Alex Gonzalez, Reds make the Memorial Day weekend a memory the Tribe would rather forget

Cleveland Indians @ Cincinnati Reds Sunday May 24th, 2009 I wasn’t able to catch all of yesterday’s game, so I didn’t write about it, but I was able to catch a good deal of it here and there. It was good to see the Tribe come back and win 7-6, but not so good to see David Huff struggle mightily again. Today it’s Cliff Lee vs. Johnny Cueto with the Tribe looking to take their second consecutive series for the first time all this year. The Indians need to take advantage of Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips being out of the Reds lineup today. This should be a good pitching matchup, and I like the Indians to take the game, and the series, winning today 4-3. Here are some things of note from the game and or other things I found interesting from life in general: -Asdubal Cabrera had yet another leadoff hit to start the game off. -Jerry Hairston Jr. homers for the Reds to give them the 1-0 lead doing just the opposite of what I felt the Indians needed to do which was to jump to an early lead on this Reds club missing a couple of their starters today, while having their best pitcher on the mound in Cliff Lee. Hairston is in for Phillips today, Phillips has a hairline fracture in his thumb -To continue with the above paragraph, I guess maybe I’m having a flashback to Friday, thinking the Indians were going to open up the floodgates after Grady’s home run in the first, but that was the first and only run for the Tribe that night. The Reds getting the lead might not be as big a deal as I think it could be, but going against Cueto maybe my concerns aren’t off base. -Do any baseball players adjust the bills of their anymore either? It looks like everyone goes to Lids at the mall of whatever town they’re playing in, gets a new hat before each game, puts in on and runs out onto the field. Kenny Lofton used to crack me up with his high hats and straight bills, I kept waiting to see him at the window of a McDonald’s drive thru with that look. -I’m probably in the minority but I miss the cookie cup stadiums like Riverfront and Three Rivers. Maybe they just remind of being younger. -I love hearing the Indians commercial when Tom Hamilton says 45,000 on their feet. This year he’s only able to say that every three games, and only at the end of them. -I’m still amazed that this Reds team has won 22 games. -I’m not amazed anymore that the Indians are 10 games under .500. -The odds of Kelly Shoppach getting a hit are almost the same as him getting hit. -Speaking of Shoppach, great hustle on the base paths on Luis Valbuena’s double to score from first (after being hit by a pitch). The relay throw was high and if it were a good one, Shoppach is probably nailed, but his effort is worth recognizing. -Nice alert base running by Luis Valbuena also, who was able to see a wild pitch ricochet off of the advertisement wall behind home plate, right back to the catcher, and safely get back to third without going down the line too far. -Possibly key moment of the game, 1st and 3rd with two outs in the top of the 4th. Johnny Cueto is having control issues, after having just walked Cliff Lee, Asdrubal Cabrera pops up to end the inning. -Even though he eventually walked, I would have liked to see Eric Wedge call for Cliff Lee to lay down a suicide squeeze, what do you have to lose, it puts pressure on the fielder to make a solid throw to first, maybe the throw is bad and you get the go-ahead run, stranger things have happened. -Quote of the game so far, after Shoppach scored from first, Rick Manning said, “that’s ok, we can get him oxygen in the dugout now”. Maybe Rick thought the opponent was the Bengals, nice sarcasm Rick, those moments are few and far between, but you seem a little looser in the booth this year, maybe you’ve just learned to live with Underwood by now. -Alex Gonzalez not only looks a little like he could be a Peralta, but he just got the go-ahead RBI a half inning after the Indians squandered their chance to. Amazing how it always seems to work that way. -Baserunning might be today’s theme. Adam Rosales of the Reds tried to score from third on a ground ball to third, and was thrown out by Mark DeRosa, but in my opinion Rosales made a half-hearted attemp to score, he tried some half standing up looking slide and didn’t go in hard. We’ll see if this ends up being a key play in the game. -This game is eerily looking like Friday night’s game. The Indians bats are colder than Jon and Kate’s mattress. -This game is officially looking like Friday nights game with the score now 3-1 Reds, Alex Gonzalez continues to kill the Tribe with his sixth hit of the series and his second RBI of the afternoon. -Grady Sizemore comes through in a huge way in the top of the 7th, tripling with two outs scoring Luis Valbuena from third, and then scoring on a bad throw from third, well not really, Sizemore was called out at home but the third base umpire called interference on third baseman Rosales, replays show the interference to be of the phantom variety, but to me it looks like Sizemore beat the tag. Either way, the game is now tied at 3 but now Matt Herges is coming in, fasten your seatbelts. -Since I keep seeing their ads behind home plate, I just want to say LG phones suck, had one and it was the worst phone I’ve ever owned. -Karma usually finds it way around. The Rosales interference call might be just that to make up for either the Carl Crawford non-catch last weekend, or the interference that wasn’t called in New York on a home run by the Yankees in the opening series at the New Yankee stadium. The only bad thing is, the Indians haven’t won this game yet, but I’ll take it. -If anyone reading this knows the guy sitting behind the left side of home plate wearing a Cubs jersey at the Indians/Reds game, tell him he’s a douche bag. -Jimmy Hanlin thinks Craig Sager’s outfits are outlandish. -I wouldn’t exactly pitch to Joey Votto with two outs and no one on in the 9th. Actual result: they didn’t. -With these new style batting helmets with the air holes or slits or whatever they are in them, how much longer before we see the traditional jerseys replaced with Under Armour? -Arthur Rhodes looks as old as Dusty Baker. Rhodes wears #53 to mark his birth year. -Rhodes just gave me and the Indians the middle finger and pitched a 1,2,3 10th. -Rafael Betancourt is providing some much needed quality relief pitching, the bullpen overall has been great today (and he just struck out the side in the 10th). -Useless fact of the day, right now after ten innings, the Reds and Indians line both looks like this: 3 runs, 8 hits, 1 error. -http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=29628, this guy is playing for free this year! -Well I had the score right, just not the team. Final score, Reds 4, Indians 3. Alex Gonzalez delivers the game winning hit, imagine that? This season just took yet another turn for the worst. Don’t fret Cleveland fans, I think the Cavs are gonna come out firing tonight, take another big lead, for the third game in a row, but for the first time, they’ll hold onto it. I like the Cavs by double digits tonight. See you at some point during the Rays series. Enjoy the rest of your Memorial Day weekend.