Reds, Homer Bailey look to extend hot streaks vs. Pirates
Reds, Homer Bailey look to extend hot streaks vs. Pirates
In keeping with my theme to cap the games that mean the least to the playoffs that begin in about five weeks, I give you this afternoon's Pirates, Reds contest in Cincinnati.
Wednesday afternoon's series finale in Cincinnati between the Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates has two things going for it. First it should be a beautiful day in Porkopolis, nothing but sunny skies.
Secondly it's a good excuse to take the afternoon off if you're in the Cincy area, or anywhere you can catch the game on a screen. A bad game at the ballpark is a lot better than a good afternoon at work.
I can imagine being in Cincinnati and ducking out from work early. I'd call my buddy down in sales around 10 in the morning with the big plan.
"Andy, I'll meet you on East Fifth near the Chiquita Center a little before 11. Don't screw up this time dill weed and leave those choice tickets from Amalgamated Incorporated Ltd. in your desk drawer."
Andy would know that meant one thing: We'd be starting our day at Buztah's Place opposite Fountain Square. Great food cooked by the Buzz Man himself, best drink prices, and it's only a short cab ride from there down to Great American Ball Park for the game, should be plenty of time to throw back a couple of pints and one of Buzzy's dishes.
My pal Buztah was on the Pirates last night, and in a leap of blind faith I tailed him when they collapsed early as Cincy rolled to an 11-5 win. The loss was the Pirates’ sixth-straight overall, and third in this series after falling twice on Monday to the Reds before last night’s defeat.
The pitching matchup is also intriguing to me to some small degree. Pittsburgh lefty Zach Duke is coming off his worst outing of the season but has otherwise pitched well. Duke was charged with seven earned in three frames last Friday at Milwaukee in an 8-6 Pirates loss, his ERA jumping 0.30 to 3.68 after that one. But you don't get 22 decisions at this stage with an ERA like that without keeping your team in the game for the most part. Duke has also fared well against the Reds overall and in Cincinnati.
Homer Bailey is off two solid outings but has otherwise pitched horribly in the bigs in 2009. The seventh pick in the 2004 draft is trying to finally punch through on his potential and was sharp in wins at Pittsburgh (4-1 on Aug 23) and at home against the Dodgers (4-2 on Aug 28), combining for 15 innings of one-run, 11-hit, 11-K ball in his back-to-back wins.
The umpire for this one figures to be Sam Holbrook who is a lucky 13-13 in terms of home-visitors this year. He's been lucky for home faves (11-5, including 4-2 at this price), and he's 10-16 O/U on the totals (7-9 in the 8½-10 span).
I’m very tempted to take the Under given the umpire data, the way Bailey has pitched lately and Duke’s generally fine efforts against the Reds. I also lean to the side of the Pirates since the odds are against any team sweeping four straight from another. In the end I’m laying the short -120 on Cincinnati simply because they’re Reds-hot.
STARTING PITCHERS
Wed, Sep 2, 12:35 p.m. (ET): Zach Duke (10-16, 3.68) vs. Homer Bailey (5-8, 6.04)
WEATHER
Absotively, posilutely perfect! The forecasted high of around 80ºF actually sounds cool to me after this summer in Texas. No rain at all, hardly any clouds in the afternoon, winds in the 6-8 MPH area out of the ENE (basically from the LF corner to the RF corner).
NOTE: Buztah's Place is a fictitious restaurant, do not try to find it on a map or head to Fountain Square in Cincinnati hoping to get a table. The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com
In keeping with my theme to cap the games that mean the least to the playoffs that begin in about five weeks, I give you this afternoon's Pirates, Reds contest in Cincinnati.
Wednesday afternoon's series finale in Cincinnati between the Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates has two things going for it. First it should be a beautiful day in Porkopolis, nothing but sunny skies.
Secondly it's a good excuse to take the afternoon off if you're in the Cincy area, or anywhere you can catch the game on a screen. A bad game at the ballpark is a lot better than a good afternoon at work.
I can imagine being in Cincinnati and ducking out from work early. I'd call my buddy down in sales around 10 in the morning with the big plan.
"Andy, I'll meet you on East Fifth near the Chiquita Center a little before 11. Don't screw up this time dill weed and leave those choice tickets from Amalgamated Incorporated Ltd. in your desk drawer."
Andy would know that meant one thing: We'd be starting our day at Buztah's Place opposite Fountain Square. Great food cooked by the Buzz Man himself, best drink prices, and it's only a short cab ride from there down to Great American Ball Park for the game, should be plenty of time to throw back a couple of pints and one of Buzzy's dishes.
My pal Buztah was on the Pirates last night, and in a leap of blind faith I tailed him when they collapsed early as Cincy rolled to an 11-5 win. The loss was the Pirates’ sixth-straight overall, and third in this series after falling twice on Monday to the Reds before last night’s defeat.
The pitching matchup is also intriguing to me to some small degree. Pittsburgh lefty Zach Duke is coming off his worst outing of the season but has otherwise pitched well. Duke was charged with seven earned in three frames last Friday at Milwaukee in an 8-6 Pirates loss, his ERA jumping 0.30 to 3.68 after that one. But you don't get 22 decisions at this stage with an ERA like that without keeping your team in the game for the most part. Duke has also fared well against the Reds overall and in Cincinnati.
Homer Bailey is off two solid outings but has otherwise pitched horribly in the bigs in 2009. The seventh pick in the 2004 draft is trying to finally punch through on his potential and was sharp in wins at Pittsburgh (4-1 on Aug 23) and at home against the Dodgers (4-2 on Aug 28), combining for 15 innings of one-run, 11-hit, 11-K ball in his back-to-back wins.
The umpire for this one figures to be Sam Holbrook who is a lucky 13-13 in terms of home-visitors this year. He's been lucky for home faves (11-5, including 4-2 at this price), and he's 10-16 O/U on the totals (7-9 in the 8½-10 span).
I’m very tempted to take the Under given the umpire data, the way Bailey has pitched lately and Duke’s generally fine efforts against the Reds. I also lean to the side of the Pirates since the odds are against any team sweeping four straight from another. In the end I’m laying the short -120 on Cincinnati simply because they’re Reds-hot.
STARTING PITCHERS
Wed, Sep 2, 12:35 p.m. (ET): Zach Duke (10-16, 3.68) vs. Homer Bailey (5-8, 6.04)
WEATHER
Absotively, posilutely perfect! The forecasted high of around 80ºF actually sounds cool to me after this summer in Texas. No rain at all, hardly any clouds in the afternoon, winds in the 6-8 MPH area out of the ENE (basically from the LF corner to the RF corner).
NOTE: Buztah's Place is a fictitious restaurant, do not try to find it on a map or head to Fountain Square in Cincinnati hoping to get a table. The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com
