Honest opinion. Not what you hope to happen (we all want CIN to be victorious). However, you just mortgaged your house, cashed out your IRA's, and emptied the kid's college fund to make 1 bet...
Reds or Giants?
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Honest opinion. Not what you hope to happen (we all want CIN to be victorious). However, you just mortgaged your house, cashed out your IRA's, and emptied the kid's college fund to make 1 bet...
Reds or Giants?
I honestly think the Reds will win. Too much on their side to bet against them. Latos is a Giant killer. An NL team has never dropped the last three of a NLDS after being two. The Reds have not lost three games in a row at home this season. Overall the Reds have been very good in day games. They will bring home a winner today and advance on to the NLCS.
I'm hoping the Reds win it.
I may be voting more with my heart than my head but I do think Latos is going to put up a great start today. I see a very similar game to Tuesday. A good pitcher's duel that is going to come down to who can make the few clutch plays that will decide it.
Can I take the under? :dunno:
I'm not going to be the first one to vote for the Giants, so I'll be back in a while.
The Reds are the better team.
To me, the two advantages the Giants have over the Reds in this game is starting pitching (which is just a slight advantage) and overall playoff experience. I don't know if experience will have any play in this game so that's a borderline advantage. Everywhere else, the Reds are in a better situation.
I think we lose. Sorry, but Matt Cain is one of the best pitchers in baseball and we have a mediocre offense. I like Latos, but I like Cain more. I see a team that's pressing hard led by a guy who's clearly not 100%. My call is Giants 4-1.
To answer the question posed in the thread title, the answer is yes regardless of the outcome of this game. Either they'll be playing in it or watching it on tv, but they'll see it either way.
Opposing Cain though, we have Latos who might as well be Pedro Martinez in his prime as far as the Giants are concerned. As a team they have a -11 OPS+ against him. I say again NEGATIVE 11.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedsManRick
Outside of the travesty that was game 4, who hits for SF? Posey is the only thing scary there. Our mediocre lineup is better than theirs, even with Votto being a singles hitter and nearly nonexistant so far (he's due btw).
Pressing hard? I'm not to sure. Unfortunate play by the most battle tested member of our team lost the game. Game 4 was an aberration. I don't see how anyone has really changed their approach. We saw a lot of quality AB's yesterday. The hits were there as well, just not timed as well as SF's.
Reds win 4-1. Avatar bet on it. (Also I have had this avatar since first becoming an ORG member in 07(ish?)
This is going to be a boss matchup. Latos v Cain. Wow. I want our guy strutting back to the dugout with his chest out 9 times today.
I think the thing the Giants have is they just need one ball to drop in the seats. A 2 run lead early, some fluky crap like yesterday where two soft hitters dropped some home runs. Then they're the team of destiny or something. Everything is magnified of course.
On the flip side, the Reds will be wanting to add on and add on. A 4 run lead early will be a tense journey through 9.
I think that's the effect of experience.
What I like about the Reds experience is they're deep in this now. By the end of the year they say "At some point your rookies aren't rookies anymore." I'd say that should hold up with the Reds. I don't think you'll see a lot of pucker from the Reds. What will help the most is a strong desire to finish. Finish plays, finish rallies, finish batters, finish innings, finish the series.
The playing at home factor has come up with the Reds. They do not seem to be a team that feeds well off of big moments at home...yet. Lots of their big moments do not come with the crowd going wild. For better or worse, they will have to lead themselves, and the fans, to victory. I suppose that makes the most sense.
All the pressure is squarely on the Reds. I don't think there is any way they win this game.
I just want to see lots of Reds trotting the bases. Just explode.
The fact that you called the Reds season pretty much over when Votto got hurt makes me feel better about this prediction :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor