Finally... Reds 3, Padres 2

For the first time since 2005 I actually witnessed a Reds win in person as they defeated the Padres, 3-2 last night in San Diego.

The journey was long and treacherous, but an Adam Dunn homer leading off the ninth provided the winning margin. The dinger was an absolute no-doubter, and a fellow Reds fan standing near me called it before it happened. Sad as it is to say, there is no way Trevor Hoffman is a better pitcher than Heath Bell right now, and the Padres are rolling the dice and doing themselves a disservice every time they send Hoffman out in the ninth. When he went 3-1 on Dunn I knew he would have to come in the zone with something and there it was, Dunn crushing it to left, just a beautiful sight.

As far as Edinson Volquez's start goes, wow, wow, wow, all I can say is wow. He is just nasty, plain and simple. When you have Jake Peavy saying you're nasty, you know you're tough. He was locating every pitch last night, the fastball, curve, slider and change, all at different speeds. Granted, the Padres are a terrible hitting team, but twelve strikeouts in six innings is damned impressive any way you shake it. Volquez is the Reds' MVP, current ace and possible savior and there is no one in either league pitching better than he is right now.

It's too bad, though, that thanks to anohter anemic offensive night Volquez was stuck with a no-decision. Lefthander with a Pulse (Shawn Estes version) shut them down good, and had a no-hitter going through four. His arm is held together with duct tape and he hasn't pitched in the bigs since one game in 2006, but he's lefthanded and still breathing, so the Reds were powerless against him.

It didn't help matters that due to a series of baserunning problems and questionable strategic decisions the Reds had ten different players reach base in the fifth, sixth and seventh and came away with just two runs. In the fifth, Dunn walked and Hairston had a single to lead off the inning in a scoreless game. Joey Votto tried twice to bunt unsuccessfully in the rain (first time in four years it's rained when I've been there) then struck out. Not only were the conditions not great to bunt, it was still fairly early in the game, Votto is a guy you want to produce runs and likely isn't a great bunter, not to mention a much worse hitter (Paul Bako) and the pitcher were hitting behind him. A single dents the scoreboard, doesn't give up an out and virtually guarantees a run, rather than putting men on second and third with the horribly-slumping bad-hitting Bako and the pitcher due up. The rain delay hit after Votto's whiff, when the game resumed Bako struck out and Volquez grounded out to end the threat.

After the Padres got a run in the fifth Ryan Freel doubled to lead off the sixth. This time they had Corey Patterson try to bunt him to third. Problem #1 with this is that Freel is guaranteed to score on nearly any single, and can go to third on a groundout to the right side or a flyball to right or center. Problem #2 is that Corey Patterson either tries to bunt or threatens to try to bunt about four times per start and is never able to get it down, so obviously bunting isn't his strong suit. Of course, he is unsuccessful in his first two bunt attempts, being one of the poorest bat handlers on the club. So since he can't get the bunt down, either Freel was instructed to go on contact, or he went on his own, but he got thrown out at second on a tapper to the pitcher. One out, one one. After a Griffey strikeout Phillips walked, putting men on first and second for Dunn. Dunn shows bunt with two outs, both runners go in motion and Patterson is thrown out at third to end the inning. The Reds simply gave away two outs when they were down 1-0 in idiotic fashion. Did Chris Speier forget there were two outs? Did they really think Dunn was going to bunt for a hit? Why, when you're down one with a speedy runner at second, on a night when baserunners are at a premium, would you have Dunn try to put a bunt down rather than try to get the single to tie the game? Why have the last out of the inning be caught stealing at third? It just made no sense in the world to me. This team has run itself out of innings all year and it just has to stop.

However, the Reds got two in the seventh off Estes and some reliever named Corey (the Padres are already in the "call up anyone and everyone because we've given up on 2008" phase of the year, so I didn't recognize about a quarter of their roster) as Javier Valentin had a big clutch hit. They gave the run right back thanks to Jared Burton but Jeremy Affeldt was excellent in relief. David Weathers wound up getting the final out of the eighth and got the win after Dunn's homer. Cordero got the save, pitching a scoreless ninth.

Tonight is game three of the series. Taco Filling goes for the Reds against Lefthander with a Pulse (Wil Ledezma version) for the Friars. I'm fully expecting another low-scoring affair, but shouldn't have to worry about rain. I won't be going tonight or Sunday so it's Channel 4SD for me. Yay!