Reds 4, Astros 3
The parade past to Fountain Square to celebrate the Reds' third straight victory starts at noon. Wear Red.
Just kidding. But the Reds have, indeed, won three straight. That's going to happen when your starters go 9 innings, 7 2/3 innings and 9 innings.
"We were getting on (Matt) Belisle for only going 7 2/3," said Aaron Harang, Wednesday's winner.
Harang was in one of Jerry Narron's favorite words: Outstanding. He threw the complete game, six hits, two earned runs, no walks, seven strikeouts.
The defensive star was Edwin Encarnacion. He made three nice plays. The one in the eighth on a smash by Lance Berkman should make SportsCenter.
"It makes me feel good to make a play like that in a close game," Encarnacion said.
He's made no errors in the 12 games since he's returned from Triple-A.
Norris Hopper went 3-for-4 and scored two of the four runs. He even walked for the first time this season .
posted by John Fay at 11:12 PM
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Post a Comment*John -- Good to see the Reds' playing better. Encarnacion's stint at Louisville seems to have woken him up. Perhaps Louisville will have the same effect on Kirk "I'm not the problem" Saarloos. Still can't figure out why Homer Bailey continues to languish in Louisville though. Personally, I think he'd benefit from spending some time in a Reds uniform in a Brandon McCarthy role ... ease the guy in by giving him some innings in games where the club is either out of it or way up, and plug him into the rotation if Lohse or someone else struggles ... as they are statistically likely to.
The thing I sense about the players on this year's club is that -- with the possible exception of Scott "I couldn't make by body swing at it" Hatteberg" -- to a man they seem to play better when they sense they make be replaced in the starting lineup/rotation or sent down if they play like spacemen. The talent is definitely there. But guys who are signed for 2-3 at seven figures per -- such as Eric Milton and Barry Larkin -- don't seem to perform up to expectations, and frequently make careless mistakes guys who are hungry to stay with the club generally do not.
At any rate, the Reds play over the last three games suggests all may not be lost after all. Let's hope the solid pitching continues so we can all enjoy our summers a little more. Take care.
Lets not get too excited yet. I'll be happy when they go .500 over a ten game stretch.
The parade idea is a good one. Now if the Reds can avoid losing two in a row for, oh, say 2 months in a row...
Short Term, as long as the Reds are playing quality baseball (even if they happen to lose while playing thusly) I'm happy. I'll buy tickets to see them play sound competitive games once they prove it's habit and not fluke. But Long Term, uh, I doubt Narron is the manager that leads us to permanent playoff-quality competence.
Hopper seems for now to be part of the "cure" for chronic inflammatory Narronitis but once the "L-Dopa" of confidence and momentum from some lucky breaks wears off, and the Reds are back in their quality comas, surgery will be the answer!
20+ games under .500 lies ahead this season under Narron (without further personnel changes on the field) but for now, it's nice to be wrong and getting wronger!
Sure is a culture change when Reds starters are "complaining" to another starter for only going 7 innings.
Maybe this is the start of something good.
One thing that's cool is the Reds are tied for the most complete games in MLB (at 4 with Toronto). All of our SPs but the Milton spot have one. In 2006, we had 9 all year, 3 from Arroyo and 5 from Harang, and in 2005, we had 2 (1 from Harang, 1 from Ortiz). Just thought that was something cool.
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