Racist Mascots

1. Grady Sizemore cf
2. Jamey Carroll 2b
3. David Dellucci lf
4. Victor Martinez c
5. Ben Francisco rf
6. Michael Aubrey 1b
7. Asdrubal Cabrera ss
8. Casey Blake 3b
9. Cliff Lee p

Redlegs

1. Ryan Freel cf
2. Paul Janish ss
3. Ken Griffey Jr. rf
4. Brandon Phillips 2b
5. Edwin Encarnacion 3b
6. Adam Dunn lf
7. David Ross c
8. Javier Valentin 1b
9. Edinson Volquez p

* Welcome to the Big Leagues, Paul Janish. Now go face a guy with a 0.67 ERA.

"We've all got to do it sometime," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "I faced Juan Marichal in my first start. Then I had Mike Cuellar."

Janish said he's excited to play, no matter who he's facing. Janish, a bright guy, had a good outlook on starting against the American League's ERA leader.

"This guy's getting everyone out right now, so what's the difference?" Janish said. "I see it as more reward than risk involved."

I talked to Javier Valentin as well, he's getting his first start in more than a month.

"I'll just see it and swing at it," Valentin said. "No different than usual."

Baker said he wanted to get Valentin some work and another right-handed bat in the lineup.

* Alex Gonzalez had an MRI on Friday and said he's feeling better. He is scheduled to run tomorrow.

* Top 1: Sizemore walks, Carroll singles. The Indians have some action early against the NL's ERA leader. A K and a DP gets him out of it. Redlegs 0, Rascist Mascot 0

* Bottom 1:Ryan Freel singles, so no no-hitter for either guy today. Really nice at-bat for Janish against Lee. It's full and he's fouling off pitches. A really good at-bat to make Lee work and get his pitch count up. I've been working on a pitch count story, and a lot of the pitchers said it's not the total pitches as much as it's the pitches in an inning. He works a walk. That's a big league at-bat. A passed ball gets the runners over and Griffey can't score them, striking out ona high fastball. HIGH SOCKS ALERT! Edwin Encarnacion going high socks! Great look. 3-0 to Phillips. Lee not throwing at him. Phillips gets the run home. Good work by him to get just enough to get the run in. 1-0. EE pops up. The run is unearned. Redlegs 1, Racist Mascots 0

* Top 2: Francisco doubles -- it was a bloop, Freel dove for it and missed it, allowing teh second base. Volquez follows that up with a really nice pitch to jam Aubrey, who hits it to third and Francisco stays at second. Then a fly to center, not deep enough, which allows Volquez to intentionally walk Blake to get to Cliff Lee, who grounds out to second. 40 pitches through two for Volquez. Lee needed 26 in the first. Redlegs 1, Racist Mascots 0

* Bottom 2: I gotta tell you, a lot of these guys ont eh Reds do a lot of charity things, may publicized and many not (and a lot of those, guys just don't want talked about because that's not why they do it), but one of my favorite programs is Aaron's Aces. They just showed them on the big screen. It's sponsored by Aaron Harang, which gives tickets to military families every Sunday, he also provides a $10 gift certificate for concessions and a t-shirt to all the families who attend thanks to Aaron's Aces. I'm a military kid and Aaron said he grew up with a lot of military kids in San Diego, which is one of the reasons he does this. It's an amazing program and I couldn't imagine how much I would have appreciated it as a kid. I was lucky, though, my dad was in the military for two wars, but one was before I was born. He did serve three 6-month cruises while I was growing up. My niece had her mother gone for six months and then her father for another six, so I know it was tough for her and both my sister and her ex-husband. Great program by Aaron. And of course, stupid fans boo Adam Dunn after his single and getting picked off on a line-drive to second. Ugh. Redlegs 1, Racist Mascots 0

* Top 3: 56 pitches through three for Volquez. He hit Dellucci, but otherwise a pretty easy inning, his first of the game. Redlegs 1, Racist Mascots 0

* Bottom 3: For a guy who is supposedly all glove and no bat, Paul Janish has done well. He singles for his second hit in the big leagues. Redlegs 1, Racist Mascots 0

* Top 4: Seriously, do people come to Cincinnati just to boo? I swear it's worse here than anywhere else I've been. It's even contagious with Indians fans, apparently. They booed Volquez for hitting Francisco. Like he wanted to hit the leadoff batter, thought that was a good strategy -- maybe he wanted to pitch from the stretch. Come to GABP and get stupid. 3-6-3 DP, real nice play by Janish to dig out the low throw from Javy. That's a very tough play for any first baseman, not to mention a guy like Valentin who hasn't played over there all that much. He got back to the bag and made a really nice play on it. It looked like Volquez hit Asdrubal Cabrera, who danced around liek a ballerina, pretending it hit him on the left foot. That, my friends, is something you boo. Hunter Wendelstedt calls him back as he tip-toed down to first. And then Volquez walks him on 4 straight. Seriously, Volquez's changeup is just sick. He pulled the string on Blake and it looked like Blake was going to throw his back out. Double clutch by Ross and Cabrera steals second. I think you should just go ahead and pitch around him here. They don't, and Blake singles to left to score Cabrera, who apparenlty recovered from that ball off his foot. Volquez just left that ball up for Blake to hammer and tie the game. Redlegs 1, Racist Mascots 1

* Bottom 4: Another "meaningless" homer for Dunn. That four straight games with a homer. Redlegs 2, Racist Mascots 1

* Top 5: A walk to Carroll means Volquez has given at least one free pass in each inning -- three regular walks, one intentional and two hit batters. Two double plays, so far, help. He's through five with 90, looks like a 6-inning day. Redlegs 2, Racist Mascots 1

* Bottom 5: Lee starts the inning with 64 pitches. 2-out single for Freel. Another hit for Janish -- he singles off Carroll's glove. Griffey singles in Freel, a 2-out RBI. Another for BP. EE pops up. I hope he's not superstitious and blams his high socks for the 0-for-3 performance so far. Missed the pitch count, but it's in the 80s. Redlegs 4, Racist Mascots 1

* Top 6: Aubrey's first career hit is a homer to right, into the Racist Mascots' bullpen and on the 99th pitch of the night for Volquez. It was on the outside of the plate and Aubrey was able to pull it.

Just got this text from my boy Tommy, a big Indians fan:

 

By the way... it's racist logo... not racist mascots. mascot is a big dumb pinkish thing. certainly not racist. dumb? yes. racist? no.

Point taken.

Same Tommy followed up when I admitted he had a point saying, "I may get in a fight so I can get thrown out and go home and watch the Cavs game."

Affeldt is up in the pen. Volquez finishes the inning with 111 pitches. 110 was still 94, which is impressive, but I think he's done. Redlegs 4, Racist Logos 2

* Bottom 6: That's it for Volquez -- he's gone with Joey Votto pinch hitting after Javy Valentin's double. And it's 6-2. Two-run homer by Votto. Cliff Lee doesn't have a 0.69 ERA anymore. No 9 for Votto. Wow.Javy's getting quite the reaction from his teammates int eh dugout. Votto, yeah, he's been killing the ball, but Javy's as popular as it gets in the clubhouse and I think the guys are happy to see him produce in his start. Lee's done. 96 pitches. Jensen Lewis in for the Indians, Peralta goes to short, batting ninth. Lewis in the seven spot. That does bring up just one question....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who's Jhonny? Redlegs 6, Racist Logos 2

* Top 7: Votto stays in at first, Affeldt in to pitch in Valentin's spot. Rough outing for Affeldt. three straight hits and a run, Burton in. Anyone celebrating already obviously forgot the third gmae of the Florida series. Just what the doctor ordered, Gutierrez goes down looking, setting up the DP possibility. Not so much, as Martinez bloops one to center to score a run. Francisco pops out. Great play by EE to end the inning. Broken bat roller down the line, he barehands it and makes a perfec tthrow to Votto. Redlegs 6, Racist Logos 4

* Bottom 7: Soft J just rakes, man. Wow. 3-for-3. Griffey looks to bunt on the first pitch, but bunts it foul. He abandons that strategy after the first one. And then swings at the next two pitches. I hate that you can't see who is warming up in the pen from here. Redlegs 6, Racist Logos 4

* Top 8: Burton back out for the 8th. Garko pinch-hitting and really nice throw from the wall and Dunn gets him. Replay looks like Garko made it. But Marvin Hudson said he didn't, so he didn't. 1-2-3 -- really nice inning by Burton, especially after coming in during the last one. That's a great job by him. Looks like this one will be up to Coco. Redlegs 6, Racist Logos 4

* Bottom 8: The lefty, Rafael Perez, i for the racist logos. Really, can you ever have too much Prince? I don't think so. Hit and a walk, but no scoring. Story of my life. Redlegs 6, Racist Logos 4

* Top 9: Coco time. Sizemore flies out, Carroll Ks before pinch hitter Travis Hafner (god, I really do hate that 'Pronk' thing, it's even more annoying with the lengths they go with it in Cleveland) walks, bringing up Victor Martinez with the tying run. He works the count full, and by working it, he certainly did -- fouling off at least five two-strike pitches. Finally, after 11 pitches, he Ks.  And this one belongs to the Reds