Even more exciting was that I got a chance to go to a playoff game! I had always dreamed of attending one, but I didn't think I would get a chance any time soon. But when the Reds made the playoffs, me and a bunch of my work buddies submitted our names into a ticket lottery to "win" the chance to order tickets. Well, my name wasn't drawn, but one of my coworkers had his name drawn. So he offered to get tickets for a bunch of us at work so we could go! How awesome was that!? Of course, they were standing room only, but who cares?The only problem was that they ended up playing the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round. The Phillies are the reigning NL Champions for the last 2 years running and they look strong this year as a good bet to make the World Series again.
The first two games of the NLDS were played in Philadelphia. Phillies ace Roy Halladay made baseball history in Game 1, throwing only the 2nd no-hitter in post-season history to win 4-0. Then in Game 2, the Reds jumped on Phillies starter Roy Oswalt to take a 4-0 lead, but then had a meltdown including 3 hit batters and 4 errors and eventually lost 7-4. This put them in an 0-2 hole heading back to Cincinnati.
So I got to go to Game 3 on Sunday night. It would be Johnny Cueto pitching for the Reds against Cole Hamels for the Phillies. The Reds played the game close, but Hamels proved to be too tough as the Phillies took the game 2-0 to sweep the series.
Hamels was simply unhittable. He threw a complete game shutout, giving up only 5 hits while walking none and striking out 9 batters. On any other team, Hamels would probably be a number one starter. But on this stacked Phillies team, he is their 3rd starter. Amazing!
So a good season for the Reds, but no luck in the postseason. But with a very young nucleus of players, there is hope for next year and beyond.
Enjoy some pictures from the game!
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