Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Homestand: Game 1 vs. Giants

Matt Cain vs. Mat Latos

When it comes to how many T's are in a pitcher's first name, less is more.

Well, the Reds are back in the Queen City to start a 9 game home stand against the Giants, the Astros, and the Cubs. I urge all of you out there in Redsland to not overreact to Tuesday's game. Matt Cain is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball and the Reds bats may not be up to the task this early in the season. The good news is we're missing Tim Lincecum, who after a slow start had a much better outing in the first half of the Giants double-header Monday vs. the Mets. The bad news is that Barry Zito seems to have found the fountain of youth so far in 2012. Ryan Vogelsong is not an elite pitcher like Cain, but he is a very good young pitcher as well.

The Reds don't have great career numbers against Matt Cain, but they didn't see him at all in 2011. Some of the more notable numbers against Cain:

  • Ryan Ludwick: 6 for 16, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB
  • Brandon Phillips: 4 for 13, 1 HR, 1 RBI
  • Scott Rolen 3 for 7, 1 2B, 1 3B
  • (No longer a Red) Laynce Nix: 7 for 13, 1 HR (sigh)
I didn't really include any other numbers because they are all much much worse. Yep.

With a return to GABP, I think the Reds bats will come alive as much as they can against some solid SF pitching. No Red is probably more glad to be home than Jay Bruce, whose Home/Away splits for his career are pretty striking:
  • Career at GABP: .279 AVG, .352 OBP, .543 SLG, .895 OPS, 64 HRs
  • Career Away: .233 AVG, .307 OBP, .404 SLG, .710 OPS, 39 HRs
I think this is something that will even out a bit over the next few years as Jay continues to learn to hit the ball the other way. He has already had 2 opposite field hits this season after only 15 all of last year.

Some other random thoughts:

  • Remember when everyone thought we should trade for Jair Jurrjens? Welp, he got blown up last night in LA. 4.0 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO. Last night during the broadcast, Dodgers announcer Vin Scully reported that Jurrjens recorded only 2 (TWO) swing and misses all night. Jurrjens was sent down to AAA after the game.
  • RedsFacts tweeted today that Adam Dunn is OPSing .916 for the season. Dinger Dunn is back.
  • It's been reported that JJ Hoover (who you'll remember the Reds acquired in the Juan Francisco trade from the Braves) has been called up to the major league club. Not sure who he's replacing, at first I thought maybe they were going to DL Bill Bray because he is broken, but that would leave us with no LOOGY in the bullpen. (LOOGY = Lefty One Out GuY) My guess is Alfredo Simon, who for what its worth, hasn't been terrible since his first outing. (Edit: After I wrote this it was confirmed to be Bill Bray)
  • If you're mad that UK is being honored at tonight's Reds game, pour gasoline on yourself and light yourself on fire because I'd rather waste the oxygen combusting your dead corpse than have you continue to breathe it. Oh yeah, and I hate UK.
  • The bigger thing to be angry at is that it's Bark in the Park night at GABP. If you've never been to Bark in the Park and you're a dog lover, you're missing out. If you're like me and you hate dogs, (or more accurately, dog owners) its great to go to the game and watch all the pathetic humans treat their mangy animals like they have souls. Bonus points for guessing which emotional void the dog owner is trying to fill in their lives with the artificial love of a dog.
  • Jon Jay has a separated shoulder per the STL Post-Dispatch. You may remember he injured it on Drew Stubbs' HR on getaway day in St. Louis. Being one of the Cardinals' better hitters so far, this could be a good time for the Reds to make up some games.
  • Lastly, this Rangers fan is awesome (courtesy of the Something Awful Sports Argument Stadium)

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