All Things Bubba

Because how can you not love a baseball player named "Bubba"?

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Spring Forward


March 11, 2007: Cincinnati Reds 9, Pittsburgh Pirates 8

Arrgh. Daylight Savings Time is evil. It's the government forcing everyone to get up an hour earlier every morning. And no, it doesn't save energy. Rather, the point is to keep retailers happy. People are more likely to go to the mall and shop if it's light out after work, you see. Kinda like those factory farmers who keep the lights on 24/7 so the chickens will eat more...

I missed the beginning of this game, because I had to work. (Can't wait until this @#$% project is over. Unfortunately, the deadline is March 22 - the day of the only Yankees-Reds day game. Which means I'll probably miss it. Sigh.) Today was the foggiest morning I have ever seen. Very scary to drive in, because you could barely see the traffic lights from the stop lines. Not to mention all the cars parked way out in the street, because of the snow drifts along the side of the road. Everyone else came in an hour late (at least one of them not even realizing it was DST). We really didn't get much done, because everyone was cranky and sleepy.

Perhaps because of DST, the Reds played a very sloppy game. But hey, they won...

I missed the exciting first inning, chained to my desk at work, but looking at the game threads, fans were still grousing about A-Gon batting in the two-hole when he hit an RBI double. LOL! I think that guy's going to hit a lot better than Reds fans think. He's in the NL now, and in GABP. He'll be fine.

Bubba entered the game in the 6th inning, playing left field. I think. It was very confusing. The announcers said left field, Gameday said right field. The official MLB.com box score says he only played left, Gameday says he moved from right to left, and listening to the announcers, it sounds like he moved from left to right. And ESPN says he moved from right to center.

Our boy had only one at-bat in the game. It was in the bottom of the 7th. Righty Josh Shortslef (who hails from Oswego, in western NY) was on the mound. Two outs, runner on 3B. Bubba worked the count full, then was caught looking. He was unhappy with the call, more than one commenter noted. So he was 0 for 1. He's batting .348 / .423 / .609.

The most bizarre play was in the top of the 8th inning. The Reds got two errors on the play, and the Pittsburgh announcers thought it should be three. It was hard to follow what happened from the audio, but apparently, with the bases loaded with Pirates, a shallow hit to center-right dropped in in front of Hopper. Even though he was playing shallow and the ball was hit right to him, he didn't get it, and didn't field it fast enough to get anyone out. He tried to throw it home, but it was wide. The throw was ruled an error. Then someone was caught in a rundown...and was awarded a run when Brian Shackelford drew an interference call. Four runs scored in the inning, three on that play, putting the Pirates on top, 8-6.

What a mess. The Pittsburgh announcers thought catcher Chad Moeller deserved an error, because he was slow getting the ball out of his glove. Narron blamed Shackelford, saying if he had backed up at home like he was supposed to, it wouldn't have happened.

Me, I blame Bellhorn. He booted a groundball earlier in the inning, which opened the floodgates. If he made that play, the inning would have been over with no runs given up.

(And you can see why I was wondering if Bubba was in left, right, or center. They did not identify Hopper by name, so I was holding my breath, hoping it wasn't Bubba who let those runs score.)

Bellhorn and Hopper would redeem themselves in the bottom of the inning. Bellhorn got on base via a walk, and scored when Castro hit a home run, and Hopper had an RBI single, putting the Reds on top again. The lead would hold, with Meadows getting the save.

For some reason, Chris Denorfia didn't play at all today. I think this is the first game he's missed. He did play the entire game yesterday, though, so he probably deserves a day off.

posted by BubbaFan, 11:09 PM

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