Reds Tidbits (2007 Season)

[Fungo Squiggly]

If there is a worse home plate umpire than C.B. Buckner, I've yet to see him call a game. The guy is terrible.

 

[Dryden]

Have listened to Thom and Chris over the past two games of this home stand on FSN Ohio, and heard quite possibly the most frightening thing ever.

Managerial candidates for 2008 include Bob Brenley, Dusty Baker, and Joe Girardi.

God help me, if any of these three are hired, I quit the Reds and start throwing darts to find a new team.

 

[jlb1705]

Dusty Baker? God, why not just take any valuable pitchers this franchise has and shoot them in the head? It'd be cheaper, and would accomplish the same level of destruction.

The Cubs were smart to can his ass before he could destroy Zambrano too.

 

[Dryden]

Dusty Baker? God, why not just take any valuable pitchers this franchise has and shoot them in the head? It'd be cheaper, and would accomplish the same level of destruction.

The Cubs were smart to can his ass before he could destroy Zambrano too.

Don Baylor jump started the destruction in Chi-Town, so we can't put all the blame on Dusty. After all, he was busy taking five years off of Jason Schmidt's career before he even became a Cubbie.

Brenley didn't do Johnson, Schilling, or Kim any favors in Arizona, either. Sure they won a series, but they did that in spite of Brenley, not because of him.

Dusty Baker, though? Fuck no!

The real gem in Baker's coaching philosophy is that hitters should be up there hacking away. Uh huh, that's exactly what this Reds team has needed for the past several years!

Baseball Prospectus | Articles | The Week In Quotes: March 8-14

"I think walks are overrated unless you can run... If you get a walk and put the pitcher in a stretch, that helps. But the guy who walks and can't run, most of the time they're clogging up the bases for somebody who can run."
--Dusty Baker, Cubs manager (Chicago Daily Herald)

"Who's been the champions the last seven, eight years? ...Have you ever heard the Yankees talk about on-base percentage and walks? Walks help. But you ain't going to walk across the plate. You're going to hit across the plate. That's the school I come from."
--Baker

"It's called hitting, and it ain't called walking. Do you ever see the top 10 walking? You see top 10 batting average. A lot of those top 10 do walk. But the name of the game is to hit."
--Baker

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Young Votto's bat shows pop

Friday, September 14, 2007 3:35 AM
By Jim Massie


The Columbus Dispatch

CINCINNATI -- Eight games into a budding major-league career, Joey Votto has demonstrated one intriguing quality to the Reds: a baseball fairly jumps off his bat.
The rookie first baseman exploded a double over the head of St. Louis center fielder Jim Edmonds yesterday in Great American Ball Park and drove in two runs during a 5-4 Cincinnati win.

Continued....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Brewers 5Reds 3
Reds lose as Fielder hits record shot

Sunday, September 16, 2007 3:51 AM

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE -- Prince Fielder hit his National League-leading 46th homer, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat Cincinnati 5-3 last night to stop the Reds' four-game winning streak.

Fielder's homer in the third inning off Kirk Saarloos (1-5) gave the Brewers a 3-1 lead and surpassed the previous team home run mark he shared with Gorman Thomas (1979) and Richie Sexson (2001, 2003).
Fielder extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games and is batting .422 with seven homers and 12 RBI in September.

Continued.........

 

[coastalbuck]

This is good.

"Dick Pole comes up to Mark Sheldon and I and he has the Milwaukee paper in his hand. 'Do you know this guy?' as he points at a picture of Milwaukee columnist Michael Hunt. No, we answer. 'His parents weren't thinking any better than mine where when they named him.'"​

Well done, Dick Pole.

 

[Jaxbuck]

They hire Baker and in all seriousness, I am done as a Reds fan.

They have pretty much weened me from being a real fan over the past 13 years or so anyway, it won't be a big stretch.

Swear to God, you guys can archive this...they hire Baker and it voids my lifetime fan contract(I have a willful destruction of team by management clause). I'm a fucking free agent.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Journeyman Dillon drives in four for Brewers

Monday, September 17, 2007 3:23 AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Joe Dillon was coaching baseball at Texas Tech four years ago, not playing it.
Frustrated that he never gave himself a fair shot at a big-league career, the former prospect returned and crossed the globe, playing in places such as Mexico, Japan and Venezuela while trying to prove he belonged in the majors.
Now, his journey is paying off -- in the middle of a pennant race.
Dillon drove in a career-high four runs to double his season RBI total, and Carlos Villanueva (8-4) pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Brewers to a 5-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds yesterday.

Continued....

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Cubs score three in ninth, top Reds

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 3:27 AM



Associated Press

CHICAGO -- Mark DeRosa hit a go-ahead single against a five-man infield -- tying his career best with his fifth hit of the game -- and the Chicago Cubs rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 last night and hang onto first place in the National League Central.

Continued......

 

[Dryden]

Another solid performance by Harang last night to run his record to 3-0 in this seasons head-to-heads with Zambrano.

A sampling of some of Harang's starts:

April 18 6.0 3 1 1 0 2 8
May 15 9.0 2 1 1 0 4 7
May 25 8.0 5 2 2 2 2 5
June 5 6.0 7 3 3 1 0 7
June 10 7.0 3 0 0 0 2 10
July 8 8.0 6 1 1 1 1 8
July 18 7.2 10 2 2 0 2 8
July 23 10.0 7 1 1 1 0 10
Sept 8 7.0 7 2 2 1 2 7

What's the sample? Games which Harang started, pitched 6+ innings, gave up 3 runs or fewer, yet got a no decision. I respect that the other pitcher sometimes has something to do with these contests; Harang isn't going to get the run support every single time out there, but quite frankly, from that list of 9 games above, I found 7 games which the bullpen clearly blew -- Harang left with the lead.

If Cincy's bullpen performed even at the league average, those 7 BS's would be cut down to 2, tops.

With the rest of Harang's stats, I think a 21-4 record is damn near a slam dunk for Cy Young. Keep the bullpen in your thoughts when Harang doesn't get a single CY vote again this season.

 

[Bestbuck36]

Bullshit call by the umpires tonight allowing the Cubs the go-ahead run in the 8th. Dunn clearly caught that ball in left, a great sliding grab by the way, that the ump said hit the ground. Dunn tried to complain but there was a guy running the bases and he didnt have time to really get into him. There is where having a real manager is supposed to come into play and go and and back your player. The last few days talk of Crusty Baker and Elmo P. Tuffstud coming in to manage next year have me ready to puke. What happened to the Larussa package that was supposedly being checked out?

 

[schwab]

Bullshit call by the umpires tonight allowing the Cubs the go-ahead run in the 8th. Dunn clearly caught that ball in left, a great sliding grab by the way, that the ump said hit the ground............What happened to the Larussa package that was supposedly being checked out?

Yes I thought Dunn caught that ball too. Too bad he has clearly set a precedent for not catching balls like that, or he may have got the benefit of the doubt. Clearly a BS ruling, from my living room, anyway.

I'm hearing Seattle for that LaRussa/Jocketty package.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Cubs 3Reds 2
Griffey is injured in loss to Cubs

Thursday, September 20, 2007 3:36 AM



ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO -- Alfonso Soriano hit a leadoff homer and made a great throw to preserve a tie in the top of the eighth inning. The Cubs then scored a strange, go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth after Ken Griffey Jr. was injured to beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 last night.

The victory, coupled with Houston's 5-4 win over Milwaukee, gave the Cubs a one-game lead in the National League Central.
"If ever there was a must game for us this year, truthfully this was it," manager Lou Piniella said.
Brandon Phillips hit a sharp single to left field that Soriano fielded, and his throw cut down the speedy Norris Hopper at the plate to preserve a 2-2 tie. It wasn't close.

Continued......

 

[Dryden]

Griffey injured, Dunn hits his 40th bomb at Wrigley, and the Reds bullpen blows a close game that holds huge NL Central implications.

Yup. Feels like September.

So sad to see this bullpen wreck 58-games (and counting), or whatever that number is at now. Like Thom said a week or so ago, you don't even need to be greedy, screw getting a great bullpen, just get an average one and the Reds would have the best record in MLB with about 98 wins right now.

This offense is going to be scary-good next year with guys like Keppinger, Votto, and Hopper up for the full season.

God. I hate David Ross, though.