FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

Yeah, I can see why we would want to get rid of this guy

Adam Dunn went deep....and VERY deep, to win for the Reds today, winning the series and giving us a 7-3 homestand. It is, without doubt, pleasant, to have a little success in the season. With the team scoring as many runs as we do, we are a threat every time we get onto the field.

Did a little research. Adam Dunn's OPS is the second best among NL outfielders, behind Miguel Cabrera....and let me say a little mea culpa: I had no idea the year Cabrera is having for the fish. WOW. (Yahoo! list Pujols as an OF, when he hasn't set foot out there since 2003. Oh, well).

Update: RedLeg Nation has a nice piece on Dunn, which I chimed in on with a comment.

This RL Nation comment says it even more succinctly.

(A lot of wags are talking about "another useless solo homer, too.")

The Bucs got a shut out from Mark Redman, so we stay in last place. That's OK. Its just fun to have a little succcess.

One thing Stewart mentioned on the broadcast today is that our first half was heavily loaded with home games, so the last half is heavily loaded with road games. We have 63 games left, with 24 at home and 39 on the road. Right now, we are 32-25 at home, and 11-31 on the road. If we can go 15-9 at home, 14-24 on the road (with our 7-3 record so far) we would be 36-36 after the break. That's a reasonable goal for this club, and attainable. Given the amount of road games, we aren't going to do a lot better.

Which brings up a question. We're clearly a HR team. Are we maladapted for playing in places other than GABP? Just asking.

Update--just answering. Did a little quick math. Our Offense clearly is better adapted to GABP. We score 5.84 Runs per game at home, and only 4.04 on the road. Meanwhile, our defense is relatively similar--in fact, the pitching is slightly better (er, less awful) at home than on the road. We allow 5.75 at GABP and 5.98 on the road. Now, after a while this data becomes a dog chasing its tail, because we know that we stink on the road, which is, at its core, a function of scoring less than you allow. Still, the almost 2 runs/game gap clearly indicates a problem for our hitters on the road in less friendly ballparks. There might be a small effect of having our recent hot streak being during a homestand, but that's probably a small difference.

We're never going to win anything at 4 runs scored/game. If we can get it up to 5 on the road, we might stand a chance, on occasion.