Reds vs. Phillies, Game 1: Preview/Prediction Thread

So, there's baseball.  New baseball.  Baseball newer than the Joey Votto news.  Baseball that may, perhaps, be good enough to distract us from bad baseball and bad baseball news.

There is no Joey Votto tonight, and there may not be Joey Votto for a little while.  That's the kind of news that could even dampen the spirits of a die-hard Reds fan on a beach in the Dominican Republic in a pink speedo.

Though the persistent bad news that has battered the Cincinnati Reds this year has been met with nearly zero positive developments to counter them, that's fortunately not the case with today's announcement.  Devin Mesoraco is active and back in the lineup to help provide the kind of punch that may alleviate the loss of Votto, and the Reds also announced that Tony Cingrani will be back on the mound to start Sunday's contest in Philadelphia.

All is not great, but all is far from lost.  Jay Bruce will be back soon, too, and there's still an off-chance that whatever quad strain that is ailing Joey Votto is something minor enough to have him shelved for a short period of time.  We all pretty much agreed he had no business playing 162 games again this year, anyway, right?

As for tonight, Alfredo Simon takes the mound looking to show that his previous start was simply a bad outing and not a sign that he's wearing down.

The Reds' bats will take aim at Kyle Kendrick's offerings, and Joey Votto is hitting .400/.471/.733 off him in sevent...

Damnit.

Jay Bruce has mashed Kendrick at a .353/.353/.765 rate sinc...

Damnit.

Skip Schumaker is hitting .346/.370/.654 off Kendrick in 27 career PA.

Welp.  Cobble together a hell of a night, Skip Schumaker.  And Go Reds!  You're peteyhendrix's favorite team!