The Reds had a pretty miserable night, but Andy did okay. Could have been better, but okay.
He was the first Red to reach base, breaking up the perfect game with a walk in the third inning. Dusty had starting pitcher Homer Bailey bunt him over to 2B...then pulled Bailey for a relief pitcher. That was just plain bizarre. I mean, if you're going to yank the pitcher, why let him hit? And it was all for naught; Andy was stranded.
He singled his next time up. Again, Dusty didn't put in a pinch-hitter. I guess because he wanted to leave the pitcher in. In any case, Andy was once again stranded.
His third time up, he grounded into an inning-ending double play. And that was his last plate appearance of the night. In the ninth inning, with the score 2-5, two outs, Dunn on first, Dusty decided to pinch-hit for Andy. Probably at least partly because the pitcher was right-handed. (Dusty hasn't noticed Andy's splits are reversed.) He put lefty Joey Votto in. Who lined out to 2B on the second pitch. Yeah, Andy couldn't do that.
That had to be one of the weirdest games I've ever seen. I have no idea what Dusty was thinking. Maybe he wasn't thinking. I think he's given up.
Though the Yankees game was also very weird. Sidney Ponson took a no-hitter to the 5th inning, and pitched seven shutout innings. This facing the same team that lit up Andy Pettitte yesterday. The Yankees offense was flummoxed by Ervin Santana, and it was 0-0 in the ninth. When Mariano Rivera gave up what would prove to be the winning run.
Good grief. Ponson giving up two hits and no runs in seven innings...while Mo gave up two hits and a run in one inning? I feel like I'm in an alternate universe.
