Fresh off yesterday’s domination of Cleveland, the undefeated Cincinnati Reds play the Colorado Rockies today at Goodyear Ballpark at 3:05 p.m. ET. Radio broadcast on WLW.
Bryan Price’s Game Two lineup:
- Billy Hamilton DH
- Dilson Herrera 2B
- Jesse Winker LF
- Devin Mesoraco C
- Phillip Ervin CF
- Patrick Kivlehan 1B
- Phil Gosselin SS
- Aristedes Aquino RF
- Cliff Pennington 3B
The starting pitcher is Michael Lorenzen.
If you’re starting to get discouraged about Bryan Price batting Billy Hamilton leadoff again in 2018, I feel your pain. It appears Price is willing to allow a few plate appearances in spring training to matter more than Hamilton’s anemic 1650 career PA batting leadoff. It’s nuts to use spring training at bats to make that kind of decision in the face of so much contrary evidence.
It’s early. It’s even early to say “it’s early.”
But Price hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt on this issue.
The Reds will play split squad games tomorrow. Homer Bailey will start against Cleveland and Luis Castillo will start against the White Sox. Anthony DeSclafani will start on Tuesday.
Well, Price seems committed to platooning and he has said that while Billy will likely lead-off to begin with, he (Price) will look at match-ups to see who leads of and he (Billy) will have to produce. Of course, I guess we have heard that before.
Interesting that Gosselin plays short with Pennington at 2B. These guys are vying for the same roster spot and Gosselin delivered two hits and a SB yesterday. If he can play shortstop with any skill he might have the edge as he is def. a better hitter than Pennington who is a gloveman first and foremost. I’d rather have the offense for a bench player so I am rooting for the Goose.
Hey I am gonna throw this out there and see if anyone is interested.. basically i live in Vegas, but I want to go watch the Reds this summer… so I am thinking of renting a place for maybe 6 months but I am gonna need roommates who are cool and into the Reds so we can watch games on tv and go to games. I will look for a place in Covington or Newport, KY as my experience is that is the best location to commute to games from, although I have done it from the Cincinnati side too, but not as nice an experience (near UC). So hit me up if interested.
Or if anyone has a room for rent near the ballpark please let me know… I am in my 40s, laid back, straight male, with a kid in college.
Pennington and Herrera are both listed at 2b. I hope it’s Herrera, I’ve never seen him play in the field.
I noticed someone referred to him as the Fonz over at Red Reporter, or maybe it was here I can’t remember… but its funny then I see people calling him Winkler instead of Winker (i.e. Henry Winkler played the Fonz on Happy Days).
No… I don’t think Hamilton should be leading off. That said, I want him to get as many bats in the spring as possible to get him ready for the year. I think he should get the bulk of time in center not because he may or may not be the long term answer in the outfield… but because he WILL be solid up the middle for a pitching staff that quite frankly is too young to deal with defensive miscues. I want the pitching staff to be relaxed so we can see who is actually good on the mound. I want the best fielding team possible most of the time. And if Hamilton is the best fielder, then I want him to at least be passable at the plate and ready to go on opening day. Now if Price bats him first opening day?… Well… not quite as defensible is it…
Cheers for no off day after Game 1, like with the regular season.
Aquino starting in RF.
I had to look it up. He appeared in 15 games last ST (29 ABs). Never would have guessed that many.
I guess everyone ends up getting some looks once all the split squad games start kicking in.
While Perez has experienced a wide variance in overall effectiveness throughout his major-league career, his reputation against left-handed hitters is solid. He’s faced them a total of 1,541 times and held them to just a .228/.318/.365 batting line. That skill has still managed to hold up as he’s aged, as evidenced by the .227/.301/.364 batting line of his lefty opponents in 2017.
from Mlbtraderumors…. sounds like a nice fit as a LOOGY to me
Here’s another trade possibility, Billy Hamilton to an A.L. club as a designated hitter.
I’ll get accustomed to the fact that Billy will be leading off this season as long as Price is the manager.
That would seem a bit harsh, the guy can play defense and be disruptive on the basepaths when he does get on. His value as an everyday player isn’t high in my estimation, unless he’s playing on a contender with really good hitters at pretty much every other position.
No walks for cody
Not a good day against the Rockies with Billy leading off as the DH. Winker came through with a hit and BB in two AB’s. Not the best game for Reed and Hernandez.
Scorers need spring training too
I think the scoring takes into account that the throwing error happened in the same play as the wild pitch. Then, the 5th batter of the inning hit a single so the run would have scored anyways. If he would have retired the 5th batter it would have been an unearned run.
I’m no book-keeping master, but I’ve been trying to make sense of it as well and that’s the best I could come up with.
JT is right. I asked John Faye about it, and he was told the single made the run earned. However, this is a good example of why stats like SIERA, FIP, and xFIP are better indicators of pitching performance than ERA.
If Barnhardt (a superior catcher) is in the game, he likely blocks the strikeout pitch and completes the inning. No runs scored. If Billy Hamilton is in CF instead of Philip Ervin, the softly hit single that made the run earned is an out and the inning is over. The two hits were bloops in the right place. It happens.