Not a bad little road trip for your Redlegs, yeah? Winning four of seven against the Braves, Mets, and Yankees is definitely something to come home smiling about. Unfortunately, those very same Braves are coming back with them for a four-game set. If you read JinAZ's series preview from earlier today, then you know the Braves are one of the best teams in this here National League. Given the pitching matchups for the series though, I think our boys have a sporting chance at taking three of four.
Mike Leake (Mike Leake!) looks to build upon his efforts against the Mets last Wednesday when he threw six solid innings and limited the Mets to three runs. That's not great, but baby steps. This Braves lineup is far more dangerous than the one the Mets put out there, so he has his work cut out for him.
He faces off against the young man taken exactly one pick before him back in the '09 draft, Mike Minor. Minor's bobbed up and down between the majors and minors so far in his brief career, and there are perhaps some rumbles that he could be getting another ticket to Gwinnett. He's pitched pretty well thus far, with a K/BB ratio of 2.94, but a .344 BABIP and a gonzo weird strand rate have inflated his ERA to over 7.00. Thems ain't good pitchin' numbers, as they say down in Georgia.
This one's on The World Wide Leader for those of you in parts afar, so a good night of baseballin' to you.
Go Reds! They're my favorite team!
Holy Christmas, Dusty's bullpen usage over the last week has been nutso. He's always had a habit of falling in love with an arm or two at a time and then riding them until they fall apart. I guess it's fortunate that he has four such arms right now that can shoulder the load together. The front four could all use a day off today (Aroldis Chapman, Closer could probably use at least two), so hopefully Leake can at least give us a solid sixer. LeCure, Hoover, and Simon are all fresh and capable of multiple innings in case he can't.