Ugh. Why can’t I get a nice, easy, happy recap?
Cubs 8, Reds 7
Good Things that Are Good
–Joey Votto, Scooter Gennett, and Eugenio Suarez did exactly what you want them to do every day. the heart of the order was 6-12 with a homer and 3 walks. Too bad they couldn’t get it done at the end.
Tom Browning calls for a 3-run homer.
TOM BROWNING GETS HIS 3-RUN HOMER. pic.twitter.com/QrNYzZBRH5
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 7, 2018
Ain't no home run party without a little salsa! #RedsCountry pic.twitter.com/FrXKnzgv26
— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) July 7, 2018
–Billy Hamilton was 3-4 with 3 steals today. That’ll do.
–Matt Harvey was once again good. he clearly didn’t have his best stuff, but he still handled one of the better teams in the league. The Reds may very well get quite a return for him sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Bad Things that are Bad
–Ugh Bullpen
–Scott Schebler had a rough day today, losing two balls in the sun and failing to reach base at all.
Thoughtful Thinks
–I’ve tweeted this several times, but I haven’t written it here anywhere. Joey Votto has an OBP of .428 he leads the league by .030 over Freeman. It would be his seventh time leading the league. Here’s the complete list of players who have lead the league in OBP seven or more times: Bonds, Williams, Ruth, Cobb, Hornsby. Yes, that is the complete list. Joey Votto is a Hall of Famer.
–Jose Peraza didn’t have the best day today, but he walked and stole a base. He has reached base in every game except one since May 26, during which time he has an OPS over .850 for 152 plate appearances. That’s a long stretch of hitting very well.
–Let’s beat the Cubs tomorrow, sound good?
Heartbreaker today. Let’s get ’em tomorrow! GO REDS!
Thats two 7-2 leads blown in a week and Garrett also blew Disco’s best outing vs Milw when he gave up that bomb to Thames. The offense is impressive but I know they want to be more then Colorado East? Its up to DW?
Exactly two terrible outings by Garrett this week. People want yo start him? He can’t pitch multiple innings.
Cant win them all. Just try to win each series. Astros called up their big prospect Tucker today. Keep an eye on that one since they are dying for relief pitchers.
And Yankees just called up Frazier.
garrett cant start so please people stop saying he should. .the numbers dont lie. this blowing lead stuff is awful.
You realize that Garrett started last year, and did quite well until the injury, right? Did you watch baseball last year?
Two bad outings does not a justification make.
They give us some runs and we give them back.Garrett walked two guys back to back in the eighth inning which you just can’t do.He knows it as does everybody else but you have to make em hit to beat you.Go get em tomorrow.
I don’t think Garrett has been the same since he took that ball off the leg. Maybe send him to the DL for 10 days to make sure he’s healthy?
I am with you on this one. Garrett probably came back too soon. His leg might be causing him to change his delivery a little bit. But he has been hit hard since that injury.
The Bandwagon is losing people left and right again. Last week the bullpen was awesome. Today they are all bums.
Guess that Suarez guy is pretty good. Barring serious injury I have to believe that we will look back and thank the Reds FO for the extension they gave him.
Saurez is also leading NL in OPS. Not too shabby
Long, long term I wonder if Joey would be interested in coaching after his playing days are over.
Votto is more cerebral, you want him in upper management, not at the field level coaching. His hitting approach is no secret, it’s not a thing that can be taught, a batter simply decides on their approach and experiments with plate discipline, learning pitch recognition, hoping for success.
If Votto is such a great hitting coach why would Cozart have struggled for so long, why would Billy Hamilton struggle at the plate? Been in the papers the past several years both have tried to absorb Votto’s knowledge, with limited success.
Perhaps the most important thing Votto learned came from Pete Rose – don’t take any at bats off. What’s the difference between a .250 hitter and a .300 hitter? A little over one more hit per week?
Scott Schebler had a rough day today, losing two balls in the sun…
He always does! Hamilton covers his “lost in the sun” all the time. Hey, bullpen’s been great so an implosion will happen now and then. Get ‘um tomorrow.
Well hopefully in the Reds front office they have someone with enough of an analytical background to convince them that bunting all the time is not going in our favor? The way Rizzo charges makes it impossible to bunt. They had 2 men on and Chatwood swinging away in a bunt situation. Why do we go in auto-bunt every time? Perhaps Harvey advances Peraza on a little chopper somewhere? Either way Peraza has to score on Hamilton’s hit!
It really defeats the purpose of many guys possessing a decent obp if our guys run the bases in a clueless manner. Winker gets an rbi hit and then can’t make it to 2nd when they throw home (off-line) and then to 3rd? What was he doing? He could’ve walked to 2nd base.
Look what Gabe Kapler is doing with Philly. We need a younger manager that understands the numbers, but can communicate with his guys too. Riggleman is actually doing ok except for all the bunting. He double switches too much, but I usually agree with the quick hook. He pulled Hernandez today after a leadoff HR, but thats because lefties were coming up and Garrett mowed them down 1-2-3.
They’re not that far away at all! Trade Harvey if you have to…..with Iggy, Billy, Dilson, and maybe Hughes or Hernandez (34 next year). Find a starter somewhere and atleast 1 guy for the pen that can handle high leverage. There are guys out there! Tampa has a lefty Ryne Stanek that they’re mostly using to start for 1 inning. He’s throwing 99 mph and holding hitters to a .139 average.
This is a critical time for Dick Williams because Votto isn’t getting any younger and everyone is sick and tired of rebuilding. Get some help in here and find some playing time for Stephenson and Dilson or trade them!
The throw was clearly over the head of the cut off man from the get go. Whether or not it was off line that should have been the trigger for them both to be moving up. As I said it is not just one man, as a team they don’t run the bases well. They do stupid stuff and miss opportunities on the flip side.
As far as specific individuals, if a guy can’t make it on a play like that, it is a serious skills deficiency. With an aging superstar like Votto, it is the price paid for his remaining strengths. In a rookie, the view should be the guy has to be head and shoulders better than a potential replacement in other aspect(s).
The Cubs are a good team and make you throw strikes and when you don’t well today happened.Sometimes they get you and sometimes you get them.I hope we stay the course and look toward the future and can fill some our needs at the deadline.Bull pen arms are valued at the deadline but in reality these guys have their ups and downs during the season and year to year.Only the elite guys.mainly closers,are good all the time and there aren’t many of these.So far our pen has been very good with multiple guys being lights out at times but not today.Lost in all of this is their pen shut us down after the starter left in the 6th
Lets not get caught up in the we think we can idea because the numbers don’t say we can’t so lets get Bob up here and give him some starts and Herrera should play tomorrow and against every lefty we see.If Scooter is still here after the break then we can push the reset button and move on.
Would be a tough way to start Dilsons Reds career against Lester one of the leagues premier pitchers.
Thought Amir pitched lights out to get out of the 7th.Questionable leaving him in to pitch the 8th,but thats hindsight.When he walked 1st batter he should have been replaced.He used up his juice going 1-2-3 in the 7th.
Harvey should never have been pulled,but it seems riggs doesnt let the starters finish the 7th inning.Very quick hook after the 5th inning,game after game.Harvey had a ton left when pulled ,would have gone 1-2-3 if not for that blown popup double.Probably had an inning more in the tank.
I usually like Riggleman but today he might have cost us the game.
Key managerial move was having the runner going from first for the Cubs when they scored the 8th run.Do we ever let runners other than bham and Peraza go on the pitch?That was a game winning subtle move by Maddon.
Interesting Doolittle column at ESPN on Harvey:
“Keeping Harvey and watching him walk for nothing would be a rough outcome for the Reds. Because they acquired him during the season, Cincinnati wouldn’t receive any draft pick compensation if he were to leave. If Harvey is going to play elsewhere next season as a free-agent signee, then if the Reds are going to capitalize on him, he can’t be with them a month from now.”
For the full article, see:
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24031734/mlb-matt-harvey-made-quality-trade-target.
That’s certainly true, but I’m not sure how much has Harvey done to capitalize himself as a trade asset during his tenure with the Reds. Same goes for Duvall and Hamilton, a couple of 2nd tier prospects at the very best from them. I’d rather keep Harvey until season’s end to provide some rotation estability while allowing others to strenght themselves, then I’d kick the tires on him.
Riggleman also said after the game he wasn’t using Lorenzen or Iglesias.
Chapman left the game for the Yankees yesterday with lingering knee issues. Sonny Gray has been bad (5.85). The young guy Domingo German goes today & he’s been mostly bad (5.37). Seems like they could use Harvey and/or Iglesias. If they don’t win the division then its Severino in the wildcard game and they’re trying to match up with Cole/Verlander with Sabathia/Tanaka. Thats not good for them!
I think the Reds could get Clint Frazier and maybe some promising arms from them!
There is no one stat that is worth using as a be all end all for comparing offensive run production contribution. That’s probably as foolhardy as thinking there is a grand unified theory that sums up existence within one elegant equation.
There are a number of flaws with wRC+, starting with the following culled from FanGraphs description of wRC or wRC+ :
* wRC and wRC+ are context neutral, meaning that a hit with men on base and a hit with no one on are weighed equally and the score of the game or inning in which the event occurred does not matter.
wRC and wRC+ might be good at judging individualized accomplishment, but sorely lacks in considering value added toward TEAM SUCCESS.