Even In 11-8 Win Gloves Show Value

The Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates slugged it out on Friday night.  Three Reds home runs and some timely hitting kept the Reds in front and the Pirates playing catch up all night long.

Joey Votto hit his 21st home run, Brandon Phillips connected for his 12th with two men on. Phillips drove in four runs total on three hits.  Ryan Hanigan hit his sixth home run and drove in three, including two big insurance runs in the ninth inning.

Pittsburgh never led but tied the game twice.   The Reds pulled ahead against Kevin Correia but Pittsburgh fought back against Homer Bailey and the bullpen.

Pittsburgh would tie the game in the bottom of the eighth inning against an angry Nick Masset.  He made two good pitches that resulted in base runners.  Garret Jones doubled into short left field on a good pitcher's pitch and Ryan Doumit was jammed and reached base on a ball that Phillips charged but could not field cleanly.

Andrew McCutchen hit a single to left to score the tying run on a ball that appeared catchable but Dave Sappelt chose to play it on a bounce rather than go for the catch.  He got caught in between the catch and playing it on the hop but at least recovered in time to throw the slow footed Jones out at the plate for the first out. 

Travis Wood replaced Masset and walked Neil Walker to load the bases.  Ryan Ludwick hit a fly to center field.  Drew Stubbs charged this one to catch it cleanly and fire home to get the speedy McCutchen trying to score from third.  Stubbs can save the pitching staff a couple of runs a week and makes a lot of catches look routine that are not.  Defense isn't glamorous.  Good defense wins games.  Poor defense keeps you out of the playoffs.

Coco Cordero earned his 25th save of the season and 315th of his career with a perfect ninth.

Fans and talk show geeks wring their hands, mop their brow and wonder why Dusty Baker sticks with a guy that strikes out as much as Stubbs does.  Maybe they got a clue last night.

Fans and talk show geeks wonder how you can cut Dave Sappelt from the major league roster when he hit .584 in spring training.  They wonder why Yonder Alonso and his potent bat wastes away in Louisville until August.

They understand batting average but defense is hard to quantify.  It just doesn't lend itself to statiscal analysis, so the armchair managers ignore it.  Many wonder how a pitcher has an ERA in the high fours in the minor league but pitch much better that that in the big leagues.  The reason: there are no gold gloves in the minor leagues.

Sappelt had to learn to play defense.  He also had to learn to run the bases.  Baseball players can get by with just athletic ability or one outstanding skill in amatuer baseball but not so in the professional ranks.

Anyone who read this blog in spring training was forewarned by Dusty Baker....You can not just hit and stay in the big leagues.  You have to be on top of your game in all phases.