Game Recap

Astros 7, Reds 2

The Cincinnati Reds lose again, dropping four straight games heading into their final game tomorrow.

Reds pitcher Homer Bailey looked very impressive, as he pitched six innings of four hit ball with two earned. Bailey had eight K's to only one walk.

Mike Lincoln came in the seventh inning and gave up two runs on two hits.

Micah Owings was on the mound as he pitched his last game to audition for the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation. Owings pitched into the sixth, but was pulled out with the bases loaded. He gave up four runs (one earned), five K's, three walks, and six hits. A Jay Bruce three-run error in the fourth with two outs buried the Reds' hopes for good.

Nick Masset pitched up and down in two innings of work.

I watched last night's game against the Orioles and came away impressed by several things I saw.

Although Oliver Perez still wasn't throwing his best fastball, he certainly looked much better than he did his first couple of outings back from the WBC.

The first thing that I noticed was that Perez was throwing a lot of strikes and getting quite a few ground balls. I watched Perez in the WBC a couple of times and it seemed that keeping the ball down was a priority for him this spring—not that it worked that well for him in that tournament.

It was a bad day on the mound today for the Astros. From astros.com:

'Stros at the plate: “Kazuo Matsui went 3-for-3 with a double,a run scored, and an RBI, and Hunter Pence went 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Edwin Maysonet hit a solo home run to left field off of right-hander Chad Durbin in the sixth inning.”

The Reds' only All-Star representative, Edinson Volquez, dominated once again as he helped Cincinnati beat the American League Champion Rays

Volquez pitched five innings and gave up his first run of the spring, but only let up one earned run while striking out three, walking four and allowing only four hits. Volquez has very low ERA of 0.47 and his record is 2-0 for the spring.

Filed: March 28th. 2009    Kosuke Fukudome (Cubbie Nation/file)

I have to tell you, I'm not always fond of Spring Training. Aside from the fact that I think it's normally about a week too long, and the coverage much too spotty for consumption, my interest in watching "prospects" ranks just behind my feelings about rookies. And you know what I think of them.

3/26/2009 Nick Adenhart 6.0 IP 1 ER 3 K

"Make up" is a very important term when it comes to evaluating young pitchers.  Sometimes it is referred to as an intangible attribute, scouts may mention a pitcher that has the positive aspect of this trait as having great mound presence or they will say that he performs well under pressure.  Young arms like Adenhart sometimes never progress past the levels where they cannot rely on pure "stuff" alone.

If you’re looking for the news and stats from the game, you’re probably reading the wrong article, but I can tell you a few things that I noticed.

Joba Chamberlain looked a little rough in the first inning. By a little rough, I mean he let up a couple of home runs in the first inning. That’s never sexy, but at least it was better than what happened the last time I saw him pitch. It was in Cleavland, there were a bunch of bugs, and it was during the playoffs. Need I say more?

Even in a meaningless Spring Training game, the greatest rivalry in the history of sports provided an exciting match-up on Tuesday night. The New York Yankees edged their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, by a score of 7-1.

As we look back at the second annual World Baseball Classic, their are many great memories.  This year's tournament was definitely one to remember.  With major upsets, ninth inning comebacks, and great international rivalries, this tournament was so jam packed with action and drama.