Cactus League - Reds vs. Tribe 03/17/13

[corkedbat]

Choo out for the 2nd straight day w/back spasms

Latos on the bump - no harm in the top of the first.

Reds vs. Justin Materson (bottom of the 1st)

Robinson: Leadoff grounder (one out)
Cozart: sngle to left
Votto: single to right
Paul: Bomb to as straight-awy CF as you can get (3-0 Reds)
Bruce: walk
Toddfather: Homers to right (5-0 Reds)
Donald: K (two down)
Mesoraco: Fly to LF (3 down)

5-0 Reds after one

[corkedbat]

Latos in the second:

Groundout
Single to right
K
Fly to left

[corkedbat]

Reds 2nd:

Latos and Robinson go down - didn't catch how (2 down
Cozart safe on an error @ 3B
Votto grounds out to 2B

Still 5-0 Reds after two

[corkedbat]

Latos in the 3rd:

Flair to LF for a single
Fielding error on Votto (men at 1st and 2nd)
4-6-3 DP (runner on 3rd, 2 down)
Stubbs with an IF single to SS to score the run (5-1 Reds)
Fly to CF - nice catch by Robinson after a late break

5-1 Reds after 2.5

[corkedbat]

Bottom of the 3rd:

Paul: walk
Bruce: K
Frazier: Fly to CF
Donald: ground out 4-3

5-1 after 3 innings

[corkedbat]

Latos in the 4th:

Double to right
Single to left (1st and 3rd)
Double off the wall in straight away CF (5-2, 2nd & 3rd, no outs)
Grounder to 1B (runner on 3B, 1 out, 5-3 Reds)

Gotta go to dinner

[Red Raindog]

Stubbs fans on three pitches --- must be ground hog day again

[corkedbat]

Frazier and Phipps go back-to-back. 7-4 Rds

[Scrap Irony]

Some observations on the first day of watching baseball since October:

Mat Latos looks just like he did last season. Dominant one inning, struggling the next. Tired arm, according to the interview afterward. Fair enough.

Wilkin De La Rosa looks like he could be a future LOOGY. Nice, smooth arm action, tough to pick up. Villareal looked like a human batting tee. Rough, rough outing. Hopefully, it's just a tired arm. Otherwise, ick. (I saw him last season in Louisville, and he looked... serviceable.)

Hamilton stung a ball-- right on the screws-- but it was caught. He also caught what looked like a sure-fire single on a great jump and some serious speed in CF. That's good to see.

Comparing Heisey's swing to Lutz's shows you just how much Lutz has to learn. I love Heisey's swing. Quick, compact, power.

Speaking of long swings, Mesoraco-- same old, same old. Slider away after fastballs up. Denis Phipps has gained 30 pounds since I last saw him, maybe more. He's absolutely huge.

[Mutaman]

Some observations on the first day of watching baseball since October:

Mat Latos looks just like he did last season. Dominant one inning, struggling the next. Tired arm, according to the interview afterward. Fair enough.

Wilkin De La Rosa looks like he could be a future LOOGY. Nice, smooth arm action, tough to pick up. Villareal looked like a human batting tee. Rough, rough outing. Hopefully, it's just a tired arm. Otherwise, ick. (I saw him last season in Louisville, and he looked... serviceable.)

Hamilton stung a ball-- right on the screws-- but it was caught. He also caught what looked like a sure-fire single on a great jump and some serious speed in CF. That's good to see.

Comparing Heisey's swing to Lutz's shows you just how much Lutz has to learn. I love Heisey's swing. Quick, compact, power.

Speaking of long swings, Mesoraco-- same old, same old. Slider away after fastballs up. Denis Phipps has gained 30 pounds since I last saw him, maybe more. He's absolutely huge.

good post. thanks.

[lollipopcurve]

Speaking of long swings, Mesoraco-- same old, same old. Slider away after fastballs up.

Masterson can be very tough on righties, and he threw Mes some tough sliders. I'd give him a pass on that AB, and in his 1st AB he didn't miss a fastball by much, popping it into short left. Definitely not "same old, same old" when you look at his spring as a whole.

Meanwhile, OLivo looked pretty poor, both at bat and behind the plate (had a bad throw to 2nd on a steal).

[texasdave]

Reds go in order in the top of the first. Heisey strikes out. Izturis lines to left. Lutz skies one to the center fielder.
Rockies' half of the first. Fowler goes DEEEEEEPPPPPP off of Bronson. Three ground outs follow. Lutz at first tonight. Votto and Phillips and Choo all out of the lineup.
Reds' second. Ludwick sends a can of corn to shallow right. Bruce swings and stirs up a little desert air and not much else. Two down. Bruce and Ludwick having a good spring, if you add their averages together. (.121 + .188 = .309) Frazier also lines wicked hard to left. Six up and six down.
Colorado second. Bronson snags a comebacker for out number one. Nice play. Izturis ranges out into short center to haul in a towering popup. Two down. The Toddfather with a fine play at third to gun down Culberson. Two in the books. Neither pitcher has had to pitch out of the stretch yet.
Cincy third. Cozart finagles a free pass. Cowboy sounds better at play-by-play this season. Slow roller off the bat of Hanigan but Cozart was on the move and the only play is to first. Hanigan showing excellent bat control to get his bat on the ball on the hit-and-run. Arroyo crushes the ball to the deepest part of the ballpark and it goes off the glove of Fowler for a double. Cozart comes home. That was almost to dead center at the 410 foot mark. Heisey makes the pitcher work but eventually pops to the second sacker, who made a fine over-the-shoulder catch. Heisey pops up a lot. Izturis lines out for the second time. Hitting in some tough luck. This one to right center. Fowler ran it down.
Rockies' third. Herrera grounds a double down the left field line and gets bunted to third by the pitcher. Fowler draws a full-count walk. Runners on the corner with just one away. Arroyo induces a ground ball up the middle which Cozart and Izturis sweetly turn into a twin-killing. Bronson can Houdini with the best of them. He smiles on the way back to the dugout.
Reds' 4th. Lutz leading off. He seems like a lot of young hitters. He can handle the heat but if you put a wrinkle in it; he struggles. He Ks for out number one. Fowler runs down another liner in center. This one off the bat of Ryan Ludwick. Two down. Bruce Ks for the second time in the game.
Colorado home half of the 4th. BA 'arredondos' Helton to start the inning. Bronson must have put him on first just so could he polish his GIDP routine. Cozart and Izturis hook up again. 6-4-3. Yessirreee!! Arroyo is a ground-ball inducing machine. Only two balls in the air off Colorado bats through four innings of work, Fowler's bomb and a pop out. Cozart fires to first. Still 1-1 after 4.
Cincinnati 5th. Frazier flies deep to Fowler. Frazier has hit the ball hard twice tonight. Cozart with a solid ground single to center. He has been on both times tonight. Hanigan goes the other way with a shallow fly to Colvin. Cowboy said that the Rockies played a lot of ketchup baseball last year because they could not mustard up any solid starting pitching. Yuk. Yuk. Pretty good pun by the seasoned broadcaster. I just hope they don't get Cozart caught in a pickle. Bronson walks. Two on with two out. Heisey pops up again. Do the Reds have a hitting coach?
First-world problems. I have to click once to get out of the Gameday scoreboard to check on the WBC game and then once more to get back to the Reds' game. Two whole clicks. Whatever happened to user-friendly?
Rockies' 5th. Bronson back out. Rockies' leadoff hitter grounds a single to center and Heisey gets the ball back quickly. Bruce runs down a line drive that was hooking away from him. Nice play. Brantley says Bruce gets as good a jump on the ball as anyone. (Actually he says his first two steps are as good as anyone's.) Ground-rule double on a looping liner down the left-field line. Saved a run. 2nd and 3rd. Line drive snagged by Frazier. Arroyo can dance out of danger with one more out. Arroyo gets his first strike out of the game. Nicely done.
Cincinnati 6th. Izturis with his third line drive of the game and this time it falls in right-center for a double. Aggressive baserunning and he slides in under the tag. Lutz, facing a lefty, grounds a sharp single to right that ate up the second baseman. Here comes Izturis and he is Out! Safe! Great reach-around slide by Izturis as the throw beat him. Izturis making a strong bid to make the 25-man. Reds lead 2-1. People might say that what happens in Spring Training is meaningless. Tell that to Cesar Izturis. Ludwick hits a rocket ground ball to second who turns it into two outs. Full count on Jay Bruce and Boom! Goes the Dynamite! Jay launches his third round-tripper of Spring Training. This one deep into the Arizona night. A no-doubter. Frazier grounds to short. Reds take a 3-1 lead.
Colorado 6th. Bronson still toeing the rubber. Grounder to first. One down. Grounder to first. Two down. Bronson's GB/FB is 11/0. That plays in any league. Ground single to Heisey in center. Cozart dives but can't quite come up with it. And that will be all for Arroyo. J.J. Hoover will come on. It is Spring Training for managers too as Dusty walks over to the home plate umpire to make a double switch. Hoover comes on and strikes out Tyler Colvin. No way he should be sent to AAA to wait for another reliever to pitch his way off the team. That would be stupidity of the highest order. Options, shmoptions! Does it make any sense to send a better pitcher down just to wait for someone to pitch poorly and possibly cost your team a game or two? Even CubsFan knows the answer to that question.

And that is enough for me. Adios.

[texasdave]

Reds go in order in the top of the first. Heisey strikes out. Izturis lines to left. Lutz skies one to the center fielder.
Rockies' half of the first. Fowler goes DEEEEEEPPPPPP off of Bronson. Three ground outs follow. Lutz at first tonight. Votto and Phillips and Choo all out of the lineup.
Reds' second. Ludwick sends a can of corn to shallow right. Bruce swings and stirs up a little desert air and not much else. Two down. Bruce and Ludwick having a good spring, if you add their averages together. (.121 + .188 = .309) Frazier also lines wicked hard to left. Six up and six down.
Colorado second. Bronson snags a comebacker for out number one. Nice play. Izturis ranges out into short center to haul in a towering popup. Two down. The Toddfather with a fine play at third to gun down Culberson. Two in the books. Neither pitcher has had to pitch out of the stretch yet.
Cincy third. Cozart finagles a free pass. Cowboy sounds better at play-by-play this season. Slow roller off the bat of Hanigan but Cozart was on the move and the only play is to first. Hanigan showing excellent bat control to get his bat on the ball on the hit-and-run. Arroyo crushes the ball to the deepest part of the ballpark and it goes off the glove of Fowler for a double. Cozart comes home. That was almost to dead center at the 410 foot mark. Heisey makes the pitcher work but eventually pops to the second sacker, who made a fine over-the-shoulder catch. Heisey pops up a lot. Izturis lines out for the second time. Hitting in some tough luck. This one to right center. Fowler ran it down.
Rockies' third. Herrera grounds a double down the left field line and gets bunted to third by the pitcher. Fowler draws a full-count walk. Runners on the corner with just one away. Arroyo induces a ground ball up the middle which Cozart and Izturis sweetly turn into a twin-killing. Bronson can Houdini with the best of them. He smiles on the way back to the dugout.
Reds' 4th. Lutz leading off. He seems like a lot of young hitters. He can handle the heat but if you put a wrinkle in it; he struggles. He Ks for out number one. Fowler runs down another liner in center. This one off the bat of Ryan Ludwick. Two down. Bruce Ks for the second time in the game.
Colorado home half of the 4th. BA 'arredondos' Helton to start the inning. Bronson must have put him on first just so could he polish his GIDP routine. Cozart and Izturis hook up again. 6-4-3. Yessirreee!! Arroyo is a ground-ball inducing machine. Only two balls in the air off Colorado bats through four innings of work, Fowler's bomb and a pop out. Cozart fires to first. Still 1-1 after 4.
Cincinnati 5th. Frazier flies deep to Fowler. Frazier has hit the ball hard twice tonight. Cozart with a solid ground single to center. He has been on both times tonight. Hanigan goes the other way with a shallow fly to Colvin. Cowboy said that the Rockies played a lot of ketchup baseball last year because they could not mustard up any solid starting pitching. Yuk. Yuk. Pretty good pun by the seasoned broadcaster. I just hope they don't get Cozart caught in a pickle. Bronson walks. Two on with two out. Heisey pops up again. Do the Reds have a hitting coach?
First-world problems. I have to click once to get out of the Gameday scoreboard to check on the WBC game and then once more to get back to the Reds' game. Two whole clicks. Whatever happened to user-friendly?
Rockies' 5th. Bronson back out. Rockies' leadoff hitter grounds a single to center and Heisey gets the ball back quickly. Bruce runs down a line drive that was hooking away from him. Nice play. Brantley says Bruce gets as good a jump on the ball as anyone. (Actually he says his first two steps are as good as anyone's.) Ground-rule double on a looping liner down the left-field line. Saved a run. 2nd and 3rd. Line drive snagged by Frazier. Arroyo can dance out of danger with one more out. Arroyo gets his first strike out of the game. Nicely done.
Cincinnati 6th. Izturis with his third line drive of the game and this time it falls in right-center for a double. Aggressive baserunning and he slides in under the tag. Lutz, facing a lefty, grounds a sharp single to right that ate up the second baseman. Here comes Izturis and he is Out! Safe! Great reach-around slide by Izturis as the throw beat him. Izturis making a strong bid to make the 25-man. Reds lead 2-1. People might say that what happens in Spring Training is meaningless. Tell that to Cesar Izturis. Ludwick hits a rocket ground ball to second who turns it into two outs. Full count on Jay Bruce and Boom! Goes the Dynamite! Jay launches his third round-tripper of Spring Training. This one deep into the Arizona night. A no-doubter. Frazier grounds to short. Reds take a 3-1 lead.
Colorado 6th. Bronson still toeing the rubber. Grounder to first. One down. Grounder to first. Two down. Bronson's GB/FB is 11/0. That plays in any league. Ground single to Heisey in center. Cozart dives but can't quite come up with it. And that will be all for Arroyo. J.J. Hoover will come on. It is Spring Training for managers too as Dusty walks over to the home plate umpire to make a double switch. Hoover comes on and strikes out Tyler Colvin. No way he should be sent to AAA to wait for another reliever to pitch his way off the team. That would be stupidity of the highest order. Options, shmoptions! Does it make any sense to send a better pitcher down just to wait for someone to pitch poorly and possibly cost your team a game or two? Even CubsFan knows the answer to that question.

And that is enough for me. Adios.

And I cannot sleep again. So here we go with a quick wrap-up of the final three innings..

Reds' 7th. Hanigan singled to right and nothing else.
Rockies' 7th. Hoover gets all three swinging. He faces four batters on the night and got four Ks swinging. Louisville is not an option. LOL. I made an option pun.

Reds' 8th. Billy Hamilton triples to center. Fowler can motor out there so Hamilton must have some kind of speed to be able to reach third. Lohman brings him home with a sac fly. 4-1. Bad news. Ludwick went 0-4, accounted for five outs and is now hitting .111, after lining out in the eighth. Good news. He hit the ball on the screws at least three times that I can remember.
Rockies 8th. Clay Hensley pitches a perfect 8th. 1-2-3. A fly ball and two ground outs.

Reds' 9th. All four Reds' batters were retired in the 9th but Olivo reached on a wild pitch K.
Rockies' 9th. All kinds of ugly for the Queen City Krewe. Drew Hayes, celebrating his inclusion on the Redszone prospect list, gives up a bomb to the first batter he faces. Ben Paulsen (Who?) took him out of the park. A single to right followed. Colvin hits a force to Jason Donald, who is now at short. Drew strikes out the next batter. But the pitch is wild and the Rockies now have runners a runner at second. D.J. LeMahieu taps one to third for an infield hit. Burriss throws the ball away and the score is now 4-3 with the tying run at second. Hayes closes the door by getting Corey Dickerson to bounce out to third.

ATOBTTR!

[texasdave]

Chisox 1st - Three ex-Reds and some shoddy defense lead to 3 runs for Chicago in the top of the first. The Toddfather drops a foul pop off the bat of DeWayne Wise. Given a second chance he singles to right. Jeff Keppinger walks. And Big Donkey hits a tremendous blast to dead center that plates three. Chris Heisey drops a fly ball in left later on in the inning but it does not come back to bite Bailey.
Reds 1st - Derrick Robinson, having a nice spring - singles to left. Brandon Phillips singles to second to move Robinson over to second. Votto grounds to the right side as the runners each move up 90 feet. Heisey, making amends for his first-inning, lines to left to score Robinson. Jay Bruce walks to load them up. Frazier, also hoping to atone for his first-inning drop, drives home a pair with a single. Burriss = GIDP.
Chisox 2nd - Bailey bounces back with a 1-2-3 second, two grounders and a whiff. Brantley says Bailey has good stuff today. Nice to hear. 3 Ks in the first two frames.
Reds 2nd - Mesoraco is much quieter at the plate per Cowboy and he laces a full-count single to right. Bailey bunts him over. Robinson with his second hit of the day, this one a double down the left-field line, gives the Reds a 4-3 lead. Grounder by DatDude sends Robinson to third with two down. Joey grounds a single to center. 5-3. Heisey lines hard to short. 5-3 Reds.
Chisox 3rd - Gordon Beckham leads off the 3rd with a fly ball to left that just keeps carrying until it clears the left field wall for the second jack given up by Bailey today. 5-4. Country Kepp takes a 3-0 cripple right back up the middle and now stands on first. The ex-Reds continue to punish Homer as Dunn lines a single to right on 2-0 count. Konerko bounces hard off the chest of Frazier, but because of the intense lack of speed on the base paths, Frazier still turns two. Viciedo triples off the right field wall to tie things up. Bruce, in mid-season form, had assumed it was gone and was suprised when it wasn't. He may have had a play. But ballplayers love to assume things. (Sorry but I hate when ballplayers assume things instead of just playing the game) Homer strikes out somebody for the third out but the proceedings are knotted up at five.
Reds 3rd. - Bruce flies to medium-deep left for the first out. Brantley likes what he sees out of Frazier with the glove so far this spring. Frazier, also skies out the other way. Two down. Burriss grounds to short but reaches as Dunn drops the throw at first. Mesoraco hits a one-hop howitzer that Ramirez leaves his feet in the hole to flag down. Dunn holds on to this throw and the inning is over. Two more hard hit balls by Mesoraco today. If he continues to hit like this, I wonder if Dusty will still be hesitant to PH him in the regular season because of that ignorant "you cannot use your backup catcher to pinch hit" mode of thinking? I would hate to think that a manager would not use his - potentially - best bat off the bench because of that.
Chisox 4th - Flowers grounds a double down the left-field line with nobody out and stands at second. Bailey may have good stuff but he is getting roughed up today. Let's call it 'dead arm' and leave it at that. Mesoraco tries to pick the runner off of second and Burriss saves him an error on the throw with a nice play. Grounder to second, runner moves to third. Wise swings and comes up empty. Bailey's 5th strikeout. No new news on Chapman to the pen. The decision will be made in a couple of days. Of course, Spring Training will be over pretty soon. So there is that. Chapman is tentatively scheduled to follow Leake on the mound on Friday. Beckham grounds to third as Homer pitches around the lead-off double. Thinking out loud, if Leake goes five or maybe six, that kinda shows which way they are pointing Chapman. I guess we will just have to wait and see how things shake out. I'd feel better about it if Leake was following Chapman.
Reds 4th - Homer grounds to short and we go back to the top of the lineup. Choo seems to be missing a lot of games. Robinson with an infield hit into the hole. Robinson has some serious speed. The throw gets by the statue that is Adam Dunn and Robinson ends up at second.
Brandon chases Robinson home with a single up the middle. Phillips looks good with the bat according to Kelch/Cowboy. Joey Baseball works a walk. That Votto has some kinda eye per Cowboy. Hard to argue with that gem. 1st and 2nd for Heisey. Goodbye, Baseball! Danks comes inside and Heisey loses it over everything in left. 9-5. Bruce loses one to right! Hide the women and children. Back-to-back jacks! 10-5. Robin Ventura is going to, mercifully, end John Danks misery. Pitching change. Frazier flies out. Burriss singles. Mes HBP. Bailey strikes out.
Chisox 5th. - Ex-Reds continue to feast on Bailey's offerings. Kepp singles. Dunn grounds out. Konerko singles. Pitching change. Manny Parra on. Walks the first batter he faces - a Reds' reliever tradition - and then induces a GIDP.
Reds 5th. - Yorman Rodriguez in for Robinson. He lifts a lazy fly ball for the first out. Jason Donald walks. Votto = GIDP.
Chisox 6th. - Parra pitching his way to Louisville. He gives up a one-out single. DeWayne Wise walks. Beckham grounds into a force play. Country Kepp walks. Adam Dunn walks to force in a run. Parra walks half the batters he faces. Pitching change. Arredondo comes on to strike out Konerko.
See ya, Manny!
Reds 6th. - Paul pops out. Phipps grounds to short. David Vidal flies to center. Quiet inning for the good guys.
Chisox 7th. - Arredondo has a 1-2-3 7th. K. Grounder back to the mound. Fly ball to center.
Reds 7th. - Izturis flies to deep center. Olivo made an out somehow. Jesse Winker gets a look. Brantley says the kid can definitely hit from what he has seen this spring. Not this at-bat. He just missed a 2-0 pitch, fouling in straight back, before striking out looking on a pitch on the outside corner.
Chisox 8th. - Big Mo Wiley on for the Reds. 6'4" 235. Yikes! Good breaking pitch by Wiley per the Cowboy. First batter pops to third. More praise from Brantley, stating that Wiley has a big-league slider. He blows the second batter away. Wiley is shrinking. Now just 6'3". Liner finds the gap and rolls to the wall. Somebody with White Sox on is standing on second. Pop to the first baseman. Good job by Big Mo.
Reds 8th. - Gameday has Yorman hitting from the left side, so I am not expecting much on this AB. Ah, now Yorman turns around. Yorman motors into second on a lead-off double. He keeps on hitting. Nice. Donald walks for the second straight time. Hessman has nearly 400 career minor league dingers. He gone. Still hitless for spring. Paul rolls one to the right side which is turned into a two outs.
They are still looking for a blood marrow donor.
Chisox 9th. - Lee Hyde will pitch the 9th for the Reds. Yeah, I know. I have never heard of him either. Google time. 28-year old lefty out of the Braves' organization. 6-year minor league signee. (They had a five-minute press conference for Brandon Phillips upon his return from the WBC tournament????) Josh Bell grounds out. The second hitter lines hard to Hessman at first. Jordan Danks singles to right to keep Chisox hopes alive. Yorman Rodriguez runs down a liner in center.

Off day tomorrow.

ATOBTTR!

[texasdave]

Oakland 1st. - Eric Sogard leads off and sends Heisey to the warning track in right for the first out. Jed Lowrie lines hard to Cozart at short. ***Kelch stated that Dusty said no decision has been made on Chapman's role. As soon as it is made Redszone will be among the first to know.*** Josh Reddick strikes out looking at a breaking ball on the outside corner.
Reds 1st. - Derrick Robinson, in center, will be leading off - or is that being redundant? - as Choo's back is not quite ready. He strikes out looking. Reds are facing Brett Anderson. Phillips pops to his opposite number in shallow right. Votto comes up empty for out number three.
Oakland 2nd. - Seth Smith bounces to third. Frazier makes the throw across the diamond. Young sends a shot that goes all the way to the wall in left and stands at second with one out. Derek Norris clears the wall in left and the A's lead 2-0. Daric Barton bounces out to Votto, Cueto covering.
Donaldson walks. Weeks bounces one through the open hole on the right side as Votto was holding the runner on. Runners on the corners. Sogard walks to load them up. Price visits Cueto. Lowrie lines a single to center. 4-0. Oakland has batter around now. Reddick doubles in a run to left-center. 5-0. And Cueto's day is done. Nick Christiani will come on. Seth Smith fans looking. Inning over. 5-0.
Reds 2nd. - Ludwick sends a screamer that goes to the wall in left for a stand-up double. Heisey bounces on to the right side. Ludwick moves to third. The Toddfather goes deep to right. 5-2.

[50YrRedsFan]

Cueto didn't have it today against A's. 1 2/3 innings, 5 runs, 5 hits (1 HR), 2 walks, threw only about 30 pitches. Pulled early. I hope there is nothing physically wrong.

[50YrRedsFan]

Ludwick doubles (ends a long hitless string), Heisey grounds out, Frazier 2 run HR, Cozart singles. Christiani walks. Robinson doubles, rbi.
5-3 now with 2 outs in the 2nd. Phillips K's 5-3 A's after 2

[texasdave]

Mark Prior is taking the mound. Let's see what he's got. He gets Josh Reddick to fly to left for the first out. Seth Smith grounds out to Zack Cozart. Chris Young gets plunked. Derek Norris strikes out on a foul tip. There you go.

[texasdave]

Derrick Robinson with two more hits, a double and a blast. Now batting .395. Ondrusek gave up two hits, a walk, and one earned run in his inning of work.

[50YrRedsFan]

Wouldn't that be a steal if Prior could contribute this year?

[50YrRedsFan]

I know it's ST, but I hope these guys are more patient at the plate when the season starts than they are now....First pitch swinging a lot.

[texasdave]

Wilkin de la Rosa pitches 1.2 innings. He gave up two hits. He walked three. He uncorked 2 wild pitches. But he has allowed no runs so far. Somewhere Coco Cordero is smiling.

[texasdave]

Reds pound out 10 XBHs but still fall short by the score of 10-9.

Doubles:Ludwick, Robinson, Cozart, Lutz, Paul, Izturis
Triples: Perez,
Home Runs: Frazier, Robinson, Phipps

[texasdave]

Staked to a two-run first-inning led. Two innings in the books for Mike 'How we looking?' Leake. 2IP 3H 3ER 2BB 0K 1HR. Leake walked the first two batters of the game and they both rode home on a two-out jack. Second inning went single, gidp, single, fly out. Reds trail 3-2. Leake settling down now. Two grounders and a fly ball in the third. Leake gives up a lead-off jack in the fourth. The next batter doubles and moves to third on an error by Ryan Ludwick. (And the Reds are gonna run this guy out there every 5th day. SMH.) A walk follows. Runners on the corners now. 1-2-4 double play. The old strike 'em out, throw 'em out. Nice. Strike three called. Leake works out of danger. 4-2 Dodgers after four. 1-2-3 fifth for Leake. His final line is: 5IP 5H 4ER 3BB 2K 2HR.
Chapman on for the sixth. Adrian Gonzalez lines a first-pitch single to center. Aroldis then induces Cruz to ground into a double play. Matt Angle struck out. That is all for Chapman. So, I guess you can pencil Aroldis in as closer. LOL. What a ridiculous decision. Chapman's final line: 1IP 1H 0ER 0BB 1K 0HR.

[50YrRedsFan]

I don't understand some of our hitters...Hannahan struggling all spring comes up to PH
in the 7th and hits into a DP on the FIRST PITCH......will this ever change? Maybe not with Dusty and Jacoby. Reds down 4-3 to Dodgers, bot 7.

[cumberlandreds]

Reds and Rangers are on TV today if you get MLBTV. Its the Rangers broadcast. Also tomorrow too, I saw it was the free game of the day tomorrow.