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The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
Ramon Santiago made a pretty special play at SS, took a walk to raise his OBP to .354 on the season and got removed from the game for a pinch-hitter in the 8th inning because that was apparently the time to get the call-ups some action.
That, tonight, was good enough to take home the JNMHSotG from the Cincinnati Reds.
To weep is to make less the depth of grief.
Honorable Mentions are due to: J.J. Hoover and David Holmberg, who combined to pitch two scoreless innings and lower their ERA + ERA to a slimming 20.83. Yes, it's officially the "make up your own stats" time of the season.
Key Plays
- Are you a Reds fan? If so, you've read far enough.
- For all of you fans of general baseball, however, the runs came flowing from the Baltimore offense beginning in the Bottom of the 3rd. Jonathan Schoop rope-a-doped his second dinger in as many evenings, a solo blast off Dylan Axelrod that got the Orioles a lead they would not surrender. The O's lopped on two more helpings of dinger salad in the Bottom of the 4th, too, the second of which was a two-run opposite field jack from Chris Davis, who was hitting .191 on the season at the time. Reds trailed, 4-0.
- Carlos Contreras took over for Axelrod to pitch the Bottom of the 7th and picked up right where the Reds' starter left off. The first two O's walked, and they both came in to score when Schoop doubled two batters later. Reds trailed, 6-0.
- Reenactment of the Reds offense after that (and before, really): ____________________. Reds lose, 6-0.
FanGraph That Doesn't Really Begin to Express How Badly Beaten the Reds Were Tonight
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
- Thanks to a single earlier in the day by Domonic Brown and some iffy distance covered by Skip Schumaker in LF tonight, there's a very real chance that Skip may take over the crown as the least valuable player in the National League come tomorrow, at least in terms of fWAR (believe me, he's rated that way in other less formal stats already). Brown held a slim advantage (disadvantage?) entering today (-1.9 to Skip's -1.8), so we'll have to see how things grade out when things get updated. The Texas Rangers did not have Michael Choice in their lineup tonight, so there's even a chance that Skip could pass his -1.9 fWAR to move into first (last) in all of Major League Baseball, too.
- That brings me to tonight's decision to start Skip in LF, which on the surface doesn't seem any sillier than it was to start him there the other 24 times that's happened this season. Digging deeper, however, you'll find that thanks to September call-ups, he's now probably the 8th worst potential OF on the Reds roster, which means playing him in a meaningless game in a meaningless season when Yorman Rodriguez and Donald Lutz and literally any other breathing human with a glove and a bat sit on the bench is just kicking yourself in the shin. With steel-toed boots. On purpose AND on accident. In the dark while carrying a tray of red wine while walking on white carpet. At your boss's house. When your boss isn't there and only your boss's wife is. The day before your annual review. The day after you bought a second home.
- I mean, it's not like Yorman was OPSing .937 in Pensacola in August and finally fulfilling the promise he showed when signed for $2.5 million some 6 years ago. It's probably worth sitting him down and not playing him for a week or so, especially right now..
- The Reds are now closer in record to the Arizona Diamondbacks than they are to the St. Louis Cardinals, and they sit just 3 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs. Yes, the Chicago Cubs.
- I give.
- Tunes.