Reds 6 Pirates 5

I would like to start by first noting that the difference in this game was Ian Snell's inability to get Tony Womack out with runners on second and third and two outs in the second. Snell wasn't totally awful, but a major league pitcher should be able to get Womack out in that situation, end of story. I suppose you could also chalk up the final run differential to the runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning who stayed there while Casey, Bay, and Burnitz failed to drive them in.

Anyways, I liked seeing Doumit and Randa come through with big homers tonight, Doumit especially. Hopefully Tracy is paying attention. Not only should Doumit be the regular catcher, but he also shouldn't be batting 8th (yes, I know it was his first hit tonight, doesn't change things). Hand in hand with this is the fact that Jose Castillo should be higher up in the order than 7th. He had three hits tonight and he's up to .467 on the young season. I also liked Tracy bringing in Gonzo in the 8th. Simply put, I hate it when a manager brings out an inferior reliever in the 8th inning in a tie game because the closer can only pitch the 9th with a lead. Gonzalez is our best reliever, and we needed him in that spot. He didn't get the job done, but I think Tracy made the right move there.

Of course, no discussion of this game is complete with talks of "the call." Ryan Doumit was just on FSP bitching about how he'd never seen a call overturned like that in a baseball game. I didn't realize that Doumit has apparently only played about 10 games in his career. The umps made a wrong call, got together, and fixed it. They put the runners in the right place (first and third), as that's where they would've ended up anyways since Duffy spent more time trying to sell his pseudo-catch than he did trying to get the ball into the infield. I don't know what the exact rule is on a play like that, but it would seem to me that the umps got it right. Denorfia had to be around third by the time they signaled an out because he broke with the crack of the bat. Absolutely no qualms at all about a play like that.

Of course Rick White gets the win, after giving up the game tying homer to Doumit. That's what White did all last season, scavenge wins after bad performances, let inherited runners score, and create an illusion that he didn't suck. And oh yeah, Adam Dunn is a beast. He killed that homer off of Grab(l)ow. Man, I hate playing against that guy.