I am back in the blogosphere after a long weekend spent with my family. We had a great weekend in Cincinnati and being with them is the best Father's Day gift I could have ever received.
On the other hand, the Reds weekend was not quite as good. Let's recap...
Saturday night was the Civil Rights Game, where the notion that the civil rights movement marches on took center stage at Great American Ball Park. Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali and Bill Cosby received a tremendous ovation from the sellout crowd as they appeared on the field. Major League Baseball and the Reds did an outstanding job with the event.
The Reds had a 5-0 lead after three innings. With Johnny Cueto on the mound, things were looking good for Dusty Baker's ballclub. Then the wheels fell off as the Reds best pitcher suddenly became a human batting tee.
Gordon Beckham hit a 3-run homer in the fourth, the first long ball of his career. In the fifth, Scott Posednik and A.J. Pierznyski both went deep to erase the Reds' lead and tie the game.
The Cincinnati bullpen could not hold down the opposition. The White Sox scored three in the sixth and two more in the eighth on their way to a 10-8 victory.
What happened to Cueto in the fourth? My guess is that the White Sox bench picked up on something he was doing that gave them an indication of what was coming. Cueto has been accused of tipping his pitches before. This is not something that is done on purpose. A trained eye can notice tendencies and/or repetitive motions that a pitcher does before a particular pitch.
With the loss, Sunday's game would decide the series. Aaron Harang produced another quality start for the Reds but walked away with the loss, dropping his record to 5-7. Harang gave up 8 hits and 3 runs in seven innings. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
The Reds were able to collect just six hits, with their lone run coming on a Brandon Phillips sacrifice fly in the eighth.
The back-to-back losses return the Reds to .500 for the season. They carry a 34-34 record into Toronto to begin a three-game series. Tonight, it will be Micah Owings (4-7, 4.50) against Brian Tallet (4-4, 4.68).
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