Here are the 2004 Reds. Half way through the season, they have three guys on pace for 100 RBI seasons: Sean Casey, Ken Griffey, and Adam Dunn. All three of those guys are left-handers so it's too bad we won't get a chance to hit them with Oliver Perez and Sean Burnett this series.
Tonight, if Adam Dunn comes to the plate with a big smile, maybe it's because he's 9 for 21 off Kip with four extra base hits. Those numbers don't indicate much, except that Adam Dunn is Adam Dunn vs. Wells, but I'd come to the plate with a smile if I was remembering all my extra-base hits.
Pitching-wise, the Reds have had excellent work from their bullpen. With a lead John Riedling, Todd Jones, and Danny Graves have been outstanding. The starters have been so-so.
The steady diet of right-handed starters continues for the Pirate lineup. Earlier in the week it looked like Aaron Harang would start, but now I see it's going to be Jose Acevedo, who has struggled for a month or so. He's a little guy for a pitcher (6'0", 185 pounds) with a much better K/BB ratio than Aaron Harang. His 5.31 ERA probably has something to do with the fact that he's given up 17 home runs in just under 80 innings. OUCH. That's not good. Project that over 200 innings and you'd have 43 dingers. Yeah, he's a league leader in that category. Only Matt Morris of the Cardinals has given more joyrides (23). FWIW, Milwaukee's Wayne Franklin led the bigs in HR allowed last year with 36. Acevedo has also given up 23 doubles; opponents are slugging .517 off him. Here's hoping he forgot to eat his Wheaties this morning.
Kip Wells is a power pitcher, of course, who gets a lot of fly balls, so we may see the all-hands outfield - if the Bucs have such a thing these days. Watch his pitch count tonight. If he can get through three innings in 45 or 50 pitches, that's progress; if he's thrown 80 after four, he's the mystery Kip we've been seeing all year.
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