Apr 16, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds center fielder Shin-Soo Choo warms up on deck during a game against yje Philadelphia Phillies at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

I have trouble adopting a voice for some of these recaps.  Like, am I explaining what happened to people who watched it?  Or is it more akin to telling a story to somebody who wasn’t there?

Because my instinct is to start this recap with, “Man, you wouldn’t believe this one.”  But maybe you would.  Maybe you don’t enter the top of each first inning with the idea that maybe this will be the game that turns it around.  But hey, it’s still early!  Why, Delmon Young hasn’t even joined the club yet!

**weeps**

So yeah, John Lannan apparently entered the game already injured with some tendinitis above his knee that he claims to have pitched through before.  Which is great news, because the last thing we want to do is have someone other than John Lannan pitch when John Lannan is giving up eight hits and six runs in less than two innings.

Onward came the bullpen, who did their thing where they just kind of are out there so the mound isn’t empty and the game can continue.  Raul Valdes hopped in there and six hits and five runs through three and a third innings of mop-up duty.  Oh, and then there was this gem.

Raul Valdes has the Phillies’ first extra-base hit in 41 batters.

— Matt Gelb (@magelb) April 18, 2013

Apr 15, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds left fielder Derrick Robinson beats out a hit during the eighth inning against Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard at Great American Ball Park. The Reds defeated the Phillies 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Yes, the long reliever set the offensive bar for the day, matched only by Freddy Galvis’ two-run eighth inning home run off a guy appearing in his sixth MLB game ever and cut the deficit to single digits.  The Red’s Mike Leake took complete control for seven innings of shut-out, three-hit ball.  He was backed by a potent lineup of frequent hitters.  Zach Cozart (3-for-5, 3 RBI, 2B, HR) and Brandon Phillips (2-for-2, 3 RBI) were especially devastating, as was Leake’s RBI triple off Lannan.

Chad Durbin and Jeremy Horst would pitch the last three innings with hitlessness and scorelessness that would have really come in handy during some games where we weren’t already down by nine runs.  Dom Brown left the game after feeling a pop in his back while misplaying a fly ball.

Oh, did I mention the pregame ceremony was the Phillies losing a different game?  Today was great.

When it all went wrong

When John Lannan decided to be a hero?  When Ben Revere didn’t hit a ball out of the infield for 10 at-bats, is hitting .194, and is the leadoff hitter?  When nobody walked in this entire series?  When the Phillies scored 10 runs in six games? When

Hero

noun \ˈhir-(ˌ)ō\

a : a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability

b : an illustrious warrior

c : a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities

d : one who shows great courage

Villain

Baseball.

TBOH’s thoughts

**In play, run(s); Mike Leake triples on a fly ball** said the screen of the laptop sailing out the apartment window

— Justin Klugh (@TBOHblog) April 17, 2013

I wonder if Big Bang Theory is on. Maybe I’ll get lucky.

— John Stolnis (@FelskeFiles) April 18, 2013

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

John Lannan (0-0, 2.77 ERA)

It’s hard not to like what John Lannan has given the Phillies so far pitching at the back of the rotation. Often times the fifth guy is just a throw-in to eat as many innings as possible. When things go right you have a Joe Blanton, but when things go wrong…think Adam Eaton. Lannan is way ahead of any projections the Phillies might have had, as he’s got a sub 3.00 ERA, and has been throwing a high rate of ground balls. In many ways he’s a left handed Kyle Kendrick. On the rare occasion he can give you a start like Kendrick’s last night, but you can always count on a steady dose of ground balls and at least 6 innings pitched. Please don’t mistake this as a reason to go running out and buying your John Lannan shirts. He’s been solid, but a start against the Marlins will make anyone look good. As long as he continues to pitch his game and doesn’t try to imitate Cole Hamels he’ll be fine.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Leake (0-0, 6.75 ERA)

The struggles of Mike Leake are a microcosm of the Reds season so far. Lot’s of promise, great expectations, but struggling to find consistent success. No doubt the Reds will find themselves and get on a winning streak at some point, but Mike Leake will have to be a part of that turnaround. Without looking at Leake’s bio, you’d never know that he was the 8th overall pick in 2009. He made his big league debut a year later at age 22, which may have been a bit too soon. He’s struggled to find consistent success at the major league level, but the Reds have given him a long leash. He’s got the stuff to make things work, but his command is another thing. The long ball has plagued him throughout his career, and appears to be rearing it’s ugly head again. With the Reds expected to contend for the division Leake won’t have the same amount of time to turn things around. He hasn’t fared well against the Phillies, but the way this lineup has struggled of late the Phils might be just what the doctor ordered.

Game Notes:

One man who should be happy to see Leake on the mound is the slumping Ryan Howard. The big first baseman has feasted off of Leake, taking him deep twice while going 6-12. Howard isn’t the only Phil who will enjoy seeing Leake. The team is hitting a combined .338 (22-65) with 5 homers. If they can’t break out of their collective slump against Leake, we may just have to settle for 3 runs or less every night.

The Reds haven’t seen much of Lannan, but a couple guys have had success against the lefty. Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips are hitting a combined .467 (7-15) with a few RBI’s. These two are the most dangerous hitters in the Reds lineup so it’s no surprise that Lannan has struggled to get them out. If Lannan can keep Votto and Phillips in check, expect another solid outing out of him. My money is on Lannan tossing another quality start, with Leake serving up a few long balls that get Howard and rest of the Phillies lineup out of their slump.

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

The surface level stats for Doc and challenger Leake are sadly comparable, except for “Number of Baseballs Crushed in Bare Hand as a Result of Terrifying Rage.”

But, again, Doc is in the middle of returning to form.  I assume we’ll be made aware when he reaches his actual form again, but it seems like this storyline is supposed to be stretched a bit thinner, so what the hell.  Sporting a 2-2 record i his last four starts, Doc looked ripe in his last outing, even though he got tagged for the loss.

His track record against the Reds should only be more reason to think he will keep up this momentum and use it to splatter the Reds into the wall.

Mike Leake (5-7, 4.29 ERA)

Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE

Leake sounds positively Kendrickian in his performances; blowing several, then coming out last time and throwing a complete game five-hitter against the Mets.  Apparently he’s one of those weird pitchers you can’t just judge based on his statistics, which are bad; though he does have 12 quality starts, which most people and Reds manager Dusty Baker agree don’t matter at all if you lose the game.

Total Breakdown

The only Reds starts with more than nine at-bats against Doc are Brandon Phillips (18) and Jay Bruce (17), both of whom have more than survived their encounters, hitting .278 and .294 against him, respectfully and probably far lower numbers disrespectfully.  But other than that, playing the Phillies is generally considered horrible news in the Reds clubhouse–they’ve lost 15 of the last 19 games they’ve played in our fair city.

In fact, there aren’t a whole lot of numbers that give the Reds pause for this series, other than their stellar road record.  Last year, Halladay was undefeated against Cincinnati with an ERA under 2.00.  The year before, he smeared them across game one of the NLDS.  Obviously, situations have changed; the Reds are now the oppressive war machine moving swiftly toward the post season while the Phillies just sort of lie there and flail about until somebody smothers them.

The Reds are without Joey Votto, which hasn’t seemed to matter with Todd Frazier and Ryan Ludwick stepping in.  The Phillies are without a stable lineup, which some would argue is “way worse,” especially if Michael Martinez is in it, despite his recent home run.  Never feels like they should count when he hits them.  It seems like that’s more of a skill for the pitcher to toss a ball that even Michael Martinez could get out of the infield.

Ryan Howard’s batting average going into this four-game series has just skyrocketed 33 points to a nice, even .246, and Chase Utley is not a historic Red-killer so the opportunity could be taken for him to see some off time.  We all know how much he would love that.