Giants @ Reds, 5/6

Goooooooooooooooooood morning, website. There’s breakfast baseball afoot and I’ll be darned if I’m not sitting here going, “Ohhhhh, it’s too danged early for this messy drama.”

On the one hand, yes, the Giants are in a position to take the actual series. On the other hand, the Reds have managed to sprint out to a 4-0 or more lead in each of the three games so far, so I’m not exactly expecting anything different this time around.

On the other foot, though, maybe this weird start time flummoxes the Reds’ home run hitting machinery enough to give the Giants a chance to wake up at some point. I can’t do very much at 9:30am, and I could never imagine gearing up and playing a full-on Major League Baseball game, and I like to think I have a pretty good imagination.

Here’s the lineup for Cincinnati:

The rookie Nick Senzel has been Senzeltional to this point, with great plate appearances virtually every time he comes up, and already getting the first walk, hit, and home run of his career under his belt. He’s also played a better than (I) expected center field which, reader let me tell you, has added to the frustrations of this series. Now he’s leading off. Stacking the good at bat takers right at the top virtually assures the Reds of scoring early and in bunches.

Anthony DeSclafani has a 3:1 strikeouts to walk ratio so far this season (36:12) and a 10.5 strikeouts per nine. In his last three starts (17.2 IP), he’s allowed just one run while striking out 20 and walking five. Here’s who he’ll be facing today:

Pomeranz has basically been alternating between solid-to-good starts and eh-to-bad starts. Look:

@LAD - ND: 5.0 IP 6 K 1 BB 2 ER
vs. TB - L: 4.0 IP 5 K 3 BB 2 ER
vs. COL - ND: 5.0 IP 5 K 1 BB 2 ER
@ WAS - L: 4.2 IP 7 K 3 BB 4 ER
@ TOR - W: 6.0 IP 5 K 2 BB 0 ER
vs. LAD - L: 4.0 IP 3 K 2 BB 3 ER

Am I predicting a good start from him today? I guess I am.

What are you eating for breakfast while you watch the game?