Randa to remain in the cleanup spot?

[redsrbetter]

There is an article that for some reason will not open for me.

Can be found here: http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/reds/

Anyhow, it says something about Miley shrugging off the question raised that Randa has slumped in the 4th spot so why doesn't he move him back down? It will really make me pissed if Miley does not understand that the media and everyone else is right. Cleanup is not the right spot for Randa right now.

Can anyone please open up the article and post it. I am interested as to what exact excuse he gives.

[Fishercat]

Randa's cleaning up? Wow.

[ghettochild]

CHICAGO - When the Reds last encountered the Windy City, they left it flat on its back.

But those three triumphs of late September that essentially knocked the Cubs out of the playoffs seemed awfully distant Monday night. With a chill in the fast-moving air over Wrigley Field, this year's version of what was a highly entertaining series of games last season began with something of a whimper.

In a typically cockeyed Wrigley affair, Reds starter Paul Wilson had a perfect game through three innings but ended up getting saddled with five runs and the loss as a last-gasp Reds rally netted only a cozier margin of defeat, 10-6.

With a marked absence of clutch hitting, particularly on the Reds' part, and a handful of wind-aided fielding follies, this one bore little resemblance to the crisply played series between these two teams last fall.

"It basically was a playoff atmosphere," Adam Dunn said of last year's road finale. "It's tough to recapture that in April."

That much was evident Monday, despite a crowd of 38,013 at the Friendly Confines, a startling number of whom stayed until the last pitch even though the Cubs took a seven-run lead into the ninth.

It didn't stay that way, as Cubs closer du jour Chad Fox went haywire in the ninth, walking the first two batters he faced and giving up a three-run homer to Dunn before leaving several pitches later with what could very well be a season-ending elbow injury. Mike Remlinger, the Cubs' sixth pitcher, was forced to close the door on the Reds, who didn't seem to know what to make of the evening's events.

On the positive side, they became the first team to score against Chicago starter Mark Prior this season, bringing around runs in the fourth and fifth to keep the game even at 2-2.

At that point, it looked as if the game could very well be a low-scoring nail-biter. After retiring the first nine batters he faced, Wilson had allowed a pair of runs in the fourth on fluky singles that wound up in second baseman Ryan Freel's glove, but the Cubs were hardly stinging the ball.

"I felt good, I felt like I was being down in the zone and challenging guys and changing speeds," said Wilson. "It just got away from me."

That happened in the fifth, when the Cubs dinked and dunked their way to three more runs off the Reds' Opening Day starter. Wilson went on to pitch the sixth unscathed, handing matters over to a bullpen that had been fairly steady in recent days.

On the other side, Prior was forced to do the same. The Reds squeezed 106 pitches out of him in six innings and accomplished their goal by getting into the Cubs' shaky bullpen.

"Any time you get those guys out of there after six or seven innings, that gives you a chance to win," said Reds manager Dave Miley. "We just fell short."

Aside from a solitary run off Cliff Bartosh in the seventh, the Reds could do nothing to a bevy of Cubs relievers until Fox's unfortunate end.

In the meantime, Chicago pushed across two runs in the seventh that were charged to Ben Weber, though both scored with Kent Mercker on the mound, and Todd Coffey gave up a three-run homer to Neifi Perez in the eighth that looked a little bigger after the Reds' brief ninth-inning splurge.

Cincinnati's pitching staff had allowed only 11 earned runs in 34 innings over the previous four games, three of which ended in Reds losses thanks to an inability to get runners home. The Reds pitched themselves out of a chance to win Monday's game at the end, but those six runs they scored didn't do much to placate the powers that be. The Reds were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.

There were some signs of life, such as Austin Kearns' fourth-inning homer off Prior and Ken Griffey Jr.'s 3-for-5 showing at the plate, but judging from the silence in the tiny visiting clubhouse Monday night, those individual highlights were hardly enough to boost anyone's spirits.

It's far too early in the season for the Reds to truly be playing for something in this series, but as far as they're concerned, the breakthrough they've been waiting for has to come soon.

"If we just do the little things," Griffey mused, "get some key hits, I think we're going to be all right."

[CincyRedsFan30]

I don't see anything about Randa batting cleanup there.

[redsrbetter]

I think ghetto posted the wrong article. But I still cannot open it.

this link: http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/reds/

11th article down entitled "Slumping Randa still hitting 4th"

Can anyone get it?

[CincyRedsFan30]

By Marc Lancaster

Post staff reporter

CHICAGO - Joe Randa has batted cleanup in 13 of his last 14 starts, including Monday night, but Reds manager Dave Miley brushed off a question about whether he might move the third baseman down in the order considering the slump Randa has been in.

Randa entered Monday with one hit in his last 22 at-bats and three in his last 34. He went 1-for-3 with two walks and an RBI double Monday night.

"He'll be fine," said Miley. "Hitters are going to go through some slumps; he brings a lot to the table in other ways."

In addition, Miley pointed out, it's not like Randa is the only run producer who happens to be struggling recently.

"It's not one guy," said Miley. "Hitting's contagious. Hopefully we can get on a roll. We're definitely capable of it."

[griffeyfan3]

maybe the only reason he his batting 4th is to break up the leftys

[redsrbetter]

Miley is completely making excuses here. You mean to tell me that Dunn and Pena and Freel are not hitting? Dunn and Pena are not viable options for the cleanup spot? You have to be kidding me, kidding yourself, kidding the prganization, kidding the fans. I do not respect your decision on this and I am ungreatful that it is your decision to make. Somebody has to convince you because the crappy way Randa is utilizing his spot in the order is not. Man this is a joke!