Cubs at Reds 4/5/2007 (Rubber Match)

[Reds_fan_4_life]

MVP: Lohse

Hopefully he can pitch like this every outing. It would make me feel good about the first half of the rotation atleast.

[Mr. D™]

Man I missed the game, I didn't notice it was an early game but I'm glad I see we won, I'll watch it on MLB.TV later tonight

[CincyRedsFan30]

I followed most of the game while doing homework and in class.

Lohse seemed pretty good but appeared to leave a few too many pitches out over the plate.

The rest of the bullpen sounded pretty good overall, though Cormier of course made it a bit scary.

Despite the error, Dunn seems different at the plate and in the field. The baserunning seems more smart and aggressive thus far too. I thought he might have a huge year this year and nothing over these first three games has changed my opinion.

Freel had a couple nice walks in which he battled hard. Phillips needs to start hitting more. Hatteberg hitting some HR this year would give us some important pop. Valentin can't hit much. He swung at the first pitch twice. I don't care for his style much at all, as I have mentioned over the last couple years. Good to see Conine get a big PH. I hope he can continue to do that. I will say he is the type of player I could see getting a lot of hits when we "need" them.

The defense as a whole is better, despite a few miscues. Not as many "wow, how did he miss it?" plays so far and the range is clearly much better.

On a final note: pitching. It has been fairly impressive overall. Definitely a positive sign there. How often has Reds pitching given up just 7 Runs over 3 games in the last several plus years?? We just need someone else to give the big guys on offense a little help.

MVP: Hatteberg

[missionhockey21]

I really appreciated how Lohse was so aggressive with Lee and how he was able to lay down perfect sac bunts with minimal effort it sounded like.

It was fun listening to Marty and Tom during this game as I was cleaning up the house. With having the ability to watch the game on TV so often, you kind of forget if it's been awhile for you and the radio about just how neat it is to have an exciting situation (like the pass ball in the 7th or 8th) being painted in your head.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yeah, I didn't listen today, but I hear Marty and Thom had a great broadcast.

I am interested to see how Belisle looks in person tomorrow night (one of my friends from UK already bought our RF seats...maybe we will catch a Dunn HR ball??). I will be sure to give a scouting report on him, as it is always helpful to see someone in person. Should have a good view of the outfield defense and how they cover ground.

I might go to Saturday night's game too.

Let's try to win the series.

[missionhockey21]

I really think if his back is in good shape, Belisle could be the surprise of the team (not just the rotation.) His secondary pitches have been suspect at times, but I've heard good things this spring about how he looked and how he was feeling.

On Lohse though, it would be so huge if he could live up to his talent and put in a solid 4 ERA season.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yeah, and in the past, he has looked better in the rotation than the bullpen. I hope that trend continues.

A statistic I read: today's start by Lohse marked the first time in 15 years Reds starters have pitched 6 IP plus in the team's first three games of the season.