Jacob Cruz says this game deserves a thread. Reds/Dodgers, Round 3.

[Sea Ray]

a popout would have been much better. its been proven over and over by baseball prospectus that an k is another out. it doesnt hurt teams throught a full season.

Yeah, a popout to the RF would have moved him to third. As would a groundout to 2B or 1B. It's been proven time and time again that there are all sorts of outs that move the runner along. This isn't rocket science. It's true that not all outs would have moved him along but all strike outs will fail to move him along. (Of course the infamous passed ball strike out would move him along but passed balls/wild pitches would do the trick regardless).

The fact is there are all sorts of outs that will move runners along and that inning illustrated the need for such contact.

[Sea Ray]

bigger risk of double plays.

strikeouts have been proven to be just other outs. the giants dont strikeout a lot and they are having troouble scoring runs. the reds strikeout the most in the majors and are near the top in runs.

There was very little risk of a DP in the situation last night with Casey at 2nd. Last night was a real world scenario. You'll get lost looking at general stats here and there. Last night was an example of where contact was necessary to score the run and saying that the Big Red Machine scored lots of runs while striking out a lot has nothing to do with situations like last night.

Good for the Reds though. At least they won the game and that's the important thing.