 in a row and 8-2 in their last 10 is not something that will be kept up throughout the season either...
• SportsAndLady

  

  hoops23;770881 wrote:SMH.
  
  This is the problem..
  
  The Reds had ONE good season and finally made the playoffs, but suddenly they are this good...
  
  Baseball is a year-to-year sport. Indians proved that in 2007.
  
  The Tribe closed last season on a great run. They have continued that this year. The talent is there. This is by no means a "fluke" or a "miracle" run. The pitching is there, the offense, as usual, is there.
  
  They've already faced injuries and have battled a tough stretch of the schedule going over .500 during that stretch.
  
  Will the Tribe keep up the .658 winning percentage? NO!... No team this season will.. Hell, in 2007 the Tribe won 96 games.. That's only a .593 winning percentage.
  
  Again, the 40 game mark is usually where you judge how good a team is. The Tribe has played 38 games.. Almost a quarter of the season. I think it's safe to say they are legit, as I projected them to be in the offseason.
  
  And yes, the Reds are on a good run... 4 in a row and 8-2 in their last 10 is not something that will be kept up throughout the season either...

  
  Wow...there is so much wrong in this post lol
  
  The Reds had one good season, but it was the first season with all their "core" guys in the lineup full time. The Reds sucked so bad for so many years they accumulated good players through the draft and they are now finally up together with last year being their first full season. Baseball is not a year-to-year sport; baseball is about buyers and sellers. The Indians were buyers after 07 so they were not able to keep their big time players and that is why they have stunk the last few years. It's not like this Reds team came out of nowhere...it's virtually the same exact team as last year's team that won the division by 5 games.
  
  I am also not saying this is a fluke for the Indians, just that you cannot say they are here to stay not even 25% of the way through the season.
  
  "the 40 game mark is usually where you judge how good a team is" uhhh, says who?? I'll list you 2 teams every year for the past 10 seasons that were doing very well after 40 games and then sucked. That's baseball, it's a long season. 25% of the season isn't when you say "they're for real"
  
  I'm just not even going to address this "run" the Reds are on...SMH
• Midstate01

  

  I agree that the nl central isn't great either. But when you're having first place battles with the royals... Enough said.
• royal_k

  

  Midstate01;770904 wrote:I agree that the nl central isn't great either. But when you're having first place battles with the royals... Enough said.

  
  Ah, the Royals have been legit up until the last week. They were up in the leaders offensively and put a very good team on the field. This team, when it's young pitching all gets there, will be a perennial power. They have 5 of the top 100 players in the minor leagues.
  
  And look at the Tribe's record against the big bad AL east...7-2 against the west 8-5, so it's not just the central they are beating up on.
• thavoice

  Royals legit?
  
  OH wow..I just fell off my chair. That is like saying the pirates were legit after they beat the reds and were over .500.
  
  
  As far as Gomes watching the HR initiall last night.........eh.....he probably was wondering what the fuck he hit when he swung. Its been so damned long since he made good contact he probably thought he hit a groundhog that had wondered onto the field or something.
  
  
  I imagine that HR will give Gomes reprieve for another few weeks.
• september63

  

  It's good for baseball and great for Ohio when the Reds and Indians are both playing well and in contention!!
• royal_k

  

  thavoice;771111 wrote:Royals legit?
  
  OH wow..I just fell off my chair. That is like saying the pirates were legit after they beat the reds and were over .500.

  
  I said they have been legit for most of the year. If you follow baseball you know how well the Royals have played, for the most part, this season. They are no push over anymore. They are young and talented. They also just took 2 of 3 from the Yankees in New York.
• jordo212000

  

  hoops23;770876 wrote:Dude, we are almost 40 games in and they have the best record in baseball.. They are everything that their record says they are. The young talent is now contributing and the pitching is great. I'm willing to bet you know nothing about the Tribe and are only going off of what they did last year.
  
  And please, it's not like the NL Central is any stronger than the AL Central.. SMH.
  
  Now, does this mean that the Reds can't win the series? No. The Indians have dropped a series to an inferior team already, just as the Reds have and will do so again this season. Every team in baseball will lose series to a team that they are better than.

  
  I love that at the start of the season I was one of the few people telling Indians fans how much talent their team had. A lot of you guys were talking about about how big of a joke the franchise was and how bad the team was going to be. They had great players, just needed a little pitching to step up
• SportsAndLady

  

  royal_k;771139 wrote:I said they have been legit for most of the year. If you follow baseball you know how well the Royals have played, for the most part, this season. They are no push over anymore. They are young and talented. They also just took 2 of 3 from the Yankees in New York.

  
  They are not legit, they are simply average. You just think they're legit because normally the Royals are fucking dreadful, so when they're actually doing "okay" it just seems like they're a lot better than what they really are.
  
  20-20 is not legit, it's average.
• jordo212000

  

  Royals arent that bad. Just called up Eric Hosmer a week or 2 ago, and should improve again when Moustakas gets his call up closer to the middle of the season