Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Cole Hamels. It's easy to look at all the runs Philly scored and give credit to one of the offensive players (Shane Victorino, Greg Dobbs), but don't forget that Hamels did what he usually does against the Reds: dominate them. Seven innings of one run ball, giving up only three hits. He also only struck out two, but he had a good day at the plate as well, going 2-4 with two runs and 2 RBI. Subtract away everyone else, and Hamels still would have single-handedly beat us.
Key Plays
- Jonny Gomes hit a home run in the second inning.
- Trying to mount a 21 run comeback in the ninth inning, the Reds got runners on second and third with no outs and Votto, Janish, and Gomes coming up to bat. They did not score.
- Every other time you turned around the Phillies were scoring three runs. Except for when Jayson Werth hit a grand slam. Then they scored four.
The FanGraph is posted in Game Thread 2 (thanks, BK!), but suffice it to say it was at 100% Philadelphia victory after Johnny Cueto gave up 9 runs in only 2/3 innings.
Other Notes
- This was the largest margin of defeat in Reds history. Remember how far back that goes.
- Johnny Cueto's ERA went from 2.69 to 3.45. Paul Janish's ERA went from 45.00 to 49.50.
- Every one of the Phillies starters had a hit and everyone except Ryan Howard scored a run. Howard was removed in the fourth inning.
- Only one of the 22 runs was unearned.
- Tip of the hat to Carlos Fisher and Josh Roenicke. Between them, they pitched three scoreless innings, giving up only three hits and striking out four. Roenicke still hasn't given up a run in the majors. In the search for a silver lining, let's remember that yesterday Roenicke came in against the Cardinals with the bases loaded and no outs, facing Albert Pujols with Ryan Ludwick on deck. He surrendered zero runs. No one really made a big deal of it in the game thread, but that was badass.
- Back to the carnage. Jay Bruce went 0-3 and made an error in the outfield, calling Brandon Phillips off a pop up then letting it drop. Not a good day for Jay. A day off couldn't hurt things.
- The Reds now have a -43 run differential. Only four teams (Washington, San Diego, Baltimore, and Kansas City) have worse run differentials. Arizona also has a -43 run diff. Philadelphia now is at +40, the only team in the NL East with a positive run diff.
- Johnny Cueto gave up 9 runs in .2 innings. Is that worse than Arroyo giving up 10 runs in 1 inning against Toronto?
- It bears repeating: This is the largest margin of defeat ever in Reds history.