Stros at Reds 5/9/2007

[missionhockey21]

It's not just the error, but to follow it Belisle gives the most dangerous opposing batter a pitch down broadway. The Reds are truly their own worst enemies.

[missionhockey21]

Brandon Phillip shows big power to deep center again by driving it off the centerfield wall and ends up on third with a triple.

[missionhockey21]

Griffey with a hot smash, but right at second.

The big donkey himself comes up to bat and with less than two outs and one runner on, anything short of Phillips coming home would just be giving the 700 WLW callers both the fuel and the fire they need for the post game.

And Dunn jacks a high pitch out of the park and good for two to tie this one up.

[missionhockey21]

Gonzales grounds out.

Hamilton is punched out for out number three. With that said, I think I am out for the night, maybe I'll come back on later but with a tied game, I can leave not feeling too awful (best to leave or start drinking before the pen warms up.)

[Cambodia]

We can't get everyone on the same page in the same night. Good pitching by Belisle tonight, and no runs to beat the three unearned runs.

I'm getting ridiculously frustrated with this team. Our closers have killed us most of the time, but tonight there was no excuse.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Back from the game and have some observations/comments:

*Hatteberg...looked decent at the plate with his patient approach, though I don't think I like him leading off too much. I just don't get a good vibe from him remaining there on a consistent basis (though we know that won't happen anyway). He made a pretty poor effort on his scoop attempt of one of Edwin's throws. Sure they weren't good throw,s but I thought he could have gotten at least one of them.

*Phillips...had a nice triple and all, but his approach (as I've noted many times) is simply not suited for the two-hole. He's too aggressive and should not bat second, third or fourth. I think fifth or even sixth would be the best place for him.

*Griffey continued to look locked in as he sprayed the ball all over the place. He didn't have as much to show for it tonight as he has recently, but he looked sharp. After he dived in the first inning he got a nice standing ovation from some fans in RF (for the effort). He was slow getting to the ball though. It was placed on a trajectory such that I saw it as soon as it came off the bat pretty much and I thought it hung up long enough that a faster outfielder should have been able to caught it. He did try, he just didn't have the speed.

*Dunn looked pretty sharp tonight. The HR landed a little further toward the foul line in the section (we were closer to the batter's eye), but his ball was one of those high-rising ones that had enough height that the distance didn't seem as great and seemed to come down from straight above.

*Gonzalez was sharp at SS as he usually is. That one play was an incredibly good play.

*Hamilton had a tough night (was not patient enough). Interestingly enough, he has had that issue a few other times this year, which is odd considering he can also display some of the best plate discipline on the team at times. I wonder if he feels he has to carry the load a little too much at times? Surprisingly bobbled a ball in the outfield tonight. Could still see his quality arm when he made an easy throw to just behind 2B from fairly deep CF without a bounce. Impressive.

*Edwin...sad peformance in the field tonight. Seemed a little anxious getting to the balls. Didn't set himself as well as he probably could have.

*Ross is looking a little better at the plate again. I thought he called another good game too. Made a couple good throws to 2B (unlike Valentin, he doesn't get most throws to 2B on a hop!).

*Belisle looked very good overall tonight. Made a bad pitch to Berkman following the Edwin error, but Berkman is a Reds killer. I said to everyone I went with right before that "he better not challenge Berkman here." Sure enough, he threw a fastball down the middle. Also gave up a hit to Woody Williams, though I'm not surprised after that dumb intentional walk to Quintero. I knew he would be looking for Belisle to blow him away with fastballs and he was clearly sitting on one on the first pitch. His fastball was very lively and good tonight though. Threw a few good sliders too. Kept the ball around the knees and below for the most part.

*Coutlangus might have some control issues at times (he did whene he first came in tonight), but his stuff is better than most of the rest in our bullpen. I want him and Salmon to get more action. He had a couple of the hitters off-balance with his lively pitches.

*My biggest disappointment with the game (not the bullpen stunningly) was the offense. Lots of poor AB after the first few innings. I kept saying, "Wililams has given up a lot of base runners here, the team should cash in soon," but that was before they decided to start hacking at everything in the 4th inning or so. Most of the hitters did it too. They swung at pitches in the ground and rarely seemed to have more than three pitch AB's. It was very frustrating since the pen didn't give it up for once. We continue to sit 5 Runs or so over in Run Differential and are now six under .500 because we continue to lose one run games.

I will be back at tomorrow afternoon's game(can we PLEASE get a win?) and will have more observations/comments later tomorrow night.

[missionhockey21]

Back from the game and have some observations/comments:

*Hatteberg...looked decent at the plate with his patient approach, though I don't think I like him leading off too much. I just don't get a good vibe from him remaining there on a consistent basis (though we know that won't happen anyway). He made a pretty poor effort on his scoop attempt of one of Edwin's throws. Sure they weren't good throw,s but I thought he could have gotten at least one of them.

*Phillips...had a nice triple and all, but his approach (as I've noted many times) is simply not suited for the two-hole. He's too aggressive and should not bat second, third or fourth. I think fifth or even sixth would be the best place for him.

*Griffey continued to look locked in as he sprayed the ball all over the place. He didn't have as much to show for it tonight as he has recently, but he looked sharp. After he dived in the first inning he got a nice standing ovation from some fans in RF (for the effort). He was slow getting to the ball though. It was placed on a trajectory such that I saw it as soon as it came off the bat pretty much and I thought it hung up long enough that a faster outfielder should have been able to caught it. He did try, he just didn't have the speed.

*Dunn looked pretty sharp tonight. The HR landed a little further toward the foul line in the section (we were closer to the batter's eye), but his ball was one of those high-rising ones that had enough height that the distance didn't seem as great and seemed to come down from straight above.

*Gonzalez was sharp at SS as he usually is. That one play was an incredibly good play.

*Hamilton had a tough night (was not patient enough). Interestingly enough, he has had that issue a few other times this year, which is odd considering he can also display some of the best plate discipline on the team at times. I wonder if he feels he has to carry the load a little too much at times? Surprisingly bobbled a ball in the outfield tonight. Could still see his quality arm when he made an easy throw to just behind 2B from fairly deep CF without a bounce. Impressive.

*Edwin...sad peformance in the field tonight. Seemed a little anxious getting to the balls. Didn't set himself as well as he probably could have.

*Ross is looking a little better at the plate again. I thought he called another good game too. Made a couple good throws to 2B (unlike Valentin, he doesn't get most throws to 2B on a hop!).

*Belisle looked very good overall tonight. Made a bad pitch to Berkman following the Edwin error, but Berkman is a Reds killer. I said to everyone I went with right before that "he better not challenge Berkman here." Sure enough, he threw a fastball down the middle. Also gave up a hit to Woody Williams, though I'm not surprised after that dumb intentional walk to Quintero. I knew he would be looking for Belisle to blow him away with fastballs and he was clearly sitting on one on the first pitch. His fastball was very lively and good tonight though. Threw a few good sliders too. Kept the ball around the knees and below for the most part.

*Coutlangus might have some control issues at times (he did whene he first came in tonight), but his stuff is better than most of the rest in our bullpen. I want him and Salmon to get more action. He had a couple of the hitters off-balance with his lively pitches.

*My biggest disappointment with the game (not the bullpen stunningly) was the offense. Lots of poor AB after the first few innings. I kept saying, "Wililams has given up a lot of base runners here, the team should cash in soon," but that was before they decided to start hacking at everything in the 4th inning or so. Most of the hitters did it too. They swung at pitches in the ground and rarely seemed to have more than three pitch AB's. It was very frustrating since the pen didn't give it up for once. We continue to sit 5 Runs or so over in Run Differential and are now six under .500 because we continue to lose one run games.

I will be back at tomorrow afternoon's game(can we PLEASE get a win?) and will have more observations/comments later tomorrow night.

+rep

I don't dig Hatteberg leading off either, he's just so well suited at number two. I thought the one throw that Eddie made (early in the game) where he had time to set up a bit and set his throw that was a bouncer to Hatteberg at a weird angle was playable. I also saw a few more questionable moves from him on defense (the plays were made) but I was wondering if batting leadoff maybe was a bit unnerving for him.

Phillips has gotten increasingly aggressive, and that has happened with his power boom of late. I think he realizes he has big power and he's going to swing like it, so why not bat him lower as you suggest.

Griffey is in such a good place right now, and you can tell as that swagger is back in full force. You know when he is hitting like he did tonight, inches from success, the resurgence will continue.

And man, does Belisle's stuff keep looking better. Obviously his breaking stuff wasn't working in the beginning of the game, but he really honed it in and had a great stuff. I thought he could be the darkhorse of the rotation, and while that may or may not be true (as we've seen some good and some bad), overall I am really feeling his mound presence. To say he's been a pleasant surprise this year would be an understatement, it's a shame we couldn't capitalize on a pitcher that we should have in Williams to snag him a W tonight.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yup. I have a couple more comments on your comments, mission.

I will give them when I give my analysis from today's game (which I'm getting ready to leave for soon).

Since this one is not on TV (at least locally), you guys will have to wait for my comments to get a feel for this one.

[redsrbetter]

I agree that Hatteberg and Phillips' spots in the order are pretty bad. More of Phillips though. He definitely has to go down to six IMO. I would put Hatteberg at 2nd in the order.

Freel will be seeing a lot of playing time now with EdE sitting so we will not have to see Hatteberg leading off so much.

I was interested in what you said about Coutlangus. Hopefully he can continue to keep hitters off balance and make a good run for himself. We need it.

Thanks for the observations bro. Look forward to more in the coming days.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yeah, Hatteberg almost seemed "nonchalant" in that game about a couple of Edwin's throws.

And Belisle really seems to look better for the most part with Ross catching, although so do the other Reds pitchers for the most part.