Random Reds Rumblings

[Kingdom]

Phillips being picked off at second was huge. Bases were left loaded in the top of the 11th, Phillies are going to run out of relievers at this rate

[Kingdom]

Wilson Valdez picks up the win. The Phillies 2B that is. 6 hours, 11minutes game length. Shit sticks

[love_that_reefer]

Valdez got a win before Jo-Jo Reyes

[missionhockey21]

I was really busy last night so I couldn't watch but did ESPN 2 actually show the whole game?

Anyway, from looking at the boxscore, nice to see Bruce keep on hitting.

[love_that_reefer]

Yeah they showed the entire game and it was blacked out here in Western KY. Why? Beats the fuck out of me!

[Kingdom]

The highlight of the game for me was when they showed Nomar's reaction to the nice play made in the extra innings by Jimmy Rollins. It was like watching a kid in the stands "OOOOOOOOOH" over a great play made. I personally like it when the analysts show emotion when good things happen, as opposed to Joe Buck's ho-hum "it happened" approach

[CincyRedsFan30]

This Reds pitching staff is simply grotesque right now. I'm sorry, but the offense scored 4 runs during the 9-inning portion of the games Halladay and Lee pitched. The pitchers need to make at LEAST one of those totals enough for a win.

The task won't get any easier this weekend against the Braves and three more pitchers with great numbers.

[missionhockey21]

Baliey went on the DL for his shoulder and Leake was called up for the start tonight. Great outing for Mike Leake tonight.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Leake seems to have an "it" factor/winning feel to him some of the Reds' pitchers lack. I'm not sure why he was removed from the rotation to start? Did the theft-scapade really factor in a ton?

I saw these numbers on "the other board" and they truly illuminate this staff's failures. The Cards' starters overall haven't struck a bunch of guys out but limit the HR and many of them BB, relying on weak contact. Is their staff really this much more talented or do these numbers indict Bryan Price and prop up Dave Duncan once more?

Sometimes the pitchers just HAVE to make a certain number of runs scored in a game hold up. This was entering last night's action. Let these numbers speak for themselves:


Record when scoring 0-5 runs during a game:

Reds: 7-22 .241
Milwaukee: 14-20 .412
St. Louis: 16-17 .485
Atlanta: 17-22 .436
Philadelphia: 19-19 .500

[Slyder]

I really don't understand how some reds fans can realistically look at our team as it has been playing and looking at numbers such as what CRF posted and say our OFFENSE is the issue. We're 13th in the National League (25th in baseball) in ERA. We have seen that song and dance and it does not work. We lead baseball in runs scored, is the offense inconsistant? Certainly, but we need a hammer and we wouldn't have some of the issues if our starters could go more than 5 innings before imploding.

Right now we have 1 pitcher who can do anything remotely close to a TOR pitcher (Cueto), our #2 is an innings eater that will have starts where he will get absolutely DESTROYED, when he's on he's a great 3/borderline 2 but when he's off he's not a MLB pitcher (Arroyo), we have a guy who looked like he was starting to turn a corner that is starting to make Austin Kearns look durable (Homer), we have a head case that can't find the strike zone at times and can't get out of the first inning without giving up runs (Volquez), and a bunch of guys who are young and limited in their talent or (so far) making adjustments to the league (Leake, Maloney, Wood), and we have a glorified freak show that can't find home plate with a compass, diving rod, a guide dog, and a map (Chapman).

We had (have) an excess of prospects and got rid of a couple more for ancient vets that could have been packaged for SOMETHING. Our team needs even a #2 caliber guy who can stay healthy or to figure out Dave Duncan's miracle "cream" and give it to our entire rotation. This team could have (and still could) use Greinke and I still would have packaged ANY player not named Bruce, Cueto, Votto, or Mes for him.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I think the frustration with the generally horrific pitching to date has manifested itself in the form of additional malice, targeted at the offense. Many "elsewhere" continue to fail to grasp the big picture, though I think SOME are coming around...somewhat.

Sure, it would be nice to add another big bat to strengthen the core of the lineup but this ptiching staff routinely fails to get much past 5 IP either due to pitch count or non-performance the third time through the batting order.

These same posters fixate on the games during which the pitching is good and the team fails to score enough runs but in reality these performances have been too infrequent. And I imagine all of the comeback attemps (by necessity) begin to take a mental toll on the hitters after so many early-inning deficits.

The pitching simply must improve. I'm just skeptical whether Castellini will spend the money needed to TRULY add impact pitching or even the additional "impact bat" to stymie some of the crooked pitching numbers.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Again, this horrific pitching staff strikes during another embarrassing loss.

This team is really, really bad right now with no imminent signs of improvement. They continue to drop further back after Sir Albert performed in the clutch and the Cards' bullpen kept them in the game.

The pitching talent is just too thin; a scary thought considering all of the time invested in developing these supposedly high-quality pitching prospects. Unless Castellini starts spending money on impact pitching, the team may flounder for many more years to come.

[missionhockey21]

I have no major issues with the lineup right now either. In Votto and Bruce we have two MVP candidates... I wish we had a Cy Young candidate as well though...

Dropped another game today with a big run show by the Dodgers.

[Trendy Bastard]

Haven't been paying much attention lately.. Why was Volquez in the minors?

[zodious]

Haven't been paying much attention lately.. Why was Volquez in the minors?

To work on his mechanics... Giving up too many runs. His last outing in AAA he went 6-1/3 giving up only 1 run if I remember correctly....