Five day naps sometimes turn into seven day naps, right?
The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game
The Cincinnati Reds scored one run.
Chris Heisey hit one solo dinger.
Chris Heisey gets today's JNMHSotG.
Honorable Mentions are due to: Todd Frazier, who smacked a pair of singles, stole a base, got a chance to shake hands with Derek Jeter and hop in some pictures with him, and made a nifty grab on a foul ball at the wall; Jumbo Diaz, who continues to flash the kind of stuff that makes me think he could be quite the value find; Donald Lutz, for providing a proof of life by way of his 2nd MLB double of the season; and Billy Hamilton, who doubled and continued being my favorite baseball player.
Key Plays
- Carlos Beltran added to his lofty career totals against the Reds with a solo dinger in the Bottom of the 2nd, a blast over the RF wall, his 17th career dinger against Cincinnati. Reds trailed, 1-0.
- A flub from RF Jay Bruce on a fly ball allowed Brian Roberts to reach 2B to lead off the Bottom of the 3rd, and a productive grounder and Brett Gardner single later the Yankees had plated another. Reds trailed, 2-0.
- Chris Heisey Ecto-dingered with 1-out in the Top of the 5th to get the Reds on the board, but a string of singles, a passed ball, a sac fly, and a Hall of Fame single from Derek Jeter led to another pair of runs for the Yankees in the Bottom of the 5th, and that ended Alfredo Simon's day. Reds trailed, 4-1.
- J.J. Hoover was summoned to pitch the Bottom of the 6th and, well, he looked pretty 2014 Hoover-y thanks to a bushel of dinky-dunkers that found holes like a GIS with safe-search turned off. Brian McCann, Beltran, Brian Roberts, and Kelly Johnson combined for 140 years of age and 4 soft singles, and that coupled with a Gardner sac fly put three more on the board for the Pinstripes. The Reds could muster nothing more than a Hamilton leadoff double (that didn't result in a run), and that was that. Reds lose, 7-1.
FanGraph That Will Make You Fall Asleep at a Yankees Game, Get Noticed By Cameras, Get Made Fun of, and Make You File a Silly Lawsuit for $10 Million
Source: FanGraphs
Other Notes
- I was kind of worried about this series when I began looking at the schedule for the 2nd half primer a few days ago, as it really couldn't have come at a worse time. The Yankees - the team with the oldest core of position players in baseball - had stumbled to an 8-14 record over their final 22 games before the All-Star break, and the Reds were going to roll in to face them in Yankees Stadium after a 5 day freshen-up. It didn't make them invincible, but it sure wasn't opportune.
- The Yankees are now 10-5 against the NL Central this season.
- Prior to today's start, Brandon McCarthy had allowed 17 hits and 12 earned runs in his 7.1 career innings vs. the Reds (2 starts and a relief apperance). He allowed just a single earned run and 6 hits in his 6 innings against them today, fueled largely by his 9 strikeouts and nary a walk.
- The Reds have struck out 23 times and walked just once through the first two games of this series.
- I miss Joey Votto.
- Johnny Cueto will take the hill for the Reds tomorrow at 1:05 PM Eastern in an attempt to salvage one game from the series. Hiroki Kuroda will toe the rubber for the Yankees, who has a 2.61 ERA in 31 innings across 5 career starts vs. the Reds (though he has not faced them since the 2011 season).
- Coney Island tunes.
