Tough night for the Fighting Dustys, getting hammered in the first game of their trip to San Francisco. Volquez really prefers not to pitch on the west side of the country, looking subpar against the Diamondbacks and then really bad last night. He didn't quite make it out of the first inning, almost, but Jordan Smith had to finish things up for him. Smith, speaking of, did a very nice job last night saving the bullpen. 4 and 1/3 from a guy who's been in the short pen all year is pretty solid. So, that brings up the questions regarding Volquez. Sure his hair and crooked hat combination looks wicked sweet but is he going to remember how to: 1) throw strikes; and 2) when throwing strikes, how to get people out. The story I hear about Tommy John surgery guys is that you need to wait for the following season to see what they are really going to be. However, it would be nice if Volquez decided to forego the one season waiting period and help the Reds down the stretch.
Regarding the offensive outburst, remember this is the Giants. I don't think they scored 11 runs total on their trip east. So, expect a little stronger pitching performance from the staff tonight and tomorrow. I like that when they showed the graphic last night of the Giants' starters, all ERAs were under 4 but no one had more wins than 11. The offense really hates those guys.
Also of note last night was the injury two outfielders. Edmonds isn't terribly unexpected because he's 58 but Nix looks like he's been working out with Lou Ferigno. He shouldn't be pulling up lame. His comments seems to indicate that he is interested in returning to the lineup sooner, as opposed to later. At least the injury bug struck the area where the Reds had a surplus. If Yanish goes down and Cabrera isn't ready, I think Dusty (or Cairo) is out there manning short.
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