game 1 of the pirates double header

[Geki Ace]

Psh, that was an amazing sac fly by Dunn.

[Wally Mo Pena]

claussen keeps it coming, breezing through the 5th with the help of a 4-3 double play.

casey and kearns ground out to SS, larue pops out, and that's all she wrote for the reds in the 6th. i couldn't even finish my 5th inning post before it was over.

2-0 after 5.5

[Wally Mo Pena]

the beat roles on for claussen who is doing what you should do against this team: shut them down.

85 pitches through 6 gives him a chance at going deep in this one if not all the way.

2-0 reds

[Geki Ace]

85 pitches through 6 is gonna get him another inning. Maybe two if it goes without incident and Narron wants to conserve the bullpen.

[Wally Mo Pena]

rbi double by felo gets EdE in after an error. Dunn is now 0-0 with two RBI after his third walk of the game.

after 6.5 it's 3-0 reds

[Geki Ace]

Casey's down after Cota tries to run him over at 1st. Uh-oh.

[Geki Ace]

Bad news: Casey's going off on a stretcher, though he is able to move his arms and legs. Probably a concussion, if I had to guess. Cota smacked him in the head.

Good news: DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENO'S IN!

[Wally Mo Pena]

wow, that doesn't sound good. Hopefully it's a mild concussion and he'll be back soon.

[Geki Ace]

Claussen gave up two base-hits, but got out of it unscathed. He won't be back. 7 IP, 6 hits, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 Ks. Great game by him.

[Wally Mo Pena]

it should be good enough for his 10th win as long as the pen can hold the lead for 2 innings, and a better than .500 record.

Claussen has slowly but surely climbed his way on to the list of positives coming out of this season, much like harang did last year. actually, in a lot of ways he's had a better year than harang did last year. It's amazing that the reds didn't even get claussen into a game for weeks when the season started. he was really in the doghouse with this club for some reason.

It will be interesting to see whether the reds bring back ortiz next year or not. with graves and jiminez coming off the books, the reds could get into the mix on one of the free agent starters. there are a lot of people that are going to be getting raises though, so i doubt it, especially after the milton fiasco.

Claussen and Harang are in for sure at this point, and Milton too for financial reasons. Elizardo ramirez may be ready after a year at AAA, or one of the guys we got for Randa. Wilson will probably be given a spot in the rotation to start, but maybe he could work in the pen.

[Geki Ace]

Ugh, apparently Claussen IS gonna stay in another inning. He's got over 100 pitches, Narron. Don't leave him in for 130 like you did last time Harang went out.

[Wally Mo Pena]

i don't think it's a problem for pitchers to throw over 100 pitches, and with the double header it makes sense to get as much out of him as possible. especially now that it's 4-0.

[Geki Ace]

Apparently he was just leaving him in to walk the leadoff batter. Ass.

[Wally Mo Pena]

yeah, the pitch count didn't scare me, but the break he took while casey was injured seemed to throw him off.

[Wally Mo Pena]

belisle has come in and is quickly giving it away. Three straight line drives result in a 4-2 game with 1 out.