We are going to have an abbreviated game thread today as it’s Labor Day and, well, most people aren’t going to be hanging out today discussing the game.
Starting Pitchers
Anthony DeSclafani – 9-7, 4.05 ERA
He’s been pitching well in the second half of the season, posting a 3.67 ERA in 49.0 innings. That’s come with 16 walks and 49 strikeouts. His home run rate is still concerning, but he’s been strong in every other category in the second half of the year.
Drew Smyly – 2-56, 6.95 ERA
He’s pitched better with the Phillies this season than he pitched with the Rangers. In seven starts with Philadelphia he’s posted a 4.97 ERA across 38.0 innings. He’s struggled to keep the ball in the park, but he’s really improved his walk rate in that time. With the Rangers he had 34 walks and 19 home runs allowed in just 51.1 innings.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds
- Nick Senzel – CF
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Phillip Ervin – LF
- Aristides Aquino – RF
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Curt Casali – C
- Kyle Farmer – 3B
- Anthony DeSclafani – SP
- Alex Blandino – 2B
Philadelphia Phillies
- Corey Dickerson – LF
- Brad Miller – 3B
- Bryce Harper – RF
- Rhys Hoskins – 1B
- Cesar Hernandez – 2B
- Scott Kingery – SS
- Adam Haseley – CF
- Andrew Knapp – C
- Drew Smyly – SP
Pre-Game Notes
There hasn’t been a medical update on Eugenio Suarez, but his hand does feel a lot better today.
Suarez doesn’t know the results of the MRI. Will see the doctor at 12:30. Says his hand is a lot better today. Has full movement. #reds
— John Fay (@johnfayman) September 2, 2019
Pre-game reading
Earlier today we asked a few of the Redleg Nation writers about chases, if any, that they were looking forward to following in September with the Reds essentially out of the playoff race. There were several different answers given by the staff. Go check it out.
Doug,
Anyone for that matter, why is David Bell either so obtuse or stubborn or both?!?!? Look at our lineup today. Vanmeter cant play against a mediocre lefty over Alex Blandino? Are we really going Iglesias, Casali, Farmer, blandino??
Bell is an utter joke – dude ain’t got a single clue how bout to manage a professional MLB team . Going nowhere fast with this guy , this front office , and this owner . Please sell the team to somebody that gives a crap !
Cory Dickinson back to his favorite ballpark. Not good for Disco today.
*Dickerson
Yes, this is good news. Injury sounds almost devastating in this interview by Nightengale for the Enquirer. Verbatim: “I don’t feel good about this, but I understand this is baseball,” Suárez said. “This is how they pitched me. He got me on my hand. I just want to say put everything on God and see if I’m back this year.”
I wonder if Aristides Aquino could win ROY. What do you all think?
If we were an AL club, I could realistically see him winning, lot less challengers on that side. Unfortunately, even the Die-Hard Reds fan in me couldn’t bring myself to vote for him over guys like Soroka, Alonso and Tatis. Aquino has been insane, but NL rookie of the year is gonna be a tough one this year.
It means nothing but I called for Aquino to be brought up to the Bigs in June. It has always puzzled me why other teams often bring up their prospects earlier and the Reds usually keep them in the minors until they’re almost in their mid-twenties.
I wonder if Blandino has any problems getting a date?
Stanford is known as a bastion of academics, not so much a party school.
So we’ll lose 7-5?
Why does David Bell continue to run Wandy Peralta out there in high leverage situations? Why does Dick Williams keep bringing him back time after time?
I would say getting an impact bat is much more important. Reds are 12 of 15 in NL in batting (Runs) while 4 of 15 in pitching (ERA). Not to minimize the need to get a better closer, internally or externally. And certainly avoid the castoffs like Peralta and Duke. But according to the team stats the batting has underwhelmed this season, while the pitching (especially starting) has improved.
Some good news: with this recent slump the Reds have manuevered their way to get a top 10 draft choice (tied with the Padres at number 10 right now). From what I hear this is a strong draft class with everyone in the top 10 expected to be a difference maker. With not much else to gain I think the Reds should embrace losing for the final month. This can be blamed on the ridiculous bullpen situation. I mean how Wily Peralta can be considered a major league pitcher is beyond my ability to fathom. The Reds gave up on Hughes too soon as evidenced by his good showing today, but they weren’t going to make the post season when they decided to cut him, which to me is further evidence they are jockeying for draft position at this juncture and sorting the young arms in the pen to see who might be a keeper.
Yeah but their drafting has been awful which is why the Reds won’t be competitive any time soon
The hugging doesn’t really bother me that much, it shows unity. The problem with the butt slapping is the frequency and you just don’t ever see this behavior in any other career or sport not even soccer. When you watch the game with someone not familiar with the sport it stands right out and you have to explain it away and I don’t know how to do that without saying I think it might be from pervy little league coaches and it just became a tradition, and then I realize how bad that sounds and then you can’t not notice it anymore and how frequent and bizarre it is.
Glad Disco is getting deeper into games now. We need our starters to go 7 innings routinely if we are going to be competitive next year. The guys looked just like plain tired out there today. Hope they get some rest tonight and come out swinging tomorrow
Really disappointed in the Reds over the last few weeks. Thought they might get to 500 with the soft schedule but got swept by the Pirates, lost a game to the Marlins who started a AA guy, and nearly swept by the Cards. Yeah the bullpen sucked, and the hitting was similar to all of 2019. I really really thought this 2020 version of the Reds would move us to 500 in the last 40-50 games. But I think I was too optimistic. I am now beginning to wonder if they can keep it within 10-12 games of first. This has to be an absolute terrible feeling for Reds management who I think tried really hard to give us a competitive product this year. And maybe they will win 18 of the last 25 or so. But if they dont, one really has to ask what has to change between the current 2020 team and the 2020 spring version? One thing I think we will need is more speed among the starters. We lose too many runs with Winker, Votto, and Barnhardt on the bases. 2nd and SS are better but not overwhelming. We also need more patient hitters ….. like Van Meter. I don’t necessarily mean walks but I mean working the count to get a more hitable pitch. Votto is a problem that needs addressing. You can’t be slow, hit 260, and drive in 45 runs and bat anywhere but the bottom third of the order. We have tradable assets toward improving this team. Ervin, Winker, Stephenson, Greene, and Lorenzen would seemingly be enticing. I would look at the stars on other bottom tier teams. Like 2+ young guys for Merrifield. Etc.
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