Red Reposter - Rousing Rabble

Bill Brink of the Post Gazette recapped last night's game for Pittsburgh readers. It's interesting that he starts the article with "The Cincinnati Reds are built for their ballpark, and they proved that Monday night." What does that mean? They're built to have their 5th starter allow zero home runs and be a dominant ground ball force? They're built to hit home runs so far into the 2nd deck that they've officially petitioned Bud Selig to score them as two runs? I'm not sure how acknowledging that Zack Cozart, the 7th hitter last night with quite possibly the least pop in the lineup (Mike Leake included), hitting a 437 foot bomb proves that the Reds are built for GABP. Whatever. At least he didn't make a fuss about beanball and headhunting. That word has already gotten old.

Oh, wait...nevermind, he mentioned it. This whole "situation" comes off like there's a team that wants to punch the other team so bad that they'll create endless scenarios that allow them to claim that the other team threw the first punch. I just don't get it. Was Mike Leake throwing at McCutchen? No. Hell no. Did Aroldis Chapman hit Neil Walker? No, he didn't. He actually struck him out. Feel free to read the comments section on that post to get a glimpse into what the third layer of hell looks like. People, man...they sure do suck sometimes.

I'm sure that John Fay must have written extensively about the ruckus and fracas and inevitable melee. Oh, wait...no he didn't, because there's nothing to write about. Perhaps this is just some big publicity stunt by Pittsburgh media in a "look at me! look at me!" attention grab. Apparently, that's not the case in Cincinnati, as it shouldn't be.

C. Trent detailed the emergence of Cingrani-Face. This was brought up last night, and it's completely awesome. Also, is anyone else worried that Cingrani will be so good in the bullpen that he'll never get used as a starter again? Cingrani for closer, Chapman for starter! Also included in this is a GIF of Aroldis-gate, and it does a pretty good job of showing Neil Walker getting not-hit closer to his hands than getting not-hit closer to his head. Remember when a pitch actually got closer to hitting Joey Votto in the head against the Nationals early this season? No, I don't either, because it was and still is a non-story.

Eno Sarris took a look at Mike Leake's season over at RotoGraphs. So yeah, it's somewhat from a fantasy angle, but it still details exactly what has given Leake the edge this season. Check it out, and then tweet Eno with beer jokes.

Here's some more insight on who, exactly, the Pirates are targeting for their retribution tonight.