Reds Tidbits (2006 Season)

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

8/30/06

Reds falter in 16 innings
BY JOHN FAY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->LOS ANGELES - While you slept last night, the Reds played on and on and on.

They were finally done - done in by Ramon Martinez’s walkoff home run in the 16th inning - after absorbing maybe their toughest loss of the year, a 6-5 defeat by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The game that lasted 4 hours, 54 minutes was over in the flash. As soon as Martinez’s bat met Ryan Franklin’s first pitch of the night, the Dodgers started celebrating.

Most of them were on the field by the time ball cleared the left-field fence.

The Reds silently walked off the field.

“It sucks,” infielder Rich Aurilia said. “With all the opportunities we had, that’s a game I think we should have won easily.”

He has a point.

The Reds left 12 runners on the base. They were 2-for-14 with runners in the scoring position. They wasted eight innings of two-hit ball by the bullpen.

“Miserable is a good work to describe that loss,” catcher David Ross said.

The Reds, however, have no time to feel sorry for themselves.

Their losing streak is at five games. For the first time since July 16, they no longer have at least a share of the National League Wild Card lead.

The season is slipping away.

“We’ve played like garbage for the last five days,” Aurilia said. “We’ve got to come out (Wednesday) and try to salvage a game going into the off day. We’ve got to get back to our No. 1 priority, which is winning.”

Tuesday’s game was longest for the Reds since they went 16 innings with the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 8, 1992 at Riverfront Stadium.

The game ended at 3:04 a.m. Cincinnati time. Only a couple of thousand of the crowd of 44,697 remained at Dodger Stadium.

“They’re tough when they’re quick,” Reds manager Jerry Narron said.

So nearly five hours of the baseball makes losses a lot tougher.

“We battled all night and they came out ahead,” Ross said. “It just sucks.”

The Reds came back from a 4-1 deficit to take a 5-4 lead. Matt Belisle gave up the lead in the sixth. But the bullpen pitched nine innings of two-hit shutout ball until Franklin gave up the home run to start the bottom of the 16th.

“We were trying to stay away from Franklin if we could,” Narron said. “We were only going to use him in an emergency.”

The 16th constitutes as emergency. Franklin was only reliever the Reds had left. The Dodgers used Friday’s scheduled starter, Derek Lowe, for the final two innings.

The Reds had 17 hits on the night - Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips had four each - but failed to make the most of their opportunities.

The Reds knew it was a case of win or lose the wild-card lead, which they had held since July 14. Both San Diego and Philadelphia won well before the Reds' game was over.

“At some point, it’s going to turn around and we’re going to get some hits with runners in scoring position,” Narron said.

Starter Eric Milton put the Reds in a quick hole for the second straight start by allowing a leadoff home run. Rafael Furcal hit Milton’s third pitch of the night out to left.

Milton gave up two more runs in the inning - both unearned because of an error by second baseman Brandon Phillips.

Phillips cut it to 3-1 with his 15th home of the year in the second.

Jeff Kent got that run back with opposite field shot in the third.

The Reds kept hitting. Ken Griffey Jr. singled to start the fourth – extending his hitting streak to 14 games. Aurilia followed with his 19th home run of the year and it was 4-3.

The Reds tied it in the fifth. But the one run was a consolation prize for the inning that could have been. They loaded the bases with no outs, but only got the one run on Griffey’s groundout.

The Reds took the lead in the sixth. Ross led off with a double. Phillips got him home with a single. He then stole second for his first steal since Aug. 4.

But the inning went bad from there. Royce Clayton struck out bunting, pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg flied out, and Ryan Freel grounded out.

Milton went five innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits.

The lead did not last an out. Matt Belisle came on and gave up four straight singles to tie it. But he got out of it from there, thanks to Aurilia’s nicely turned 3-2-3 double play.

The bullpen would proceed to zeros from there until the 16th.

The Reds had numerous chances to score. They had first and second with one out in the eighth, but Clayton hit into a double play.

Dunn doubled with two outs in the ninth, but Edwin Encarnacion flied to center. Aurilia walked and Ross singled with out in the 10th, but Phillips hit into a double play.

They got a runner to second in the 11th and 12th as well. In fact, the Reds had a base-runner in every inning but the seventh and 14th.

The Dodgers did chance came in the eighth. Toby Hall led off with a double off Scott Schoeneweis. Jason Repko bunted pinch-runner Kenny Lofton to third, but David Weathers came on and stranded him.

At that point, it looked like it had the making of a long night.

It was.

E-mail [email protected]

 

[crazybuckfan40]

We about have to win this next game and then at least take 2 out of 3 from the Padres.

It is too late in the season to start falling more than a game or two behind.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Maddux delivers clean sweep
Veteran pitcher extends Reds’ skid to six games
Thursday, August 31, 2006
John Nadel
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>FRANCIS SPECKER ASSOCIATED PRESS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal leaps over Edwin Encarnacion after forcing him out at second and throwing to first to complete a double play on Scott Hatteberg in the second inning. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


LOS ANGELES — Greg Maddux earned his 330 th win to move into 10 th place on the career list, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-3 last night for their fifth straight victory.
The Dodgers improved to 21-7 in August, matching their highest singlemonth victory total since the franchise moved west from Brooklyn in 1958. Six of those wins came over Cincinnati for their first season sweep of the Reds while playing in Los Angeles.
Maddux (12-11) allowed two runs and eight hits in seven innings while walking none, striking out three and throwing 77 pitches before being relieved by Brett Tomko to start the eighth.
Maddux, who pitched six hitless innings Aug. 3 in Cincinnati in his first game with the Dodgers, is 5-0 against the Reds with a 2.40 ERA this season. He beat them three times while pitching for the Chicago Cubs before being traded to Los Angeles.
The 40-year-old right-hander also drove in two runs with a single and a suicide squeeze and started double plays in the second and fourth after fielding grounders. Maddux has won 15 Gold Gloves in his career.
The Dodgers maintained their threegame lead in the National League West. The Reds have lost six straight and trail St. Louis by 4 1 /2 games in the National League Central.
Maddux brought a .113 batting average to the plate when he lined a two-out single to center off Aaron Harang (13-10) in the second to put Los Angeles ahead for good. The Dodgers made it 2-0 in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Russell Martin.
Julio Lugo hit a one-out double in the fifth and scored on J.D. Drew’s triple, making it 3-0. Drew’s liner to center got past Ken Griffey Jr. and rolled to the fence, but he was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into an inside-the-park homer.
Jason LaRue snapped an 0-for-30 slump by hitting Maddux’s first pitch of the sixth over the left-field fence for his sixth homer.
Wilson Betemit and Martin hit one-out singles in the sixth before Maddux laid down a perfect bunt, driving in Betemit Maddux received a standing ovation as he left the field.
The Reds made it 4-2 in the seventh on a double by Edwin Encarnacion and an RBI single by Scott Hatteberg. With two outs and two on, pinch-hitter Javier Valentin hit a liner that appeared headed for right field, but first baseman Nomar Garciaparra lunged to knock the ball down and underhanded it to Maddux for the out.
The Dodgers hit three solo homers in the eighth, with Betemit connecting off Scott Schoeneweis and pinch-hitter Olmedo Saenz and Rafael Furcal going back-to-back against Matt Belisle.
An RBI single by pinch-hitter Todd Hollandsworth cut it to 7-3 in the ninth.
Harang allowed 10 hits and four runs in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven.
Late Tuesday

If Dodgers manager Grady Little was planning a postgame dinner with his wife to celebrate their 35 th wedding anniversary, the best they could probably do was breakfast at an all-night joint.
Ramon Martinez homered leading off the 16 th inning, and Los Angeles beat Cincinnati 6-5 Tuesday night to knock the Reds out of the NL wild-card lead.
The Dodgers have played 14 or more innings on five occasions this season, and this was the first time they won. A total of 461 pitches were thrown in a game that lasted 4 hours, 54 minutes, with the Dodgers using 20 players and the Reds 22.
It marked the first time since June 13 that the Reds didn’t have at least a share of the lead in the wild-card race.
"You can’t think about anything other than winning ballgames," Schoeneweis said. "We can’t worry about what St. Louis is doing, and there are so many teams locked in for the wild card. So it doesn’t matter who’s playing who — someone is going to gain some ground. So we just have to go out and concentrate on winning, and the rest will take care of itself. We’ve got as good a shot as anybody."
Brandon Phillips was 4 for 7 with a home run and two RBI for Cincinnati, but he grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners in the 10 th against reliever Takashi Saito. Adam Dunn also had four hits and Rich Aurilia homered for the Reds.
Derek Lowe (12-8), who came out of last Saturday’s start at Arizona after taking a line drive off his glove hand, made his first relief appearance since a 2004 American League division series and pitched three innings of one-hit ball for the win.
Ryan Franklin (5-7), the eighth Cincinnati pitcher, made only one pitch — which Martinez drove over the fence in left-center for his second homer of the season.
"I wasn’t trying to end it. I just wanted to get on base," Martinez said. "I’m not a home run hitter, so I don’t even know what was going through my mind when I hit it. I was just running the bases. It was a long game, but we battled through it."
Phillips put Cincinnati ahead 5-4 in the sixth with an RBI single. The Dodgers tied it in the bottom half against reliever Matt Belisle on a bases-loaded RBI single by Furcal with none out. Phillips hit his 15 th homer of the season off Mark Hendrickson in the second inning.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Reds’ Krivsky refuses to panic despite slump
Friday, September 01, 2006
Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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Believe it or not, general manager Wayne Krivsky had yet to consider reaching for the emergency cord yesterday so that he could deploy the reserve parachute and slow the sudden fall by the Cincinnati Reds in the standings.
"It’s baseball," Krivsky said. "Every team goes through it. We’ve still got 30 games to play. We’ve got a long way to go."
Even so, a six-game West Coast losing streak has dropped Cincinnati into third place in the wild-card standings behind San Diego and Philadelphia heading into its game tonight against the Padres.
The Reds are at .500 again for the first time since April 5 when they were 1-1 and quickly losing track of the first-place St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.
Hitting, or the lack thereof, created the current dilemma. The Reds stranded 14 base runners Wednesday in a 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. During the course of the losing streak, they are batting .111 (6 for 54) with runners in scoring position.
As he has throughout his tenure as Reds manager, Jerry Narron bemoaned fundamental mistakes made by the team during his postgame talk with reporters after the latest loss.
"We haven’t done the little things," Narron said. "We haven’t gotten bunts down. We haven’t tagged up when we should have. We haven’t gone from first to third when we should have.
"The big thing is we’re still in it. We get San Diego six times (the rest of the season). That’s a great opportunity."
Krivsky has been too busy watching double-A Chattanooga play and working the telephones for potential trades — the Reds were said to have been a long shot to land Boston pitcher David Wells; San Diego got him — to see the on-field disappointments in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
"I saw the first game in San Francisco and the last one (in Los Angeles)," said Krivsky, who tweaked the roster again yesterday.
Reliever Matt Belisle, who surrendered two home runs in one-third of an inning Wednesday, was optioned to Class A Sarasota. Infielder Brendan Harris was recalled from triple-A Louisville, where he was batting .324 in 43 games since being acquired in a trade with Washington.
"That makes Harris eligible for our postseason roster," Krivsky said. "And we’re going to expand the roster (today). I just can’t tell you the names yet."
The most likely candidates are relievers Gary Majewski and Jason Standridge, both of whom are on rehabilitation assignments with Louisville.
Krivsky also signed freeagent pitcher Jason Johnson to a minor-league contract Wednesday with an eye on the postseason.
"He’s starting for Louisville (today) against Indianapolis," Krivsky said. "We’ll go from there. But he adds to our pitching depth."
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

REDS 6 PADRES 2
Reds end six-game losing streak

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Bernie Wilson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

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SAN DIEGO — Bronson Arroyo kept San Diego off-balance for seven innings and Rich Aurilia tied his career high with four hits, including a homer, as the Reds beat the Padres 6-2 last night to snap a six-game losing streak.
Arroyo allowed four hits in seven innings to win for the second time since June 19. The Reds snapped their skid in time to avoid dropping below .500 for the first time since opening day.
The Padres saw their lead in the National League wild-card race shrink to a half-game over the Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies, whose game against Atlanta was rained out.
The Padres, who dropped to 33-37 at home, entered the night three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West race.
Ken Griffey Jr. went 0 for 5 to end his 15-game hitting streak.
Arroyo (11-9) got enough run support before the Padres even had a base runner, with the Reds taking a 4-0 lead off Clay Hensley (8-11) after three innings. Three of the first four runs scored on two-out hits.
Ryan Freel singled leading off the game and scored on Edwin Encarnacion’s two-out double down the left-field line.
Aurilia homered leading off the second, his 20 th. He drove a 2-and-2 pitch off the balcony on the third floor of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building just beyond the left-field corner.
Adam Dunn was hit by a pitch leading off the third and scored on Scott Hatteberg’s two-out double into the rightcenter field gap. Aurilia singled in Hatteberg.
Hensley had allowed only one earned run in his previous 21 innings.
Arroyo retired the first 11 Padres batters before Todd Walker singled to center in the fourth.
The Padres broke through against the right-hander in the fifth, scoring two runs with three hits and two walks. Russell Branyan hit a leadoff single and scored on Mike Cameron’s double to the base of the center-field fence. Cameron scored on Dave Roberts’ two-out single. Walker came up with the bases loaded but flied out to center field to end the inning.
Arroyo struck out four and walked three. Hensley allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings, struck out two and walked two.
Cincinnati’s David Ross doubled and scored on pitcher Jon Adkins’ throwing error in the sixth, and hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Notes
It was the 18 th time that Aurilia has had four hits in a game. ... Padres right-handed reliever Rudy Seanez, with San Diego for the record fourth time in his career, pitched the eighth inning. He was signed Thursday after being designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 18.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

PADRES 7 REDS 1
Padres shut down Reds to retain wild-card lead

Sunday, September 03, 2006


ASSOCIATED PRESS

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SAN DIEGO — Jake Peavy threw a two-hitter, matching his career best, and struck out 14 as the San Diego Padres defeated the Reds 7-1 last night to keep the lead in the National League wild-card race.
Rookie Josh Barfield hit a two-run homer, Mike Cameron had three hits and the Padres opened a one-game lead over Philadelphia. The Phillies split a doubleheader against Atlanta. Cincinnati fell 1 1 /2 games back in the wild-card race after losing for the seventh time in eight games.
Peavy (8-13) was brilliant in blowing through the Reds’ lineup, surrendering only Adam Dunn’s shot into the home-run porch down the right-field line with one out in the fourth and Rich Aurilia’s single to left leading off the eighth. It was Dunn’s 39 th homer of the year.
The right-hander looked liked his old self as he pitched his fifth career complete game. He had a complete game June 17, allowing four hits in a 3-2 loss in Anaheim. Peavy also threw a two-hitter on May 25, 2005, at Arizona.
Peavy walked two. After giving up Dunn’s homer, he retired 10 straight before walking Edwin Encarnacion with two outs in the seventh.
It was the fourth time this season Peavy reached double digits in strikeouts and the 14 th time in his career. He set the franchise record with 16 strikeouts against Atlanta on May 22 but lost 3-1.
Peavy has struggled this season because of shoulder tendinitis and lack of run support. His 13 losses are the most in his career, and he has had an uncharacteristically high ERA — it was 4.51 coming in. Peavy led the majors with a 2.27 ERA in 2004 and topped the NL with 216 strikeouts last year. His career ERA coming into this season was 3.33.
One night after looking offbalance against Bronson Arroyo in a 6-2 loss, the Padres had better luck against Kyle Lohse.
Mike Cameron singled to left with one out in the second. Barfield, the son of former American League home run champ Jesse Barfield, connected on the first pitch he saw with two outs, his 11 th homer of the season.
Todd Walker walked with two outs in the third and scored on Mike Piazza’s double into the gap in left center. Brian Giles had an RBI double and Walker an RBI single in the seventh, and Dave Roberts added a tworun single in the eighth.
Lohse allowed four runs and six hits, struck out three and walked two in 6 1 /3 innings.
Notes
David Wells, obtained Thursday from Boston, is scheduled to start the series finale today against Eric Milton. ... Padres reliever Scott Williamson, on the DL since Aug. 26, has a bone chip in his throwing elbow and might need surgery.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Cincy

More fruitless labor
Bonds' homer helps bring troubles home

BY KEVIN KELLY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->The theme of a road trip the Reds would like to forget continued back at home Monday.
Giants left fielder Barry Bonds hit a game-tying, two-run home run in the eighth inning at Great American Ball Park. A solo home run by first baseman Shea Hillenbrand with two strikes and two outs in the 10th inning off Reds relief pitcher David Weathers gave San Francisco a 5-4 win before a Labor Day crowd of 25,515.
"We've played a couple real close ball games and had opportunities to win them," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "At some point we'll get it going."
Time is running out.
The Reds have lost three consecutive and nine of their past 10 to fall off the pace in the National League Central and into the crowded wild-card race.
Now they may be without Ken Griffey Jr. for a few games.
Griffey dislocated the second toe on his right foot trying to turn Bonds' home run to right-center field into an out.
"I thought it was way out of here," said Reds starting pitcher Aaron Harang, who allowed four runs on six hits and struck out nine over eight innings. "I knew he got it. I thought it was a lot further than that. Junior said he just missed it."
Bonds was 0-for-3 in the game, and 1-for-10 lifetime against Harang before batting in the eighth and tying the game at four.
"I thought we had the match-up we wanted," Narron said. "I know it's right versus left. But the way Harang had been pitching, I'm very comfortable with that."
The offensive problems that dogged the Reds during the 2-8 road trip that ended Sunday hurt their chances Monday. They left 11 men on base and were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
A bases loaded infield single by shortstop Rich Aurilia scored Ryan Freel from third and gave the Reds a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. That accounted for the team's only hit with runners in scoring position.
Aurilia finished 3-for-5 with two singles and a solo home run that led off the second inning.
The Reds left runners on base in the sixth, seventh and eighth and were retired in order in the ninth and 10th innings.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

REDS NOTEBOOK
Almost no clue who’ll get start

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>TONY TRIBBLE ASSOCIATED PRESS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Reds reliever David Weathers looks at a new ball after the previous one was hit over the fence by Shea Hillenbrand for the deciding run. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


CINCINNATI — Reds manager Jerry Narron acknowledged the to-be-announced status of his starter for the Wednesday afternoon game against San Francisco with a smile and barely audible answer.
"It’s a mystery," said Narron, before adding that said "mystery" throws a baseball righthanded.
General manager Wayne Krivsky was even less effusive when pressed on the subject yesterday. He pointed toward the Giants’ dugout.
"We want to keep (reporters) in suspense," Krivsky said, "and those guys in suspense."
The right-handed clue provided by Narron eliminated lefty Chris Michalak as a person of interest. Of the pitchers currently in the Cincinnati clubhouse, reliever Ryan Franklin is a possibility, though he hasn’t started a game this season.
Two other prime suspects are lurking in the minor leagues: veteran Jason Johnson and wunderkind Homer Bailey. After signing a minor-league contract Aug. 30, Johnson made one start for triple-A Louisville and allowed five runs in five innings. He was a combined 3-12 with a 6.35 ERA for Cleveland and Boston this season.
Bailey, the top pitching prospect in the organization, is 7-1 with a 1.59 ERA for double-A Chattanooga. He faced seven batters in his most recent start, on Saturday, allowing three hits and four walks.
General hospital

Closer Eddie Guardado will throw off the bullpen mound today to test his sore left forearm. Guardado, who was eligible to come off the disabled list yesterday, said the arm still hurts.
"I played catch (Sunday) and it felt good," Guardado said. "I’m feeling better. I think it’s not going to be 100 percent until I get fully rested in the wintertime. If I can deal with the pain I’ve got right now, that’s fine. I can deal with that."
Roster moves

The Reds recalled infielder Ray Olmedo from triple-A Louisville and purchased the contract of outfielder DeWayne Wise from the Bats. To make room on the 40-man roster for Wise, Cincinnati recalled pitcher Elizardo Ramirez from Louisville and placed him on the 60-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder.
[email protected]

 

[coastalbuck]

Great outing by Arroyo, much needed.

Link

As to who's starting today, this should answer it.. Link

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

REDS 3 GIANTS 0
Arroyo’s three-hitter comes at good time
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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CINCINNATI – Consider the tree branch dropped within reach of the jungle explorer up to his armpits in quicksand. Or the life jacket tossed to the overboard sailor about to go under for the third time.
The sigh of relief breathed by the Reds last night in Great American Ball Park followed a similar and sorely needed rescue from the brink. Bronson Arroyo played the part of the intrepid hero, pitching Cincinnati to a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants that at least momentarily halted the team’s free fall in the standings.
Pitching on three days’ rest, Arroyo (12-9) stymied the Giants on three hits with a generous dose of off-speed pitches while posting his first complete-game shutout.
His teammates helped by hanging three first-inning runs on Matt Morris (10-12) that essentially sealed the deal for Arroyo. He retired the first nine hitters of the game and faced the minimum 12 batters in the final four innings.
"Today was probably one, two or three of the easiest starts I’ve had all year," Arroyo said. "I didn’t have to throw max effort in hardly any inning. I was throwing a lot of offspeed stuff, taking off of my fastball. I really didn’t have to hump up and throw too many hard pitches. It allows you to pitch deep in the game and stay fresh."
The victory was only the second in 11 games for the Reds, who now must master the concept of winning more than one in a row to make up some of the lost ground created by the slump. They pulled back into a tie with the Giants for fourth place in the wild-card standings.
The outcome didn’t change the ongoing offensive struggles for the Reds. Rich Aurilia and Todd Hollandsworth each had three hits and an RBI. Edwin Encarnacion delivered a sacrifice fly in the first-inning uprising that Morris fueled with four walks. The Reds were 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position in the final seven innings.
"(Morris) didn’t have good command in the first inning," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "We’ve been missing things like just a sac fly with a man on third base. So Eddie’s sac fly was big for us because that’s something we’ve missed over the last couple of weeks."
The early runs offered a nice change for everyone.
"It was big, not just for me but for the whole club" Arroyo said. "For some reason we get ahead one or two runs it seems like we play a totally different game than when we’re behind one or two. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s confidence. Something happens when we’re down early in the game. It seems like we can’t get out of that rut sometimes."
Defense, of course, helps. Aurilia opened the game at shortstop and moved to third base for the ninth inning. He started an around-the-horn double play that allowed Arroyo to finish the game and led to an extended sigh from the remnants of the 20,751 fans.
"We didn’t really pound the ball, but we scored early, which is big for us," Aurilia said. "And Bronson just threw zeroes up there, zero after zero. Threenothing right now looks like a blowout because we haven’t been scoring. Hopefully (today), we can come out and just take the series. We’re still alive. We’re still OK."
[email protected]

Dispatch

REDS NOTEBOOK
Dislocated toe on right foot keeps Griffey out of lineup
He suffered injury on Bonds’ home run
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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CINCINNATI – A dislocated toe on his right foot kept Ken Griffey Jr. out of the Reds’ lineup last night. He suffered the injury Monday night when he climbed the wall in rightcenter field in a failed attempt to rob San Francisco’s Barry Bonds of an eighthinning, tworun homer. Griffey’s cleats stuck long enough in the padding for the toe to pop out of its socket.
"I didn’t get a good grip on the wall," Griffey said. "I started to slide down and got caught. That’s when I felt it. Right now, it’s just waiting for the swelling to go down, and that’s it."
He isn’t expected to play today in the series finale. Being sidelined with Cincinnati’s postseason hopes fading is more painful than the toe.
"This is not a good time to do anything to anybody’s body, especially with the way we’ve been playing the last 12 days," Griffey said. "The biggest thing is to win a few to get back in this thing. We’re not out of it."
Mystery solved

The Reds filled in the pitching blank for the start today against the Giants by acquiring righthander Sun-Woo Kim yesterday from the Colorado Rockies for cash and future considerations.
Kim, 29, previously has pitched for the Boston Red Sox, Montreal Expos, Washington Nationals and Rockies.
He spent most of this season in triple-A with Colorado Springs, where he posted an 8-6 record with a 5.05 ERA as a starter. He was 0-0 with a 19.29 ERA in six relief appearances for the Rockies.
"We reached a verbal agreement on Saturday," Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said. "He has a good arm and our scouts thought he was worth taking at shot at. He’s got majorleague experience and he’s versatile."
Another reason could be his history with San Francisco. Kim pitched a complete game in beating the Giants 6-0 last September in Coors Field. He was pleased to receive the chance from Cincinnati.
"I was in Colorado Springs and my last outing I thought I was done for the season," he said. "But Cincinnati is giving me a chance."
The Reds designated Louisville left-hander Mike Gosling for assignment. Krivsky will have to make another roster move today when right-handed pitcher Jason Johnson joins the team from Louisville.
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Narron unsure what happened to high-octane offense
Reds manager unable to explain slump that has dampened playoff hopes

Friday, September 08, 2006

Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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CINCINNATI ? Coming out of spring training, hitting and run production headed the short list of things Reds manager Jerry Narron didn?t think would cause problems in 2006.
With 22 regular-season games remaining and playoff hopes dwindling, Narron is left to wonder what went wrong with the Cincinnati offense.
"It seems like all year it?s been tough," he said. "I?ve felt all along at some point we were going to get more than one guy hot at a time. It seems like we?ve only had one or two guys hot at the same time."
Despite periods of inconsistency, the Reds looked headed toward a second consecutive 200-home run season even after trading right fielder Austin Kearns and shortstop Felipe Lopez to the Washington Nationals following the All-Star break.
Rich Aurilia, Brandon Phillips and David Ross helped fill the power void enough that the Reds trailed first-place St. Louis by only .0004 of a percentage point in the National League Central on Aug. 24 and held a 1?-game lead in the wild-card standings.
That?s the day the Earth stood still. The Reds stumbled into the deepest team slump of the season and so far haven?t found the exit. They have lost 10 of the past 12 games to drop six games behind St. Louis in the division and 4? games behind San Diego in the wild card.
"We need to keep playing hard," Edwin Encarnacion said. "Nothing happens that is good for us. We?re hitting the ball good, but right at people. I know we?re going to come out of it."
That?s easier said than done. The 3-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday in Great American Ball Park followed a familiar theme. The Reds were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. They are 13 for 104 (.125) in those situations since reaching the high-water mark Aug. 24.
After the latest loss, players struggled to answer questions about the lack of offense.
"I have no idea," Adam Dunn said. "We?re just playing bad at the wrong time. When you?ve played 100-and-whatever many games, and when it starts counting, everyone goes into a slump, it?s very frustrating.
"We can go out and take extra batting practice. But it?s not going to do anything. The good thing is we?ve got the (Pittsburgh) Pirates coming in, and as bad as we?ve been playing we?re still (close). There?s still a chance."
The Pirates currently are in last place in the Central but would love nothing better than to scuttle the Reds in the threegame series, which begins at 7:10 tonight. Cincinnati needs three wins to make the following Tuesday-Thursday series with San Diego meaningful.
"We know we can?t keep spinning our wheels here or going backward," Narron said. "We?ve got to win. We?ve got to win quite a few games. At some point, I keep believing that we?re going to get a full lineup of guys swinging (well) for a few days. If we can do that over the last few weeks, we?ll win a lot of games."
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[coastalbuck]

I'm listening right now, it's time to play.. Lets go Reds..

 

[jlb1705]

Well, I went on vacation, and apparently, so did the Reds' bats. :(

 

[CCI]

Well, I went on vacation, and apparently, so did the Reds' bats. :(

Just when i start bragging the reds let me down again. I sure hope they will turns things around in the final weeks of the reg season and at least make the wild card. get red hott Cinci

 

[coastalbuck]

Well, I went on vacation, and apparently, so did the Reds' bats. :(

So it's your fault!!! I'm glad your back...

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