Remember that their top (and only?) lefty is Matt Thornton, for some perspective.
Yes, coaching matters.
Well, my hex worked on the Brewers starter (Garza) C Johnson homers in the top of the 6th for the Braves. 
Mike Scioscia got an unbelievable return from his bullpen in 2002 with old hand, Percival, 21 year old KRod, Shields, Donnelly – in fact the bullpen was the best part of the World Champions. But in recent years, Scioscia hasn’t been able to put together a pen worth poo. Did Fat Mike just get stupid?
Maddon’s just a freak who’s into voodoo or something like it.
Mike Scoscia not being able to put together consistent bullpens does not prove that nobody can do it. That’s just not logical. It’s like saying that there aren’t any hitters who can consistently hit lots of home runs, and using as your proof Davey Johnson, who had one 43-homer season and never had another big year.
Hope you’re watching Cingraini pitch and forgetting all about Bronson Arroyo.
The stat line they showed earlier was pretty cool…Cingraini owns the longest starting pitching streak of allowing fewer than 5 hits in 18 straight starts* dating back 100 years in MLB history.
*That’s ALL 18 of his starts in his young career
It was also mentioned that after he has gotten 0-2 counts on hitters, they are 1 for 80.
More good pitching in Cards/Reds until Martinez didn’t seem to have it for his second inning (maybe he thought he was getting pulled). 1-0, then 0-1. Maybe some runs tomorrow in the rubber game, unless everybody is too tired.
They don’t play again tomorrow…Reds travel to play the NYM. But we do play in St Louis just next week!
Wow, what great pitching for both teams in both games though.
Should have multi-quoted. Wow, didn’t see that. Impressive. For all the moaning many Reds fans do about a lack of offense, the World Series runner up and the team many consider to be the best in the majors has exactly the same amount of runs as the Reds do through two games. One!
Is it? How does that compare to the average pitcher?
Based on the first google hit, the average batter hits .160 or so on a 0-2 count.
Nats pitcher Gio Gonzalez hit a HR off the railing last night that he clearly thought was an inside the park HR. If you watch the video, imagine Yakkity Sax playing as he sprints the bases.
Fun fact: this is the second year in a row that Gio has hit a HR in his season opener.
They do play today. Lynn vs. Bailey, 12:35ET start. Unless rain is going to cancel it, I guess.
No arguments about the pitching. I’m amazed Cingrani can survive throwing 90% fastballs - must be a very deceptive pitch. I wonder if the league will catch up as more video gets out there and teams start facing him for the third and fouth times.
Not really an apt analogy. Scioscia is/was considered a pitcher’s manager (I think he’s always been horrid with offense) and had excellent bullpens the first 8 years of his tenure – with different closers, and always having excellent middle relief, even using Darren Oliver as a superb 7th inning reliever. But the last few years have been miserable. I just singled out the 2002 season, because that was a team with few standouts, but won because of a bullpen that performed so well from start to finish.
Denver is getting a fair bit of snow today but none of it seems to be sticking to the roads. Still it sucks, I was planning on spending the weekend at the park starting with the home opener tomorrow but we’ve got rain probable on Saturday and Sunday. If the games get rained out at least the Rox can’t lose them. Seriously though, how can a team lose 2 of 3 to the Marlins?
That being said the Boys in Blue are looking good this year and hopefully Kershaw sitting out the first month will help him stay fresh later into the season and not have this back thing turn into a reoccurring issue.
Doh! You’ll notice I posted that after midnight. And it being after midnight, I had forgotten that it was already the 3rd and not the 2nd of March. And it’s strange…IIRC typically the Reds only play a two game series for opening day, with a break between the two. I wonder if that’s only for non-divisional opponents or if that changes every year.
And you’re right…rain will probably kill the game anyway. As for Cingrani’s fastball, I think the deception with it is that he’s capable of accurately taking so much off of it. I’ve seen him throw fastballs from 88-97mph. Most of them are about 92-95.
So were the Angels just that bad, or were my Mariners really just that good in this opening series?
10-3, 8-3, 8-2, all M’s.
It’s tough to be that bad, at home, vs a team that won just 71 games last year. But their bullpen is really that bad. And their starting rotation looks pretty shaky as well. Weaver pitched well, but CJ Wilson, after a good ST, looked lousy, and then there’s a big drop off after Weaver/Wilson. Santiago and Skaggs are flawed and unproven, and it’s amazing they’re in the rotation of a team with a payroll of $160 million.
Their offense can’t be that bad, though. Pujols had a decent spring, Hamilton is just a streaky mother, and Trout is all-world, of course.
Scioscia may be fired if the Angels have another bad start. They started 8-15 in 2012, and 9-17 last year. Scioscia is just in his 6th year of a 10 year contract, but the players are beginning to publicly second guess his decisions and the fans are looking for blood.
Everybody seemed to agree the Mariners needed another bat and they scored 26 runs against the Angels, so my guess is the Angels were just that bad.
And yet, they still managed to beat the Dodgers in the pre-season series 2-1. :smack: