The Milwaukee Brewers have shut out the Cincinnati Reds for three consecutive games over the last week. Those three wins have vaulted them into first place in the division where they hold a one game lead. Cincinnati can get back atop of things with a win this afternoon that would avoid a sweep at the hands of Milwaukee. First pitch is set for 1:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
Milwaukee Brewers |
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Christian Yelich – LF | TJ Friedl – CF |
| William Contreras – C | Matt McLain – SS |
| Willy Adames – SS | Jake Fraley – RF |
| Jesse Winker – DH | Elly De La Cruz – 3B |
| Owen Miller – 1B | Jonathan India – 2B |
| Raimel Tapia – RF | Joey Votto – DH |
| Andruw Monasterio – 3B | Spencer Steer – 1B |
| Brice Turang – 2B | Tyler Stephenson – C |
| Joey Wiemer – CF | Will Benson – LF |
| Adrian Houser – RHP | Ben Lively – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Ben Lively | 51.2 | 3.83 | 1.24 | 15 | 50 |
| Adrian Houser | 51.1 | 3.68 | 1.54 | 17 | 34 |
| Links: Ben Lively’s Stats | Adrian Houser’s Stats |
|||||
Ben Lively
The tough-luck pitcher in a 1-0 loss against Milwaukee right before the All-Star break that kickstarted the current Reds 3-game streak of not scoring a run, Ben Lively pitched well against the Brewers in his last start. A surprise addition to the rotation this year, Lively has thrown 51.2 above-average innings for Cincinnati after not pitching in the big leagues since 2019 – when he pitched one inning.
While the OPS split isn’t much different for lefties and righties, they get there a little differently. Righties hit for a much better average and as a result get on base more frequently, too. But they don’t hit for the same kind of power that lefties do. Left-handed hitters don’t hit for much average or walk much against him, but they do hit for plenty of power.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 104 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 27 | .263 | .327 | .400 |
| LHH | 114 | 24 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 23 | .226 | .281 | .443 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 91.0 | 91.7 | 88.4 | 76.3 | 80.5 | 84.8 |
| Usage | 30% | 20% | 10% | 8% | 24% | 9% |
Adrian Houser
Over the last month Adrian Houser has an ERA of 2.25, giving up just four earned runs in 16.0 innings. That’s come despite allowing 18 hits, six walks, and a hit batter while also giving up three home runs. He’s wiggled his way around plenty of jams in that span, but he’s found a way to keep runs off of the board.
The splits against Houser are pretty big. Right-handed hitters have a good average against him, but they don’t walk and they don’t hit for any sort of power. Lefties hit for a lower, but still quality average against him. But they walk four times as often as righties do and they’ve hit for plenty of power against him so far this season.
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 128 | 38 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 19 | .307 | .328 | .387 |
| LHH | 98 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 15 | .289 | .388 | .470 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Curve | Slider | Split | |
| Velo | 93.9 | 92.6 | 80.2 | 83.5 | 84.6 |
| Usage | 25% | 47% | 9% | 12% | 7% |
When and Where
- Game time: 1:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 83°, sunny, 5% chance of rain
News and Notes
The offense has been offensive
The Reds are the 1st team in at least 130 years with 0 Runs & less than 8 Hits in a 3-game span. pic.twitter.com/C3XDA00sJ4
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 16, 2023
Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Brewers | 51 | 42 | 0.0 | 71.7% |
| Reds | 50 | 43 | 1.0 | 22.8% |
| Cubs | 43 | 48 | 7.0 | 9.4% |
| Pirates | 41 | 51 | 9.5 | 0.8% |
| Cardinals | 39 | 53 | 11.5 | 5.1% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Well that was embarrassing.
This was scheduled to post at 12:30, but for some reason it did not.
Don’t give it another thought, Doug.
Every so often a scheduled post will not post when it’s supposed to. Don’t really know why it happens, or why it doesn’t try to post it after it missed posting. It knows what time it was supposed to go live.
I was making pizza. Eating pizza. Then cleaning up after all of that. Came inside to see that it didn’t publish.
Very rude.
Glad you’re not sick or something. 🙂
Saw the pizza – looks good, but the schedule glitch is understandable.
Another inning, three more strikeouts and no runs 🙁
Well we got one hit on that double by McLain. Hopefully more.
Bell needed to change the line up. First inning, three strike outs vs a guy who isn’t a strike out pitcher. EDLC is not a cleanup hitter.
I’ve been preaching it for weeks and taken flak for it, but no, he isn’t. He strikes out way too much. He’s a lead-off hitter with some pop. Maybe a 6-7 hitter.
I was lost! 🙂
For a Pitcher that can’t strikeout batters, Houser gets three that inning. The Grand Canyon zone today will get him a lot. Smh
Don’t really understand running out the same lineup again.
That’s because you have some baseball IQ and passion for winning. Makes it very difficult to understand David Bell’s decision-making.
How many baseball games have you won in your career?
Plate discipline is hurting us. One of several things that’s fixable.
Ok then. Finally.
WE HAVE SCORED!!!!!!
Did the power stacks emit puffs of white smoke?!? 😉
Votto!
Votto with the tailing line drive to left center gap was a sight to behold.
I mentioned this last week and I still believe it. I would really like to see them move Votto up to #3. He’s been a three hitter essentially most of his hof career. He’s clearly got the most consistent power on the team and I think that’s his comfort zone. Fraley’s not a three-hitter, obviously India isn’t. The only other good candidate would be Steer and obviously he’s in a pretty bad funk right now. Put Joey at 3, Benson/Steer at 5/6 and India at 7 for a week and see what happens.
I wouldn’t be opposed, but I think they could also move India to leadoff and then Friedl and McLain would go down one spot.
That would be the other good option then I’m definitely on board with either one
Put Joey at 3, Benson 4, Steer 5, Elly 6.
Wait a minute…did we just score? 😀 Good hit by Votto and India to get it started.
But again we failed it followed up with the quality of bad by Steer and it cost us a run. The strike three pitch was a good pitch that was borderline but it was the perfect pitch to drive the other way to get the runner to third with one out but still took a pitch he never should be taking when the picture put it exactly where steer should want that to make sure he gets the runner to third. Then Stephenson flies to deep Center instead of 2-0 it’s still 1-0. I love steer and I know he’s scuffling but you just can’t take that pitch there… that location should be exactly what you’re hoping for other than right down the middle
Bell and Counsell are going to get tossed today. Heck I’ll probably get tossed
Love seeing some fire from Bell for a change. This has been desperately needed.
And bell gets tossed. Strike zone has been bad for both teams. Winker got K on a ball 4 inches too high.
Bell wouldn’t have been tossed out of a little league game for that.
That home plate ump is soft for sure, but Bell got his money’s worth. I love that he traced an outline of the plate.
Still waiting for someone to explain why Benson continues to bat 9th.
There are no answers for things like that and CES being in AAA. Don’t try to figure it out.
Nope…just Bell thinking he’s smarter than everybody in the room.
Haha, Bell punked that beeeyotch.
referring to Benson’s Ball 4.
Did Larkin leave the booth? I feel like he hasn’t talked for a solid half inning. Not that I’m complaining.
Well you have to admit Sadak doesn’t give others too much room to talk.
Is Sadak a Reds announcer? I’m so tired of him gushing over the Brewers.
His man-crush on Yelich and fan-crush on the Bernies is disgusting.
Half of this board was in love with Yelich when the Marlins put him on the trading block. The “we could have had Yelich” comments were non stop for two years
He was as subdued as I’ve ever heard him on the Yellich HR. I didn’t see it there.
Friedl absolutely robbed of a hit/rbi.
As the saying goes…when things are going bad….ect.
Wow. That was some throw by EDLC there.
Did that go over the Tundra sign?
I’m in my chair now. Listening via radio feed only since the start. I was VERY happy HDTBell showed some fire over the Steer K and got ejected. Maybe that’s part of what we need today.
Yelich is just Yelich. He’s healthy this year and that’s what he does. He’s one of those guys I just can’t bring myself to dislike.
Lively holding his own today. Defense definitely backing him.
I will say this, obviously they’re swinging the bats poorly, but they have hit into some tough luck. That ball by Friedl was absolutely scorched, had to be 105+ off the bat and the second baseman makes the backhanded prayer snag on that laser one bouncer to come up with it and save at least one run and who knows what else might have happened in the inning with 2 on. But the nwt result is they have McClain on second with one out in the 1st, Joey on 2nd with no outs and didn’t get either in. Not winning baseball.
The rookies are struggling. It took 2 hits from the “veterans” India and Votto to score a run. But the rookies shall become better
McLain and Benson have had good at-bats today. Houser is throwing a lot more fastballs up in the zone than either Burnes or Peralta did.
Fraley with the two run homer! Reds lead 3-1. 🙂
Another key hit by a veteran. But we can see that Houser is a tier below Burnes and Peralta. The Reds feast on middle tier right hand pitchers
Fraley. ‘Nuff said.
Fraley and votto 2 big hits against a righty
Friedl robbed
Need that balanced lineup
What if somebody coached Elly to bunt his way out of his slump? What if that were still a thing in baseball these days?
Well, it’s good to see the Reds have finally scored against the Brewers. It isn’t good to see that Bell made absolutely no lineup adjustments. Bell being tossed is probably a net plus.
Veterans having good days, that is why I thought Senzel and Newman should have started. The rookies are struggling.
The optics of lively getting some warm up throws with infielders standing as a group behind him watching…
Lively is a big strong dude
We’ve got a few big dudes. Benson, TySteve, EDLC … some of these guys are almost freaks of nature.
Trainers with Lively.
Looks like a back discomfort.
He stayed in.
Thrall reporting that Rowdy Tellez is out for an additional 4-6 weeks after breaking a finger and ripping off his nail bed while shagging fly balls. Welsh chiming in that there was likely some horseplay involved. Tellez was due back this week.
Good baseball game folks
Lively looks good again
That’s 10 good innings from Lively against the Brewers now. We take that
Realize that the Brewers have had the Reds’ number this year so far, but their offense is so bad that I have a hard time believing they can keep the smoke and mirrors going the rest of the year.
Agree. Brewers are just a bad match up for the Reds because of their great starting pitching and bullpen. I am surprised that they didn’t start Miley today because the Reds offense would continue to struggle. But Brewers lose to other teams because of their bad offense.
Looks like Lively may be done with the same injury.
Too bad if true. That will make the need to acquire another starter a bit more important.
Yep
Really? That’s quite bad news
A couple of noisy outs, but at least they were solidly hit. Especially for Steer.
I am of the opinion the Reds just need to sit tight and see how the next 10 to 12 games play out before they are making trades for pitching. If the team does not come out of this funk and they drop a bunch of games in the next two week there’s really no point in making any trades. On top of that Ashcraft and Lively both look really good in their last two starts and we’ll see Williamson again tomorrow who has been pitching better. The only real stinker left in the rotation is Weaver and we have options in AAA to replace him. Let’s not consider making trades we’re going to regret in the future unless this team gets turned around pretty quick and truly looks like they’re truly going to compete for something meaningful this year. Greene and Lodolo aren’t that far away.
Agreed mostly, Ted. I disagree that expecting Greene and Lodolo to contribute soon is a good strategy. It is risky, because who knows if they will recover completely.
Honestly, I wouldn’t count on Greene or Lodolo the rest of the year. Maybe they will each have a few starts in September, but to count on them to be key contributors this season would be misguided.
Totally disagree with you on this one. It’s not a funk they are in. Brewers pitching is just better. But we don’t play Brewers everyday. We can win the division.
We’ve beat good pitching, the Brewers are playing these series like a playoff series, and we aren’t. This is all between the ears.
Time to lay down the Law on the Bernies.
Let’s hope he rules.
Let’s hope he’s playing the game law can be bent but not broken. Smh
Steer 0 for 24 slump he needs to sit a day or two, so does EDLC, that is why Strand would help. A lot more than Casselli.
Call CES up so a player can take a day or 2 of rest?
Alright. Then, let me ask. . .what reason would any bench player ever have any interest of ever signing with the Reds again? With your logic, why have bench players at all? If you need, just call up the latest hot minor leaguer.
Definitely an illogical move.
???
So you never did answer my question as to when you think the ideal circumstances would allow CES to be brought up in your perfect world…so tell me, what exactly needs to happen for you to be on board with CES coming up? I realize the concept may make your brain explode so if it’s too hard for you to answer just let me know
Ummm, how about when we need him? Like, if Votto gets hurt?
You, like others, are simply giving “Chicken Little” reasons. We are nowhere near that.
Steve, you’ve long since forfeited your right to use the word illogical, even though your comments on this website are listed next to the definition in Merriam-Webster.
Do you think bench players sign with teams for the expectation of regular playing time? Do you think it’s not, first and foremost, a paycheck? You pay them not to play, but to be ready to play in the event they’re needed. And if bringing up CES keeps another washed, mediocre journeyman like Kevin Newman from signing with Cincinnati, you’re literally the only Reds fan alive that would be sad about that.
I guess anyone who thinks CES should be up is just one of those “Chicken Littles” huh?
First good move by Bell for a while, just take himself out of the equation. The can’t do any worse.
Time for a Tu-Rang Fan
Alas, a walk.
One other point about trades. I really think we’re kind of seeing who India is… he’s an up and down fairly decent hitter who is sub-par defensively and that’s always who he’s going to be. However, he has 3 years of team control left so that makes him a good trading chip. He needs to be moved this winter to make room for CES and Marte to come up and then we’ll be ready to really hit the ground running next spring with the entire core group, so if it’s not going to happen this year just keep letting the rookies play, don’t trade valuable players chasing the unlikely and let them gain experience for 2024, which could be a special year
A slight disagreement – looking back few years and see how the Reds have done well picking up 2basemen – most notably Scooter and Dietrich. It’s been a position of surplus availability throughout the league.
Add to that, the depth the Reds have and India looks very dispensable.
However, he brings a lot more to the table than the generic replacement. Before you get to the team leadership/intangible aspects, consider his better position is likely 3base, and his underlying analytics stats are very good to excellent.
If he were to become a bench piece that means the Reds lineup has taken a big step forward.
Still, if someone were to make an offer they couldn’t refuse, they shouldn’t.
The old-timers remember the Reds trading Tony Perez to make room for Danny Driessen. Dreissen was a solid player for the Reds, but not the leader or clubhouse presence that The Big Dog was. Bob Howsam has said trading Tony was his biggest mistake.
I just watched on Youtube last night Marty saying that it took about a week or so in Spring Training of 1977 when Sparky said, “We’ve make a terrible mistake”.
India excelled at leadoff. That’s more than obvious. He didn’t go South till Bell moved him to the 3 hole.
CES will be brought up by buying out Votto’s option. That only doesn’t come about unless Votto bats yo MVP form. Then, we “may still” bring him back. I will reserve that for the end of the season. So, no trade needed there.
I expect someone to get moved this winter. It will depend upon what you want to get/what the other team will want to give. For India right now, you aren’t going to get back much more than a handful of beans, thanks to Bell making him useless.
Nice play by TJ. He ultimately had the better angle on it in terms of keeping the runner at 2nd.
TJ and Benson are nice defensice outfielders. Fraley is fine. Fairchild wiuld be a nice 4 th
Yelich … remember way back when we had the opportunity to acquire him from the Phish?
True but he has had some stinker years for Brewers and they are paying him until he is like 48. I’m good with it.
Let Yelich beat you again. C’mon
Wow. What happened on that throw by Friedl to home?
Yellich,Braun,Berkman,Pujols. Reds killer mount Rushmore. Billy Hall, Larry Walker,Mike Schmidt Honorable Mention.
Schwarber and Happ, 2nd ballot.
Here come Mr Houdini. Let’s hope he has a great escape in him today. You wouldn’t have a 8-0 or whatever it is without having some magic
Gibaut trying to pick up his team leading 9th win.
He would deserve it.
Houdini Gault is his name.
Duarte probably not available today after 30-plus pitches last night. We’ll probably see nearly everyone else from the pen.
The Brewer announcers talk less about the Brewers than Sadak.
+10,000
😀 😛 😉 😮
Lol
Bike Helmets to bail us out again.
We got lucky there, but that’s an example of not paying attention. Contreras has already had 5-6 oppo hotsbin this series so why are we still pitching him away?
Thrall keeps calling out the wrong Bernies’ names 😀
It’ll be interesting to see if Milwaukee’s three closers are all available today for the third straight day.
Now would be a great inning to get one or two more insurance runs to hopefully keep Milwaukee’s “big three” from being used.
Gibaut was one of those guys who needed the long rest. He was working on fumes before the break.
There are times when Ian Gibaut is legitimately good. He’s just inconsistent. Definitely glad to have him as a middle innings reliever.
The way to avoid any tie-breaker, etc. with the Bernies is to just win the NLC outright. I’m convinced they have our number this season and that’s not likely to change. If I recall, we owned the Stupid Cubs like this for a few seasons. It happens.
We’ve got a tough enough week coming up against the Giants and the Snakes. Get out of this one and then work through the next 7 games. We’ve shown what we can do. Need to see that again this week.
Man. Look at the fans that come out when this team wins even a little bit. There is no way MLB would allow this team to be moved.
yes, it was out; but, EDLC just hit a ball that looked like a popup off his bat and was caught just short of the warning track in front of the Reds bullpen in left center.
Complete wrist flick and it went that far. Amazing.
Pitched around Votto. Steer needs to make ’em pay now.
If they ever pickup a solid .840 ops guy for the middle of the lineup then we’re done
Isn’t such a guy just waiting in Louisville for the Uber to pick him up and deliver him to GABP 😉
They’re leading but they still aren’t hitting particularly well. End the 3 catcher experiment and boost the bench. And there’s no excuse not to try Senzel or Newman against a RH given how poorly the whole team is hitting.
There is NO EXCUSE not to have CES and Fairchild up here as options.
True. Even Barrero, playing everyday, has a 10 game hitting streak. CES for Casali makes good sense to me. Fairchild for the next opening.
Yep. Barrero is coming on STRONG lately. He’s playing CF again and Lopez playing SS. To me that tells me that the Reds are planning on using Barrero again.
Senzel and Newman respectively have .556/.557 OPS versus RH pitching this year and both have actually had more PAs vs RH pitching than vs LH pitching.
The only reason they are on this team following the promotion of McLain and EDLC along with the emergence of Steer and Friedl is to serve as the RH hitting side of platoons because their respective OPS vs LH pitching are 1.000/.901.
Yeah
They didn’t help much last night when we needed a pinch hitter for Maile three runs down in the eighth inning.
Brewers have not wanted much to do with Votto this series.
Base hit????? Talk about a homer ruling.
We’ll take it.
Elly, Steer, India, and Stephenson all basically ice cold. Freidl too. Jeez
Interesting there still weren’t any fresh bat options available there. I have to think Newman and Senzel are in a secret bunker somewhere.
Neither of those guys can hit righties at all. Maybe if they put in Milner, we’ll see one of them.
Didn’t Senzel win a game in Washington with a bomb off a righty? Freidl needs a breather
In the game I’m watching, nobody else is really hitting RHP either. I’m just saying fresh eyes, fresh legs, fresh bats in an attempt to make something happen.
Yes, Senzel has 3 HRs off of righties. But he’s also slugging .286 against them overall. The odds are not in favor of a good outcome. Reds could easily solve it with split neutral guys in AAA but love playing with one hand behind their back.
hahaha
I would trade Senzel & Newman both. Nonetheless, they are on the roster and while their splits aren’t great, no one is hitting so what’s to lose? Bell hasn’t learned to make a point with the team, even after 5 years of managing. I’m guessing he never will. As I’ve said before Bell tinkers more when the team is winning than when they are losing. Seems exactly bac
That was my point, LDS. Shake things up and see what happens.
Or at least have the guys bunt more. Believe it or not sometimes that helps a hitters mindset to get back on track.
Senzel hitting for Benson right now. Benson is not one of the guys I would call being in a slump. He at least has a walk today.
How was Robinson defensively at catcher? I don’t remember? He’s hitting so they could try him a little bit. We are in meaningful games although it’s obviously ahead of the Reds plans
If I recall, he was relatively good at the position.
This ump is unglued, but I always thought the “strike zone” on tv is too low. Surely it isn’t written that way? Basically anything above the belt is too high on the box and that seems ridiculous
It’s the “modern zone” as I understand it. Belt to the knees only. Written rule book doesn’t mean diddly anymore.
It looks low, because as a batter takes his stance and strides, the zone is lower than if he was standing straight up.
A little surprised Yelich didn’t get ejected there. Counsel showed a LOT of restraint. That call was TERRIBLE.
Too bad all that drama was wasted by Cruz.
Cruz will never be solid until he cuts down on the walks.
Across the board this BP needs to figure out how to get three quick outs, not two quick outs. Just uncanny how they make quick work of the first two hitters in an inning, then implode.
A minor adventure in LF there … kind of “floated” on him.
Man. Benson next to Friedl is a big guy.
He’s a freakishly large man.
I wonder where Friedl was on that ball? Benson kept looking for help. I agree EDLC, India, Freild, Steer and Stephenson are giving very little. Steers so called hit was an error all the way, home cooking is right.
Very odd as the majority of those calls aren’t made in the parks anymore, or at least that’s what I’m lead to believe. NYC central office makes them.
Friedl was shaded in right center for the oppo hitting Contreras.
I take it back … Senzel isn’t in a secure bunker somewhere.
Fraley not good against lefties and he really only faces them late in games in high leverage situations since he never starts against LHP.
This was supposed to be a new comment not a reply.
Terrible bunt followed by out stealing. Oh Boy how things have changed.
Senzel has never been a good base stealer. Worth a shot, but rather hit n run
Honestly I’d rather have Fairchild but hit and run may have been better in that situation. Se
Senzel has won some games for us this year.
Wasn’t close. Senzel was out.
The covering guy not afraid to stick his glove in there and play the ball.
Just the way we old catchers liked it back in the day. That you don’t see that often anymore. 😉
Well … STINK. FISH. POT!!!
Winker … figures.
At least it stayed in the park and they held the lead run at 1B
Now that surprises me. Seriously. I mean, it’s in Bell’s nature that when he brings in a reliever to get the last out and they throw 5 or less pitches, Bell would still pull him. Bell. . .ummm. . .wait a minute. Oh yeah. That’s right. Bell isn’t there.
Not true.
So I’m watching Sims get ready to make that 3-2 pitch to Adames and I can just tell he was not going to throw a strike even though they’re only up a run and this is the leadoff hitter with 4-5-6 coming up. He was going to literally try to make him chase a ball and he was okay with a walk. I don’t understand that
Why try to throw home? Terrible
Friedl had no chance for the runner at home. He let the guy move up from first. Not a good play.
No chance to get the runner, so naturally TJ throws there and the runner moves up to 2nd. Fundamentally poor decision.
C’mon Freidl? So dumb Larkin even made his first criticism. They deserve to get swept the way they’re playing. Milw going the other way and not making key mistakes or pressing like we are
What is Friedl doing?
It’s not like this hasn’t happened before?
This HAS to be on coaching and holding people accountable for plays like this.
+10K
Yep, Friedl consistently does this same thing where he will throw to home or 3rd with literally no shot and let the runner get the extra base… it just makes no sense at all. He can’t be coached this poorly. I’ve been a big fan of his but his poor decisions defensively are starting to seriously aggravate me.
Aquino/EDLC could not have thrown that runner out at the plate.
Little League play all the way by Freidl there. He’s got to hold that lead man at 1b instead of rainbowing a prayer in the general direction of home.
Well I guess being only 2 games back isn’t too bad. The Brewers are just a better team it seems.
They have the better coach and manager.
All true, yet I wonder if the Brewers would be letting a player like CES sit in AAA if they were going through an offensive slump of this nature at this point in the season..
I kind of doubt it.
I very seriously doubt any other team in the major leagues would. They must all be “Chicken Littles”. 😀
Reds trying their best to lose this game. Just haven’t had their best in this series. Seems like Brewers are in their heads.
Agreed. Another characteristic of a young team, not strong mentally.
Get ready for the ride.
This team is just very poorly coached, that was a terrible move by Freidl. He has really cost the team this last inning = poor bunt and stupid throw.
Agreed.
What an absolute bonehead play by Friedl
For crying out loud what the hell is Friedl doing there???? How in the world does he think throwing to home there from that deep in center field makes sense, literally 0% chance to get the runner at home…but just giving the Brewers the go ahead runner in scoring position with one out. That’s just freaking terrible baseball and if I’m the manager U yank his ass out right now and sit him on the bench. That is high school nonsense…C’mon
That’s the kind of manager we have.
Prime reason why you should still always have a Longman in the pen. Just give him an inning here and there to keep him fresh.
Oh, I know most teams don’t carry one, and why. I simply believe they still should, because of times like this.
How many teams have an actual long reliever/spot starter anymore? I don’t believe we’ve had that role pretty much in forever.
What?
It’s the 8th inning of a tight game, and the setup guy is in?
And you want to go to a long man?
You’re just trolling now dude.
Reds didnt get much from law cruz and sims
Id target the bullpen
I have to agree. I can see either way. And, my initial consideration was a starter. But, I’ve been happy with our starters for a while. I could see another shut down reliever.
To be fair it was two bad throws over the cutoff man to let the runners advance to second base that cost us the most that’s on Freidl and Fraley not the bullpen
Heading for the sweep. Krall has to make changes. Someone in this organization has to promote accountability
3-1 early and I thought we might pour it on a little, but no
That’s all right, according to Steve S there’s no reason to bring CES up now to add his bat to this lineup that’s performing so well. Lets wait until we’re about 7 games out in early August, then he can come up.
T.J. Friedle just cost the Reds this game. He should ride the bench during the Giants series.
Very unlikely the Reds will score on Urbie and Williams.
If the Reds are to make the playoffs, they have to have a Veteran A Pitcher. We have a lot of very good B pitchers, but no Veteran A pitcher. Otherwise we are going to say. “ we’ll we Almost made the playoffs”
Spend some money Reds!
They got way bigger problems than getting a pitcher. They’ve given up a total of nine runs in 4 games and are about to go 0-4 vs their main competition in the division. Their current problems which are taking a blow torch to the season literally have nothing to do with pitching.
If it were a 1-time thing, it could pass. But this at least 5 times (that I’ve seen) in the last 2 months.
Agree…3 game benching for this and future offenders.
Brewers are a well-coached team and just seem to make the winning plays against the Reds.
Counsel is a top-tier manager. I won’t comment further about HDTBell’s patronage job.
This team is lost, if changes aren’t made they will be heading toward .500 soon. Only 6 over if the lose today.
Thanks Friedl.
This team deserves to lose playing like this and I’m starting to lose interest. Just like Steer in the 2nd watching strike three on the outside corner with Votto on second and nobody out…takes the perfect pitch for atrile three that he should have driven the other way to get the runner to 3rd, who then should have scored on the Stephensin flyout to CF. Just flat out giving up two runs by not executing simple baseball.
I still can’t believe Friedl did that from where he caught the ball.
This team and Brewers needs a number 4 hitter in a bad way.
We literally can’t hit anyone in their pen. I’m done for a while. Steal every base and cycle…yeah. First place AS break so time to roll over. My over 83.5 is dead too. They check out then I check out. That Freidl play. So stupid it really needed to cost the game and it did
It cost them the lead, not the game.
They were already tied.
Gave them the 4th run….hence the game. Unless they tack on? We aren’t scoring
It will ultimately cost them the game
I agree. I think the Reds ownership want to keep the fans rolling in and they won’t be if they keep playing like they have against the best team in the division. They either need to make some deals or just close the shop until the offseason and go for it next year.
I’m tired of getting beat by the Brewers. This is what I feared around the all star break.
7 games left on this home stand, they need to go at least 4 and 3 or things could get really ugly with trips to L.A. and Milwaukee after that. If you ask me Bell is losing control as he has so many times in the past.
7th pitcher. If my math is correct, that means we’re really running thin out there today. Figure Duarte isn’t available. So we’ve got 2 guys left?
Senzel is a great third baseman. Senzel is a horrible outfielder.
Misplayed another fly that floated further than expected. They did score it as an E7 this time (for now).
Okay. I’m all for getting Fairchild up on the roster one way or another.
Newman and Casali have not played at all this series. Wasting roster spots at the moment.
Now we got hosed on a checked swing call. Not our day.
Hmm, I wonder what the lineup order will look like tomorrow?
For those considering, you have to consider who want to come to take a chance to play for the Reds when if they are a bench player and can get bypassed for the hot minor leaguer for a couple of games.
I can think of a few. No problem.
Wow.
Even coming from you this is pure drivel.
Fess up. You must have a team of writers helping you.
No one could come up with so many lame ideas on a regular basis.
Or maybe your a prodigy?
Bingo. At this point this just has to be his schtick because nobody would really believe the nonsense he’s rolling out here on a regular basis every day.
Geez…don’t you ever get tired of regurgitating the same nonsensical drivel 8000 times?
Bring him up as the main DH…and play him occasionally in other spots. Are you telling me you don’t think we can find guys to sit the way this team is playing??????.
You must be joking.
It would be an insult to these guys. It’s never ever happened before in baseball.
What the crap? That umpire looked like he was running down to 1B.
Now Freidl makes the smart throw to second.
Reds going into a long loosing streak if no changes to the roster and/or lineup are made very soon.
I 100% agree they don’t look like the same team plus the fact that the Brewers have made them look like little a little league team.
Feels like the series post-AS break a couple of years ago.
I’m not looking forward to seeing the Giants and Dbacks come to town
Check the rule book.
Closers can’t pitch 3 days in a row???
Look, the Rays lost 7 straight recently and they are losing 7-0 to Kansas right now. Reds will be ok
Every time we play a team with a superior manager we seem to fold. The manager cannot do anything to change the poor performance by an umpire who can’t call balls and strikes so why does it make sense to get ejected. Milwaukee has a very good manager, and we have a poor manager. We do have a very young team.
Turn out the light the parties over!!!
The Red’s manager is awful, but I’m glad he went out and called these umps out on incompetence. Also maybe light a fire in the dugout culture
And it comes to this. Atone for the error or slink away meekly.
Sadly, predictable.
Have a good rest of your Sunday, all. I’ll be back and I know the majority of you will as well.
2-8 to a mediocre s team with no middle of the lineup. I’d much rather have CES Mark Reynolds and Hopkins in the middle then their scrubs. I’m out. GL everyone
3-13 against the Brewers and Braves now with 9 1-run losses. Next few series against the NL West elite will be telling on whether the Reds can compete this year or not.
How about that, Williams pitching for the 3rd straight day. Thought there was a rule against that
Worst case scenario after the break just happened. Epic fail, Reds
See Counsel’s a good manager and he knows how important these games are versus the Reds, so he’s willing to push the boundaries a little bit because he correctly realizes the importance of these games vs Cincy. David Bell has hard and fast rules that can never be broken no matter what the circumstances are and therefore that’s how he manages.
The one saving grace to what appears to be their eminent collapse and withdrawal from the divisional race is that the Reds will likely be smart enough to let Bell go at the end of the season and hire a real manager to lead this young and talented nucleus in the future.
No doubt about it, Ted. They need a real manager to lead this team in th future and David Bell isn’t it. It’s time for a change.
He’ll get extended. He’s family. And the team has “exceeded” expectations- that’ll be the justification
Guess not when you’re playing for 1st place.
I believe for the most part the Reds got intimidated this series. Disgusting. Just like a couple of years ago as someone pointed out.
And I really believe that that is where a strong manager will help the most with a young team, because he will instill an attitude that doesn’t let this happen. They clearly were intimidated and playing very tentatively the last six games vs Milwaukee. These were probably some of the most pressure filled games David Bell has coached here in 5 years and we see the results of his managing style when the pressure is ramped up and the games mean something, so for those of the opinion we should keep him for next year this is who his teams are. He’s never taking you to the promised land, so there really is no point in sticking with him and going down with his ship.
And who has the ultimate say on Manager David Bell? Principal owner Bob Castellini. Bell will be extended.
I still can’t believe that throw that allowed the winning run to move to second ….no excuse…even a little leaguer knows better than that
Friedle should be benched for that non-sense, but I would prefr they send TJ to Louisville instead. It would send a powerful message.
With you 100%
This one is on Friedl. Idiot play throwing home with 0% chance of getting that runner. Baseball 101 not executed. This is the type of play that led many to believe this team would lose 100 games.
They outplayed and out-managed us! Weak bench, no help.
Pinch hitting Senzel for Benson in the 7th when you didn’t need a run had the adverse effect of Senzel facing the right handed closer in the 9th when a run was needed and Benson would have been the better matchup.
Amazing that comments a couple days ago about possibly reverting to the mean were generally derided, but now the bandwagon is about empty as people are falling off right and left!
Yep. Mentioned it above with Fraley too. He never starts against LHP, so his only at-bats against them are in high leverage situations late in games. He would be much better as a bench bat. And the Reds have too many platoon guys right now. Ok to have one or two with severe splits, but you can’t have 5-6 guys like that on the team.
The way in which Friedl gave away today’s game was demoralizing. They finally score some runs, but now they can’t execute basic defensive decisions.
Not hitting will happen in a season. Giving runners free extra bases is deplorable. Good teams simply don’t make blatant mental errors like that.
Makes me sick to my stomach to think he is so unaware of the circumstances that he airmailed a throw home.
Last post then I’m forgetting about this s show for a while. Elly in RF and we’re probably still 3-3. I don’t see where his big arm helps that much in the infield? McLain has better fundamentals at SS. I bet Elly has 42″ vertical too? He’d probably pull back 3-4 Gabp specials a year
It was pretty cool today on that throw by Elly to first. The hardest one recorded if I’m not mistaken in the majors (he had one harder in AAA). Wherever he plays he will be good. I envision him in CF, leading the majors in outfield assists, using his long fast strides to track down balls in an unbelievable way, and pulling potential HR balls off the walls. In my view he may or may not win a gold glove in the infield. He most certainly will in CF. I will enjoy him wherever he plays.
I think we’re starting to see the real TJ Friedl.
Let’s face it, his first half was a major fluke.
He is now compounding his terrible last 50 at bats by overthrowing cutoff men.
Not hitting panic button, but this loss was avoidable.
I can accept physical errors that happen in a game & I can even accept mental errors that happen in the frenzy of the game…but I cannot accept a mental error that happens when you have actual time to figure out what you will do if a fly ball is hit to you in that situation…just a stupid play
Bats game coming up at 6:05pm Eastern. I think it may be the MiLB freebie of the day for those that don’t have through MLBTV/ At Bat
This link should get you started. Choose the Bats game from the AAA scoreboard.
https://www.milb.com/
CES scratched from tonight’s Louisville lineup. Looks like Krall might be a “chicken little”.