5/21/07 Is A Lead Ever Safe? or Griffey,Jr., Olerud, And Nick Johnson(My Favorite Left-Handed Swings)...or The Great American BandBox!!!!

     Good Evening, and Welcome to Great American Bandbox, where home runs leave the park quicker than the guys in corporate seats during shutouts. Tonight, the Cincinnati Reds host the visiting Washington Nationals. Bronson Arroyo on the mound for the Reds, Levale Speigner for the Nationals, and at 7:10 PM we are ready to go...
     Felipe Lopez drops a blooper in between the shortstop Alex Gonzalez, and the left fielder Adam Dunn to lead off the first. Cristian Guzman walks on a questionable ball four, and then Ryan Zimmerman doubles over the head of center fielder Norris Hopper to score Lopez. 1-0 Nationals. Dmitri Young doubles to left center, in the gap, two runs score, DY knocks off his own helmet as he hustles into second. 3-0 Nationals. Brian Schneider singles in DY to give the Nationals an unprecedented 4-0 first inning lead.
     Arroyo gets two outs in the second before Felipe Lopez singles to right. Austin Kearns, AK wakes up the bat and spanks the ball for staying away for so long, deep to left, and gone. 6-0 Nationals. Levale Speigner gives up a single in the second, and gets the second out before getting down 3-1 on Scott Hatterberg who hits a line drive that would bounce short of the warning track in RFK, but here in Cincy, two-run HR, 6-2 Nationals.
     Bronson Arroyo is out after two, replaced by right hander Victor Santos. The Reds Ken Griffey Jr. is playing right field now, a concession most veteran center fielders eventually reluctantly accept, but where he plays on the field don’T MEAN JACK WHEN HE’S GOT A BAT IN HIS HANDS!!! Griffey Jr smokes a hanging change to left field, pauses for a moment to admire his work and slowly breaks into a trot, sweetest swing I’ve ever seen(‘cept my boy Nick Johnson, naturally, or OLERUD!!). 6-3 Nationals. Adam Dunn singles, and then scores when Alex Gonzalez’s line drive gets under the glove of Nook Logan in center. 6-4 Nationals. No lead is safe. Scott Hatterberg, doubles to the left center gap, Gonzalez scores, 6-5 Nationals after three.
     THE KIDS CALL HIM ZIM!! THE KIDS CALL HIM ZIM!!! Number five on a letter high fastball that Zimmerman strokes deep to left, twenty rows in to give the Nationals back the two-run lead with the solo homer. 7-5 Nationals after four, when Winston Abreu, on in relief of Speigner, gets Griffey, Jr to line into an inning ending double play.   
     Winston Abreu pounds the strike zone with a hard fastball and cutting slider on his way to three scoreless innings. Saul Rivera replaces Abreu for the seventh, and records two outs before Griffey, Jr’s line drive gets through the dramatically shifted infield. Rivera gets a fly ball to end the threat, and the Nationals lead 7-5 after seven.
     The Tallest Pitcher in MLB History Jon Rauch takes the mound in the eigth, and gives up a leadoff single to Adam Dunn, but gets Alex Gonzalez to ground into a force at second for the first out. Scott Hatterberg lines one to the gap in right center, Logan and Kearns converge, nobody calls it, and the ball soars through the middle, as both outfielders flinch, and to the wall. Gonzalez comes round to score. 7-6 Nationals. No lead is safe. Javier Valentin gets a hanging slider and takes it deep to left, this one is out anywhere, and out of the Great American Bandbox for a two-run blast. 8-7 Reds...R-Ouch! No lead is ever safe.
      Reds closer David Weathers on to, er, close it. Felipe Lopez down swinging at a full count fastball inside. Cristian Guzman takes a walk. Ryan ZImmerman drives one to deep right field, Ryan Freel...gets it! Two out. Ronnie Belliard pops out to short. Reds win.
QUIT STARING NARRON!!!

Nationals now 16-29.