Next Game
Cincinnati Reds
@ Atlanta Braves
Saturday, May 28, 2011, 7:10 PM EDT
Turner Field
Bronson Arroyo vs Derek Lowe
Clear. Winds blowing out to center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 85.
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Guess they're doing fine. Many times the Reds've bended, but they ain't never did bow. I promise to cut out the Bob Dylan references after this, but I recently re-watched that footage of John Lennon and Dylan are in the backseat of a taxi making its way through London. It's mostly stream of consciousness banter, but there's a moment of clarity in which Dylan tries to express his homesickness to Lennon. "I wanna go back home," he says. "Where I come from they have baseball games." I imagine there might be a similar sentiment in the Reds' revolving-door-style locker room. Cincinnati - and Great American Ball Park - has been a haven for the team. A Shelter from the Storm, if you will. They're 15-11 there, having scored 39 more runs than when they're on the road (in as many games). And they play baseball games there, not these double-long, injurious travesties they plan back east.
Bronson Arroyo is back for his first start since pulling an Arroyo. His post-start MRI was clean and as best anyone can tell, he's ready to go. There's even a chance he's gaining in strength as he puts distance between himself and his spring bout of mono. He has a formidable opponent in Derek Lowe, a pitcher with a strikingly similar repetoir and results. Lowe is 37 (three years older than Bronson), but both men have fastballs that have settled into the high-to-mid-80s and are capable of throwing a wide array of pitches. Both have roughed out to about a high-3.00 ERA, a 1.30 WHIP and 6 strikeouts or so per nine innings. That's the kind of course Bronson was setting before Philadelphia. Those 9 earned runs and 11 baserunners - in less than 3 innings - make him out to be a much worse pitcher than he is, but we're not sure where exactly he's going to land yet.
Keep digging that reverse-ditch. Go Reds!