Reds ride Hamilton to series win against Giants

He was clearly the star of the game last evening. Playing center field and hitting in the leadoff spot, he led off the game with a line drive single off Giants starter Matt Morris. I swear, before this game and during the day when I was reading the ESPN the Magazine article when Hamilton tells his story, I just knew he was going to hit a homerun tonight. I felt it.

As it seems he’s became accustomed to doing, the Natural delivered yet again, hitting a towering homerun off of Matt Morris just to the left of center field. He scored 3 runs on the day and paced the Cincinnati offense. Bronson Arroyo was big in this game, as he went 6 and 2/3, allowing only 3 earned runs and striking out 4 hitters (he homered to left field as well). He finally got that elusive 3rd win of the season. John Coutlangis was huge as well, facing 4 batters and striking out three of them, including Barry Bonds.

Every time that Bonds came to the plate, he was welcomed with a chorus of boos and jeers from the crowd. My roomate Sam made a great point; that he would not boo Bonds but rather appreciate getting to see him play as he is so close to breaking Hank Aaron’s record. He thinks Bonds, steroids or not, is the best hitter of all time with the best swing of all time. He clapped for him every time he got up to the plate. We had a nice view from the scout seats again as you can see.

My roomate made another interesting point as well, Bonds went full count in every at bat except one, when he lined a hard single to right field. He made the Cincinnati pitchers throw some 40 pitches to get him out, so although he went 1 for 4, many would look at that as a very constructive night at the plate. I had to agree with that.

Another great night at the ballpark. We got to see exactly what we came to see, Hamilton doing his thing and Barry Bonds. The Reds even won for us, which hasn’t happened much all year long. Later we walked around the city, and went to the Hyatt where my mom, my aunt, and their friend was staying. The Arizona Diamondbacks showed up just after we left, otherwise we’d have a lengthy post about that. My mom rode the elevator with a bunch of them but did not recognize any of them. They’re probably the most unrecognizable team in the big leagues, despite being real good, so I can’t blame her on that one.