This is a tough one to call. Schmidt has been better the last few starts although he definitely hasn't been lights out. Alou certainly will probably jack a couple HRs when you combine 1) He's having another good year, 2) He likes to hit at Wrigley, 3) It's going to be very hot and humid, 4) Former Cub factor. Hawkins will likely pitch well as well due to #4. Rich Hill is an enigma and who knows what kind of control he'll bring tonight. The only thing for sure is he'll K a lot of people per inning.
The big key is we have Nomar and Williamson coming back in the next week or two. Add a LF bat or another BP arm and this is a lot better team. We have a lot of games with the Astros and the WC contenders in the east are going to beat each other up down the stretch. There's no reason we can't make a run at the Wild Card.
For what it's worth, Kearns and Dunn have been heating it up the past few games. Dunn is up to .250 (.10 in average behind Holla now) and Kearns is 6 for 12 with 3 RBIs since being recalled.
That's one of those things where we would complain either way. If Wuertz came in and blew the game we'd be complaining about him not leaving Williams in.
Between Baker, Nomar, Wood, C-Pat, JoBlo, and paying Sosa's fat contract off, that explains why we have a big-league budget and get small-market results. A .500 record with the highest payroll in the league is simply unacceptable.
The big problem with Wood is he can be wild and it can take him an inning or so to get settled in with his "control", so I don't think he'd have great value as a reliever.
http://indiana.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=1402&mid=55280993&sid=&tid=55280993&style=1 Confirmation this was on the radio. This poster is a big Reds fan, had heard nothing about this before, and as you can see has a ton of posts.