Upper Deck

I went to the Reds-Nationals game last night at RFK. It's always good to go to a game, and especially so when I can see the Reds. But Washington, which is a pretty weak club this year, embarrassed the Reds, scoring 7 runs in first two innings, and not allowing Cincinnati any runs until the 6th. And even then it was only two. So it was a hard game for a Reds fan, but a night at the ballpark goes a long way.

We did get to see one rare and wonderful play. In the top of the fourth, Brandon Phillips reached on a single, and was followed by Adam Dunn. "Donkey" is a left-handed pull hitter, so the Nationals put on the shift, with both the second baseman and shortstop on the right hand side of the diamond, and the third baseman covering where the second baseman usually is. Phillips takes a big lead at first, and takes off with the pitch. No hit, no swing, but Phillips got such a good jump and is so speedy, catcher Brian Schneider did not even attempt a throw. So, a pretty normal stolen base. But here is where it gets good: Phillips keeps going. While Schneider holds the ball, Phillips sprints past third baseman Zimmerman, heading for third where no one is even covering. I'm not sure, because things happened pretty fast, but I think Schneider had flipped the ball back to the pitcher Lannan, who then ran towards third, flipping the ball to Zimmerman who was trying to catch up with Phillips. To no avail - safe at third. Unfortunately, Dunn flew out on the next pitch. Still, very cool.