I was beginning to wonder if Dusty Baker had killed Paul Janish and buried in him a shallow grave or something, since the pride of Rice University hadn't been seen since the season began. But Janish is still among the living. He actually got in the game tonight, as a pinch-runner and LIDR. Turned out he wasn't really needed as a pinch-runner, since the pride of Texas University, Drew Stubbs, hit a grand slam after Janish was subbed in. (Holy cow, did Stubbs have a great night. He was responsible for all the Reds' scoring, with a triple and a run scored in the first and the go-ahead, game-winning salami in the eighth.)
I was afraid Dusty wouldn't keep Janish in at SS. Even though Orlando Cabrera has been terrible on defense, he does have two Gold Gloves. And I haven't really seen Dusty use LIDRs much (perhaps because the Reds are so rarely ahead late in the game). But amazingly, Dusty did the right thing, and substituted his young gloves in after the grand slam. They had one inning left to play, and a 2-run lead to protect.
The last inning was ugly. Closer Francisco Cordero gave up a home run to Derrek Lee, cutting the lead to one run. With two outs, he gave up a single to Kosuke Fukudome. An error by Scott Rolen let Alfonso Soriano reach. (The ball was Janish's but Rolen tried to field it.) Then Mike Fontenot hit a hard grounder to SS; Janish made a sliding stop, but fumbled the transition and didn't get the throw over in time. It was initially ruled an error on Janish. My heart sank; I figured between the miscommunication with Rolen earlier, and then the error, Janish would be buried on the bench again. It seemed unfair; it was a tough play, and he probably saved a run from scoring, because he kept the ball in the infield (which Cabrera wouldn't have done). It appears the scorer agreed, because the error was changed to an infield single after the game. The Cubs put in Chad Tracy to pinch-hit for Koyie Hill; Cordero got him to ground out, and the game was over. An ugly win, but a win nonetheless. (I hope Dusty noticed that Janish kept the tying run from scoring! If Slo-Cab was kept in the game, it might still be going on.)
As for the Yankees game tonight...the less aid, the better. Except "Home Run Javy" lived up to the name, and Marcus Thames is gawd-awful in the outfield.
Labels: Paul Janish
