Tag Archives: leake

Leake does the job and will continue to do the job

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Mike Leake threw a very effective quality start last night as the Reds won with their C team in place.  Baker cleared the bench of everyone except of course D Robinson…because he must have been saving him to pinch run in the 9th if needed…

Leake threw 6 2/3 innings and didn’t allow a run.  The game had a boring feel to it overall.  But that’s a good thing!  When the Reds play a team like the Marlins, you WANT it to be a boring game.  That means that the Reds are taking care of business as expected.  The Marlins are rolling over as expected.  They really are a terrible team.  And I stand by my statement that the new stadium in Miami was the single biggest waste of money that I’ve ever seen in baseball.  They were packing the previous stadium with about 5K people every night.  Why did they expect to get 30K + in this stadium?  I am not certain, but I think that there were equal amounts of Reds fans in the park as Marlin’s fans. Still that being said, the park itself seems like an interesting place.  If you might recall, a close personal friend of the blog visited the park last year to witness a game and a MONSTER Giancarlo Stanton HR.  Check out his review of the park.

Game 3 tonight.  The weather for this series has been fantastic.  The roof has been open more times in 2013 than it was for all of 2012.  Mat Latos goes for the Reds and in his young career, he has never beat the Marlins franchise.  Seems like a good time for that first win.

Cueto’s rehab went well Tuesday.  He will be back next week and has been announced as the starter Monday night in New York.  That would be Mike Leake’s next scheduled start.  That only fuels the debate of “who leaves when Cueto is back?”  The two obvious options here are Mike Leake (the starter who has struggled the most) and Tony Cingrani (the starter who came  up when Cueto left).

First off, Dusty said after the game last night that Mike Leake is his 5th starter.  No questions.  Implying that Leake will keep his spot.  Of course that’s easier to say fresh off 6 2/3 of scoreless baseball.  It makes me wonder if Dusty was waiting to see the start last night to determine what to do.  So it appears that it will be Cingrani.

Leake    3-2   3.72 ERA

Cingrani   2-0  2.89 ERA

But there’s more than just the numbers.  Leake is 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA in May.  He appears to have settled down.  And his 3.72 ERA really isn’t bad!  Remember that he is a 5th starter.  He has done the job of a 5th starter and more.  He has been effective.  He’s eating innings averaging about 6 per start.  Plus, the kid can swing a stick!  I think Cingrani is ready.  He is throwing very well.  At times you can still see that he has room to mature into an every 5th day starter, but he has the talent.  So does Tony go down? Or will Tony hit the bullpen.  He can still contribute to this team.

To me, I want Tony Cingrani and Mike Leake starting every 5th day.  Be that in Cincinnati or in Louisville.  Both have options.  So although each could help out this bullpen, I would prefer that whoever it is will be sent to AAA.  No hard feelings and they are back at first injury or in September.

Heisey is coming back soon.  So there’s another decision to be made.  Donald Lutz or Derrick Robinson.  You know my pick.  I’ve been a huge Robinson fan and have made no mistake about it.  But that being said, I would almost prefer that he is sent back to Louisville.  Why?  Because he’ll play every day there.  Dusty seems to have an issue with giving this kid a fair chance in Cincinnati and he’s instantly fell in love with Lutz.  So let Robinson head back and get some valuable PT.  Not reflecting poorly on Lutz.  The guy has performed well.  He can swing a stick with power.  He’s had a few good base hits.  So either way, the Reds have a man in that position that can help off the bench.

Latos should dominate tonight.  I hope to see him collect his 5th win of the season.  The Reds now have the second best record in the NL behind St Louis.  Don’t overlook that.  This is a team who has yet to hit their stride and they are in good position to take a strong lead in the race to distance themselves from the pack.

 

A rough ending and knee jerk reactions

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The Reds lost the closing game with the Braves and therefore their first home series of the year.  It was a tight game through until the 8th inning when it all blew up.  Mike Leake had gone 7 strong allowing 2 runs on 2 solo shots by Dan Uggla.  (He has tiny arms)  The decision was made to let Leake continue.  After allowing a couple hits, Baker pulled him in favor of Sean Marshall.  Marshall faced one batter and allowed a hit.  Then it was Hoover’s turn.  Although only 2 of those 5 runs went against his ERA, he allowed the big blow:  a grand slam to Juan Francisco.  Twitter was blowing up.

Side note:  I saw someone tweet the fact that Hoover was traded for Francisco straight up.  I saw this point and thought, “oh yeah, I almost forgot.”  The angry folks on twitter saw that and thought, “OH YEAH! That bum!  I can’t believe that we traded a guy who could hit a home run once in a while for a pitcher like Hoover!”

Let’s start with the facts.  Dusty certainly could have handled the bullpen better than he did.  To me, when I have a back end that I would put up against any team in the league, I am going to use them.  Broxton.  Chapman.  Marshall.  LeCure threw 2 innings (I believe) the night before.  So he’s out.  But with 2 innings to go and a team who has had some late inning heroics the first two games of this series, I am going to use my best guys and shut them down at 2 runs.  Pat Leake on the back for a job well done.  Bring on the big guys.  Broxton threw on Tuesday, but he was good for an inning.  Chapman had not thrown since Sunday.  Marshall was good to go.  Shut this thing down now.  If we go extra’s, Simon would be good for 4 innings.  Give your team that chance to win the game in the last two innings.  Hoover is going to be sent down soon.  Dusty made the mistake of overusing him in the first month of the season.  I like Hoover and think that he will be a great piece to this bullpen.  But right now, the kid seems overworked and he’s showing signs of losing it.  Send him down, let him settle into his groove again.

I certainly have my differences of opinion with Dusty.  We could bring up the Cozart debate again.  Of course the day that I posted negative talk about Cozart, he has a great game.  I have never agreed with Dusty’s management of the bullpen.  When to pull the starters.  Too soon.  Too late.  Who to bring in from the pen.  HOWEVER, I find no benefit in spouting off about how they should fire Dusty right this very minute.  That just isn’t going to happen and all that would do is make me look foolish and ignorant.  If I were writing the checks, Dusty would be out and I would find a suitable replacement.  But then again, I would not have brought Dusty back after his last contract expired.  The guy wins games.  No doubt about that: 1600.  But he just doesn’t seem to be putting the talent of this team together in the most effective way.  But all that doesn’t mean that I should fly off the hook when the Reds blow a lead or lose the game late.  I am not singling anyone out, and I certainly get the frustration.  But Dusty isn’t throwing those pitches.  Dusty isn’t striking out.  He’s putting players in the situations and hoping that they perform.  No doubt that he could be doing a better job of that, but in the end it’s up to the players.

So for the sake of your blood pressure, why not approach failure of the team in a different attitude?  Freedom of speech will let you say what you want when you want.  Lord knows that I am not interested in taking away any rights!  Consider the fact that sometimes when your team fails, it’s because the other team did something well.  Don’t be so quick to spout off knee jerk reactions.  Wait a day.  Yesterday moments after the grand slam landed, I saw numerous “fire Dusty” posts.  I know that those were written with so much emotion that it is difficult to take it seriously.  Today, I am interested in hearing what Reds fans have to say on Twitter.  They might still have that opinion.  But at least now the feelings have cooled off and we can hear what people really have to say.  Don’t tell me that Dusty sucks.  Tell me WHY Dusty sucks.

DAY OFF TODAY!  For the Reds that is.  The Good Guys take the field weather permitting tonight.  I will not guarantee a win, but I think that we might score more than 3 runs.

Hangover Monday: Mint Juleps?

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Welcome back to another Hangover Monday.  Our Reds redeemed themselves at the hand of a terrible Cubs team.  They ended up their 10 game road trip at 5-5 which is depressing, yet, not as bad as it could have been the way that it started.  The Reds find themselves 2.5 games out of first place in a division that is starting to separate.

Of note from the weekend:

Chapman was overly wild Friday.  He walked 2 and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits.  Hoover came in for the save.  Hoover saved the game again on Sunday.  Chapman was able to rebound on Saturday for the save.

Starting pitching did well, but didn’t dominate.  Leake threw much better than normal but started to fall apart quick.  Cingrani allowed 4 runs through 6 and was slated for the loss until the Reds offense put up 4 in the 8th.  The bullpen threw 3 innings of no hit baseball for the win.  Latos lost his quality start streak as well as a scoreless inning streak that he had going.  Still, he got the win.

Votto is coming on strong.  Hitting .322 now.  Still a little shy on the power numbers, but anytime a guy hits .322, he is not struggling.

Choo and Phillips collided in an ugly play yesterday.  Phillips left the game but Choo stayed in.  The injury appears to be minor and Phillips says that he’ll be back in.

They took care of business in Chicago, but were roughed up overall on the trip.  Still they were 5-5 when they came home.  You prefer that they win a little more, especially against the right teams (Cardinals specifically).  BUT they always say that if you win at home and break even on the road then you’ll be fine.

The Braves are in town tonight.  They are NOT classified as one of those “below average” teams.  They are, in fact, the team to beat in the National League after a month into the season.  So it will be interesting to see this team perform at home against a tough opponent.

The derby is over.  Some horse won.  I had a ticket in my hand that a friend had for me and it wasn’t the same horse that won so I guess I didn’t win anything.  What I DO know is that mint juleps are alright.  Apparently all that meant was putting some mint stuff in my bourbon.  I tried to do as the romans were doing considering I was actually at a “derby party.”  We had a good time.  I drank bourbon while my children tore up the place and embarrassed my wife.

I thought that this was an interesting article.  One man’s opinion that the Reds would be legit suitors for Giancarlo Stanton.  When drunk Doug tells me that the Reds have a chance at Stanton, I ignore him.  There’s a lot more to it than what drunk Doug sees.  When a sportswriter says it, I listen with doubt.  Granted that everything in that article DOES make sense and lines up, he sorta glossed over a glaring fact.  The Reds would love to have that bat in the lineup.  But what do you do with the 14 million dollar man that is due back in July?  Ryan Ludwick would have to find a home.  The Reds would have to part with significant prospects that I don’t think that they have right now.  And Walt would have to be willing to take on more salary.  Those are 3 big reasons why not.  So don’t get too excited about the idea.  Would I love it?  YES.  Would adding Stanton make the Reds one of the top offensive teams in the league?  YES.  Do they have enough to see the Marlins pull the trigger?  Doubt it.  But hey, Walt has surprised us before.

 

 

The offense is offensive

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The Reds dropped a game to the Cardinals last night by the same score as the previous night’s win: 2-1.  Bronson Arroyo went 7 innings and allowed only a 2 run home run to Matt Holliday.  It was a solid effort and another quality start by a Reds starter.

Again, the Reds offense struggled.  Take nothing from Jamie Garcia and Adam Wainwright.  These guys have been good all season.  Sometimes you run into good pitching.  But at the same time, pitchers are becoming more dominant in this league.  The hitters need to step up.

Choo, Votto and Phillips have solid showings after the first month is down.  They have their average up and have been contributing at least to a respectable extent.  What the Reds offense will need from here is someone in the next level to step up.  Bruce? Frazier?  Who cares who.  Someone just needs to get hot.

Today’s game will be another tough one for the bats.  Lance Lynn is 4-0 on the season.  Homer Bailey goes for the Reds and lost his last outing in a 1-0 decision.  With all of the quality starts being put up by the Reds, these pitchers are putting their team in a position to win nearly every time out!  It would be nice to see some run support.

After the first month is in the books, let’s take a look back.

The Reds are 15-13.  They remain a game back of the first place Cardinals.  The Central race is as tight as it was the first day of the season.  1 game separates 1st from 4th.  The Cubs are really not out of it yet and remain 5 games back in last place.  This division is going to be a heated race all season.  None of these teams has stepped up to show their dominance.  Ryan Ludwick went down after just a few innings on opening day.  A man that the Reds intended to lean on as their power threat behind Joey Votto was suddenly removed.  They improvised.  Brandon Phillips has done an excellent job in the cleanup role, but the #2 spot has been a concern.  They have tried Cozart there, but he hasn’t had a lot of success.  After a good start, Frazier has cooled off.  Jay Bruce is striking out at an Adam Dunn rate and only has 1 HR and 11 RBI when he was expected to lead the team in those categories.  No doubt he has had his opportunities.  In a short season, there is a very familiar site of Jay Bruce striking out to end the inning leaving runners on base.  Todd Frazier has supplied some power with 6 dingers, but has failed to keep his average above .250.  Johnny Cueto is the ace that this club needs, but he’s down with an injury.  Tony Cingrani has played a vital role in filling the vacancy.  Mat Latos is dominating and has given his team a quality start every time out.  Mike Leake has had a rough start and should be concerned when Cueto returns.  Shin Soo Choo has proved to be the excellent pickup that Walt had hoped for.  He is getting on base nearly half the time and is hitting .340.

This Reds team has started somewhat slow.  But think of it this way:  If you told me at the beginning of the season that in the first month, injury would take away our ace starter and our cleanup hitter and we would still go 15-13?  I’d take it.

Hangover Monday: I wanna go home

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The Reds took the final game of a forgettable 4 game stretch yesterday to improve their road record to 2-9 on the season.  2-9 is much better than 1-10!  But depressing still. The Reds have become “that team” who takes care of business in their own ball park, but can’t seem to put it together on the road. That will have to change (and FAST) if they are going to keep pace in the central.

Of note from the weekend:

Shin Soo Choo’s on base streak ended with the 1 hit shutout on Friday night.  He still had a good weekend at the plate.

Bronson Arroyo was terrible.  Homer Bailey was fantastic.  Mike Leake was very rough.  Despite the differences, they were all saddled with a loss.  If we want to feel better about this weekend, think of it this way:  Bronson will have a start like that once out of 4 or 5 times out, but he usually can bounce back quickly.  Homer is continuing to impress me with his poise.  Mike Leake…..well, let’s just hope that Johnny Cueto can come back quick (more on this in a few)

Chris Heisey left the game Saturday with a hamstring injury.  Looks likely that he’s headed to the DL.  Donald Lutz tweeted Sunday that he got the call.  Not sure why these guys are allowed to tweet before the team makes the move…  Lutz has been less than stellar in the minors, but he did hit .270 in the spring against big league pitching.

Tony Cingrani….ugh…If that man asked me for my daughters hand I would give it to him.  But she’s only 6 months old, so he might have to wait a while.  This kid is going to be good.  We have seen some pitchers come through here that were products of the system that we have held high hopes for before, but Tony seems different.  He has strikeout power.  He had 11k’s in 6 innings Sunday.  He can locate his pitches.  He’s a lefty.  Let’s put it this way:  When Johnny comes back, Tony had better not be on a bus back to Louisville.  Mike Leake might want to start getting fitted for that Bats uniform.  I still like Mike, but the guy has some things to work out.  Tony doesn’t.  He’s working.

Joey Votto was sporting the high socks look on Sunday.  The likes of which that haven’t been seen in the Reds uniform since Bill Bray or Paul Janish, Circus 2010! (no…that’s correct)  I sincerely hope that he keeps this look moving forward.  Maybe it will help him see the ball better.  He did knock in a run yesterday.

The Reds square off in St Louis for 3 games starting tonight with Mat Latos.  I guess that you could say that it’s fortunate that the Pirates knocked St Louis back a bit this weekend.  In my mind, the Reds are fortunate to be 1.5 games out of first.  They are a game behind St Louis.  They still need to prove that they can win on the road.  They also need to prove that they can beat St Louis.  They took 1 of 3 last trip out.

 

Reds clean the fish

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The Reds took care of business taking 3 of 4 from a bad Miami Marlins team over the weekend.  Their offense showed their force in the 1st and 4th game of the series.

Of note:

Joey Votto looked good at the plate this weekend.  He hit HR’s on Saturday and Sunday and honestly looked comfortable at the plate when he hasn’t appeared to be all season.

The Reds got a good start from Cingrani, Latos, Arroyo and Bailey.  Bailey really didn’t have his best stuff and was in trouble every inning, but the bottom line was 2 runs in 6 innings.  That’s a quality start.  (my favorite pitching stat…yes I’m a nerd)  A QS gives your team the shot to win the game and on a rough day on the mound, Bailey was still able to attain that to keep his team in the game.

Devin Mesoraco will be getting significant time now that Hanigan is down.  He performed well Sunday.  Hanigan has had issues with a thumb, but it’s an oblique that was cited for the DL stay.  Corky was brought up to fill the roster spot.  Who doesn’t love Corky?

Cozart was hit in the hand by a pitch Saturday.  He sat out Sunday too.  We’ll be interested in seeing an update.

Xavier Paul had a couple hits from the 2 hole yesterday, but he also missed a couple of big opportunities early.  I don’t have stats to back it up right now, but I swear that this team struggles scoring runs from 3rd with less than 2 out.

Jay Bruce is still homerless.  Which I don’t put a lot of stock into.  But he has come up with runners on base in big situations this year and will continue to do so while batting 5th.  If he gets hot, this team will erupt.

Shin Soo Choo has been hit by a pitch 9 times this season.  Which is ridiculous.  He was on base 6 times on Saturday and 5 more times Sunday.  The guy is an absolute God send for a leadoff man.

Brandon Phillips hit the walk off sac fly on Saturday.  It was BP bobblehead day at the park.  Funny how many times the bobble head is the hero of the day.

The Cubs come to town tonight 5 games behind the Reds for first place at 5-12.  The Reds will send Mike Leake, Tony Cingrani and Mat Latos to the hill.  The Reds are 10-3 at home this season.

The top 4 teams in this division are separated by 1 game only.  May is the month that will spread the pack.  When it was released, we saw the Reds schedule for April and cringed.  Tough start to the season.  But they took 2 of 3 from both the Angels and the Nationals.  They swept the Phillies.  They took 3 of 4 from Miami.  The fell down at Pittsburgh and lsot the series in St. Louis, but overall, this team has performed like a first place team.  The tough schedule keeps right on going after the Cubs leave town.  They travel to Washington for 4 games and then back to Saint Louis to finish April.  The toughest stretch in the first half will be late June.  They head to Arizona, Oakland and Arlington to play 3 tough teams on the road.

 

 

 

Reds even the score with Pennsylvania

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The Reds had about as good of a night as you can have last night.  They finished off the win in game 1 with a bases loaded walk off single by Jay Bruce to win it.  Aroldis Chapman earned the win on a day that he didn’t even have to be at the park.  On the nightcap, Mike Leake threw 7 of the best innings that we’ve seen out of him to earn his first win of 2013.  The offense piled on run after run and the team was dominant.  The sweep lessened the blow from the sweep that Pittsburgh put on them over the weekend, and they gained 1.5 games on St. Louis over the course of 5 hours.

Of note:

Jay Bruce looked great in both the short game and the 11-2 blowout win.  Instead of power swinging up in the zone when the breaking balls came spinning toward the plate, he stayed back and deposited them into RF.

Mike Leake is the best hitting pitcher in the league.  For what that matters.  He looks natural with a bat in his hand.  That triple he hit was tattooed.

Joey Votto was the only starter without a hit.  Cut him.  He did get on base with a HBP, but he doesn’t get paid to get on base…  kidding!  People have said that he is in a slump…hitting .277 after an 0-3 night.  That might be a little south of who Joey is, but that’s no slump.  He hasn’t been driving in runs, but he also has walked nearly as many times as the Chicago White Sox have all season.

Brandon Phillips came up big again with 3 more RBIs.  His goal is 100 RBIs:

“My job right now is to focus and try to get 100 RBIs. When I found out I was hitting fourth, I set a goal for myself. I don’t care about my batting average. I don’t care about anything else. My job is to get to 100 RBIs. I’ve never done it. I came close once when I hit fourth, even though I didn’t hit there the whole year.”

He has 19 right now and looks to be well on his way to 100.  Especially if they keep putting Votto on in front of him.

Derrick Robinson got the start in CF last night and led off.  He misplayed a ball that Heisey would have caught standing up if he had let it go and was picked off stealing 2nd.  He went, fouled off, took a pitch and then decided to go again.  I was expecting the throw over there and assumed that he would too.  I guess he didn’t.  The interesting thing there is that even though he was picked off, he beat the throw to 2nd.  But he was tagged out when he slid past the base.  He did have a base hit and hit first career RBI in the game.  The other instances were classic rookie mistakes.  He is trying to make an impact.  Don’t give up on him just yet.

Frazier hit the ball out to RF last night.  I would like to see him show the ability and patience to continue that.

Devin Mesoraco got the start last night and the Reds won that game.  First time that has happened this season, but to be fair, he has been catching each time Mike Leake has been on the mound.  He added a couple big hits in the game and gave the Reds something that they haven’t seen from the catching position: OFFENSE!  I will maintain, however, that Ryan Hanigan’s defense makes him a valuable member of the club.  I like the idea of splitting the time a little behind the dish, but Hanigan won’t lose his job back there.

The Reds have no time to rest.  They welcome a struggling Marlins team to GABP tonight for a 4 game set.  Tony Cingrani is on the hill for the Reds in his first major league start.  He was up briefly in September last season and did well from the bullpen.  He was off to a hot start in Louisville and it will be interesting to see how he sacks up to major league hitting.

Unfortunately this is bad timing!  My beer league softball team starts back up tonight.  Assuming that we don’t get stormed on in Milford again, we will be tipping back jugs of beer and playing sloppy ball again until October.  Two things are for sure:  we’ll play lackluster ball and enjoy ourselves while doing so.

Go Reds!

 

 

Friday Video! Reds in First Place!

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It’s a tight race in the division!  Only 1 game separates first from last!

Enough sarcasm for the day?  How about we move to the video.  Careful, this video made one girl pregnant:

Sometimes as an adult, you see someone doing something and instantly question everything that you spent doing in your childhood.  Why oh why didn’t I learn to play the sax?

The Reds took 2 of 3 from the Angels finishing off a win in the rubber match yesterday.  Things of note:

Bronson was good, not great.  Which is great in itself.  He doesn’t have to be the ace on this team, but he is going to be called upon to eat innings and to put out some quality starts to give his offense a chance to win. Yesterday he did that against the best offense in the AL.

Shin Soo Choo gave back a HR to Bronson Arroyo yesterday.  Historically Choo clobbered Arroyo’s pitching so it was the least that he could do to give one back to him.

Chris Heisey is doing just fine.

While I roll my eyes at the “fire Dusty” tweets during the game yesterday, I will agree that his bullpen use has been pretty questionable so far.

Todd Frazier is starting off hot.

Jay Bruce is not.

In the end, I am not going to break down the little nuances about the game considering they pulled out the win and a series victory.  Their reward?  The Washington Nationals come to town for 3.  Sunday’s matchup between Cueto and Strasburg will be the best in a LONG time.  But before that happens, we get to see Homer’s first outing as well as Mike Leake taking the hill Saturday to see if he can regain 2011 form.

I follow some Reds fans on twitter.  I don’t necessarily think that the opinions on twitter are the majority, but simply the loudest.  A lot of tweets that I saw yesterday were people talking about signing Choo long term.  John Fay fielded the question 3 times that I saw.  Choo has been fantastic so far.  But it’s been 3 games.  Support your team and love the guy.  But don’t be that girl that is brought home for a one night stand that won’t stop calling the next day.  The Reds and Choo knew what 2013 was going to be before it started.  A one night stand.  Hopefully both parties can have some fun for this season alone but win lose or draw they will part ways for 2014.  The Reds cannot afford the salary that he will be making if they want to continue to lock up these younger players.  One question mentioned pulling Ryan Ludwick’s salary and giving the 2 year deal to Choo.  First off, not sure which planet that they live on that you can just pull a contract.  Second, it’s been 3 games….

Enjoy a great weekend of baseball!  I will be hitting the links tomorrow morning for an annual bachelor party golf outing.  The weather will be nice and we’ll have fun, but we all need to remember why we’re out there……to drink loads of beer.

The Good Die Young

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A day has gone by and we still sit here with heavy hearts and trying to find the good in this season.  Let’s not forget that this team won 96 games this year and cruised to their 2nd division title in 3 years.  The young pitching staff grew up before our eyes.  A couple of rookies saw big league action this season and excelled.  Scott Rolen played what could have been his final game yesterday, and he finished his career playing well for a first place team.  As depressing as it is to think about the Cincinnati Reds team right now, we will be able to look back and be proud of our team from 2012.

Pitching

Homer Bailey showed a lot of promise at the end of the season.  He finished the year with the best road ERA in the league.  Once he learns how to effectively pitch in GABP, he will be scary.  The Reds need him to be their #4 guy right now, but he has the stuff to be a #2.  It seems like Bailey has been around forever.  But remember, the Reds brought him up when he was 21 years old.  He has matured nicely.  Staying healthy in 2012 was promising.   He also did this:

Mike Leake had a rough season.  Hopefully he gets it together and is able to contribute to this club as the #5 starter or possibly a long relief position in 2013.

Johnny Cueto was stellar.  He has gone from #3 to ace overnight.  Let’s hope that he can get healthy soon and comes back throwing darts in the spring.

Bronson Arroyo showed us a lot this year.  After a terrible 2011, he proved that he is still the same guy that can go 200+ innings and win 15 games.  He’ll be with the Reds again in 2013, and hopefully he can continue to be that 200/15 guy.

Mat Latos is a hot tempered young man with a big arm.  He’s going to be with the Reds for a while.  It will benefit everyone for him to go through more spring training with this club.  I love having him on this team.

Hitters

Zack Cozart matured nicely as the season progressed.  I would like to see him hit for better average next season.

Joey Votto will be healthy by spring.  Mark it down.  This guy has the work ethic to make it so.  I expect him to make a run at MVP 2013.

BP will be another year older and another year wiser.  He was smiling all the way to the end yesterday.  Not that he wasn’t taking the situation seriously…it was very much the opposite.  Nobody loves the game as much as he does.  Here’s a highlight film from 2011, but you could find 2 hours of plays just like these from any season.

Drew Stubbs needs to get his sh!t together.  He has wheels and he can play CF in the biggest ballparks.  But he’s hit .213 this season and struck out 166 times.  I have a feeling that they can find a lot of ballplayers who can do better.

Ryan Ludwick is on a 1 year option for 2013.  It sounds like he will exercise his end.  If the Reds don’t, it’s only because they intend to sign him to an extension.

Todd Frazier has a great attitude.  It compliments Phillips.  He will get a lot of ROY votes and will be starting at 3B in the spring.

Jay Bruce is another year older and I expect him to be the same guy in 2013 only hitting for better average.

Ryan Hanigan has the makeup of a guy who could play his whole career in Cincinnati.  He is solid behind the plate.  He does great with pitchers young and old.

It’s going to be a long off season, so we’ll save a lot of the who’s coming back talk until later.  For now, let’s forget about the negative and focus on the positives.  The Reds asserted their dominance on the mound this year.  They made the playoffs for the 2nd time in 3 years.  They proved to me that this is not a 1 and done team.  They have the makeup to be competitive for the next few years.  Playoff baseball in Cincinnati will be here again soon.

We have an excellent team here in Cincinnati.  So instead of being negative about our situation, be excited for the future.

 

Reds slap around Dickey in front of 26,000 people

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In a rare role reversal, Leake took Dickey last night.  Mike Leake was en fuego.  He only struck out 4 people, but he did a masterful job of retiring hitter after hitter.  He went the complete game surrendering only 1 run on 4 hits.  The run scored on a double play ball and the 4 hits were between only 2 players.  On a night where Mike Leake needed to dig deep and come up with a solid outing, he exceeded expectations.

RA Dickey went the other way.  He is tied for the league lead in wins with 15 and was looking for that sweet 16.  But it won’t be in Cincinnati.  His knuckle ball might not have been moving much or the Reds simply sat on the fastball, but he was in trouble from the first inning.  Cozart doubled, Stubbs sac’d him to 3rd and Phillips singled him in for the first run.  After the Metropolitans tied it up, the Reds came in and Rolen and Frazier hit back to back home runs.  Frazier’s traveled 474 feet and hit off of the boat in center field.  It was a mammoth shot and the 2nd longest I’ve seen hit in that ballpark (in person).  I was fortunate enough to be at the game with my brother (actual brother, not brotha) when Adam Dunn hit that ball over the batters eye in center field and into the river.

Knuckleball pitchers are a different animal and like animals, you have to know how to treat them without getting hurt.  But sometimes they have nights when they are just absolutely hitable.  Watching the radar gun and seeing him consistently throw the 77mph knuckleballs and 82 mph fastballs made me want to step into the box.  Obviously I couldn’t hit that knuckleball, but I think I could sit on that fastball…

Homer Bailey (10-7 4.08) goes against Matt Harvey (1-3 3.63) tonight for the sweep!

The Reds are up 7 games on both the Pirates and the Cardinals.  I feel bad for them, but I think the Pirates are completely out of it.  They still have a chance at a wildcard spot, but they are falling fast.  The Cardinals are holding steady.  Still, look at what the Cardinals would have to do if the Reds go 25-20 in their last 45 games:  32-13.  That’s ridiculous.  Not going to happen.

Marc Amazon discussed options last night to spare the starters and keep them from pitching too many innings down the home stretch to the season.  The Reds have a cushion in the central so they can afford to coast just a little bit.  Their starters have remained healthy this season which is amazing, but the other side of that is that they all seem to be headed toward career high innings pitched.

200IP is a solid season, but Cueto, Latos and Bailey have never done that before.  Redmond is going to be called up to start one of the double header games Saturday.  It will be nice to see him finally get his shot at the big league level after being here and riding the pine a few times up til now.  But should they keep Redmond up?  Toss him into the rotation and go with a 6 man?  Another option is to allow pitchers to skip a start and use Redmond in a different slot every week.  Which messes with the routine less?  Either one will save innings for these guys.  Bottom line:  lets get to October with 5 healthy pitchers that are not out of gas.

Marc Amazon stressed that they need all 5 of their starters in the rotation to win in October.  I disagree.  I like to think that you can get away with a 4 man rotation in October.  With travel days in between games, I am starting Johnny Cueto in game 5 of the NLDS instead of Mike Leake.  Bottom line.  And in the 7 game level, by game 5, your game 1 starter is ready again.  Once October rolls around, start getting someone ready for the bullpen.  Leake or Bailey likely.

Melky Cabrera was busted with PED as the news broke yesterday.  Huge blow for the Giants.  And huge blow for his wallet.  He was headed for free agency and likely to get a huge deal after being an MVP candidate.  In a paranoid era of baseball, why would he think that he could get away with it?  And if he truly didn’t know what he was taking, I still don’t feel bad for him.  You should know the rules and what you can and cannot get away with.