The Joe Nuxhall Honorary Memorial Star of the Game
Yunel Escobar. He may be whiny and a tool, but he also kicked our ass. He went 3-4 with a double, home run, 4 RBI, and got hit by a pitch for the second day in a row (hee hee!).
Key Plays
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The first four Braves reached base safely with a walk to Kelly Johnson, a run-scoring double by Escobar, a run-scoring single by Larry, and an ultimately meaningless single by Casey Kotchman.
- Pitching and defense continued to be as mythical as Skyline east of the Appalachians and girls who put out for nice guys. In the second inning, sleeper agent David Ross tried to innocuously ground out to third base, but Edwin threw the ball away and Ross ended up on second. Arroyo then walked Derek Lowe on four pitches. Two batters later, Escobar singled in Ross, then the Braves waited around for the three run home run (classic mistake!), which Chipper Jones promptly provided in our Frisch's Big Boy Big Play of the Game. Braves up, 6-0.
- In the bottom of the inning, Jay Bruce continued his offensive emergence with a double, and then Sea Bass hit a home run! Nearly as shocking as seeing Davey Concepcion hit a home run... today.
- In the third inning, a manager was ejected. Incredibly, it was Dusty and not Bobby Cox. Hairston also got tossed for arguing balls and strikes.
- Despite putting his team in a six run hole, Bronson started to settle down and get in a groove, until he was undone in the sixth inning by Chris Dickerson's glove. Dickerson misplayed consecutive balls into back to back doubles, and then Yunel Escobar added the exclamation point to a crappy game with a two run homer to end Bronson's day.
- Mike Lincoln would like to remind everyone that another famous Lincoln was very unpopular in the early going as well. That may be, but Abe didn't walk the first batter he faced, move him over with a wild pitch, and then let him score on Greg Norton's first hit of the season (a double). Interesting side note: Kentucky never voted for Abraham Lincoln, and was one of three states to partake in both the 1860 and 1864 election and never go for Lincoln. Can you name the other two?
Other Notes
- This was the first time Arroyo had pitched without Paul Janish playing behind him. This was also Arroyo's first loss? Coincidence?
- Ryan Hanigan had a good day at the plate, going 2-3 with a double and a walk. No one stole a base on him. He's now batting .357.
- Bronson is 20-26 in day games, 54-45 in night games. He gives up 3.17 runs a game in the day, and 2.87 runs per game at night.
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Tom Groeschen had some interesting notes.
--The Reds have not made a roster move since final cuts the day before Opening Day. Today is the 20th day of the season. The Reds have not gone more than 20 days to start a season without a roster move since 1985, when their first roster move was 37 days into the year. In 2009, the Reds began a year without a player on the DL since 1990.
--The Reds have trailed in 12 of their 16 games this year but won five of the 12 in which they trailed. - He also has this money quote from Dusty, regarding Gonzalez: "I can see and hear, the sound of the bat is getting louder."
- Chris Dickerson got himself a golden sombrero.