Reds vs Astros 9/24/08

[Red in Chicago]

REDS
Jay Bruce rf
Jeff Keppinger ss
Joey Votto 1b
Edwin Encarnacion 3b
Jolbert Cabrera lf
Ryan Hanigan c
Corey Patterson cf
Paul Janish ss
Ramon Ramirez p

[OnBaseMachine]

Votto lines a two out single to RF. Hopefully it's not overturned or ruled an error.;)

[Degenerate39]

Okay George how was the video feed of Votto's home run last night not conclusive? You see it hit the top of the yellow line on the fence.

[OnBaseMachine]

It was a home run George. Watch the video.

[OnBaseMachine]

No score after a half inning.

[OnBaseMachine]

Not a good start for Ramirez. Matsui singles and steals 2nd and then Ramirez walks the light hitting Bourn.

[nate]

Chat is open!

[OnBaseMachine]

Tejada grounds into a doubleplay. Nice. Two outs now.

[OnBaseMachine]

Berkman homers. 2-0 Astros. With two outs and a runner on third base and Blum on deck, why in the world do you pitch to Berkman there? Blum is awful. Walk Berkman and face Blum.

[Chip R]

Welcome to the club, Ramon.

[Hoosier Red]

Well he's officially a Reds pitcher now.

[OnBaseMachine]

2-0 Astros after one inning.

[RedsManRick]

Tough inning for Ramon. Both Bourn and Blum fouled off a number of good pitches before drawing walks. Makes me wonder about his stuff though if he can't get swings and misses.

[OnBaseMachine]

Back to back two out singles by Patterson and Janish. Ramirez is up.

[OnBaseMachine]

Ramirez K's. 2-0 Astros after 1 1/2.

[OnBaseMachine]

Wigginton singles to begin the 2nd. Ramirez made him look foolish with a changeup on the previous pitch but decided to come back with a fastball and Wigginton lined it into RF for a single.

[OnBaseMachine]

Quintero grounds into a force out. Keppinger has had problems at second base tonight with the doubleplay.

Wolf pops out.

[OnBaseMachine]

Matsui flies out to the warning track in CF. 2-0 Astros after two innings.

[WVRedsFan]

Boy, is Jay Bruce ever in a funk. He looks clueless at the plate against leftys. Of course, most of the team does.

It seems like other teams roll out the southpaws when we come to town.

[OnBaseMachine]

Votto draws a two out walk.

[OnBaseMachine]

EdE grounds into a force out. It looks like it's gonna be a long night for the offense. 2-0 Astros after 2 1/2.

[WVRedsFan]

George loves nicknames. I doubt most people know who "Kitty" was.

Roll out, pop out, walk, roll out (not hit hard at all). 2-0 Astros after 2 1/2.

[OnBaseMachine]

Ramirez throws a 1-2-3 third inning. He doesn't seem to have his strikeout stuff tonight like he did in his first four appearances.

2-0 Astros after three innings.

[OnBaseMachine]

Cabrera gets rung up on a low 3-2 pitch. Too bad Ramirez isn't getting that the strikezone as Wolf. RR threw a 1-0 pitch to Berkman on the corner last inning that was called a ball.

[OnBaseMachine]

Hanigan singles, Patterson grounds out, and Janish walks. Two on for Ramirez with two outs.

[dougdirt]

Anyone watching on TV remember what the Aflac trivia question was? I swear it said the only pair of Reds teammates with 40 doubles and 30 HR in the same season, but that can't be it because thats only happened twice ever in the Reds franchise and it was years apart.

[OnBaseMachine]

Ramirez grounds out. 2-0 Astros after 3 1/2.

[OnBaseMachine]

Anyone watching on TV remember what the Aflac trivia question was? I swear it said the only pair of Reds teammates with 40 doubles and 30 HR in the same season, but that can't be it because thats only happened twice ever in the Reds franchise and it was years apart.

I'm pretty sure the question said name the two Reds with 40+ doubles and 30+ homers in a season.

[dougdirt]

I'm pretty sure the question said name the two Reds with 40+ doubles and 30+ homers in a season.

Oh ok. Well in that case, I got one right and one wrong. Darn.

[OnBaseMachine]

I know Frank Robinson is one. I can't think of the other player.

Blum K's to begin the 4th.

[OnBaseMachine]

Pence walks and steals 2nd. It looks like they have had Pence picked off but Keppinger dropped the ball.

[dougdirt]

I know Frank Robinson is one. I can't think of the other player.

Blum K's to begin the 4th.

I missed him, because I knew the other guy for a fact and guessed a teammate of his because I thought the question was two teammates.

[dougdirt]

Paul Janish does play smart/good defense at shortstop.

[OnBaseMachine]

Wigginton grounds to Janish, Pence tries to advance to third and gets thrown out. Two outs.

[Red in Chicago]

junior hit another home run tonight :)

[OnBaseMachine]

Quintero K's to end the inning. 2-0 Astros after four innings.

[OnBaseMachine]

Frank Robinson and Dave Parker were the answers to the trivia question.

[OnBaseMachine]

George says Bruce's hand still isn't 100%.

[OnBaseMachine]

After Bruce K's, Keppinger singles and Votto doubles to left. Votto is on fire right now. Second and third and only one out for EdE. Need to score here.

[AmarilloRed]

Keppinger singles, Votto doubles. Runners on second and third with one out.

[AmarilloRed]

Edwin grounds out, 2 out.

[OnBaseMachine]

Cabrera K's. Second and third with one out and they fail to score. Reds have stranded eight runners through five innings.

2-0 Astros after 4 1/2.

[AmarilloRed]

Cabrera strikes out. 2-0 Astros.

[Kc61]

Haven't watched much tonight, but Randy Wolf could be pitching himself onto the Reds for next year.

[WVRedsFan]

junior hit another home run tonight :)

Junior, where are you when we need your bat. In flipping Chicago. My kingdom for some offense. Please.

[OnBaseMachine]

Junior, where are you when we need your bat. In flipping Chicago. My kingdom for some offense. Please.

I love Griff too, but keeping him around wouldn't have helped. He's barely OPSing above .700 since the trade.

Wolf K's to begin the 5th.

[AmarilloRed]

Ramirez got his third strikeout, one out. Matsui got a popup single.

[OnBaseMachine]

Matsui bloops a single to left.

[OnBaseMachine]

Matsui gets caught stealing. Perfect throw by Hanigan. Two outs.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Wow. Hanigan can throw out runners. Matsui gets a hell of a jump and Hanigan throws it perfectly to nail him. All hail the arm of Hanigan.

[OnBaseMachine]

Bourn K's. Ramirez had zero K's through three innings but has four in the last two innings. 2-0 Astros after five innings.

[AmarilloRed]

Ramirez got his 4th strikeout to end the inning.

[Matt700wlw]

junior hit another home run tonight :)

So that's 3 since he left?

[OnBaseMachine]

Hanigan flies out and Patterson grounds out. Janish doubles which means Ramirez will be pinch hit for.

[AmarilloRed]

Janish just hit a double with 2 out.

[OnBaseMachine]

Another solid start for Ramirez: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 88 pitches. He pitched extremely well in his five appearances (27 innings) with the Reds.

[OnBaseMachine]

Rosales gets ahead 3-0, takes a strike and then flies out in front of the warning track in RF. 2-0 Astros after 5 1/2.

[AmarilloRed]

Rosales flies out to end the inning.

[OnBaseMachine]

Here are Ramirez's final stats for the 2008 season:

27 IP, 17 H, 3 HR, 11 BB/21 K, 2.67 ERA

[OnBaseMachine]

Affeldt throws a 1-2-3 6th inning with two ground outs and a strikeout. 2-0 Astros after six.

[AmarilloRed]

Affeldt pitches a scoreless 6th inning.

[OnBaseMachine]

Wolf still in the game. Bruce doubles to left to begin the 7th inning.

[Matt700wlw]

Did George just call him 'Wolfie?'

[OnBaseMachine]

Bruce's lead off double goes to waste. 2-0 Astros after 6 1/2. Another well pitched game by the Reds but it appears it will go to waste.

[AmarilloRed]

Mike Lincoln in to pitch the 7th.

[OnBaseMachine]

Jeff Keppinger is so slow getting to the ball. As hard as that ball was hit there's no way Pence should beat that out. I've yet to see a position on the field where Keppinger can play solid defense.

[OnBaseMachine]

BRUCE!!!!!!

Bruce robs Wigginton of a homer!!!

[AmarilloRed]

Bruce robs Wigginton of a HR!!

[Matt700wlw]

Bruce!

[Matt700wlw]

Heeeeeeere's Dusty!

[Matt700wlw]

Herrera in!

[OnBaseMachine]

I miss Brandon Phillips. If he's playing second base this inning is over, instead two runners are on with two outs.

[OnBaseMachine]

Herrera K's Matsui to end the 7th. 2-0 Astros. Herrera's screwball is filthy.

[Matt700wlw]

Matsui looked confused

[Matt700wlw]

Good ol' Patterson

[Kc61]

Patterson thrown out at second on a long single to end the eighth. Looked safe to me.

[Matt700wlw]

Roenicke...interesting

[Matt700wlw]

Control is an issue

[Matt700wlw]

That was a slurve...followed by some heat, and Wigginton is gone

[Matt700wlw]

That should take care of it. 2 runs in

[Big Klu]

So far in limited action, I have been less than impressed with Josh Roenicke.

[HokieRed]

Roenicke has some stuff but it's going to take time. Hard to see how we can figure he's going to be a major contributor to next year's pen--at least not until deep into the season.

[RedsManRick]

Roenicke reminds me of Kyle Farnsworth minus a few mph but with at least a nickle upstairs. I haven't decided if that's a compliment or not.

[lollipopcurve]

Roenicke needs work.

But Dusty is buddies with his dad, so that should help him.

[redsmetz]

Roenicke has some stuff but it's going to take time. Hard to see how we can figure he's going to be a major contributor to next year's pen--at least not until deep into the season.

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. He's at an age where you'd like to see him make the next step up, but as I understand it, he's a little behind because he came to baseball later (football originally, right?). Start him out at Louisville again and let him perfect things and then call him up when he's ready. That's a plus for us, I think.

[OnBaseMachine]

You know who Roenicke reminds me of? Jared Burton last year. Burton couldn't find home plate with a compass last season in his first few appearances. Hopefully Josh can gain better command of that curve because it looks like it could be a solid pitch.

[Tony Cloninger]

I wish the Reds would sign Randy. They do need a LH starter......and they got Fred Norman from SD after seeing him beat them and no one else in 1973.
Just reaching of course.