Series Recap: Reds at Giants, and a little bit of Giants at Reds

Giants, Maybe Not Standing So Tall..
By Nate Winter

The Reds take three-of-four against the lowly, at least for the time being, San Francisco Giants. That makes six out of seven on the season and at least some redemption for last postseason’s epic collapse by the Redlegs.

The Reds are now 6-2 to start the second-half of the season after finishing at the All-Star Break third in the NL Central. I’ll take an average first-half and second-half surge any day (Here’s looking to you, Pittsburgh).

Series MVP(s)

-- The bottom half of the Reds lineup, namely Todd Frazier.

-- When the bottom half of this teams scores runs, they cannot be beaten.

Jay Bruce - (7-for-15, 7 runs, 1 HR, 3 RBI) 

Todd Frazier - (8-for-17, 3 runs, 6 RBI) 

Zack Cozart - (5-for-9, 3 runs, 3 RBI)

Devin Mesoraco - (8-for-16, 3 runs, 2 HR, 7 RBI)

Defensive play of the series

-- D-rob's 9th inning catch over the center field wall to end game one. Although the catch did not occur in a high leverage situation, it was icing on the cake for Bronson Arroyo's complete game shutout and set the mood for the rest of the series.

Offensive play of the series
-- Todd Frazier's double to center with the bases loaded, 2 outs in the top of the first of Game 1. Joey Votto and Brandon Philips both had chances to strike but failed. Luckily, Frazier was there to drive in all 3 base runners and again, set the standard for the 11-0 win. 

Lessons Learned 

-- Defense wins championships, or  in this case the starting pitching - quality starts by Arroyo, Tony Cingrani and Mike Leake. 

-- If Todd Frazier recaptures the swing he had in April this team will be hard to beat. 

What's Next: July 25, 26, 27, 28
-- The Cincinnati Reds (58-44, 3rd place NL Central) head down the California coast to face the white-hot Los Angeles Puigs (53-47, 1st place NL West)