The Wednesday Morning Rush for August 15, 2012

CINCINNATI - It's Wednesday, August 15, 2012:

WALKOFF: Jay Bruce lifted a home run into the left field seats against lefty Josh Edgin in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Reds beat the Mets Tuesday night 3-0. It was Bruce's 23rd home run of the season.

NEXT PLATEAU: That's the 70th win for the Reds. Only the Washington Nationals have won more. They have 72 wins.

IT'S ABOUT TIME: Both the Reds and Mets were maddening in how poorly they hit with men on baseball Tuesday night.  Combined,the teams were 0-18 with runners in scoring position. Combined,the teams stranded 24 runners.

GETTING IT DONE: Matt Latos pitched seven strong innings, while Jose Arredondo got the win, his fifth. Latos was fine with that. "I could care less about the win" he told reporters after the game. "As long as we win, you could put an infielder on the mound. Winning is all that matters to me."

ARMED AND DANGEROUS: That's two straight shutouts for the Reds.  The last time the Reds pitched three straight shutouts was 1963 when Jim Maloney, John Tsitouris and Bob Purkey threw consecutive shutouts at the Houston Colt 45's. Each of those shutouts was a complete game. That was a different time.

NEXT: Mike Leake pitches against the Mets Wednesday night as the Reds try for their fifth straight win.

WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION: Knuckleball sensation R. A. Dickey pitches for the Mets Wednesday night as he goes for his 16th win. He's a interesting character and is having a great season.

DODGERS 11  PIRATES 0: Pittsburgh has lost five of its last six games

CARDINALS 8  DIAMONDBACKS 2: Matt Holliday his his 23rd home run.

WHERE THEY STAND: The Reds lead the Pirates by six games and the Cardinals by seven.

FANDOM: Major League Baseball says attendance is up about four percent over 2011. The Reds have increased their attendance about 1,300 fans per game, and average better than 29,000 fans per game. The interesting total comes from St. Louis, who got rid of Albert Pujols during the off-season. Their attendance is up nearly 3,400 fans per game.

WINNING UGLY: Serena Williams breezed by Eleni Daniilidou 6-3, 6-4, even though she committed 42 unforced errors. "That's shocking, that's unprofessional" said Williams after the evening match. She's making the transition from the grass courts of Wimbledon to the hard courts of Mason.

ADVANCING: Venus Williams won over Maria Kirilenko in straight sets.

DONE: American Andy Roddick lost in the first round to Jeremy Chardy, who was a last-minute injury replacement. Roddick was bothered by back spasms.

MARATHON: It took 3 hours and 22 minutes for Tommy Haas to beat David Nalbandian.

HOT STUFF: The Tuesday afternoon session sold out.

A SHOT TO THE GUT:  So many things happen in the world these days, hardly anything is shocking. But the sudden death of a friend is nothing we're ever prepared for. I got an e-mail yesterday that Ted Holtzclaw had died in New York City. There's no reason that most of you would know Ted, but he was my first sports photographer at Channel 9 back in the 80's. He was just a wonderful guy to be around.  Ted, photographer Mark Czarnik, producer Steve Kessen and I  used to get together every Monday night and play tennis in College Hill. We'd work up a sweat and then have a few beers. We called him "TV Teddy".  Ted later moved on to Baltimore, then to Raleigh, and has been the Operations Manager at WABC in New York for the last 20 years. It's a position with a lot of responsibility.  We'd talk occasionally, not enough, usually about sports. He had the kind of personality that instantly brightened my day. I'd think of his smile and his enthusiasm and hearing his voice just made me feel better. It appears that he might have had a heart attack, but he was only 53....waaay too young. And he had waited to get married and to start a family. He had a two-year old son.  It's funny how some people affect you.  I haven't seen Ted for several years and we haven't talked for a couple.  But I thought about him all day long on Tuesday. He was just a damn good guy.

Every day counts...

popo