8/18 Game Deux - Reds at Cubs

[KittyDuran]

I believe it was either Brantley or Welsh on the radio who said it was basically two players carrying this team offensively right now: Ludwick and Frazier. After that it's a crap shoot with some players getting lucky with hitting so from a causal glance it looks like a team effort. Right now BP is struggling and Bruce seems to have his mind elsewhere.

[traderumor]

It's all pitching and defense with them, slim margin for error with pitching and I'd like to see where they stand in terms of scoring in the first 5 innings versus other winning teams. It almost seems like a psychological block this team has due to the fact they aren't ever expected to score a lot of runs, just about every time out.

Tonight was a good example - lay it on late when the pressure's on, have a couple of weak links that don't come through, and 8 runs are just too much when you can't push a couple more over the plate in the first 5 innings - it's like they just coast along with their starters until it counts. I really think there's something to that with them.

I think it has to do with the other team's starter. Granted, sometimes its a scrub, but I don't think its a realistic expectation to think that any lineup goes out night after night and scores 4-6 runs off a starter. More like 2-3. That's why they're doing better, they can match up against the rest of the league's rotation night after night.