| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Phillies (71-65) | 7 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (64-74) | 1 | 7 | 2 |
| W: Smyly (3-6) L: DeSclafani (9-8) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
THE GOOD
— Aristides Aquino hit a home run. [Make sure to check if still true before hitting publish.] Yep, still true. Drew Smyly missed a fastball out over the plate, and the Punisher sent the ball to the moon as a result.
— In addition to the dinger, Aquino made a spectacular running catch on a smoked Bryce Harper liner in the sixth. The ball seemed destined for a double, but Aquino charged back toward the wall and leaped to catch it at the edge of the warning track.
— Alex Blandino made a slick play in the top of the second, catching Andrew Knapp’s liner and firing to first to double off Adam Haseley for the first two outs. Welcome back to show, Dino.
— Walks and dingers did Anthony DeSclafani in today after what was an otherwise solid start. Disco went 7.0 innings, striking out eight. The two long balls and walks that preceded them ultimately made the difference.
THE BAD
— DeSclafani almost had a five pitch first inning, but Bryce Harper’s groundball skipped right over Joey Votto‘s glove into right field. It was in-between hop to be sure, but Votto did look to be caught on his heels. Harper hustled to second, bringing up Rhys Hoskins with the potential to put the Phils in the lead, but Disco struck out Hoskins on five pitches. No harm, no foul.
— Disco’s escape act only lasted that one batter though, as he walked Cesar Hernandez to start the second. The next batter, Scott Kingery, hit a lunging, off-balance, Todd Frazier special out to right field. 2-0 Phillies.
— Then, in the top of the third, Disco faced Hoskins again with two outs. Instead of striking out the slugging first baseman, DeSclafani grooved a middle-middle fastball and Hoskins did what he does, sending it out to deep center. 4-1 Phils.
— Nick Senzel struck out twice on breaking balls to start the game, both with awkward, flailing swings. Even after a solid showing in yesterday’s second game, Senzel has scuffled of late. Making matters worse, after a single to lead off the sixth, Senzel got caught on the basepaths.
— Wandy Peralta iced the game for the Phillies in the eighth, giving up a two-run homer to Harper then a solo shot to Hoskins. All of a sudden, the Reds were down by six.
NOT SO RANDOM THOUGHTS
— Curt Casali got a single out of some miscommunication in the bottom of the second when Kingery and Corey Dickerson both decided the other was going to catch the ball. I honestly find no baseball play more hilarious than that. Just two guys deciding that ball is someone else’s responsibility and looking at each other like utter dolts when no one takes charge. Priceless.
— The rest of this season feels pretty forgettable, doesn’t it? Aquino continues to prove himself while everyone else seems like a known quantity. Maybe Josh VanMeter should play every day but that’s about the hottest take left. Meh.
Up Next
Phillies at Reds
Vince Velazquez (6-7, 4.86 ERA) vs. Alex Wood (1-3, 5.80 ERA)
6:40 EST
And Joey has to understand he is not getting the close calls anymore. He needs to start hacking at anything close.
Certainly with two strikes. Votto has taken too many third strikes this season.
I’d love to know exactly how many strike 3s he’s just watched this year. Is there a way to find that out?
@ Ed: Baseball Reference under Votto’s advanced stats. Look for the L/SO stat. It says 49 times this year (career high) which accounts for 45.8% of his strikouts this year.
@ Jim Walker: Just hover over the heading “Finders & Advanced Stats” then click on Advanced Stats under the Batting header.
Joey May be struggling this year; partially related to injury, mostly to aging. However, I trust Joeys instincts and knowledge over any couch-side fans opinion.
I said PARTIALLY to injury, MOSTLY to aging. You and I are not Joey Votto, nor are we close enough to his inner circle to discount him being injured. If the Reds and Joey Votto say he was injured then most likely that is a truth.
What I’m not a fan of with some of the Reds fans, is dumping a player that has contributed to the team over many years to play a rookie who has had 5-10 slightly above average games. We’ve done this with Barry Larkin and BP and now some Want to cut Votto for unproven talent. In Vottos case, give him a chance to rebound next year, if he falls short of expectations, then slowly phase him out.
An aging Votto is definitely going to be an issue. That is on top of multiple issues for the Reds. Very few answers in the farm system.
The Reds are now 10 games under .500 and have a set solid rotation. The Reds are a long long way from the top teams in MLB. The Astros and Yankees are 41 games over .500. Dodgers and Braves are close. The Dodgers and Yankees just bring in players all the time that perform. Two teams that have more challenges than the Reds are 20 and 23 games over .500 in the A’s and Rays.
The rebuild was a complete failure. It is an example of what not to do.
Senzel was a solid draft pick. The remaining top picks during this horrible stretch is not showing much promise.
As Chad noted on a recent podcast, how do teams like the A’s and Rays do so well?
A’s and Rays are the blueprint, instead Reds fans want long extensions for the likes of Gennett, Dietrich, Iglesias, Galvis, Puig, etc. Once the Reds realize that signing aging/average at best players, then there is a chance to compete.
The Reds talent level is so far from the elite teams, a total rethinking of a plan is needed
Wouldn’t Cleveland also be considered a good example of what to do? I’ve actually developed a ton more respect for Francona than I had before this year (even as a former resident of Boston)… He’s a fantastic manager and their FO seems to have their heads on straight.
Puig FITS in their model, and they’re going to nail a wild card spot. Therefore, what’s the problem with OUR expectations? Reds just have way too many deficiencies all over the field, and an overall attitude that seems to lend itself towards losing ballgames.
Trading for Bauer was a really bold move, a great vision for the future, and maybe even a way to have added some extra Ws this year. but in it’s looking like it’s going to go down as a total ridiculous, absurd misplay. Maybe he’ll magically get his juice back.
The Indians DID ‘sneak on in’ after the break, after the trade deadline. The choices the Reds made buried them in the cellar, just three or four games above the Pirates. Such a bummer.
I do get the gist of what you’re saying- and I’d give you Gennett, Dietrich, and Galvis. I personally think Iglesias could be a good shortstop for the right team. Unlike those other guys, he is a great ballplayer. But when you have 0 bats in the lineup… When 2 or 3 of your 5 starters are just offering up 8 runs every 9 innings… And an unreliable, emotional bullpen that gives away leads…
Wanting to watch Iglesias for his defensive prowess is absolutely the smallest part of the problem right now.
Interesting article about this on MLBtraderumors
“Currently, there are only four players—Diego Castillo, Austin Pruitt, Nate Lowe, and Kevin Kiermaier—on the Rays active roster who can claim that Tampa was their first professional stateside club. Every other player suiting up for Tampa these days was signed, drafted, or developed by a different MLB organization.
For context, this is far more than most teams in the current AL playoff race. According to Roster Resource, the Red Sox (10), Yankees (18), Astros (15), Indians (19), and Twins (9) don’t even come close to the Rays in terms of trade-acquired 40-man roster players. The only other competitive team with a somewhat similar roster makeup is Oakland, with 25 such players. “
Agreed.
Take away our start to the season, give us a few W’s in these one run losses and this team is competitive within our division. Winning starts at the top of an organization. Watching this team play day in, day out, you can see the lack of “team focus” on winning. It’s all about “my AB’s”. Just look at the silly defense and base running errors. We have enough talent, just need to learn how to play with an “expect to win attitude”.
For some heat and interest to be generated the Red’s front office needs to be proactive this offseason, and one of the questions to be resolved is whether they’re going with a veteran double play combo like J. Iglesias/Galvis or start 2020 with JVM at second base.
Trying to hit hit the ball hard into the shift over and over is really boring to watch.If a professional baseball teams players can’t hit a GROUNDER down the line in today’s baseball he is useless.Honestly this entire team.They all take a low an outside pitch,best for easy grounder down the line,to swing at middle up outside (which they foul off majority time)so they can drive the ball.Someone tell the marketers I don’t want 4 hats and 4 tickets for 48 dollars,easier to watch at home.Aguino and Suárez swinging for dollars and continuing to lose ,time to stop.Thank god for Jim Day ,hell he only keeps talking because he gets paid.
Actually we get more than a half of season out of Farmer and in truth just to get out of the Bailey contract I would have taken Farmer straight up. He has been a pretty valuable piece off the bench, particularly when Barnhardt and Casali both went down.
What has happened is the site down? There is nothing on here since Monday’s game.