Liveblogging!

Reds vs. Cardinals.June 5, 2006.

8:09: ****, it's game time!
8:12: Rich Aurilia legs out a softly-hit infield single right after speedy Felipe Lopez is thrown out after hitting a ball deep in the hole. Huh.
8:14: Ken Griffey, Jr.'s first AB at the New Busch Stadium...
8:15: ...is a flyout to left center.
Reds 0 - Cardinals 0

8:20: Bottom of the 1st.
8:21: Who's that guy on the mound for the Reds!? He's wearing Claussen's number 34... but the hair is gone. Did he lose a bet, or is this some sort of Rick White-esque attempt at better pitching?
8:22: Base hit by Eckstein.
8:23: 2 runners in, and one on third. Shoddy defense - seriously, the ball went everywhere on a few odd throws - jumps up again.
8:28: The first out is recorded. Aargh.
8:30: Did Claussen look that good when striking out Edmonds, or did Edmonds look that bad? Methinks Edmonds would normally be on the DL, but considering the circumstances...
8:31: Third out recorded on a nice play by Hatteberg.
Cardinals 2 - Reds 0

8:33: Top of 2 already!? Geez! I'm trying to keep up here, I swear.
8:34: Kearns pops up to shallow right. ...this umpire seems to have a low strikezone, but isn't giving the pitchers the inside part of the plate. A tall and skinny K zone, I guess.
8:35: Hatteberg single.
8:35: BP single, Hatteberg to 2nd.
8:36: Dave Ross is up. We could use a hit here. Extend that 8-game hit streak to 9... and he did! Ross singles to center, but Hatteberg didn't have a chance to score. Bases loaded, 1 out. Claussen up.
8:39: Claussen is having a nice AB... fouled off a few, 2-2 count. ...but grounds out, Cards take the force at home plate. At least it wasn't a DP.
8:40: Felipe is up, and making Suppan throw some pitches.
8:43: Suppan and Molina take a second to mull things over.
8:44: FELIPE! An excellent two-strike hitter gets a hit on a 2-2 count, and the game is tied!
8:44: Aurilia, in an apparent attempt to make it a 5-2 game, takes a ginormous hack at the first pitch he sees. And misses.
8:45: Aurilia flies out to RF, inning over.
Reds 2 - Cardinals 2

8:48: Bottom of 2. Yadier Molina up.
8:49: 5-3 groundout. Yadier Molina down.
8:51: Aaron Miles hits one down the line - "foul... fair... foul ball." Phew.
8:52: Claussen K's Miles swinging. Very nice pitch.
8:53: The in-game bar at the top of the screen reads "CIN 2 STL 2nd (Inning)  2 out 2-2 (Count)" ... Hey, I thought it was noteworthy! ;)
8:55: Claussen gives up a base hit to the pitcher. Yeah, there you go Pickle, keep throwing more pitches. That's what you need to do.
8:56: Eckstein lines out to Dunner in left, and those on the FSN Ohio feed are treated to the obligatory football reference by George Grande. ::sigh::
Reds 2 - Cardinals 2

9:00: Junior doubles down the RF line to begin the 3rd.
9:01: I am distracted by in-game Smack Talking @ red-hot-mama.com. Actually, I'm not even talking smack about the Cards, I'm talking smack about Brandon Claussen. I'm being petty and talking about his hair again. ::laughs::
9:04: Dunner walks.
9:07: Kearns strikes out looking on a 3-2 pitch. Bah. ...1 out.
9:08: All of a sudden, Jeff Suppan has rediscovered the strike zone.
9:10: Scott Hatteberg grounds into a double play. Inning over.
Reds 2 - Cardinals 2

9:13: Bottom of 3. So Taguchi grounds the ball to Hatteberg who makes a nice play, jumps up, and shovels it to Claussen covering for the out.
9:14: Rolen. Flies out. Out #2. No idea why I wrote it like that.
9:17: Juan Encarnacion singles to center.
9:21: Jim Edmonds walks. Claussen has absolutely no desire to 1. Keep his pitch count down, or 2. Keep runners off the bases.
9:24: 3-2 count, 2 outs, runners off... K! Great timing.
Reds 2 - Cardinals 2

9:27: Top of 4, and there is quickly one out after BP grounds out to third.
9:29: Claussen successfully sacrifices Ross, on through a four-pitch walk, to second.
9:31: Felipe takes a clllooooose 2-2 pitch for a ball. 3-2 count.
9:32: Felipe singles to center, but Taguchi throws out Ross at home on an excellent throw for the assist.
Reds 2 - Cardinals 2

9:35: Bottom of 4, and the first out is a deep fly that Junior gets in center.
9:37: Another F8.
9:39: Claussen completes the 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout of the pitcher. Wow, that in and of itself is noteworthy.
Reds 2 - Cardinals 2

9:42: The top of the 5th begins with a flyout to right.
9:43: Junior hits one a ton to center... HOME RUN! That is the 43rd different major league stadium in which he has homered.
9:45: There are two outs and I have no clue what happened to Dunn. He's obviously out, I just don't know how he got back to the bench. ::shrug::
9:46: Kearns grounds out to second to end the inning.
Reds 3 - Cardinals 2

9:49: The bottom of the 5th begins with a lineout to left.
9:50: Taguchi lines out to Kearns in RF.
9:52: Claussen has got to be close to, if not over 100 pitches. He just can't get that last out, or the last strike in this case. There it is: 106.
9:53: Pitch #108 is ball four to Rolen.
9:55:*****. 2-run homer from Juan Encarnacion.
9:57: Edmonds grounds out to BP. A little too late, Pickle. ::shakes head:
Cardinals 4 - Reds 3

10:00: 4-3 ground out begins the top of the 6th.
10:01: Another 4-3 ground out.
10:02: G 5-3. Aargh... 1-2-3 inning.
Cardinals 4 - Reds 3

10:05: Rick White in relief for Brandon Claussen here in the bottom of the 6th.
10:07: White Ks Hector Luna.
10:08: Felipe fields the ball, bobbles it a bit, and still gets the throw over to 1st for the out. Thanks to Yadier Molina for not being the speediest man on the planet.
10:10: 2-out walk to Aaron Miles.
10:11: Chris Duncan pinch hits for Suppan. And hits a 2-out 2-run homer. Good God.
10:15: Finally, the inning is over. Rick White came in with a 6.75 ERA, and is (hopefully) leaving with it even higher.
Cardinals 6 - Reds 3

10:17: Top of the 7th. Former Red Josh Hancock is in to pitch, and will probably look like Cy Young against his former club.
10:18: Quinton "Automatic Out" McCracken makes an out. Look at that.
10:19: One-out triple by Felipe!
10:20: Sac fly from Rich Aurilia. Lopez scores.
10:21: Pitching change. Randy Fores in to face Junior, and Junior flies out to end the inning.
Cardinals 6 - Reds 4

10:26: Esteban Yan in to pitch the bottom of the 7th, and gets a 5-3 out on the first pitch.
10:27: Umpire-hit-by-pitch-break. (Ouch!) The offending pitch also happened to be ball four, so Rolen is on first.
10:30: Yan gets Encarnacion go ground into a 4-6-3 DP. End of the 7th.
Cardinals 6 - Reds 4

10:33: Top of the 8th, and Dunn is up. No better time than now to come out of the power slump. ...well, apparently the next AB is better, as Dunn has now struck out for the second at bat in a row.
10:34: Pitching change, Looper in.
10:37: Kearnsie doubles to right center! One out, come on Hatty!!
10:39: Hatteberg lines out to Eckstein.
10:40: Brandon Phillips singles, Kearns scores!
10:43: The seemingly most clutch hitter of late, Dave Ross, pops it up, foul, to the catcher. Well, at least we got one.
Cardinals 6 - Reds 5

10:46: Still Esteban Yan in the bottom of the 8th. Edmonds grounds it to Phillips who throws it on to Hatteberg for the out.
10:47: 6-3 ground ball for out #2.
10:49: Another, YES, ANOTHER 2-out homer. This time by Yadier Molina.
10:51: A ground out to end the expletive-filled inning. ****.
Cardinals 7 - Reds 5

10:55: Top of the 9th. Isringhausen is on to pitch.
10:56: Pinch-hitter LLM flies out to right, on a 3-2 pitch that looked high to me.
10:57: Felipe has his fourth hit of the night with a double to left center!
11:00: I had to fight with TiVo so that it wouldn't change the channel! Now would not be a good time for that. ...Aurilia works a walk! Two on, one out.
11:01: Junior is up. Pleeeease get a hit!!
11:04: Wild pitch, runners advance! (Freel is pinch running, on second.)
11:06: JUNIOR HITS A 3-RUN HOMER!!!
I think I woke up the neighborhood. I literally screamed and yelled, and jumped around for a minute or two. And Ryan Freel just hugged, and then kissed Junior on the cheek. ::laughing hysterically:: I would too!!
11:08: Dunner walks.
11:09: Pitching change. Brad Thompson in.
11:13: Kearns grounds into the 6-4-3 DP. Inning over, but NOT THE GAME!!!
Reds 8 - Cardinals 7

11:15: Bottom of the 9th, and Coffey is in to close it.
11:17: Timo Perez grounds out, 4-3.
11:19: Another ground ball out.
Two outs, we've been here before.
11:21: John Rodriguez pinch hitting... 2-2 count.
11:21: K! GAME OVER! Coffey gets the save!

Reds 8 - Cardinals 7!!

Wow.