Another Frustrating Loss

For the fourth time this season, the Reds take one on the chin. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Reds bullpen could not hold the lead and fell 3-2 to the San Diego Padres. The Reds finish the road trip with a 3-3 record.

Some observations from the game…

1. Travis Wood wasn’t exactly at his sharpest, but he fought through to post a good line for the game: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 98 pitches with 54 for strikes.

2. Chris Heisey is blooming before our very eyes. All the talk coming out of spring training centered on a different outfielder by the name of Dave Sappelt. Heisey is showing us that we cannot and should not forget him. He was only 1-for-4 at the plate, but he made two excellent defensive plays. Sure, he dropped one (as he was looking into the sun), but he quickly atoned for himself.

3. Joey Votto is truly the master of his domain and that domain is any ballpark where he is located. A 3-for-4 performance with a run scored and an RBI. He’s hitting .444 after 12 games. Simply amazing.

4. Nick Masset. What else can you really say? He did his job in the 8th inning. The run the Padres pushed across in the 8th was not of his doing. The 9th was the Nick Masset we’ve seen since Opening Day. Of the Reds four losses, he has three of them. I will reiterate this point and it bears repeating because I see numerous times: you cannot send Masset to Louisville. You either keep him or let him go as he has no options.

5. RISP. Ugh! 1-for-7 today. All total, the Reds were 5-for-18 (.277) for the series (0-for-3 in Game 1, 4-for-8 last night). That’s not too shabby.

6. Brandon Phillips and Aroldis Chapman. According to Dusty, BP told him that he (BP) felt something in his leg during the play that began with a Chapman throwing error. With an off day tomorrow, it was a no-brainer to get him out of there.

Baker also said that Chapman wasn’t Chapman. A drop in velocity was the concern and that isn’t always a good sign. When asked if he felt okay, Chapman stated he was. After he was pulled for Masset (and Twitter went bonkers), Ramon Hernandez was seen in the dugout giving the young Cuban “a lesson”.

7. Was there really a bona fide strike zone? I rarely air my grievances against umpires here. I will throw out a barb or two as I’m tweeting. I’m the guy that will take a jab, but also realize that these guys are human and are prone to making mistakes. Angel Hernandez had a roving strike zone today. I’m not saying he made a difference in the outcome by any means because he didn’t. He tossed Padres manager Bud Black for arguing balls and strikes. On numerous occasions batters and pitchers looked in disbelief at calls. When you have both dugouts jawing, you may not be doing so well.

Sidenote on that. Why are Hernandez and Joe West on the same crew?

As I said, off day tomorrow. Then it’s a seven game homestand with four against the Pirates and three with the Diamondbacks.