It’s not very often that you’ll wind up at a professional sporting even where before anything begins you know that the story of the event is going to have nothing to do with the competition. Today is one of those days in Cincinnati. Marty Brennaman will be making his final broadcast for the Reds today. He’s been doing the job since 1974 for Cincinnati. He’s been around for the good, the bad, and the truly ugly. There have been incredible game calls. And there have been truly great Banana Phone calls with Adam from Milwaukee. Then there was the whole ripping apart of Cubs fans. It was no Lee Elia rant, but it was pretty good.
It’s the final home game of the year. And there’s going to be a “Marty Party” on the field after the game. There will be a stage on the field where Marty Brennaman will join Jim Day at the pitchers mound and have some sort of event to take part in. Fans at the game will get a handheld radio and ear buds if they are among the first 20,000 through the gates and they will be able to listen to the game call without delay at the ballpark.
Before the game there will also be a ceremony to honor Marty Brennaman and his career. There will be messages from “former Reds players, fellow broadcasters, and other celebrities” according to the Reds.
It’s going to be memorable for all kinds of reasons. Maybe the game that takes place between celebrations can also play a role in all of our memories, too.
If you are outside of the Reds television market, then you can watch the game on MLB Network this afternoon. It will feature the audio from 700 WLW for Marty Brennaman’s call for the entirety of the broadcast. In the local market the game is on Fox Sports Ohio and they will only share Marty’s call for the 9th inning. And none of that makes an ounce of sense. The people, the fans in Cincinnati and in “Reds country” are the ones that care about this. The random baseball fan in Omaha turning the game on this afternoon on MLB Network may have heard of Marty Brennaman, but they don’t really care that much about that aspect of this. Whoever is responsible for not having the same thing done for Fox Sports Ohio really messed this up.
Starting Pitchers
Luis Castillo (15-7, 3.25 ERA, 185.2 IP, 22 HR, 75 BB, 218 K)
The 26-year-old All-Star will be making his final start of the season today. It will be his 32nd of the season and his 5th against the Brewers. In the previous four starts against Milwaukee he’s held them to a .158/.312/.316 line and has a 3.86 ERA in 21.0 innings against them.
With Luis Castillo he’s got some interesting day/night splits. In day games he’s got a 2.82 ERA (3.53 at night) and hitters have just a .551 OPS against him (.678 at night). When it comes to his lefty/right splits he’s good against both, but there is a clear advantage for Castillo against right-handed hitters. Teams have stacked lefties against him this season, he’s faced 398 lefties this season and they’ve hit .213/.309/.378 against him. Righties have hit .186/.263/.301 against him in 360 plate appearances.
Chase Anderson (7-4, 4.30 ERA, 134.0 IP, 22 HR, 48 BB, 122 K)
Over the last month Chase Anderson hasn’t pitched deep into many games. Going back to August 18th he’s only recorded an out in the 5th inning twice over seven starts. He has pitched well in September, though while being limited in his workload. He’s made four starts and posted a 2.50 ERA in 18.0 innings.
Anderson is a right-handed pitcher, but right-handed hitters light him up while lefties really struggle against him. Righties have hit .278/.355/.534 against him, while lefties have just a .192/.264/.349 line against him. In the home/away splits he’s performed significantly worse on the road. Batters have a .915 OPS against him on the road compared to a .647 OPS at home. He also has big day/night splits. During the day hitters have an .840 OPS against him, while at night that mark is just .727.
Starting Lineups
Cincinnati Reds
- Jose Peraza – 2B
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Aristides Aquino – RF
- Josh VanMeter – LF
- Phillip Ervin – CF
- Jose Iglesias – SS
- Kyle Farmer – 3B
- Curt Casali – C
- Luis Castillo – SP
Milwaukee Brewers
- Trent Grisham – CF
- Yasmani Grandal – C
- Keston Hiura – 2B
- Eric Thames – 1B
- Cory Spangenberg – LF
- Travis Shaw – 3B
- Orlando Arcia – SS
- Ben Gamel – RF
- Chase Anderson – SP
Pre-game Notes
Eugenio Suarez hit his 49th home run of the season last night. He needs one more in the final four games of the season to be only the second Cincinnati Red to ever reach the 50 mark. George Foster’s 52 home runs in his 1977 MVP season remain the gold standard for the organization.
Will Leitch wrote about a few teams that could be big surprises in 2020, and he picked the Reds as his top pick.
The Reds were a team that was better than its record all season, though it always seemed to be doing everything a bit backward: A team that struggled with pitching for years finally figured out its rotation right as its offense imploded. But they look like a team primed to get everything in sync in 2020. Sonny Gray and Luis Castillo are a formidable 1-2 punch, and Trevor Bauer slots in behind them. And that lineup, with Eugenio Suárez, an improved (and healthy) Nick Senzel, a sure-to-return-to-form Joey Votto and the looming monster that is Aristides Aquino, could be terrifying. The Cardinals and Brewers aren’t going anywhere, and the Cubs will still have lots of talent no matter how their offseason goes. But the Reds could stun quite a few people next year.
Recently at Redleg Nation
Jeff Carr took a look at the Reds catcher situation next year and what they could do to improve it, too.
Sonny Gray had elbow surgery yesterday. It was just arthroscopic to remove some loose bodies, but still.
it is interesting to reflect on Marty’s career. You can break it up in 2 distinct chapters.
20th century Marty and 21st century Marty.
20th century Marty -3 world series championships, Joe Nuxhall, Tom Browning’s perfect game, Riverfront stadium, Pete Rose 4192, Hank Aaron 714.
21st century Marty- not nearly as many highlights. I guess Junior’s 500th and the Jay Bruce clinching homerun are the biggest ones I can think of. Kind of depressing for him and us Reds fans when you think about it.
Add Homer Bailey’s two no hitters to the list.
A good pitching matchup to bring Marty one last winning call. Please, please, make it so.
It doesn’t look like the Reds game is going to be the free game of the day though on mlb.tv? So, will only work if you already have access? Or are they opening up that game to anyone?
If it’s not the free game of the day you have to watch on Fox Sports Ohio or MLB Network.
Bah- Suarez rides the bench.
Number 50 at home would’ve been beautiful.
Grandal throwing his bat into the Reds dugout … innocent mistake or perhaps a warning he doesn’t want to be traded
Guys- JVM is a terrible, terrible outfielder.
I often criticize Marty for always being so bitter and hard on the Reds. I also think he provides a lot of opinions that he presents as fact, which I also don’t like. That said, he still calls the action on the field pretty well and I can understand his grumpiness. This past inning the Reds are shooting themselves in the foot.
I’m in a similar camp… big picture, I’ve been ready for a new voice. But small picture, I can hold all of the memories I have of the Reds and he was a big part of that. One doesn’t nullify the other. Today, I’m a little sad that Marty is going, even if it’s what I think is best.
I see the boys are sending out Marty in style. They won’t lose 90, but 88-89 losses isn’t exactly progress imo.
Does this Will Leitch guy get paid to write about baseball? He wrote “an improved (and healthy) Nick Senzel, a sure-to-return-to-form Joey Votto”
I’m going to throw some realistic math on that nugget of wisdom. Joey has about a 20% chance to return to anything Votto like. Senzel runs into walls or gets dizzy, etc. I’m going to say a 40% chance that he both improves and gets over 400 at-bats.
Put those together and you have an 8% chance that all 3 of those things happen…..and a 92% chance that this Leitch is an idiot! He just sees some decent starting pitching and writes an idiotic article to beat a deadline.
Maybe so, but he doesn’t watch these guys like we do. Joey just stared at strike 3 earlier and it absolutely cut the center of home plate in two. We hoped Ervin can prove people wrong and produce vs RHP as well. He doesn’t. JVM went in the tank. DD is horrible. They really have nobody to hang their hat on except Suarez and Aquino…and 2 guys do not a lineup make.
Bottom line….if Pittsburgh didn’t make one of the dumbest trades in recent memory (Meadows/Glascow for Archer) then the Reds would be last for the next two years atleast.
Indy Red Man hitting the nail on the head !!!!!!!!
Votto will probably never again be an MVP candidate, but a bounce back year is likely if he sticks with his current batting stance and stays in form. He has been a truly different hitter since going back to the upright stance.
2 or 3 out of 16 because of the managers? I’m not buying that. More of the mind that a good manager VS an awful one might make a 6 to 8 win difference over the course of an entire season.
I am afraid to say it but I feel Gausman is about to get creamed.
Meh- it is the bottom of the order though. Perhaps not
Relief!
Also… there’s very little reason to get too bent out of shape about anything at this point. More of a dead-horse issue. I don’t think opinion about him has changed substantially. If anything, people are just going to say “oh great, thanks for hitting when it doesn’t matter.”
I’ve been a fixture at the sportbook outside Indy for 2 weeks now and I’ve watched a TON of baseball.
Miami is 4-7 in their last 11 games. Of their 7 losses….2 one run losses in regulation. 2 two run losses in regulation & 2 extra inning losses. They play hard. They scored 3 last night, but scored atleast 4 runs in their previous 8 games.
Thats a Miami team with a tiny payroll compared to the Reds and a park that 50% bigger then gabp. Mattingly>Bell and its not close. Its Belechik to Marvin Lewis
Very nice commentary from Cowboy to Marty during the final “Ask Marty”… now the boys need to get on their horse for a comeback.
I like his steals too. Pitchers are going to nibble and he’s going to get walked so turn some of them into doubles! They need a little speed and the ability to advance past station to station almost as bad as they hitters in the first place.
Not having to be in a one game playoff is worth a lot. We’d expect the Reds to press for it. But yeah, I wish this was an easy one for Marty.
You can choose which audio feed to listen to through MLBtv, though – including the home or road radio broadcast.
Peraza
Following it online….shallow flyball to CF. What a shocker. In his defense nobody else on this team can hit Hader either.
I remember thinking Peraza was kind of a clever player when he first came to the Reds. He would bunt for some hits and kept the ball on the ground. He seemed like a young guy that had a grasp of what he could & couldn’t do. I don’t know what happened to that guy? This Peraza takes half-hearted swings and pops up everything. Down-n-in is the only pitch he ever really hammers. He needs to go back to the drawing board somewhere.