Looks like we were all fooled by the offensive explosion that we witnessed on Monday night. The Reds were held to just two hits on a night were all the offense for both teams was supplied via the home run.
Brandon Phillips supplied the Reds' lone home run in the top of the 4th, a 2-run variety that gave the Reds a 2-1 lead. But
Mike Leake gave up a home run Ryan Braun in the bottom of the same inning to even the score at 2. Logan Ondrusek gave up a solo shot to Prince Fielder in the bottom of the 8th, giving the Brew Crew a lead they never gave up. An excellent pitching performance by Leake that the Reds aren't able to capitalize on due to their lack of offense.
(Photo courtesy of
Associated Press/Jeffrey Phelps)
Games like last night are going to happen. Sometimes the offense is just going to have a bad performance against a less than stellar pitcher. But this underscores why it was so important to get out to a fast start. The last homestand where the Reds were only able to scrounge out 2 wins against the Pirates and Diamondbacks was a time where the Reds were supposed to put distance between themselves and the rest of the NL Central early on. Now it's just a matter of treading water until guys like Scott Rolen, Homer Bailey and Johnny Cueto come off the DL to reinforce this club.
A sad farewell to my Chicago Blackhawks who were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, dropping game 7 to the Vancouver Canucks 2-1. In what was one of the best hockey games I've seen in a long while, Vancouver got out to a fast 1-0 lead off of a Alex Burrows goal. 55 tension soaked minutes later, the Blackhawks finally evened the score on a Jonathan Toews shorthanded goal which he scrapped and fought until he found the back of the net with just 1:56 to go in regulation. In overtime the Blackhawks got an early power play opportunity on a Burrows holding call but we not able to get one past Luongo. Alex Burrows then took possession off of a turnover deep in Blackhawks territory and buried it for the game and series winner.
A season that was disappointing coming off of a Stanley Cup Championship is finally over. A season fraught with injuries and adjustments after having to make moves due to salary cap restrictions, one can only hope that they'll be able to get some more depth and be able to stay healthier next year so they can give themselves a better chance for playoff success. I'm glad that the Blackhawks were able to fight and battle back to force a Game 7 but I'm not happy with losing to the Canucks. I don't like the Canucks, never have. I hate Rogers Arena, the site of the USA v Canada gold medal game from last year. This game was eerily similar to that championship game, with the same heartbreaking result. Oh well there's always next year... blah blah blah...
Follow me on Twitter. I'm on the call for UC baseball tonight versus Xavier. First pitch is at 6:30,
you can listen here. Have a great Wednesday and try to stay dry.
