3/26/10 Reds v. Mariners (ST)

[MBZags]

It's a big day for both Leake and Wood, as they're both scheduled to go four innings today. I'll provide some play-by-play if I can. Here's the Reds' lineup:

Drew Stubbs cf
Orlando Cabrera ss
Joey Votto DH
Brandon Phillips 2b
Jonny Gomes lf
Jay Bruce rf
Miguel Cairo 1b
Paul Janish 3b
Ryan Hanigan c
Mike Leake p

Here's the Mariners' lineup according to Larry LaRue of The News Tribune:

Ichiro, RF
Figgins, 2B
Jose Lopez, 3B
Ken Griffey Jr., DH
Eric Byrnes, LF
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Ryan Garko, 1B
Rob Johnson, C
Jack Wilson, SS
Luke French, P

Good to see Griffey in the lineup.

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Marty and Tom are indicating that it's basically down to Wood and Leake for the 5th spot. Tom says to give the Reds a lot of credit for not simply going with the veteran pitchers.

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Stubbs with a deep fly to right over the head of Ichiro, with the aid of much wind. Currently, the wind is going 20-25 mph according to Tom, but it should die down by 2 p.m. local time. Nonetheless, a leadoff double for Stubbs with Cabrera coming to the plate.

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Tom is advocating for a potential platoon of Stubbs and Dickerson in CF. Marty and Tom are talking about the anemic offense provided by the Reds this spring, but they don't seem worried yet. Cabrera has now tried twice to unsuccessfully bunt Stubbs to third.

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Stubbs takes third on a 1-2 changeup. Now, it's a 2-2 count. Tom says Stubbs could steal 50-60 bases if he gets on enough.

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On a full count, Cabrera walks.

There are runners on first and third with no one out and Votto coming to the plate.

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Marty talked to Tom Browning, who is unconcerned about Harang because he had similar struggles at the end of spring training as well.

Votto with a base hit to right! Stubbs scores and Cabrera moves up to second.
Runners on first and second with no out.

Tom is talking about Phillips maybe moving out of the cleanup spot and Rolen sliding in once the season starts.

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Marty is talking about the difficulty of cutting the roster down and how these decisions are the hardest he's ever seen. Tom is surprised by the amount of players left in count.

Phillips blooped a ball to right, which fell in front of Ichiro, but Ichiro gunned down Votto at second with a nice scoop by Jack Wilson.

There are now runners on 1st and 3rd with one out and Gomes up.

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Gomes flies out to center, scoring Cabrera on the sacrifice fly. Gomes must've hit it pretty deep, as there was no play at home.

Phillips still on first, two outs, with Bruce now up.

Chapman threw in the bullpen today with no problems whatsoever, and Marty says to expect him back soon.

Phillips steals second and advances to third on a poor throw to second. Tom says he hopes that the Reds' aggressiveness on the bases continues into the season.

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Bruce strikes out to end the inning. Reds lead 2-0 with the Mariners coming up.

Before the inning ended, Tom said he thought Votto should easily steal 20 bases a year, and Phillips should easily steal 30.

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Ichiro grounds out, 4-3, to open the Mariners inning off Leake.

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Tom is raving about Leake's stats, especially considering aluminum bats and the offensive explosions that typically occur in Arizona. Also, scouts agreed that Leake looked better than Strasburg in the Fall League.

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Marty says that a potential problem with Leake is that he may throw too many strikes.

Leake promptly walks Figgins with one out and Lopez coming up.

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Lopez lines out sharply to RF. Griffey is now up, and he got a nice cheer from the crowd.

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Griffey lines out to first to end the first inning. Leake didn't give up a hit and walked one, but it sounds like all the outs made were hit very sharply.