I was somewhere near the edge of my bar stool when the booze began to take hold... I remember saying" oh shit, I better get to a radio" as I could not find a stream. Reds? Who are these god damn animals? No worries, I was about to be taken to "bat" country. With Lane Grindle and Jeff Levering as my power of auditory, and a ban of beer and brown liquor lifted, all bets were off, and hopefully, your lives were ruined knowing that behind a few brewcrewball fanposts, men with big fuzzy beards were getting kicks out of things you probably all know well.
THIS CALLS FOR A DRINK. For the matchup, of Milwaukee's # 5 Chase Anderson and Cincy prospect Robert Stephenson, both a little shaky this spring, I recommend a Mart-Cow Mule, with vodka, ginger ale and lemon juice (instead of ginger beer and lime), in a ceramic brewers mug (instead of a copper cupper) with a mickey mouse spoon (?).
The Starting lineups look like this
Brewers: R. Flores 1B, C. Walsh 3B, S. Gennett 2B, K. Nieuwenhuis LF, M. Maldonado C, A. Presley CF, K. Broxton RF, Y. Rivera SS, C. Anderson P
Reds: B. Hamilton CF, E. Suarez 3B, J. Votto 1B, B. Phillips 2B, D. Mesoraco C, Z. Cosart SS, T. Holt RF, J. Cave LF, R. Stephenson P
So essentially we're seeing a matchup where our entire starting OF is competing for the CF job, two guys looking at bench spots in rivera and walsh, and bench lock Ramon Flores starting at 1B. For the Reds, they have a lot of their regulars in the lineup, so should be a good tuneup for Chase Anderson.
Attendance: "Pretty good turn out for a monday night" (3,673)
The first inning saw tons of action, with the first three batters for the brewers walking. After a Nieuwenhuis fly out, Alex Presley drove in the first run with an RBI groundout, before Maldo broke it WIDE OPEN with a two out, two run single. before CF hopeful Keon Broxton struck out to end the threat.
The bottom half was sweet and sour, with chase anderson striking out the first and last batter of the inning. sourly, that was the 1st and 9th batters in the order... in between, chase gave up 4 hits, his first two walks of the season, a wild pitch and a lazy pop fly. Joey Votto had an RBI double while Devin Meso tied the game at three with a bloop single to score two. Chase would get Robert Stephenson to strike out with the bases loaded to end the inning. Ironically, Stephenson has stranded as many as he allowed to score in the first inning alone. What a goon.
BREWERS 3 REDS 3 END 1
The second went by almost quietly enough... minus a Joey Votto bomb... Robert stephenson had now struck out 4 brewers by this time, and is adding to an, to say the least, interesting stat line.
BREWERS 3 REDS 4 END 2
Robert Stephenson aided the brewers again in the third, airmailing a tapper to the mound (with the bases loaded) towards the backstop,scoring Gennett and Nieuwenhuis, who never stopped around third...
BREWERS 5 REDS 4 END 3
Not much happened until the 8th inning, and I swear there were some better notes here until they all got deleted, but let me fill you in on something unexpected that happen.
4th inning, enter Derek Hayes for the Reds. He's not that important other than he's had a nice spring, and struck out the side, while allowing a base hit to Chase Anderson #pitchersrake... but most important from this pitching change was the introduction to 6'7'' 230lb. Juan Duran, a Reds OF prospect. Excellent name. Lane Grindle could literally not get off this guy, with comments like "he's a big dude, built well" and "His numbers (on his jersey) are right around Ramon Flores' cap..." etc. I don't think it was until the 8th that they mentioned he will be missing 80 games this season due to testing positive for 3 PEDs, cuz he was hungry like a Mejia.
Also during this lapse in scoring there was mention of the minor league team, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, who will be changing their names for a day to the Pensacola Mullet(s). They weren't sure about the S. This is actually an allusion to the mullet fish, which Jeff Levering mentioned may be because it looks like a mullet if you put it on your head. I checked... It doesn't more than any other fish..
A new drink now... a sconnie sour, with more vodka, a leftover new glarus Oud Bruin (a sour beer, my friend didn't know), and a twizzler straw. Helps with Cappy pitching a scoreless inning and Michael "Blaziken" Blazek straight dealing through 2 innings.
Reds newly appointed closer JJ Hoover picked up a scoreless appearance.
On to an exciting 8th! With Keyvius Sampson pitching, Manny Pina crushed a ball to deep center off the top of the wall for a triple which scored Alex Presley... Pina would then score on a sac fly from Keon Broxton to give the Brewers a few insurance runs...
But it was not enough. Blazek, pitching into his now THIRD inning of work, cruised through the first two batters before things got rough. a walk and a couple of hits set up a deep double to that dirty PED eating jerk Juan "her name is rio" Duran... but then Billy Hamilton collected his only hit in what was looking like a pretty miserable night, scoring two more and hooking Blazek with the BS, his first of the year.
The 9th was not looking good as Pedro Villareal mowed down the first two batter before walking, who else, Colin Walsh, who was on base twice tonight despite not collecting a hit. Elmore reached on what would be determined an error as the lumbering oaf Juan Duran was unable to come up with a sliding catch to end the game. Runners on the corners now brought up eric young jr, and also Lane Grindle with the call...
"2-1 pitch... a broken bat flare! Base hit! EY Jr. ties the game!"
But alas, the Brewers could do no more, and with the meat of the order for the Reds proving to be too much, Jaye Chapman was unable to keep the Brewers above .500 as Votto led off with a double, and after a PRing Reynoso took third on a ball in the dirt, who else but perennial brewer killer Brandon Phillips finished this one off with a walk off single.
(BS)WP: Villareal (1-1) LP: Chapman (0-2)
BS: Blazek H: Capuano
Fantasy News: Billy Hamilton salvaged an awful day at the plate, 1/5 with 2 RBI... Joey Votto continued a be good, 4/5 2 RBI, HR (3), Brandon Phillips 3/5, 2 2B, RBI, JJ Hoover 1 IP, 1K... and there was also a guy named beaver beamer weems... hahahahahahah.... Robert Stephenson ended with a line of 3 IP 5 R 4 ER (though his E led to the other run), 3 LOB, 4 K, 5 BB
For the Brewers... Kirk Nieuwenhuis easily had the best day at the plate for the brewers, going 2/3 with a walk, but Alex Presley did make a nice sliding catch to take extra bases away from Billy Hamilton. Keon Broxton did contribute an RBI, but looked a little lost at the plate. Eric Young did get the game tying RBI on a pinch hit. Chase Anderson had trouble with location today, walking 4 and striking out 4, while giving up 4 ER in 4 IP.
Next up for the Brewers... and the Reds I guess... is they play each other tomorrow, in Maryvale this time 3:05 pm, where A.J. Morris takes on Brewers opening day starter, Wily Peralta.
I tried to take a picture of the box score and post it on here... but it's not working... and I don't want to incur wrath... so maybe I'll just try and post it to the comments section?
WWKN: What we know now... Blazek, two innings max. Nieuwenhuis takes a step forward. Pitch away from Votto and Phillips. Maybe I shouldn't have drafted Billy Hamilton in 2 leagues...
Good night, go crew.
FINAL FINAL: Brandy Old Fashioned.
It was a good game, but it never got weird enough for me.
