Yes! Good times return
As frustrating as Saturday and Sunday in Atlanta was, and as agonizing as Monday's first eight innings were, it is now easy to let go of those bad memories. Wow! Some of the recent Cardinals victories in Cincy are among the most memorable in years (Marlon Anderson's homer, Edmonds' thievery in 2004) and Monday's win will long be remembered after those five, 2-out runs to win. The recent mounting frustration of stranded runners galore, bizarre plays, questionable umpiring and injuries finally faded on Monday following a cascade of late clutch offense, mainly Edmonds' majestic blast and John Mabry's winning bomb. How can you not root hard for John "Old School" Mabry? A loss on Monday would have marked the lowest (relatively speaking) point of the 2005 Redbirds season. In a span of about 20 ninth-inning minutes Monday's game suddenly represented its high point. With STL playing for 21 consecutive days, this should give them a nice needed boost on the road . . . Danny Graves is extremely unimpressive. It looked pretty much like batting practice on Mon. and Graves has had so many meltdowns over the past 3 seasons. Every time I see him pitch against STL, I struggle to see why he attracts such a commitment from the Reds . . . The volume of the Reds fans’ boos after the top of the ninth was intense . . . Sean Casey made 1 official error, but blew 4 plays! Still, it was his first error this season. FSN completely missed Adam Dunn's homer, instead showing a replay while he batted. They also aired an interview over a Griffey at-bat. They also failed to show a quality replay of the disputed Griffey HR, all of which seem inexcusable . . . As aggravating as the Braves series was, I'm glad to hear that Pujols did feel the batted ball hit him on Saturday. I could not tell on TV and thought a bad call may have cost us 2 runs. Still, the late-inning strike zone on Sat was as bad as it gets.
Quest for .200: Molina went 2-for-4 on Monday to move up to .181. He'll get there and, hopefully, will start to settle in offensively.
Quest for .200: Molina went 2-for-4 on Monday to move up to .181. He'll get there and, hopefully, will start to settle in offensively.