| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Braves (58-55) | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Cincinnati Reds (61-53) | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| W: Smyly (8-3) L: Hembree (2-7) S: Smith (23) | |||
| FanGraphs Win Probability | Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Aristides Aquino got the Reds on the board in the second inning when he launched a two run home run into the left-field stands.
Sonny Gray gave the Reds five strong innings, but Heath Hembree and Amir Garrett walked third batters in the 6th inning, including with the bases loaded to give the Braves a 3-2 lead.
The Reds offense struggled once again against a left-handed starting pitcher. The Reds only had four total hits on the night. The Reds did put the go-ahead run on base in the 9th, but Mike Moustakas grounded into a double play to end the game.
Biggest Play of the Game
Source: FanGraphs
According to Fangraphs WPA statistic (winning percentage added), the biggest play of the game was Sonny Gray allowing a 2-run home run to Adam Duvall with 2 outs in the 4th inning, tying the game at 2. That play decreased the Reds probability of winning by 14.3% (from 73.2% to 87.5%).
Positives
Aristides Aquino hit his 7th home run of the season. Aquino now has 28 HR in just 396 career PA. That is a pace of 46 HR over 650 PA.
Sonny Gray gave the Reds a third consecutive solid start: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 8 K. He made one mistake to Adam Duvall, but only allowed 2 hard hit balls all night. He struck out five consecutive batters at one point.
Shogo Akiyama made a couple really nice sliding catches. He also just missed his first career home run.
Shogo Akiyama vs Luke Jackson#ATOBTTR
Flyout ?
Exit velo: 101.8 mph
Launch angle: 42 deg
Proj. distance: 340 ftThis would have been a home run in 7/30 MLB ballparks
CIN (2) @ ATL (3)
? 7th pic.twitter.com/jrW4yR2Kah— Would it dong? (@would_it_dong) August 11, 2021
Eugenio Suarez reached base twice. He had two walks, including a walk in the 9th to put the go-ahead run on base. There was a missed call also, so really he took 5 balls.
Negatives
The Reds offense just continues to struggle against LHP. The Reds had a total of 4 hits on the night.
Heath Hembree and Amir Garrett could not get the job done in the 6th. Heath walked one batter, Amir walked two including with the bases loaded to put the Braves ahead. There is nothing more frustrating that relievers walking hitters. The two batters that Garrett walked are pretty bad hitters vs LHP too.
Not so random thoughts……………………..
The big question of the night was why David Bell pulled Gray with 89 pitches through 5.0 innings. I would imagine some of it is the Reds being cautious with Gray after all the injuries that he has had over the last couple years in Cincinnati. Bell said in the postgame “it was a tough call.”
Up Next:
Reds at Braves
Wednesday, 7:20 PM
TV: Bally Sports Ohio
Wade Miley (2.75 ERA/3.91 xERA) vs Touki Toussaint (4.43 ERA/4.40 xERA)
The potential to crater on this road trip if they don’t win tomorrow is very possible. Bringing in A Garrett to blow games gets old. DFA him and be rid of him. Bring Tyler Greene up to pitch out of the pen rest of the year.
Make a bold move for once in this organization.
+10000
Think you mean Hunter Greene.
100% agree.
Tough Loss when Pitch well.
Never like when go to ATL or Philly.
Seem to always cool off.
Go reds onto tomm.
Reds in a mini slide, its alright, got our stopper pitching tomorrow. Reds needed to go two of three in this series so tomorrow is critical. Florida up at the time I write this and the Cubs and Brewers are tied. Might be saved today,
I don’t have the numbers but it always seems like we lose to Atlanta. I always hate playing them especially in Atlanta with that annoying chop.
It really stinks that the Brewers are playing 7 games against the cubs and pirates this week while we have to play the Braves and Phillies who are
Yes this is an important week but lets not jump ship just yet even though we lost 2 in a row.
Ender Inciarte and Nick Senzel each had 3 hits in Louisville tonight. And Jose Barrero hit an inside-the-park HR.
For whatever that is worth. Clearly, the Reds need help vs left-handed pitching. I just wonder if those guys will ever be given a chance to contribute.
Inciarte is a left-handed bat; so, he is no help on nights like tonight. Senzel could help and maybe Barrero but where does he play? They aren’t going to bring him up to sit on the bench.
They need to bite the bullet and get down to 13 pitchers so they can get Senzel or Lopez up to give them another available RH bat. That is at least a start.
+1 Jim on getting down to 13 pitchers.
@Hotto> And most of us here would bet that the 14th guy is Hoffman who they seem to neither want to use nor to risk losing to waivers.
Why? Because he is the organization’s 6th guy on the starting pitching depth chart?
Avoiding the nuclear option (Greene), there appear to be 3 guys at AAA who could fill that role if needed; and, 2 of them are on the 40 man roster, Riley O’Brien and Tony Santillan. Yeah Santillan was scaled back for bullpen work but that was before Givens and Cessa arrived. The third is Reiver SanMartin, a lefty.
Go figure.
I agree, coming down to the ninth inning with only two bench players and all you have are two left handed bats puts you in a bad place. Moose is a good hitter and experienced but would have been nice to have Lopez in that spot all we need was a single.
Absolutely
“ The Reds offense struggled once again against a left-handed starting pitcher.”
Can someone good at mining info out of baseball reference or fangraphs figure out how much of it is that the Reds do poorly against lefty starters vs the players that Bell thinks he has to match up against lefties just aren’t that good at hitting?
If the data show that Bell’s lefty matchup hitters are better or even equivocal, then I can settle down over this
They just have too many LH hitters on the roster. That is why the signing of Moustakas or Akiyama — much less both of them — has always baffled me. Winker and Votto already filled the niche for a slow LH hitter with little defensive value, so I don’t understand how Moustakas was supposed to help. And then Naquin started to hit in April and May, but not-so-much since then.
Plus, Suarez can’t hit lefties, righties or anything in between. So, to put it simply, Bell has no choice against LH pitchers except to guess which of his LH hitters can hit the LH pitcher going that day.
OBE> or bite the bullet and send Lorenzen to the plate
It’s not just the walks. Its walking guys after starting them 0-2. We need to quit nibbling. That’s a combination of pitch calling, confidence and pitchability. There is zero room to bring guys in that cannot attack hitters and put them away. The guys that cannot do that need to pitch in games where we are either down 3 or up 6.
Easier to blog about it than doing it, but, at the same time, you either get it done or you don’t. I have a feeling we will see some change of scenery trades in the offseason if a few guys do not mentally and performatively turn the corner here and now. I would also wish that our SP’s were allowed to go longer. Nothing worse than pitching a whole 89 pitches and watching your teammates squander a good performance. Do teams not see what it does to bullpens in general by pitching them every single day 4 or more innings each time around? The first team that takes that step is going to set a new (positive) trend that this game sorely needs.
Per the pitch chart on MLB.com Gameday, Garrett threw only 1 pitch in the strike zone of the 11 pitches he threw to the two batters he walked. Ironically, it was not the pitch he got a called strike on, it was the swinging strike following that pitch and put the count at 0-2 to Vogt. Agree, just finish the job. Don’t look for style points.
(I’d link this but when I’ve tried in the past, the link just opens the Gameday top page for the game)
I couldn’t or didn’t watch every single pitch that Garrett threw, but I didn’t see him throw even one slider in the strike zone.
Garrett has turned into Cody Reed, who threw pitch after pitch after pitch at the back foot of a guy in the right-handed batters box. Garrett needs to study Roger Clemens videos and learn to direct his body on a straight line to the plate, because his whirling-dervish delivery isn’t working for him.
OBE> The pitch Vogt swung at for strike 2 was recorded as a slider on the black in Gameday. The diagram showed the ball exactly half in and half out of the zone, whatever that is supposed to signify.
I’d guess Vogt being a catcher decided he was not going to go down swinging on a pitch he knew he could not hit and was focused on picking up if the pitch was a slider and aware of Garrett’s tendencies was not swinging if it was.
Garrett and his slider penchant remind me of Danny Graves at the end of his run (which was much longer and better than Garrett’s has been). Batters had finally figured out that DG was not going to throw his splitter for a called strike and once they recognized it was on the way, they just took it.
Close game, kind of situations where every move counts. Hembree and Garrett seems, at least, not up to it. The roster lacks RH batters, it’s limited to Stephenson, India, Farmer, Castellanos and Aquino, excluding Suarez, nothing much out of the bench.
Missing Heineman?.. lol
Now THAT made me laugh.
Seriously, I think Senzel will be helpful. Or Lopez. As someone above said, we only needed a single when the left-handed Moose stepped up to the plate and hit into a DP to end the game. We need more RH batters on the bench (or as spot starters against LHP). We could do without a couple of our low-grade relievers. Not that hard. It seems anyway. But for some reason, the Reds insist on playing with a short-handed (and left-handed) bench and too many dumpster fire relievers. I just don’t get it.
Mmmm…not a bad bunch minus Suarez.
Lost 2 games to the Padres and Brewers this week already. The sweep against the Pirates was nice but now we have to beat real teams. To be the man you have to beat the man.
Pro sports? You can go from “10 over and getting healthy” to “Reds collapse and look forward to 2022” in a week! There’s a chance SD/Milw don’t lose more then 1 game combined this week. Their opponents sold everybody off
They really need to step it up! The Wheeler game in Philly will be tough, but the rest of these games are there to be taken. Atlanta didn’t do much last night except take what the Reds handed them.
I love when a Ric Flair quote shows up on Redleg Nation! Whooooooo!
I loathe that guy. Sorry, but I do. And it has nothing to do with him, but instead with all the drunken sots in a half-empty ballpark with nothing to do but continually belt that out. Even listening on the radio was painful–it’s all you could hear in the background. Not so bad these days as it was a few years ago…. Just obnoxious.
I agree. I would rather not hear it. You can hear it in the background on TV. I would hate to be sitting near them all the game. The last Braves game I went to they were a bunch of drunks being obnoxious and throwing up all around us. That broke me after driving 3 hours one way to the game. You never know who you will be sitting beside or close to.
A close game last night…opportunities on both sides to break apart. Agree with comments above, you got a batter 0-2, you can try to nibble once if you can entice a swing…otherwise go get him!
P.S. Looks like Gray adding a little extra leg hesitation. Interesting. Like that competitiveness.
One of the last things you want to see a middle reliever do in a tie game is walk a batter, giving a free pass to the potential lead run.
In his last 6 outings (4.1 innings), Hembree has issued 6 walks.
In his last 7 outings (4.0 innings), Garrett has issued 7 walks.
This team went out and got Givens, Cessa, and Wilson, and also saw the return of Lorenzen and Sims. Yet Bell goes with Hembree and Garrett. After yanking Gray after 5 solid innings.
This is all so very maddening.
It is maddening, but we’re frequently told the players like David Bell.
We need to send in Captain Obvious to have a conversation with clueless Bell …
LOL +1000
The Reds have a winning season and their manager is a legacy name so they’ll extend him. The winning season is in spite of the manager and in spite of the horrible bullpen. The talent is so ripe in other spots.
And we’ll keep watching the circus and the Reds wondering why they can’t get past the playoff hump.
To paraphrase a line from Bill Clinton “It’s the manager, _______!”
Very maddening. We went out and got some decent relievers — and got a couple back off the IL. Use them.
Bell had Cessna, Givens, Sims, Lorenzen. He doesn’t use any of them when the game is tied but then brings in Cessa after Hembree and Garrett give up the lead. Are we missing something?
I think it’s not that WE are missing something. But somebody is…
I think what we are seeing is that the manager is allowing the players to earn or lose their roles. We’ve already seen this with Lorenzen being “promoted” over Hembree (remember, HH was our closer and honestly held it somewhat together there for a month). I hope/suspect Cessa will replace HH in the pecking order and Wilson will be given the same rope to surplant Garrett, but until them AG is the best LH reliever they have on the roster. But so maddenly inconsistent.
It sucks in the short term, as it seems like it is costing us wins in the short run but I suspect having a manager that has your back when things are going wrong does have it’s benefits…..shudder to think we may need HH/AG in high leverage positions in the future weeks, it will likely happen.
@Redsgoggles
But don’t you think Garrett and Hembree have nothing more to earn or show other than how to help the team lose? It’s not like these two don’t already have a body if work to judge from. I’m not coming at you i’m lamenting that’s if what you say is correct, and David Bell is “letting them earn their spot” then he must be Mr Short Term Memory
@RojoB Yes, I do think it’s time to move on……which Bell has already shown to be doing by moving HH out of closer into a 6th inning role. My point is that Bell is allowing HH to “lose” his higher leverage roles out of appreciation or loyalty (?) for HH effectively being desperately thrust into the closer role and largely coming through pre-trade deadline. It’s a long season, and if Bell needs to use all the arms at times – which he will – then he needs to keep the players working for the team and shredded confidence intact as much as possible. As much as we would like them to DFA HH/AG, it’s not like they have even average replacement options, we’ve clearly seen that. And your top 3-4 arms cannot pitch every night. So, I think he’s trying to balance all of this with the poor options that he has. It didn’t work again last night, but I think he was banking on the offense scoring again to get the lead and then using his stronger arms. At least the offense had 3 innings to recover from the late inning bullpen roullette that we all have PTSD from.
@Luke J I would tend to agree with your assertion that handedness shouldn’t matter that early in the game, but the reality that Bell faces is exactly what happened last night. Our recent “closer” appears to not even be able to pitch a scoreless inning anymore. Would Bell have went to AG there if HH had not let the first 2 guys get on base to start the inning? This board would have lit him up if he left HH to squander the lead himself, which seemed likely to me as I watched it unfold. Really a lose-lose situation for Bell, due to the fact that his bullpen options still include multiple layers of mediocrity.
My question to the original poster is fair to you as well; would you have rather Bell left HH in? And, if you say HH shouldn’t ever pitch then that’s not really the manager’s problem then is it? Hoffman is currently their long guy. I think HH/AG/Wilson/Doolittle are all in the same level of trust – none – any given day. That’s too many in a bullpen to avoid using and for the manager to use one of them in the 6th inning is logical to me.
Missing something? Yes. It’s called common sense, certainly when you’re in a playoff race.
Nailed it TR !
I think the issue is that Bell cares more about hurting a players’ feelings than winning a ball game. I think that this is important when dealing with kids (and even to an extend up until high school), but it is inappropriate when managing a major league club.
Someone mentioned that the players all like Bell, and that is likely true because of the aforementioned. However, I personally think that it is important to focus on winning and doing what is best for the team.
While I am sure that Bell is proud of himself for ensuring that everyone gets playing time and no-one has their feelings hurt, I personally think he owes it to the other players, and the team as a whole, to do what is best for the team in terms of winning
When Bell is protecting a player like Garrett’s feelings, and ensuring that he gets to play, he is at the same time disrespecting other players on the team who are on the team to win ball games.
I think it’s a bit deeper than that. Hypothetically – and assuming you acknowlege the effective use of RP based on handness – which LHRP would you have used in the 6th inning of a tie game compared to the late innings (if you were manager)? It could be said that AG is now the low man, or at least lower than Wilson. HH is definitely not in the top 3 RHRP options anymore, after being #1 for the most of the last month plus.
It’s easy to criticize, especially when the same players repeatedly fail. (They both have had stretches of effectiveness this season, so would it be possible they return to some level of effectiveness/usefulness this season?) He still has no good LHRP options, and is balancing keeping the shaky confidence of the ones he does have with moving them out of higher leverage places.
So no, I don’t think he’s putting the players feelings ahead of winning as his usage shows. If so, AG would be closer as he clearly indicated he wanted in spring training.
@Redgoggles Handedness typically means very little in a 6th inning relief role. That is not the time to be swapping out relievers back and forth as you move through the lineup. That is the time for a reliever to go in with the expectation of pitching a whole inning at the very least, preferably two. Handedness is really only a concern when trying to get out of a jam or deal with a particular hitter. That’s the complaint many have, Bell is overmanaging the bullpen by worrying about handedness in a middle relief situation.
Being considerate to one person when it hurts the rest of the team is not being kind; it is being tunnel visioned. A person in a leadership role has to think about the impact to the team as a whole and the overall objectives. Encourage the struggling player with words and help to get them productive again, but don’t drag the team down if someone is not getting the job done.
And the same can be said about Bell and Suarez. I am sure Suarez loves Bell because Bell lets him play, but at the major league level the main focus should not be ensuring that everyone gets to play and no-one has their feelings hurt.
This is not a recreational league, and there is no rule that everyone has to play a certain amount of innings or get at bats every game. Sometimes the manager needs to make a decision that might hurt a player’s feelings, and might prevent a player from getting to play, but that helps the team overall.
If this was a little league team, it would make sense for Bell to make sure that Suarez gets to bat every game and that Garrett gets to pitch every couple of days, but it is not. This may sound harsh, but other managers across MLB make decisions that might hurt an individual player’s feelings, but that help the team overall.
Same as the bullpen usage criticism, what options did Bell not use that were better than Suarez until Moose was activated last weekend? Freeman, lol? Mess with Farmer’s hot stretch and Barrero’s develoopment/options? Now that Moose is back, if Bell continues the Suarez usage pattern then that argument is valid. I think he’s made it clear that he is not going to, at least in the majority of time (RH pitching). So I don’t think it’s true to say Suarez is playing simply because Bell loves him…….until very recently he had no better options.
Manager’s get the brunt of the wrath when things are going off the rails, when in fact the front office (and we all) knew of specific roster shortcomings and didn’t address them until too (?) late.
“ what options did Bell not use that were better than Suarez until Moose was activated last weekend?”
He never gave López a fair shot
@ RojoB That’s a fair point. Aside from a couple games, Lopez got nothing but some service time.
He used Cessna,Givens is the closer Sims pitched the night before don’t need him back on the dl as mediocre as he is,Lorenzen…. I got nothing
More than one head scratcher outta Bell in this one. And I cant believe we are still talking about how bad Garrett is playing.
Klugo when you have a hard time defending Bell then it must be bad. You’re one of the ones that keeps the balance here lol
4 hits is not going to get it done most nights. We weren’t exactly up against cyyoung last night. In general the team just seems tired last few days. I think some of the starters just need a day off and hope the bench can contribute.
I agree. Love me some Jonathan India, but he looks spent right now.
Bring up Senzel now and give India a day.
Bringing up Senzel forces two things. A 40 man move, Hembree? and a 26 man move, all can be accomplished with one DFA. It would also leave the bullpen “down” one man and perhaps force DB to let the starter, who is doing alright, go longer than 89 pitches, and 5 innings.
They have Moose. Just cycle him at 2B when India needs a day.
India not starting today Moose playing 2nd
Absolutely. We should have been able to recover from the bullpen shenanigans halfway through the game. It was only 3-2. We had our chances. Our batters could not get the job done. FOUR hits. That’s all. That won’t work most of the time, no matter how well your pitching does. All things considered, the entire pitching staff only gave up 3 runs. That should be sufficient for a win if the offense does its job. Last night it did not.
Agree with those saying giving up walks by relievers is the worst. I mean, the scoreboard says walks will haunt for a reason. Also agree with the nibbling around the zone, especially after two strikes. I understand trying to get a guy to chase a pitch or two, but when it comes to brass tacks you gotta get it over the plate and trust your defense.
I was at the game and was watching Gray’s pitch count in the 5th, hoping he would at least start the 6th. Alas. The game pivoted on three sequences.
Gray walked Dansby Swanson with two outs ahead of the Duvall home run. That doubled the impact of the mistake pitch to Duvall. Contrast that with the Reds 2 runs that they had to earn with a Votto double and the Aquino blast. Walks will haunt.
Then the Reds bullpen was a complete fail in the 6th. Three walks? Really? On the other side though, Matzek did his job for the Braves in a key spot in the 8th. Two on, two out, Votto coming up and he’s called on for a tough lefty and gets the K. Braves win, Reds lose. Maddening.
Finally, in addition to Bell going to the pen too soon and for the wrong guys, what’s up with burning Naquin and Winker in the same at bat? Was Winker hurt on the HBP so he couldn’t run? In a one run game late I can’t endorse using two good / decent left handed bats just to get one average speed runner on first.
I’ll be back tonight to watch Miley and the real Reds offense even this series with an easy win. Go Reds!
Bring home a winner.
Are you close enough to the Reds dugout to yell some advice to Bell?
I thought Gray got squeezed strike-zone-wise on the Swanson AB. Once he trotted down to first I just knew the 2-out dinger was going to happen.
I’m sick to death of this combination of babying Sonny Gray and him being content with just pitching 5 innings and calling it a night. A killer would throw a fit about being yanked at just 89 pitches in the heat of a playoff chase, but no. Same thing 2 weeks ago when the Reds were going for the sweep of the Cardinals and he went out and laid an egg on a sunday.
The league is full of 5 inning starters. Here’s a veteran with a track record of sustained success in the prime of his career yet this is the most the manager asks of him and all that he asks of himself. Pathetic.
I suspect Gray is giving all he has in the tank to give because they are concerned due to his back issues if they extend him further, he won’t be ready to go on his next turn.
And why else would they be so protective of Hoffman who they can’t move off the active MLB roster without the risk of losing him to waivers? Not that they don’t have other options for a starter at AAA as I commented elsewhere on this thread,
When a starter only goes 5 innings and that is now considered a solid start, my interest in mlb takes another step downwards. Five innings is not even a quality start. It’s even worse that it follows on the heels of a 3 inning start the game before. That is why Bell has to use less than his best BP pitchers, and why he is keeping 14 pitchers, at least in part.
And the old quality stary was just mediocre …6 IP, 2 ER, = 4.5 ERA.
Let’s just keep lowering the bar so that everybody can easily achieve success.
That’s a 3.oo era same as 1 more run and 3 more innings is 3 per 9 = 3 era
You are correct…My mistake was the quality start is 6 IP and 3 ER which is the 4.50 i was seeking
Drop Humbree and Garrett and bring up San Martin and Greene Send Suarez down if he has options and bring up Senzel . Also does Naquin have options left. If so bring up Barrero and play him at third in rotation with Moose. I for one do not think you can keep Suarez in the line up at all
Naquin yes on options and low enough on service time he can’t refuse it.
Suárez appears to require waivers and outright assignment due to his service time (>6 years). His contract might be just team friendly enough someone would take a flyer on him in waivers. However, if he cleared, he almost certainly would accept assignment because to refuse would void his contract and he’d be out the remaining money.
I say see ya Henny
Suffered enough of keeping back Senzel from 3B because of #7
Winning teams move on and move ahead
The Reds…?
If he is claimed does new team have to pick up his contract?
I think Sonny Gray would rather give it up himself in the 6th, than have it handed to the Braves by Hembree and Garrett. We all could probably swallow that easier.
I’m sure. With the Reds still in the playoff race, imo, a more hardnosed approach to winning the game is needed.
From P Doc at the Enquirer:
“David Bell supports his players to a fault and it cost him Tuesday night. There might be someplace for Amir Garrett to work out his mental issues, but it’s not in a tie game in the middle of a pennant race. And Hembree, well, he’s been scored on five of his last six appearances, a stretch that adds up to 4.1 innings, four hits, seven earned runs and six walks.
Garrett’s walk to ATL catcher Stephen Vogt was especially mind blowing. One, it forced in the go-ahead run and (A), Vogt has three hits since July 24, while starting a majority of the games. He’s 0-for-11 currently in that stretch, 2-for-27 and 3-for-35.”
The crows are coming to roost for David Bell if even Castellini cheerleaders are calling him out!
We will be 10 game out of the Central and probably 7 out of the WC by the end of this weekend. This team just isn’t a championship team and the bullpen is still hot garbage. Our coach is a negative as well.
Lorenzen and the 3 new guys have been almost flawless plus they got SIms back. Its not the bullpen its Bell. Doolittle is popping 96 and getting some outs. HH and Garrett suck and have no business pitching in a tie game.
+100
Yes. Earlier in the season, it could be said that the manager did not have any good choices. Now he has better ones, at least, and he doesn’t go that direction for some reason. It is maddening. I am generally not a Bell detractor (nor a fan), but some of his moves are really baffling.
So why didn’t Bell use them last night? Bell using Hembree and Garrett in crucial situation is telling about his flawed mindset that isn’t likely to change.
@RedBB
Correct a flawed mindset that actively loses ballgames. It can be clearly seen now that he has talent. He doesn’t know how to use it. In fact he even uses it wrongly
Get Senzel or Lopez up here and cut a reliever today Eight pen guys are enough when at best they pitch an inning every day or so.Get Antone up and cut another reliever tomorrow.With HH and Garrett gone you have relievers that can get people out or at least have shown they can more times then not.Wilson/Doolittle get get a lefty or two out to finish an inning or face 3 batters in the right spot in the lineup.Have to give Bell no options to make the wrong decisions as was last night.Now of this will happen of course as we wait again until the rosters are expanded.Meantime we watch as we fall further behind.India and Farmer need a day off and the two guys I mentioned first can do that but Bell will use Suarez and Moose to do that and we really don’t need to see any more of Eugenia at all but we will
Garrett isn’t “nibbling.” He just can’t throw his slider in the strike zone. He also thinks that his slider is his best pitch, so you can make a plausible argument that he is clinically insane.
It used to be, imo, a good reliever got it done, without walking hitters, with a fastball in the strike zone.
Recall hearing Tom Seaver say time and again, that the best pitch in baseball was a well located fastball. He thought 1)location, 2)movement and 3)velocity ranked in this order. So sad he is gone and went the way he did. Would love to hear his thoughts on today’s pitching.
He got a gift called strike (1) on Vogt with a fastball just off the plate, got him to swing at a slider which was actually in the zone for 0-2 (only such pitch to the guys he walked) then threw 3 more consecutive sliders for balls 1-3 then tried to paint the black with a fastball on ball 4. Every pitch he threw was away, away, away. Not once did he try to go inside with a fastball or low over the plate with a slider.
Garrett isnt good.
He’s not throwing his slider for strikes and guys aren’t chasing it. His BB% is over 15%.
DJ is a good pitching coach but he doesn’t believe in inducing soft contact. He believes in bats missing balls and that approach just isnt working for Garrett with an ok fastball and a slider he throws 50% of the time. He needs to throw his sinker/2 seamer as a third pitch and get back to getting outs and soft contact and stop trying to strike every one out.
Suarez hit 50 home runs
Garrett strike everyone out.
Wrong approach
Matt McClain is 2-2 in first game at Dayton with a HR.
I can understand why they would want a reliever to get Ks in some situations but he still has to be able to spot fastballs for strikes. The 3rd pitch would help too no doubt.
Both Garrett and Hembree have ERAs over 5
Surely the club has seen enough. San Martin or Moreta or even Hunter Greene would give Bell better options. Antone is also close to being ready so perhaps Doolittle may need to go as well. But for sure you can’t trust Garrett with his 7 run ERA and Hembree is no longer effective
Don’t forget Tony Santillan. I’d trust him over HH or AG any day of the week. 2 lefties is enough with the 3 batter minimum. You use AG for 1 out and you better have back to back lefties and a base open because he’ll walk the first guy automatically
Took a flyer on the Marlins today. They have an advantage starter wise with Alcantara vs Ryan Weathers. Weathers has been getting pounded while Alcantara was top 10 in the NL with a 3.12 era until his last start in Coors with 10 er. Hopefully he’ll right the ship today?
SDs rotation is in bad shape. I think LA & SF will hammer them if we can just stay close until then. 4.5 now. I’d take 5.5 by Sunday night
Moose back to play 2B today India to the bench to get rest I guess
Yeah… due that clause somewhere there it’s mandatory to play that nice chap 3B
3-0 Fish top of the 1st!!!
The best move would have been to bring up Senzel, time is of the essence, and play him at third. However, I think it is in his contract that Bell has to find ways to continue to play Suarez.
I said way back that Suarez is going to play and he will.I also said how well the offense does depends on him and it does.Under no circumstances does Suarez set much at all.Always need to give India a day and Farmer a day which keeps him in the lineup as does a lefty starter.We won”t see Senzel or anybody else to help against lefties until rosters expand.Bell has to play Suarez and he will play and pitch everybody cause that’s what he does.Our best lineup does not include Suarez or Shogo at any time because neither can hit regardless of who is pitching.Senzel and Lopez help against lefties but we won”t see either.
A mangerectomy is indicated
I think senzel will be up soon
But lefty tomorrow and legit Cy young friday
Tough sledding
Marlins 6-0. We need to get a game back on SD tonite!