Nick Castellanos’ four RBIs and Tyler Naquin’s first career three-double game led the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-4 win over the Miami Marlins at Great American Ball Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Marlins (51-73) | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (68-57) |
7 | 8 | 0 |
| W: Cessa (4-2) L: Bender (2-2) SV: Lorenzen (2) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
A big crowd of 34,433 saw the home team continue to play with heart, as well as an “I Love the ’90s” post-game concert featuring Vanilla Ice, Naughty By Nature, Tone Loc and Rob Base.
Their third straight win put the Reds 11 games over .500 for the first time this season.
First-place Milwaukee snapped a two-game losing streak and defeated the Washington Nationals, 9-6, to maintain the 7 1/2 game lead over Cincinnati.
San Diego’s game against Philadelphia was still in progress as this game wrapup story was posted. Pending that outcome, the Reds have moved 1/2 game ahead of the Padres in the race for the second National League Wild Card playoff berth.
The Offense
After three Reds batters had come to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, the home team was ahead, 2-0 …
Double deuce! ???? pic.twitter.com/91pc2wfTY1
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 21, 2021
In the bottom of the sixth with runners on second and third and nobody out, Castellanos had a productive ground-out which plated Jonathan India to give Cincinnati a 3-2 lead.
Then with the bases loaded and one out, Bell had Mike Moustakas on deck to pinch-hit for pitcher Luis Cessa. But Bell pulled Moustakas back and instead sent up Tyler Stephenson. In the second of two managerial moves that worked out brilliantly (see below for more on the first) …
Reds rookies >>> pic.twitter.com/hhbAI9DfDh
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) August 22, 2021
An Eugenio Suarez sacrifice fly to right field capped the six-run uprising, giving the Reds a 6-2 lead after six complete.
In the bottom of the eighth, Castellanos knocked in his fourth run of the ninth with an RBI single, giving the Reds a 7-4 lead.
Tyler Naquin and Kyle Farmer extended consecutive-game hitting streaks to 11 and 10, respectively. With Jesse Winker on the injured list for what looks like for at least most of the rest of the month, Naquin has done his best Winker impression this month. His August batting line before tonight’s game: .358/.433/.642/1.075. Tonight, he doubled three times and walked twice, so those numbers are going to be even more impressive when MLB.com updates their stat database with tonight’s results. Naquin’s August OPS is — if you can believe it — higher than Joey Votto’s.
The Pitching
The wheels fell off for starter Wade Miley in the fifth inning, as he walked three Marlins batters and hit one. Add a single into that mix, and even though batters never advanced more than one base at a time, Miami scored two to tie it up.
With two outs, Bell brought in righty reliever Luis Cessa to face righthanded batting Lewis Brinson with the bases loaded. Shogo Akiyama came in to play center field as part of a double-switch. Rarely has a managerial move proved to be as correct as this one …
SHOGO! What a catch! pic.twitter.com/sdZx6WWMyo
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) August 22, 2021
Cessa pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to keep the game tied prior to the Reds offensive outburst in the sixth.
Tony Santillan disposed of Miami on only five pitches in the seventh. Then in the eighth, Mychal Givens contracted the walk-itis that has afflicted most of the rest of the relievers at one time or another. He walked the first two batters he faced. After recording one out, he surrendered a run-scoring double to Brian Anderson, bringing Miami within 6-3.
Michael Lorenzen allowed a run-scoring single to Jorge Alfaro on his first pitch, but induced hot-hitting rookie Bryan De La Cruz to ground into the fourth double play the Reds infield turned on the evening to end the inning with Cincinnati ahead, 6-4. Mikey Biceps closed things out in the ninth, finishing the game by getting Miami’s Miguel Rojas to hit into the Reds’ fifth double play of the night.
Notes Worth Noting
In the sixth inning, Joey Votto was walked intentionally, allowing him to reach base for the 3,334th time as a Cincinnati Red. That tied him for second all-time on the Reds list with Barry Larkin. Only Pete Rose has reached base more times as a Red than Votto and Larkin.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Miami Marlins at Cincinnati Reds
Sunday, August 22, 1:10 p.m. ET
Sandy Alcantara (7-11, 3.39 ERA) vs. Vladimir Gutierrez (8-4, 3.87 ERA)
Does anyone know if Nick Senzel is a free agent after this year? When is his current contract expire or run out?
No, he’s not a free agent. I don’t believe he’s even arb eligible yet.
No, not unless the Reds choose to non tender him a contract. He will be under team control for 3-4 (most probably 4) more seasons under the current rules, depending how his service time counts out.
He’ll be 1st time arbitration eligible in 2022 and a FA in 2026. The clock will start to count against him next season if not able to stay off IL.
My son is getting so jacked about the playoff chances. He’s scoreboard watching…and complaining about the Reds Giants playoff series…lol. He’s been feeling blessed that he’s not a Rangers or Orioles fan…and he’s asking me if the Reds would rather play San Francisco or the Dodgers in a wild card game. I’ve had to say no fewer than 5 times this evening that we still have all the games in September to play….and yet…I’m doing the exact same line of thought even though I “know better.”
That is great. And more important than whether or not the Reds make the playoffs (which IS pretty darn important, mind you!) is a father and son bonding over the game of baseball. So enjoy it.
Get him involved in the Brewers’ bullpen watch scouting them ahead of this next series
Keep repeating: One game at a time. One game at a time.
The Reds have to respect every team they play. Every team has enough talent to beat the Reds on any given day.
Another nice win. I would be curious to know the number of runs scored against the Reds that were walked vs. the rest of the league. Seems like every time they get in a jam on the mound it starts with walks – tonight wasn’t an exception. Anyway, great game regardless.
That’s a great question that I’d also like to know the answer to. I know the Reds pitching leads the majors in walks allowed and they are around 10th in runs given up and earned runs given up. But how many of those runs reached base via the walk, the percentage of runs scored reaching base via the walk vs. total runs scored and the comparison of that rate to other teams would be an interesting stat. Also, how many runs scored by the number of outs.
Lorenzen got 5 outs on 8 pitches, all strikes
Givens pitched 17 (6 strikes) on the heels of 18 last night, so that may be something Bell intended to find out with him (with the off day Monday before the Brewers series and setting him up to pitch 2 of 3 if necessary, so he wasn’t likely to go tomorrow anyway). Just about everything with him was missing beneath the strike zone but not in the dirt at least
Another fun game to watch. The 5 DP’s were quite the site. It’s as if the lot of us willed that last one to happen.
Barrero’s throw in the dirt there was a very fine bailout rescue job by Votto. You just don’t know how guys are going to respond in the face of real live bullets, so there’s nothing wrong with earning your teammates’ trust and settling in. Just think if the hot shot golden boy showed up on your job and just automatically started at the top of the heap when you’ve been busting your gourd all along, what it would do to your morale …
It would make me work harder to get better. Not go sit in the corner and pout.
Agree.
Nice to see Bell make a couple moves that worked.
Best move of the game Bell made was pulling Moose back and having Stephenson hit instead that was huge!
I don’t care for Bell as a manager much but there are much worse managers out there.
Bell pulled Givens quick too. It was obvious he didn’t have it, but he had a 0.00 era with the Reds so alot of guys would let him try to work out of it. Bell was on his game tonite!
Why in the world would he have ever had Moose out there in the first place? What was going thru his mind when he first tabbed Moustakis to pinch-hit in that situation?
The Fish even had a left-handed pitcher on the mound!!!! Moose is mired in an 1-30 slump, or something close to that, he can’t hit lefties at all, and Bell thinks, “I believe I will send him up to pinch hit in a crucial situation against a left-handed pitcher. Yeah, that’ll work.”
5 will get you 10 it was Benevides who talked him out of it and convinced him to send up Stephenson.
Really? Name one!
Nope, Bender is a righty. After the IBB to Votto and he walked Farmer Bell was trying to draw out a lefty from the bullpen and then he would have sent Stephenson anyway. Mattingly saw it was Moose and knew it was an obvious ploy
Santillan in the 7th did his expectd niche job here, which was to retire the 8-9-1, and he got lucky that. A 3 pitch stikeout, then a 1 pitch HBP and putting the obligatory unnecessary runner on base. Then gets bailed out by a 1 pitch GDP to breeze through with 5 pitches. Bell simply wasn’t gonna send his low leverage guy out to face the 2-3-4 in the 8th. The bullpen philosophy is overwhelmingly gonna be one inning/max effort pitching almost every night. This is why they keep nine arms and overwhelmingly linit staters to around 1oo pitches. Thinking it’s a valid criticism that not every reliever goes multiple innings is just *not* a valid complaint of the *manager*. If you track the bullpen usage, rarely does any single reliever go much above 25 pitches, and more usually it’s 2o. This is the system and they adhere to it closely
The race for the playoffs. Go with your best, if possible.
Let’s just give credit where it is due. First of all, Bell did nothing wrong and I agree that his move with Miley was at the same time. It was also obvious that with the pitcher’s spot up next a double switch was needed and the obvious switch was Akiyama for defense and he delivered again. Regarding the Moose “ploy”, even I wouldn’t bit on Bell sending up a 1-30 lumberjack over a hungry rookie who has shown by far the best clutch pinch hitting on the team. Again, he delivered. A fine effort all around because of good execution.
Did Suarez/Moustakis set some kind of futility record for most consecutive at-bats without a hit from a single position?? I thought I saw that 2 more hitless at-bats would give them the record. And Suarez delivered!!
He did. It has become almost comical at 3B.
It is heartbreaking for those two guys, because they have been much better hitters than what they have been showing.
It is frustrating as a fan of the team, because no one in their right mind would continue to run them out there day after day when there are clearly better options available at hand.
Productive out sac fly RBI picking a man up from 3rd is hardly comical
It is when it happens once every blue moon. A SO is usually what we get with Suarez and a pop up with Moose. Both are nearly impossible for advancing a runner. That is nonproductive and has been long term.
If Suarez wasn’t hitting when playing every day. Imagine now that he only plays every now and then.
Plus o for 27 of that belongs to Moose. That seems like kind of a mean-spirited and disingenous ‘record’ to be promoting. I guess some people really enjoy that sort of thing?
Suarez was just as bad or worse. It is what it is. Baseball is a business and those two are costing the business success. In a business you make adjustments to stop the losses. That hasn’t happened and the bleeding just continues.
Wow, the Pirates are leading the Cards 5-4 going to the top of the 9th and with the top of the order for the Cards due up in the bottom. The more stakes they can drive in their hearts the better. Now Pirates got a man on and no outs
Just closed them out. Cards are now 4.5 games back of the Reds
Pirates held on to win 5-4. Cardinals got first guy on in the 9th and then 3 straight outs. Also, Nola has a no hitter going for the Phillies in the 7th, Phillies up 1-0.on the Padres.
Meanwhile, Pads-Phillies tied at 1 in 7th
Padres get their first hit and run. Now 1-1 going to the top of the 8th.
Phillies score 2 (so far) in the 8th on bases loaded HBP now up 3-1 in the 8th. The Padres are self-destructing. Honestly, taking a look at their remaining schedule I don’t see how they’re not looking up at both St Louis and Philly before too long
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/SD/san-diego-padres/schedule/regular/
Ha! Philliees trying to let Nola finish it … he gives up a 9th inning 2 out 2 run jack on his 117th pitch to tie it 3-3
The walk to Tatis hurt Nola. And Cronenworth hit that HR with 2 outs.
Unbelievable comeback by the Padres who win in the 10th on a wild pitch. Philadelphia gave that game away.
The Padres seem to be a cat who has 50 lives. This race between the Reds and Padres for the final wildcard spot figures to be a tight race that might go all the way to the wire.
I don’t think so. Just take a look at San Diego’s schedule up there. They’re gonna be burnt toast soon enough. I’m looking for the Phillies now 5 back to pass the Cards too
Nah…..Reds remaining schedule ranked #29th. SD #1. They have 19 to go with LA/SF. Their pitching is in shambles. They’re done unless the Reds suffer a ton of injuries
Bell managed tonight with a sense of urgency and I like that all the time even when the moves don’t work.He pulled Miley and Givens when one lost it and the other didn’t have it but they will bounce back.Cessa with a big time catch from Shogo and Mikey picked them up.Its a team game.
No. Sorry Roger, but thats unacceptable. Bell is wrong about everything at all times. He is obviously the worst manager/coach in the history of sports. If Bell was overseeing D-Day then we’d all be speaking German.
The only question is how many times can the Reds overcome Bell’s ineptness? SDs guy beat Bell 6 of 7. In fact the Reds barely squeaked out 1 game against them. Their payroll dwarfs the Reds and they’re loaded w/talent, but we’re about to pass them. Same thing w/Girardi and Philly. Loaded roster and yet the Reds have a better record. Every time the Reds have blown a game…..and I mean everytime….they come back and win the next day! India to leadoff. Naquin to #2. AG out of the closer role in April.
I mean for Gods sake….he sits Joey one time and Schrock goes 5-5 in a victory, and yet a guy writes War-and-Peace length essays on how he screwed it up.
The Reds are going to the playoffs. I’m not giving a glowing endorsement, but we could definitely do worse.
I agree with you IRM! I posted a similar, but shorter, comment in the game thread that essentially says the Reds are where they are in spite of their clueless current manager! #FreeBarrero
Dennis, I think it’s just possible that Indy was being sarcastic. I suppose it’s possible that you are, too.
we should get rid of that Naquin guy and plug someone else in that hasn’t hit above the AAA level of minor league baseball. His statistics are inflated by his super hot first 3 weeks of the season.
Naquin was saving his hits for when somebody got hurt.
Going back to last season, and including this season to date, we, in the fulness of our expertise, have advocated: get rid of or sit Gray, Castillo, Miley, Naquin, Votto, Farmer, Barnhardt, Shogo, and more. Use Antone and Sims for multiple innings. And there’s more, of course. I’ve advocated before for setting up a rotation of RLN commenters to replace Bell, and still think it’s a dandy idea.
Oh god, not the redleg nation (manager} rule by comitte! Bell has a done a good job with the clubhouse unity. Some of his reliever choices are questionable, and you can say that about nearly every manager. I’m sure that when Bell is in big Bob’s office with the rest of the front office, he is asked if either Suarez or Moose are in the line up. He’s wired to a bunch of electrodes, so if he says no, he’s a crispy critter.
I agree that Bell has done a good job. The manager by committee proposal was sarcasm.
Thanks for the answers on Nick Senzel. I just am seeing many comments about they he will not be a Red next year, and was trying to clarify if he is a free agent next year. He is still under contract next year, and sounds like 4 more years total contract with the Reds. Will be interesting to see if the Reds try to trade him in the off season, or what they do. With this current injury situation and story he has (fluid on the knee)…I can’t imagine Nick Senzel and his Agent vs the Reds management are too happy about that. Probably best for both sides if he just moves on and plays for another team.
I can see why either side would think it might be best for him to move on from the Reds. If he stays on the MLB IL or active roster through the end of the season, he almost certainly is going to become arbitration eligible versus salary controlled for next year. But I don’t see the Reds walking away from him for with no return.
So, most likely if can’t set up a decent trade ahead of the tender date, they will offer him a contract which holds him under control thru the 2022 season. The best for all then would be that he come into spring training, be healthy and play really well. Then the Reds could shop him again or decide to hold on to him.
Senzel’s agent is Boras; and I think that could work out well for the Reds as well as the player. Boras has so many clients on so many different teams that both directly and through inference, he will have a feel of who might want/ take Senzel and what it would require to get a deal done.
Remember how good Kal Daniels was? He was done at 28 with bad knees I think? Or Nick Esasky with vertigo. When Senzel had vertigo is when I gave up on him. That was after about 6 other things in the minors and/or the Reds. Its a little difficult to be a pro athlete without balance. Vertigo is no joke. Some things just aren’t meant to be. Atleast India has a chance to be a real star! I’m sure Senzel will get another shot somewhere else. He was very good in 2019 until late. Of course Geno was great in 2019 so take it with a grain of salt.
That’s part of Moose’s issue right now, he’s off balance. Walking around with a hard and/or inflatable boot for weeks has got to destabilize your gait and core, plus full body strength & swing coordination training goes out the window. You’re mainly working lower leg & foot stretches & isometrics w/o incorporating full body power movements because you can’t put weight on the foot, which is in the unwieldy boot. Your core and large leg muscles would have to atrophy some and you’d get in the habit of keeping weight off one very painful foot all the time no matter what you were doing, and then not trust it so much while readjusting to no boot. Balance in the batters box on your feet again would feel different and unstable i would expect as well
@IRM> I saw Nick Esasky hit probably the longest ball I’ve ever seen hit in person at Riverfront stadium, and that’s saying a mouthful because I saw also a Tony Perez red seater which went almost directly overhead of me too one night when I was in the green level about 20 feet in from the foul screen.
The Esasky ball ended up being called foul because it was so towering it was above the foul screen as it went by/ over it.
I was sitting in the lower part of the red seats about halfway down the LF line that day. The ball went inside of and over the support cable attached to the foul side of the screen (recall they angled slightly vs being vertical). That I am sure of to this day.
The universal reaction of fans along the line was it was fair. The Reds thought it was fair which also seemed to be what the opposition players thought too. But after some looks at each other and a short conference, the umps called foul. Back then that was that.
But to your point here, yeah, pitchers blow their arms every year and that’s a career and sometimes position guys never can play through physical issues too.
my thoughts from the game
1. STEPHENSON IS A HITTER! he didn’t even take any practice swings in the on deck circle before smoking that double. he needs to learn a third position. he is too good to be Votto’s and Barnharts back up.
2. the base running has improved a bit but still pretty bad. why was India turning his back ,looking at the ball, running between 2nd and 3rd on Naquin’s double . he should have been looking at House and should have scored easily.
3. how do we go from 11k to 34 k in the stands in 2 nights? has to be frustrating for ownership not knowing how many people will show UP From day to day. it is supposed to be hot tomorrow so it will probably be another 11k day
4. enough with the instant replay already. it is causing more damage to the game than the shift. it is a buzzkill if i ever seen one!
House is who put up the stop sign and stopped him there, mostly playing it safe because there were no outs. Looked to me India was full speed ahead making the turn. Are you saying House should have known or anticipated the throw would be so terrifically far offline before it was made?
I was at the game. India was turning his head looking to see where the ball was after he made the turn. It seemed to slow him down.
I meant the turn at third. Larkin was absolving House for stopping India because it was no out situation justifying not even taking the chance. House was about 2/3 of the way to home with his hands up when India turned 3rd, maybe that’s why India couldn’t find him? What happened to Stephenson on Saurez’s sac fly?
Concert after the game = large attendance.
Hold India…easy call with Nick C and Votto up next
1. I think Stephenson will be more than Tucker’s backup next year. Also, if the DH is implemented in the NL, that will open up more opportunities for him.
2. I don’t watch games, only listen on radio, so no idea if base running has improved or they just haven’t had as many chances to make mistakes
3. Historically once August arrives, the Reds don’t draw during the week. When the team is competitive, they do draw on weekends. Not sure how much the “music” contributed to the crowd. It wouldn’t have been a reason for me to attend. I go to watch baseball.
4. With the number of egregious missed calls by the umpires, I disagree on instant replay. I don’t like it but I think it’s necessary.
Stephenson is the clear #1 catcher next season if healthy. Barnhart is likely to have the choice of staying with the Reds as a number 2 or going elsewhere next year, also as a #2, either choice at a reduced salary. Old friend Curt Casali is making $1.5M this year to back up Buster Posey which would be the projected scope of the Reds backup catcher spot next year. Maybe the Reds go marginally higher for Barnhart but not much.
My view of the DH situation is that there will be a number of guys who can give the Reds better offense than Barnhart as a DH but only Stephenson that can give them outstanding offense from the catcher position. So, except for keeping TS’s bat in the lineup when he really needs a break from catching or for day games following night games, I don’t look for much of TS at DH.
Really need to finish off the sweep today. Keep the pressure on the Brewers and Pads.
Enjoying this team and season so much. The reds have even made a fan out of my wife.
My wife–a casual Reds fan–is paying more attention. Last night she said “why is Moustakis hitting every time I walk into the room?” I realized that it seemed that way to me, too. A time warp of some kind seems like the only plausible explanation.
Huge win but suffered in the 8th inning… Lorenzen got 5 outs throwing just 8 pitches so it is pretty nice because he could be able to pitch today …I wonder if it would has been a good idea to leave Santillán for pitching the 8th though he only threw 5 balls in the 7th frame… What is happening with the most relievers almost always walking his first batter? Hopefully Derek Johnson would be working on fix this matter so it will save a bunch of runs scored against the Reds
I thought santillan should have come back in AND I was worried about bring Givens in yet again. I thought at the time that Lorenzen should have been brought in rather than Givens. Worried that Givens is being over-used.
Though looking at Givens last several games I see that he’s pitched the last two games now but then there was a break of a few games before that so it’s my own memory at fault here. Could have sworn he was used several games in a row. My bad.
What a difference 6 weeks makes.
Reds bullpen pitched 4.1 innings.
Cessa ERA 2.68
Santillan ERA 3.76
Givens ERA 2.52
Lorenzen ERA 0.00
Plus, Antone should be back Tuesday.
If they only had that shutdown dominant lefty, the pen would be very good.
Spot on.
I’m also going to give Bell credit. He made the right moves at the right time. He’s also maturing as a manager. He’s not the same manager he was in 2019 or even 2020. He’s earned the option in 2022.
Bell certainly makes the decisions on pulling a pitcher or Pinch hitting A for B or who starts in LF that day against that pitcher.
But, big decisions he does not make. Bell doesn’t have the authority to start Barrero every day at SS or bench Suarez permanently. He and Krall and his coaches discuss the 30000 foot view on the roles of Aquino and Shogo and Barrero and Farmer and Moose and Suarez. Krall leads the discussion and then Bell signs on board and then implements the broader roles with some short term day to day details up to Bell.
Agree with you somewhat! Still doesn’t explain why Bell didn’t continue with Tony S. in the 8th after only throwing 5 pitches in the 7th! What is maddening is Bell’s constant RP Roulette! His handling of the BP, albeit he didn’t have a lot to work with earlier in the season, has cost the Reds numerous games! Nine (9) BP pitcher is TOO MANY! Bell’s propensity to stick with his one (1) RP per inning almost guarantees one of those RPs will have an off night! Happens almost every game, especially the last 2 games vs the Fish! If you check back thru history most successful MLB teams have their “Big 3” in the bullpen plus a couple of middle inning relievers for when starters fail early or the game is a blowout!
I really like Santillan and for a guy who was stretched out as a SP to 90-100 pitches in May/June- it sure seems like he could go another inning.
That said, Bell’s pattern has been consistent all year. It’s 1 inning per RP mostly or 3 batters and next man up. Perhaps there is some arm health philosophy and master plan to minimize the up and down warming up and then not pitching that taxes relievers over 162 games, particularly the year after 2020 and only 60 games.
Bell plans his lineups days ahead so he probably plans his relievers with warm up, pitch an inning, then cool down and shut down for the day. Bell doesn’t do things in a vacuum. I am sure this pattern of RP use is an organizational plan, by design with DJ and Krall and others all agreeing.
You sound like you know this for a fact and aren’t just speculating. True?
I think you are correct. Someone higher up is calling the shots on who plays. No sane manager would continue shooting themselves in the foot day after day.
They might if they were winning.
Then if that were true he is a terrible manager. You give people reasonable trials to produce and if you have better players on the bench or in the Red’s case AAA, then you should constantly at that point be trying to put the best team on the field. Anything less is incompetence. There are no excuses(unless someone higher up is interfering).
Good team win. Relievers came in and picked up a short start by Miley. Givens didn’t have it either but Mikey Biceps came in and closed it out. Great catch by Shogo. He makes the best reads/takes the best routes of any OF’er we have. Naquin has been really valuable for this team, for a guy who was expected to be the 4th/5th OF’er. He’s been a bit up and down hitting, but the end result is a positive offensive game from a guy who can play all 3 OF spots. That’s valuable.
Sure there’s been some disappointing performances from returning veterans, Suarez, Moose, Shogo’s offense, Garrett and Sims. But the new faces in new places have stepped up and made this season exciting. India, Stephenson, Naquin, Gutierrez and Santillan have given us reason to be hopeful for this season and the future. (Well those guys and Votto’s renaissance).
Keep it up and put the Pads in the rearview.
Really hoping Moose can get it in gear. I’ve long ago given up hope for Suarez. We need SOME production from 3B.
Bell has spoken about having relievers ready for parts of the lineup. He had Givens ready for 2,3,4 in the 8th no matter what Santillan did the inning prior. If the Marlins were looking at 5,6,7 due up in the 8th, then Santillan probably goes back out.
In addition to the 19 games with the Giants and Dodgers the Padres also have 3 with the Braves and 3 with the Astros. I realize playing the schedule game can be fools gold. But my goodness that is a daunting task.
The schedule game can be fools gold, but the NL West is very much up for grabs between the Dodgers and Giants with neither wanting to fall back into the safety net of the top wild card spot. So, the Padres are not going to get any slack from them in those 19 games.
From mid September, the Padres have a run of 6 straight vs Dodgers/ Giants then play the Cards 3 before finishing with 13 games vs Giants (3) Braves (4 in 3 days), Dodgers (3) and Giants (3 more). If the Padres end up in the playoffs, they will have earned it fair and square. The Reds, or Cardinals and whomever from the NL East will have no complaints coming based on the schedules.
Can Mr. Jim Day pleaseeee stay as play by play…pleaseeee
I agree that Jim Day has done a much better job as Reds announcer the last 2 games. I have gotten so sick at the dialog of Sadak and Larkin being so overly positive about all the players and expecially the great job the front office has done. I’m not one to like bragging before something good happens in the game. It’s a shame that Jim Day can’t stay as announcer.
Today’s lineup is out and Barrero is at 2B while Farmer is at SS. Second has been the position Farmer most frequently played prior to becoming the SS this year. Barrero is a potential elite SS. Sorry Bell sycophants, but Bell is the most inept manager I have seen in 50+ years of watching baseball. It’s indefensible.
Can’t argue that India probably needs a rest. Kid has been busting his hump all season.
But you are absolutely, indisputably correct that Barrero should be at SS and Farmer at 2B. I will say it again – no disrespect to Farmer at all. He has been solid all season, and excellent the last 2 months. But he is now the 2nd best SS on this team.
As I said last night Bell managed with a sense of urgency and he should since there are so few games left.Now if Bob will let him address the 3rd base issue by going with a better player then we have our best lineup on the field most nights and we will need it.A player has to give you something else if they don’t hit and to be honest I have been happy when Suarez just puts the play in play and I am getting that way on Moose and that is awful.Shogo at least brings speed and defense when he plays and that helps the team.Moose and Suarez don’t.Hopefully Bob will give Bell the OK to make the change but I feel as long as the Reds win despite no help at 3rd then he won’t.Farmer at 3rd helps keep him on the field and Barrero at short with his speed and athleticism is just really a no brainer.That short hop and back peddling throw to end the game last night was one like well you rarely see.Now he may get an easy one and throw it in the 3rd row but Barrero belongs on the field and not anywhere except short stop.Free Bell so he can Free Barrero
Preach, Brother Garrett!!
Every word of that post is on the money.
Agree. Some on here think the Reds should be run like a church league softball team.
I think Bell managed a masterful game last night and the infield defense was stellar. I’ve not agreed with all his moves this year but we also don’t have all the facts. Its clear he had very limited bullpen until August and also clear that Farmer and Moose have been injured much of the year. After a diving attempt last night, I was sure Farmer was coming out of the game. He didn’t stay with a script on pitchers and what inning it was. When they didn’t have it he got them out of there. Bringing Shogo in during the Cessa pitching change was key. No-one else would have made that catch. And the 5 double plays with Joey pulling 2 Barerro throws out of the dirt were incredible. Go REDS!