Thursday, July 2, 2009

You Don't Need to be Healthy to Beat Diamondbacks, Reds 1-0

Early on yesterday, Cueto demonstrated the wide array of grimaces and other showings of discomfort he has in his arsenal. The trainers were impressed and came out to check out his lower back. He did some stretches in the dugout, then dominated for the remainder of his 6 innings. Without the back pain, he might have been able to stick around for a while longer but the four early walks elevated his pitch count. Regardless, he took home win number eight and lowered his ERA. He is looking like a member of the All-Star team, along with Arroyo, Tavares and Dusty as honorary manager.

The offense was polite again last night, not wanted Jon Garland to feel any worse than he already does, being that he's Jon Garland. They only stuck him with one run in the 6th when Dickerson singled and Votto knocked him in with a rocket shot to left-center. A rocket-shot that took about 10 seconds to hit the grass in front of Chris Young. The offense loaded the bases in the 7th but didn't feel like getting any other runs in. 1-0 stings more anyway. The Diamondbacks can think about all of those chances they had to score, like with runners on second and third with one out in the 7th. For those of you unfamiliar with Ryan Roberts, the pinch hitter in that situation, he is exactly the guy you want up to bat in an important part of the game. Nice managing Hinch. It'll work out next time.

Yesterday we also saw the arrival of Drew Sutton. As my schedule features lots of "down time" in between brief flurries of moderate activity, I was able to attend numerous Arizona Fall League games. It's a hitters league but Sutton put up some huge numbers (.315/.426/.611). And while the Reds Rocket supported Jeff Keppinger and his ability to not strike out but, last year at least, not get all that many balls to drop, Sutton seems like a nice return. He plays lots of positions and was performing adequately in Louisville, so, there you go. Nice to see you Drew. Please offer your positive contributions. Reds! Reds! Reds!

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