Game 10: Reds (6-3) @ Cardinals (5-4) Game Thread

[membengal]

Yes, but they have more depth. The Reds simply do not have the depth the Cards do on the mound. As the season progresses, move along, this becomes more evident. Why early season trends fall apart and the better team wins by July.

Not sure I agree with your pessimism here Aronchis. The Cards' bullpen isn't a whole lot better than the Reds, and the Cards' pitching isn't all that and a bag of chips. Their phenomenal offense and a good bullpen carried a lot of those guys to good years last year (Suppan and Marquis don't really strike fear in my heart). Carpenter is legit, of course, but, and this is the realization that many pessimistic Reds fans will need to understand...so is Harang.

Given the fall-off to the Cardinals offense (really, after Edmonds last night, there was a whole succession of easy outs---heck, even counting Edmonds, there was a whole succession of easy outs---he off the juice, finally?), I wouldn't be so quick to sing their praises.

Now, I am NOT saying it's the Reds who will jump up to replace the Cards (I predicted the Brewers would to start the season), but I am still pretty certain that St. Louis is not what they were.

AND, it's just plain stupid to try and be snarky and say Reds were lucky to win because they had their best pitcher on the mound and just barely won when the Cards were in the exact same position with the reigning Cy Young winner and lost.

No need to minimize last night's achievement, that was a helluva win, and a very heartening sign for those of us still holding out hope for a .500 or so season (or even better).

[redsfan30]

Just to chime in here a bit before we move on to today's game...last night was as big a win as a win can be this time of year. It surely in no way means that they're going to go on and make a playoff push. It's way, way to early to put too much stock into one game, and I think most fans realize that.

That being said, if you can't enjoy a win like last night there's something wrong with you.

[Falls City Beer]

1-0 wins are never luck.

Ever. The Reds may lose the next two, I don't know, but tonight the Reds won a pitching duel with their best arm. That's an accomplishment. I'm a pretty jaded person :) , but I know an accomplishment when I see one.

The Reds have suffered only one blowout loss in 10 games; that's the stat I'm keeping my eye on. If they consistently avoid getting blown out, they'll hang in this division.

[Newman4]

Three problems...

1) The Lopez steal in the sixth Inning. Stolen bases are all well and good, but don't position a straight steal with Dunn at a plate on a 1-1 count when the opposing pitcher is Chris Carpenter because the count is likely to go 1-2 and, at that point, you've just about taken the bat out of Dunn's hands. I credit Dunn with a Sac Bunt for that because trading an Out for a Base is pretty much what you're doing with that decision.

.

Hey, on #1, I agree it was a bad chance to take. It was funny though because GG had just said he "used to be a 20-25 stolen base guy" and I was discussing with my wife how much effect hitting in front of Jr, Dunn and Co. would have on SBs and then he just took off when one of us was in mid-sentence. Then it showed FeLo's 4 SB of the year and I was like "hmm 4 times 16 is more than 20-25" Of course, we all know he won't have 64 SB.