2011-04-02 Brewers (Marcum) at Reds (Wood) - 6:10 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 4-2]

[bucksman4]

This situation right here is where having a bench that lacks power really hurts. With the bottom of the lineup we're going to need to string together multiple hits to tie this game.

Where's Bob Hamlin when you need him?

[carniesandrubes]

It's only 2 games, but I really wish these guys would make me regret not renewing my season tickets, at least a little bit. Nothing so far.

[trwi7]

I wish we could play that kind of defense on a nightly basis.

 

I bet most of our players are wishing they could play that good of defense in their dreams.

[davego]

Dang it. Makes Thursday's loss harder to take.

[thablingster]

Where's Bob Hamlin when you need him?

I'd take Brooks Kieschnick, too. He could always throw an inning or two in a pinch.

[bucksman4]

A career minor leaguer in Erick Almonte vs a closer who has 291 career saves?

Not a shocker who's going to win that matchup...

[razzzorsharp]

To be fair, Cordero wins that matchup most of the time versus Pujols, Ted Williams, or Babe Ruth. That's just how baseball is.

[ilovebeer]

That is the diffrance between the Reds and Brewres, the reds are know to come back to win in the late inning and we don't. I KNOW ITS ONLY 2 GAMES, BUT i have a feeling its going to be a long year.

[crewcrazy]

A career minor leaguer in Erick Almonte vs a closer who has 291 career saves?

Not a shocker who's going to win that matchup...

I prefer to think of Cordero as "a closer who has become Cincinnati's version of Eric Gagne." Incredible just how quickly they turn on him when things start to look like they might go wrong. Every 2-0 count is an adventure.

 

Stinks to drop the first two of the season, but Wood was incredible tonight. Looking at the pitch f/x stuff for him tonight, it wasn't even like he was getting help on bad strike calls -- he was legitimately hitting the zone. I just wish Marcum got the same calls in the bottom third of the strike zone.

[bucksman4]

That is the diffrance between the Reds and Brewres, the reds are know to come back to win in the late inning and we don't. I KNOW ITS ONLY 2 GAMES, BUT i have a feeling its going to be a long year.

Even the Cardinals are 0-2 right now. I'm not worried quite yet. We could hang 7-8 runs on Arroyo tomorrow and we'll all go into the ATL series optimistic. Gotta keep the faith!

[DHonks]

Man, the minor leagues can't start soon enough. I can't wait to have minor league boxscores to look forward to when the Brewers lose

[DocLuna7]

That is the diffrance between the Reds and Brewres, the reds are know to come back to win in the late inning and we don't. I KNOW ITS ONLY 2 GAMES, BUT i have a feeling its going to be a long year.

Even the Cardinals are 0-2 right now. I'm not worried quite yet. We could hang 7-8 runs on Arroyo tomorrow and we'll all go into the ATL series optimistic. Gotta keep the faith!

Agreed. It's two games out of 162. Let's not freak out yet.

 

 

[The Truth]

tough game but the optimist in me wants to point out that in the last few years a game like this would have been way out reach when our starter didn't have his best stuff and can only go 5 innings. Good pitching performances by Braddock, Mitre & Green kept us in this one and that bodes very well for the future

[tyguy20204]

It's only two games, guys. Marcum looked good after the first couple of shaky innings. The command issues are atypical of him, they won't happen again.

Relievers kept us in the game.

Wood was simply stellar tonight, sometimes you run into a good pitching performance.

[crewcrazy]

Yeah, the bullpen looked really good tonight. Aside from the one bad inning from Axford, the bullpen as a whole has looked good to start the year. The key will be getting deep starts to keep them fresh, though.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I have to say I'm disappointed in the Brewers approach at the plate, because they took so long to go the other way and hit what the pitcher gives them. The majority of the pitches they tried to pull and hit out of the park. Mainly Mcgehee and Almonte. That's why Wood was so effective early on. It also should have been a 3-2 game, but Fielder dropped an easy ball. However, with that said I like that Marcum settled down and loved the good relief pitching. That was good to see.

[young guns]

That is the diffrance between the Reds and Brewres, the reds are know to come back to win in the late inning and we don't. I KNOW ITS ONLY 2 GAMES, BUT i have a feeling its going to be a long year.

Even the Cardinals are 0-2 right now. I'm not worried quite yet. We could hang 7-8 runs on Arroyo tomorrow and we'll all go into the ATL series optimistic. Gotta keep the faith!

Not to mention the 2011 World Series champion Boston Red Sox are also 0-2.

[yount19.u]

This is the most comfortable I've felt during an 0-2 start. The Brewers owned the Reds in the first game except for the bottom of the ninth. And Marcum was way out of sorts tonight, but still composed himself enough to keep it a three run game. Last year with Bush, Suppan or Parra, this would have been a 10-1 loss with two extra bullpen pitchers being used. All of this with five players on the DL and I think the future actually looks bright.

[brewmann04]

tough start by marcum but the bullpen pitched well and starting 0-2 is not a good start but with Wolf today makes me think 0-3 heading home is a good possibility.

[jerichoholicninja]

I have to say I'm disappointed in the Brewers approach at the plate, because they took so long to go the other way and hit what the pitcher gives them. The majority of the pitches they tried to pull and hit out of the park. Mainly Mcgehee and Almonte. That's why Wood was so effective early on. It also should have been a 3-2 game, but Fielder dropped an easy ball. However, with that said I like that Marcum settled down and loved the good relief pitching. That was good to see.

Is that not the Brewers of the last 8 years?

[TooLiveBrew]

Agreed. It's two games out of 162. Let's not freak out yet.

I don't think anyone's freaking out. However, the importance of this series shouldn't be downplayed. The '160 games to go' line only carries so much water. This was 2 of the 16 games (12.5%) the Brewers have against Cincy this season, and both were losses.

 

Taking into account just how difficult the Brewers' interleague schedule is, not getting one of these first two actually is kind of a big deal. Game 1 of the season still stings. Fortunately there's a lot of time for the Reds to potentially lose & the Brewers to gain ground, but that doesn't change the fact that these losses have been very important.

 

Marcum struggling when he's not really stretched out/ready to go isn't shocking, but hopefully his WOAHs aren't injury related.

[The Truth]

Look at how the Reds fans were booing Coco Cordero tonight. You think he's not going to implode sometimes this season? Things have a way of balancing out over the course of the season...

 

I'm more concerned with Wolf tommorow, he needs to avoid another slow start to a season ad come out dealing

[Mass Haas]

On the bright side, the Brewers are going to miss Tim Hudson this week.

[GormanHarvey]

On the dark side, Kotsay is starting again in RF and batting 6th. But hey, at least Kottaras gets the start. Apparently Roenicke didn't like that sharp single Morgan slapped on the first pitch he saw last night...

[tyguy20204]

I don't think anyone's freaking out. However, the importance of this series shouldn't be downplayed. The '160 games to go' line only carries so much water. This was 2 of the 16 games (12.5%) the Brewers have against Cincy this season, and both were losses.

Taking into account just how difficult the Brewers' interleague schedule is, not getting one of these first two actually is kind of a big deal. Game 1 of the season still stings. Fortunately there's a lot of time for the Reds to potentially lose & the Brewers to gain ground, but that doesn't change the fact that these losses have been very important.

You're still overestimating the importance of these two losses. Like you said, these games account for 12.5% of the games against the Reds this season. Any loss to a division rival hurts, yeah, but if you're going to try to look at it objectively - which, by your post, it seems that you are - why should Game 1 "sting" any more than any other loss?. It still accounts for exactly 6.25% of the games against a divisional opponent, no more, no less. It's way too early to be so worried about two losses.

I mean, completely anecdotally, the Reds lost the first two games of their season to the Cardinals last year. The Cardinals actually ended up going 12-6 against the Reds last year overall. We all know how the division race ended up. The point of this example is that in such a small sample of games, certain outcomes will happen. The "better" team as will be established over the course of 162 games will sometimes lose two games in a row to an inferior team. The "better" team will also sometimes win two games in a row.

That is not to say that that Reds are inferior to the Brewers, or vice versa. The jury is still out on that one. And that is not to refute your point that a game against a divisional contender is more important than a game against, say, the Nationals.

It is simply to say that it is highly unrealistic to expect the Brewers never to lose two games in a row to a divisional contender. Such things happen, even with good teams.