Friday, October 8, 2010

Game Two preview

The Reds are in a must win situation tonight. Even if they win tonight, they'll still face a tough road to the NLCS. But the Phillies are clearly in the driver seat.

The Reds must either find a way to beat Roy Halladay; first they should worry about trying to get a hit against him. Or, they have to beat Roy Oswalt twice and Cole Hamels. Both scenarios: unlikely.

Oswalt makes his Phillies post-season debut tonight. He's 23-3 with a 2.81 ERA in his career against the Reds. Two of those loses came this year though, when he was with Houston. On April 29, Oswalt took the loss after pitching seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out seven.

In his final game with Houston, the Reds once again beat Oswalt after he lasted just five innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Oswalt became a different pitcher since joining the Phils though, reverting back to his previous dominant form.

He's 4-0 in his post-season career with a 3.66 ERA.

Bronson Arroyo starts the crucial game for Cincinnati. He's the only Reds pitcher with post-season experience. In his 17 playoff innings, Arroyo is winless with a 7.41 ERA.

In his career against the Phillies, Arroyo is 1-5 with a 5.54 ERA in eight appearances. He'll need to pitch one of the best games of his career tonight.

Orlando Cabrera is sure to receive plenty of boo's from the Philly faithful tonight. He was the only Reds player to take credit away from Halladay following his no-hitter. He said they had no chance because he was "basically getting every pitch" from the umpire.

Cabrera's teammate Jonny Gomes disagreed. "I think Doc actually took the umpire out of the game by just throwing strikes. I really didn't have any questionable strikes on me. I'm not really worried about the umpire too much. I'm worried about the guy on the mound. He did a great job; all four corners, down and in, up and in, down and out. He threw all four pitches in all four corners."

Halladay was getting every pitch, because they were strikes. MLB.com reviewed the game through Pitch F/X to determine the location of each pitch. They found just two questionable calls on Halladay pitches in the entire game. Neither came against Cabrera.

Sorry Orlando, but your conspiracy theory is debunked, and you sir, are a jackass.

1 comment:

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