Randy Keilser? Who The Heck Is He?
For the first time in more than a month, the Cincinnati Reds have won two games in a row. For the first time in more than a month, the Cincinnati Reds have won a series. And they did all this by batting a pitcher with 4 major league at bats with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out in the 14th inning. Think about that.
Down 3-2 with a runner on second and 2 out in the 9th, pinch hitter Carlos Baearga poked a base hit into right field to plate the tying run. Down 3-1 in the bottom of the 1st, Livan Hernandez shut the Reds down, and so did all the D.C. relief pitchers. That is, until the 14th inning, when a misplayed hit to right by right fielder Jose Guillen allowed the runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd with one out. Randy Keisler then drove the ball over the mound and past the drawn in infield to win the game for the Reds.
The Reds won because an old "bug-a-boo" came back to haunt the Nationals. Washington left 17 runners on base. The Reds, in comparison, left only 10 on base. The Nationals had runners on base virtually every inning, and it took several double plays in the extra innings to keep Washington from plating a run.
Livan had problems with his control in the first inning, walking batters and finally having to groove a 3 ball pitch to Austin Kearns, who doubled in all 3 Reds baserunners. From that point, Hernandez was golden, giving up 6 hits for the game while striking out 8. Again, the poor offensive production of the Nationals made yet another bad pitcher look good, as Brandon Claussen gave up only 2 runs in 6 innings of work. Were it not for the Reds inept bullpen, the game would have ended two hours earlier.
Having played the longest game of the season, the Nats suit up again for a mid-day game on Wednesday. I'm wondering who will be awake or able to play. Claudio Vargas pitches for the Nats, which makes me concerned that Washington might just be swept for the first time this year. We'll see. These are the Reds, afer all.
Down 3-2 with a runner on second and 2 out in the 9th, pinch hitter Carlos Baearga poked a base hit into right field to plate the tying run. Down 3-1 in the bottom of the 1st, Livan Hernandez shut the Reds down, and so did all the D.C. relief pitchers. That is, until the 14th inning, when a misplayed hit to right by right fielder Jose Guillen allowed the runners to advance to 2nd and 3rd with one out. Randy Keisler then drove the ball over the mound and past the drawn in infield to win the game for the Reds.
The Reds won because an old "bug-a-boo" came back to haunt the Nationals. Washington left 17 runners on base. The Reds, in comparison, left only 10 on base. The Nationals had runners on base virtually every inning, and it took several double plays in the extra innings to keep Washington from plating a run.
Livan had problems with his control in the first inning, walking batters and finally having to groove a 3 ball pitch to Austin Kearns, who doubled in all 3 Reds baserunners. From that point, Hernandez was golden, giving up 6 hits for the game while striking out 8. Again, the poor offensive production of the Nationals made yet another bad pitcher look good, as Brandon Claussen gave up only 2 runs in 6 innings of work. Were it not for the Reds inept bullpen, the game would have ended two hours earlier.
Having played the longest game of the season, the Nats suit up again for a mid-day game on Wednesday. I'm wondering who will be awake or able to play. Claudio Vargas pitches for the Nats, which makes me concerned that Washington might just be swept for the first time this year. We'll see. These are the Reds, afer all.
# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 9:07 PM 
