Five things about Sunday night’s 9-0 Cincinnati Reds pounding of the San Francisco Giants in Game 2 of the NLDS:
1: Bronson Arroyo’s pitch assortment is like a box of chocolates and he threw everything at the Giants but a red-hooded sweatshirt (and he’d pull the string on that), retiring the first 14 and using 21 different speeds from 71 mph to 90 mph for his seven innings of one-hit pitching.
2: Are the Giants reading the scouting reports? Ryan Ludwick swings at the first pitch 41 percent of the time, but Madison Bumgarner threw a first pitch to Ludwick in the second inning right down The Embarcadero and Ludwick crushed it over the center field wall for a home run. And Ludwick was 1 for 16 against Bumgarner at the time.
3: The Reds’ bats, AWOL for the entire month of September, are having an October Renaissance. Madison Bumgarner threw a one-hit shutout at them in June, but the Reds chased him after 4 1/3 innings with four runs and seven hits and they mugged San Francisco pitchers for 13 hits. Every starting Reds regular had at least one hit.
4: In the first two games the Giants hit at least four balls for outs that would have been home runs in Great American Small Park and Hunter Pence tagged four balls on the nose for outs, two that were nearly home runs. Did the Giants forget that they were playing in expansive AT&T Park?
5: The Giants are down 0-2 in the best-of-five series and now need to win three straight games in Great American Ball Park, where the Reds had the best home record in the National League at 50-31. Call them The Big Home Machine. Only four teams have come back from a 0-2 deficit in the postseason to win and only one that lost its first two at home.
When are the Reds' playoff games?
2012 NLDS Schedule |
| Game | Road Team | | Home Team
| TV Channel | Date | Game Time |
Game 1
| Reds | at | Giants
| TBS | Saturday, October 6th | Result: Reds win, 5-2
|
| Game 2 | Reds | at | Giants
| TBS/MLB Network
| Sunday, October 7th | Result: Reds win, 9-0
|
| Game 3 | Giants | at | Reds
| TBS | Tuesday, October 9th | 5:30 p.m. |
Game 4 (If Necessary) | Giants | at | Reds | TBS/MLB Network
| Wednesday, October 10th | 4:00 p.m. |
Game 5 (If Necessary) | Giants | at | Reds | TBS | Thursday, October 11th | TBA |
What should you watch for?
Coming off Sunday’s 9-0 win over the Giants that gave them a 2-0 series lead, the Reds return home with three chances to close out the best-of-five series. Right-hander Homer Bailey (13-10, 3.68 ERA) will start for the Reds and oppose the Giants’ Ryan Vogelsong (14-9, 3.37 ERA). The Reds have outscored the Giants 14-2 in the first two games of the series.
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