If you think the Cincinnati Reds (54-46) and the Milwaukee Brewers (55-45) have played each other a lot recently, it’s because they have. After already meeting six times in July, the Reds and Brewers meet for one final time in 2023 for another three game series in Milwaukee.
Here’s the good news: the Reds are only a half game back of the Brewers after sweeping the Diamondbacks this past weekend and watching the Brewers lose two of three at home to the Braves. However, here’s the bad news: the Reds are 2-8 against the Brewers this season, and they will have to face Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta again. Either way, it should be another fun series between these two teams. First pitch from American Family Field is at 8:10 pm EDT.
Lineup
Cincinnati Reds
|
Milwaukee Brewers |
| SS Elly De La Cruz | LF Christian Yelich |
| CF TJ Friedl | C William Contreras |
| 2B Matt McLain | SS Willy Adames |
| RF Jake Fraley | RF Sal Frelick |
| 3B Spencer Steer | 3B Andruw Monasterio |
| 1B Joey Votto | 1B Owen Miller |
| DH Christian Encarncion-Strand | 2B Brice Turang |
| C Tyler Stephenson | DH Jahmai Jones |
| LF Will Benson | CF Joey Wiemer |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Graham Ashcraft | 93.2 | 5.77 | 1.54 | 39 | 66 |
| Colin Rea | 85.1 | 4.64 | 1.21 | 26 | 70 |
| Links: Graham Ashcraft’s Stats | Colin Rea’s Stats |
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Graham Ashcraft
Graham Ashcraft has had quite the roller coaster of a season. He had a 2.10 ERA in April, but then his ERA skyrocketed in May and June after a disastrous two months where it felt like he was always giving up runs. However, in four starts over the last month, Ashcraft has a 1.82 ERA. He has lowered his season ERA from a season-high 7.17 on June 24 to a 5.77 ERA entering tonight’s game.
In his last start against the Brewers, Ashcraft was the victim of zero run support, only allowing one run over six innings in a losing effort because the Reds did not score off Burnes in the first game back from the All-Star break.
Ashcraft is a ground ball pitcher and always has been throughout his career. His GB% is lower than that of his rookie season a year ago. In 2022, it was 54.5% compared to just 48.7% this season. In relation to this, his FB% is elevated by about four percentage points. It contributed to many of his problems when he was struggling, but lately his GB% has been getting better again, and it’s helping him have a better July.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 224 | 58 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 10% | 14% | .301 | .386 | .482 |
| LHH | 195 | 47 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 8% | 18% | .267 | .335 | .443 |
Pitch Usage
| 2-Seam | Cutter | Slider | |
| Velo | 96.6 | 96.3 | 88.3 |
| Usage | 10.0% | 52.2% | 37.8% |
Colin Rea
Colin Rea last faced the Reds on July 8 in Milwaukee and did not make it out of the fifth inning, allowing five runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings. He did strike out seven batters though, while walking only one.
Like Ashcraft, Rea is a predominately sinker/cutter pitcher who likes to force ground balls. In 2023, his GB% is nearly 45%, and his career GB% is 44.4%. Unlike Ashcraft, Rea is more of a strikeout pitcher. He has a 19.5% strikeout rate this season, compared to Ashcraft’s 15.8% strikeout rate in similar innings pitched.
Left-handed batters are slugging .503 against Rea, while right-handed hitters are slugging only .363 against him. This includes Reds lefty batters, as Will Benson, Jake Fraley, and Joey Votto have all homered off Rea this season.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB% | K% | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 187 | 37 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 6% | 21% | .216 | .263 | .363 |
| LHH | 172 | 40 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 9% | 17% | .261 | .333 | .503 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-Seam | 2-Seam | Cutter | Curve | Slider | |
| Velo | 93.1 | 92.5 | 86.5 | 78.8 | 83.0 |
| Usage | 20.4% | 28.2% | 25.5% | 9.4% | 9.7% |
Details:
- Time: 8:10 pm EDT
- Place: American Family Field, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Weather: 80 degrees, partly sunny, 1 percent chance of rain, meaning it is very likely the roof will be open.
- TV: Bally Sports Ohio
- Radio: 700 WLW
News and Notes
Jonathan India on the trading block?
Reds Minor League Notebook
A 24-year-old outfielder had a great week for Double-A Chattanooga.
Today’s Roster Moves
The #Reds today announced the following transactions: pic.twitter.com/rDO7Cf6a5j
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 24, 2023
Stat of the Day
And here’s the reason why the Reds trail the Brewers by 0.5 games. One of two things is going to happen the rest of the season if the Brewers win the series this week: either the Reds overtake the Brewers simply by winning more against other teams not from Milwaukee, or the Brewers will start winning against other teams and it will be impossible to catch them. The Reds really need to win this series.
Since 4/23 #selectiveendpoints
vs Not MIL vs MIL
Reds 46-23 2-8vs Not CIN vs CIN
Brewers 32-36 8-2— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) July 24, 2023
No India today. His turn to sit again?
Twice in a week?
Art Howe meet Billy Bean: Art let me introduce your new first baseman
Possibly … 2x in a week and against the hated Bernies makes me scratch my head and wonder.
Yeah. Has everyone had their turn yet? Not opposed to it. Just surprised considering the latest news.
Talk is cheap at this point, so I am going to borrow the famous phrase from the late Al Davis: just win baby!
For me, I think Fraley and Votto are key to this whole series with CES being the wild card. As much as I preach contact hitting, it’s hard to that against Burnes and Peralta, so it’s more of opportunistic baseball we need to play and if Fraley and Votto can provide a couple key RBI, we will be in good shape.
Playing some Small Ball would be helpful, especially in any low scoring game!
I love small ball as you know. But I am concerned that it’s hard to get string hits together against Burnes and Peralta, so maybe we play power ball with them. For today game, small ball is possible.
Votto is washed so if he’s the key to this series we are well and truly doomed.
Perhaps this is the end of 3-Catcher-Monte after all.
Need to get to Rea early and often. I’m thinking the boys are stoked and riding the wave of the Snake Eradication Sweep.
Time to Kick Bernie Pig in his own house!!!
Well we sure played pretty well without Newman. Perhaps we can do the same without Casali and force FO to finally end the bromance with these two. We are a stronger team with Fairchild, or even Hopkins for his glove, than with Casali and Newman.
I doubt that Nick Kroll has the same affection for these utility/marginal players as does David Bell. In fact if I had to guess, we are looking at a couple of power-play moves here.
Perhaps it is the front office that is going to make a major push to go as far as this team can in 2023. David Bell has never struck me as one who feels a sense of urgency.
For everyone that says to DFA Casali, do you really want Maile and Robinson as your options if TS gets hurt? I don’t.
@mario. I want the guy banging lt in AAA to be the only back up.
Mario, you say that as if Casali would be anything other than a significant downgrade compared to either of them.
At my age (70) I don’t do a lot of long-term planning! Heck, I don’t even buy green bananas! But, looking at the Reds current 10-game road trip, they need to go 5-5 IMO to “stay in the hunt” so to speak! A good start would be a win tonight!
Looking further down the road, the Reds need to play winning baseball until mid-August when hopefully, reinforcements in the form of Greene and maybe Lodolo, return to the rotation to bolster the starting pitching! Also, it appears that their chief rival, the Milwaukee Brewers’ schedule is more difficult than the Reds after August 12th. West Coast road trips have always been tough for the Reds and playing the Dodgers for 3 games after the Brewers will not be easy! At least they won’t have to face Kershaw this trip. They finish the 10-game road trip with 4 games against the Stupid Cubs. If they don’t let Ian Happ beat them they should, at a minimum, garner a split of the 4-game series before returning home!
+500
Missing Miley is a good thing too. He is the Rick Mahler kryptonite of the 21st century for the Reds. Mahler couldn’t break a pane of glass but he beat the reds constantly. Speed changing pitchers with good location are a real issue for many of our new guys.
Wade Miley has good stuff…..when he is healthy and pitching. He is what…37 years old now? He breaks down a lot.
I really want the Reds to win 2 out of 3 from the Brewers…. at least. And that starts with winning tonight. Abbott pitches tomorrow night for the Reds….maybe their best pitcher right now.
Don’t worry about the Dodgers, don’t worry about the Cubs. Just win tonight.
The Joel Luckhaupt stat is pretty telling……essentially what some of us intuitively suspected.
Believe in the future! Buy some green bananas today!
“Don’t worry about the Dodgers, don’t worry about the Cubs. Just win tonight.”
Good pregame talk coach. 🙂
I say 7-3. Sweep the Cubs and have a 3-3 record against Brewers and Dodgers.
I’ll split the difference and predict we go 6-4…1-2 vs Brewers…2-1 vs LA….3-1 vs Cubs
“At my age (70) I don’t do a lot of long-term planning! Heck, I don’t even buy green bananas!”
haha 🙂
Can we please learn how to pitch to guys hitting around .200 in the Brewers lineup? Joey Weimer and Adames and the like. Key to the series in my mind.
Adames and Yelich are the hitters who historically torture the Reds! The rest of the Brewers batters are average at best!
Let’s see, for all Reds who have more than 7 starts so far this season, over the last 30 days, our leadoff hitter is:
– 3rd to last in BA
– last in OBP
– last in SLG
– last in OPS
Our 9 hole batter is, during that same time:
– first in BA
– first in OBP
– first in SLG
– first in OPS
Am I missing something?
Having benson bat 9 gives EDLC, Friedl, and McLain extra RBI opportunities
Having a “turn the lineup over” or “extra lead off guy” at 9 is not new
Don’t know how I feel about it, but I kinda get it
Dhud,
With that logic, then having Benson leadoff, that would give those same players even more opportunities for extra RBI’s.
Having a tough out before the lineup turns over is hard on the pitcher as he doesn’t get to take a breather. I do agree that EDLC needs to go down the lineup and steer needs to go up. friedl or McLain can lead off. 6 weeks ago, benson was on the ropes with many of our contributors, and this low order position has clicked for him. I am not in favor of moving him. He could try to be a different hitter and then go into a swoon like India did. Too risky.
It’s the same 9 guys no matter what order they’re hitting in. If a pitcher doesn’t get to “take a breather” when he gets to #9, then he’s getting that same breather somewhere else in the order, which is arguably much worse. And you don’t want the game ending with your hottest hitter getting 3 chances to hit and your coldest hitter getting 4 chances.
SR,
Then, with that logic, leading Benson off at the beginning of the game, the pitcher will think straight from the beginning of the game as well as throughout the game, that “he doesn’t get to take a breather”
One very positive takeaway here … this is the LAST 3 games against the Bernies this season. I won’t play the “we’re due” card because I don’t go in for that. Bernie is always a tough match-up. But this is the end of it for the year.
Let’s get the first one in the W column and then move on.
Agree! Not the end of the world or end of the season! The NL Wild Card race is just insane! The top 5 teams battling for the coveted 3 spots are all within one (1) of each other going into tonight’s games! The Giants lost earlier today to Detroit!
I’m about to reverse my position on “NLC Crown or Bust” because I think the WC race is a little more open as you noted. Not the best way to get to October, but it is a way in.
Amen. Let’s do it
Time to “flatten the Beers”. 🙂
You stole my line!
What about the cheese curds and the bratwurst? As much as I want to throw them out of my fridge, I love them too much 🙂
What about the cheese curds and the bratwurst? Should I throw them out of my fridge? 🙂
Well, the cheese curds definitely … disgusting stuff 😮
I love a good brat. I’ve got some store made beer brats in the freezer that I may need to grill up next week during my couple of “bachelor days”.
haha I don’t think it’s original with me. You can have credit. 🙂
I see Krall didn’t have the guts to send Newman to AAA or DFA him. Fake injury for Casali.
Seriously? The guy who gutted the team of so many fan favorites so he could rebuild it? Are you talking about the same Nick Krall. Those two moves have David Bell written all over them.
Pete, you are probably right. Someone speculated the difference in opinion may be stopping the team from having contract extension talks with DT Bell.
Well might not be totally fake. That one pitch he swung at did hit him in the left leg as he was swinging at it. Don’t see that too often.
Pine splinters?
+500
Or varnish irritation 😛
Interesting that Casali is on the 10 day DL, retroactive to July 21,which takes him right up to the Trade deadline, July 31. I don’t think a player can be traded if they are on the DL, right?
So no chance that he can actually get hurt before July 31st.
Is this weird thinking or what?
I think that Newman and Casali get moved…SOMEHOW…. on July 31st. Maybe for some warm hand towels and a bucket of balls…..I dunno.
I’m baffled that the Reds think it’s somehow possible to play major league games with only two catchers available. How are they supposed to win any games without a guy sitting on the bench just in case both the other catchers get hurt? Has any team ever won a game under these conditions? Bell is really going to have to earn his money today.
Lol, good post
+5,000 and a big 😀 😀 for you, J!
See the Reds recalled Duarte, AGAIN! Why? He’s a walk machine!
Serious question … who else at AAA in the pen that fits the criteria (mostly on the 40-man)?
To irritate you no doubt Dennis. 🙂 They are in cahoots with your pharmacy. 🙂
He does walk way too many, but opponents are hitting .208 against him and his ERA is 2.77. There are worse guys to have in the bullpen if you need someone to pitch an inning when you’re ahead or behind by three runs. (In fact, several of those worse guys have pitched for the Reds this season.)
Dennis I was going to dog you about your walk phobia. On further review I concede your point. The Reds lead the NL in walks this year. And 2022. And 2021.
For me the head to head records and the versus the rest of the league records say that this is not a make or break series for the Reds, but it could be for the Brewers. The Brewers are 6 games better than the Reds in head to head, but the Reds are 5.5 games better than the Brewers against the rest of baseball. After this series, there is no more head to head, it’s all against the rest of baseball. Decided advantage to the Reds if both head to head and rest of BB trends hold the rest of the year.
Certainly I would love to see the Reds head out of this series with a win and in first place, but I don’t see it as critical.
The only issue comes if we end up tied with the Bernies at the end of the regular season. They hold the tie-breaker because of the head-to-head. Can’t change that, so let’s not let it happen.
Yeah, i would just prefer the Reds not get swept, but this series is hardly make or break.
Why is sadak so excited about the brewers stealing a run from the Reds?!
I don’t know but it is certainly annoying.
Sadak has a major man-crush on every one of the Bernies. It’s beyond ridiculous from what I read here. I wouldn’t know personally as I won’t listen to him unless absolutely forced to do so. I use the WLW audio overlay on my MLB.tv feed.
That’s called learning how to play the wall. Simply put, good play.
Right in the notch and a great play by Wiemer.
Another hard hit, hard luck for EDLC.
NO FAIR
Here we go with John sadak with his brewers worshipping already.
He was more excited for that rob of a Reds home run than back to back to back home runs the other day.
I will say, it seems like that first inning is a story if all season verse the brewers. Just a few inches either way buy always seems to break for the brewers this year so far.
That run/sequence should count as two earned runs for Ashcraft.
You ain’t kidding… the Brewers have gotten an awful lot of breaks versus the Reds this year. If Elly’s ball is three or four inches higher or the guy doesn’t make a great play it’s a home run. The 2-2 pitch to Yelich looked like strike three… it definitely dropped a bunch and cut across the plate and ended up just out of the Zone but it had to be a strike when it crossed the plate but they don’t call it….then the single right through what is normally right at the second baseman but instead it’s just out of his reach…just bad luck.
As noted, I do not listen to Sadak at all. I do find it a bit puzzling that management hasn’t reeled him in about his Bernie man crush and worship gushing. He “serves” at their pleasure, after all.
Well Reds ownership don’t really like the Reds either so…
😀 😛 😮
I can’t listen to him either…maybe he grew up a Brewers fan
Maybe he likes beer? 😀
Good sign by EDLC. Only a very good play kept EDLC from having leadoff HR’s in back to back games.
Well, that didn’t take long.
Nope
Ashcraft walked Yellich. Cant do that. Period. make them hit.
Teams that are willing to take pitches will get walks.
Have I mentioned how much I dislike Yelich?
Maybe we’ll get them tomorrow?
Notice … I will NOT be staying up late to watch this kind of garbage. I know it’s early, but he gave in to Yelich and served one up to Contreras there. And running up his pitch count in the process.
They literally have 2 hitters and both are AS caliber. Adames kills the Reds and is great defensively but cant hit anny one else so if Reds pitching can simply have a plan against Yellich and Contreras and Adames and settle in offensively…they win.
Elly stat cast velocity on the double play 187 mph
Lmao. I think I heard Joey scream.
Definitely needs a NEW glove after that one. That’s one way to break it in. 🙂
Think that might be exaggerating just a little. More like 185 mph.
Imagine if we had a Frelick to go with our Friedl and Fraley. That would be Frickin awesome.
Freaking Fantastic!! Add Fairchild as the Fourth and what would you have then?
Bike Helmets!!!
Faith renewed as long as Counsel doesn’t challenge it and win.
What a CANNON by De La Cruz there. Amazing.
He’s in a new category of arm, more of a Hadrian Collider than a Howitzer.
That throw was a bullet. Joey had to be thinking,” Please lord let me catch it “
Every pitch is up for Ash so far.
He seems to get amped up and overthrowing.
It’s only 1 run.
Rally Reds time
I have been spoiled to hear Brantley these last several games. What a pleasure to listen to solid baseball savvy commentary
Brantley is so much better than he was 10 years ago. More serious and more insightful, but still enough of the folksy charm.
You ain’t kidding… wish we could get a lot more of him on the TV broadcasts.
I got the Brewer feed tonight.
We’re almost all in agreement that Sadak is nearly impossible to listen to, and Larkin rarely says anything remotely interesting or useful. We almost all seem to agree Brantley is the best of the bunch, and ought to be doing all the TV games. My question is this: are we all outliers, or does the average Reds fan feel the same way? And if we’re NOT outliers, why are we stuck with these guys? Do they just assume everyone loves what they’re hearing? Do they do any sort of market research?
Brantley is the man.
5 game winning streak – time to choke in Milwaukee. Had they merely split the season series to this point, they’d be leading the division
Let’s not go there yet. Maybe at 10 pm.
Haven’t seen you during the win streak. Glad to see back , Mr. Eeyore. Lol
No power for days. I’m just looking at trends
I’m usually an advocate of players going oppo.
But Fraley does not hit the ball with authority to left.
My boy Steer.
How did the ump fall for that frame job. Terrible
Looked outside and low to me. Challenge system please.
Contreras moves his glove about 8 inches to the middle of the plate. How can the ump not see that?
Terrible call. Welsh with his “gets the black” is a very weak and incorrect explanation.
Joey is on the struggle bus … can’t let that continue.
Strike 3 was awful….but he had 2 meatballs that he swung at and fouled off.
I think Rea surprised Votto by giving him pretty good stuff to hit before the fake strike 3. Votto should have handled that 94 down the middle.
If I was an ump , I would tell every catcher, you move that glove and I’m calling it a ball everytime.
+50,000
How the Chumpires continue to reward that “trick” is completely baffling.
Both the Contreras boys hold the mitt there too, which makes the umpire look bad. I would be telling them to throw it back or the plate shrinks today.
Besides the bad call from the ump.
It seems the brewers have very well scouted or something the Reds hitters, they’d look very bad vs their pitchers
Ashcraft needs a quick 2nd inning to keep his pitch count down and its not happening.
This team seems to tighten up against the Brewers they way teams of the past did so against the Cardinals. That is not a good sign. They really just need to win one in this series but that won’t be easy.
Ashcraft isn’t fooling very many tonight.
Please stop throwing the cutter.
Fraley seems to have a better arm than I thought.
The runner tags up from FIRST??? Miller saw something and took advantage of it.
This is NOT looking like a good start for the boys tonight.
I’m feeling a Clete loading somewhere in the background.
I don’t see it.
Jake wheeled and threw a perfect strike to the proper base.
Oh, I agree with that. It’s just the building “anything that can go wrong does” storm.
Ashcraft hits corner 1-0
Rea outside low strike 3
Worn out with this s
Ty doesn’t attempt to frame it is the annoying part
The best part of playing @ Mil???
Front Row Amy!!
Lol, not the worst part
Needed that in the worst way.
Time for the “comeback” … right?
Offense needs to score to take pressure off of Ashcraft. He’s pitching under duress for 2 innings now. Another inning of pitching from behind will probably break him
I’ll keep asking if my ask is given. Thank you Benson and EDLC
C Trent with a good article today and benson plate discipline front and center. basically saying the ABS in AAA has helped reds prospects learn the “true” strike zone and given them confidence between the ears. They dont focus on a bad umpire anymore on a bad AB.
Yet..benson strikes out on a ball
That is absolute crap of a call third strike. Huge first out. Time fir the challenge system!
Cost us a run. Should be 3-1 now.
Bell needs to come out and drill the Chumpire good. He’s buying every move Contreras makes and then some.
Agree
This ump is terrible.
Benson increasing his pitch count anyway. Another K on a ball.
Elly 689 feet
It went farther than the projected 456 feet.
This just in: ELDC has some power.
*EDLC
Yesss!! Elly!
Catch that Wiemer.
Can you catch that one Wiemer?
Didn’t miss that one!!! De La Cruz!!!!
Elly De La MISSLE!!!
Assist to Benson there
+500
Benson should have been on first.
A little showboating by EDLC … admired that ala Reggie Jackson as it left the stadium.
Almost 114 mph.
Feeling only a little robbed that it should have been a 3-run bomb but for the Chumpire (again).
I remember watching that game. Camera never really knew where that ball was.
Wiemer almost catches it…Lol
+500 😀
Bomb. I’d like to think Benson tired area out.
Absolutely great at bat by Benson, gets completely screwed by the Umpire who calls him out on a a BS totally ridiculous call. Elly follows it up with the mega bomb for the lead, but that should have been a three-run homer and that is BS.
456 my aunt minnie.
500+
I really hate Elly hitting in that 1 spot. Terrible to get the most ABs possible.
When the ump is giving inches off the plate,mclain has to swing at that ball.
Hopefully we can loosen up after the Elly bomb. They’ve looked tight.
Against the Brewers, gotta play big boy baseball. Don’t need to punch them often but punch them hard. Atlanta Albie hit a knock out yesterday. We need to do the same.
Ashcraft’s movement is so crazy this inning.
97 with that much movement? Maybe Cy Young level Burnes. That #1 ace level stuff
That wasn’t good.
To be honest it’s pretty much impossible for a player to play multiple positions on a regular basis and not make an error like that from time to time. Just part of the game if you have a utility type player.
Ashcraft needs to pull another rabbit out of his hat.
No Spencer…play at 1st
He made the same mistake not too long ago. Gotta learn from your mistake SS
MattyMc doesn’t look all that comfortable over at 2B to me
Even with the slow runner, that was too high risk going to 2nd.
Of course Ashcraft is an inch high and it’s a ball
On that Yelich stolen base in the first, simply another mistake a youngster needs to learn from. Oh, I can understand Yelich getting a stolen base on us. But, with that jump? Not on a major league pitcher.
Major Tootblans. And it wasn’t us!!!
Alright! Good DP the hard way there.
Now there’s a good defensive play.
Chalk that one up to the Worlds’ Weirdest Bike Helmets … or at least weirdest of late.
Chumpire apparently didn’t vocalize the K.
The problem is the ump takes his time calling a strike. Showboating it.
I’m ready for Cowboy again.
That was for the next post 😀
Welch has to stop doing ply-by-play on the radio….he is not good….his call on that double play that just happened is terrible
Yes, it was terrible. Thrall is much better with the play-by-play duties. Don’t know why they switch off so much.
It’s what they do. Even innings to Thrall, odd to whoever else is in the booth.
To be fair though, it sounds like it was a confusing play for most involved — players included (I am only listening, not watching).
I’m ready for Cowboy again.
The weirdest part of that play was the umpire calling the pitch a strike even though it was thrown by the Reds.
Pitch clock was at 0 there and ump Didnt call it.
Votto just seems to be an automatic out these days
Good news for the Reds: they can start the next inning with their 7-8-9 hitters.
That’s where the actions are. Bell is rewriting baseball :).
Joey’s not fooling me again with the next bomb or 2 because it’s always preceded and followed by 2-22
So no 20 million?
Don’t care what others on this site believe about Steer’s defensive abilities, he is NOT a good infielder. That’s the 2nd error he’s made in the last 3 games! He’s partially responsible for Ashcraft’s high pitch count! Of course, the two (2) walks by GA don’t help!
2 errors?
Let’s demote him.
Forget all the good plays he’s made so far.
He’s made 8 errors so far this season! It’s not always the error that does the damage but what happens afterwards!
I’m ready for the part of this game where the recap says “but then he settled into a groove and retired the next X batters…”
He keeps hitting the reset button on that feature
I hate to complain about Votto but he just isn’t cutting it right now. He has hit some home runs but he is hitting well below .200 and that does not deserve the time he is getting.
He is just not hitting pitches he should be, at least, hitting hard somewhere….usually weak fly balls or weak ground outs
Horrible pitch count by Ashcraft. Just don’t have it tonight. Still trying to carve something out.
Fire up the bullpen. They’re coming out early.
Ashcraft hasn’t been on for several starts now. Oh, he’s found outs still pretty easily the last couple of times. But, I believe he’s an overpowering pitcher. And, he just hasn’t shown it.
2,1,1,1 earned runs last 4. all 6 innings+
Yeah he sux lately.
????????????????????
Guy is desperately trying to hit the ball the other way, and you don’t throw one fastball inside?
Joey votto last 7 games
1-22
.045/.192/.182/374
Year to date obp .311
He hasn’t hit lefties in 5 years. Hes slow and cant play defense.
Votto literally has 1 skill set left…power bat against lefties. Everything else is gone.,
Lefty power bat against righties
Yep. The only thing he is doing is lowering his career BA. Down to .296
Big K there.
He is Houdini tonight. Hopefully we can get one more inning.
Good job by Ashcraft to come back with two Ks and no runs.
Ashcraft has crazy stuff tonight. Moving too much at 97 at times. He’s big and strong though, I’d try to get 6 innings up to 110 pitches. At 85 now
Ashcraft may have only one more inning in him, at most.
Ok, I’ve given up on “but then he settled into a groove and retired the next X batters,” and will happily accept “despite not having his best stuff, Ashcraft battled through five innings to earn his sixth win of the season.”
+1,000
Benson not leaving things to chance of the Chumpire this time.
3 Ks on bs thru 4.2 and one on 3-2 right before a moonshot. Bell needs to go bananas again and get tossed.
I said the same earlier. It won’t change anything, but it might fire the boys up.
A lot of 1st pitch hit. Look like Bell has a strategy going into the game. Believe it or not.
Looked at 2 right down the can … 😮
First and last.
Elly must do a lot of guessing on 2-strike pitches…..because he has taken many pitched right down the middle for strike three this yeat
If he followed hitting at first pitch strategy he would have had another big hit. rea threw a 94 mph fastball right down broadway on the first pitch and EDLC just looked at it
That’s just it.
If I were a guessing man, I’d never guess fastball there after the moonshot….would you?
I think all players are guess hitters. He guessed wrong a few times.
EDLC with a moonshot and then an AB like that.
One step up, one step back.
Poco a poco.
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EDLC with a moonshot and then an AB like that.
One step up, one step back.
Poco a poco.
Benson sees a lot of pitches, draws walks, steals bases, hits for average, and hits for power. Can someone explain to me, once gain, using only very short words, why he’s not leading off against right handed pitchers? Is it because when Elly hits home runs, they’re super impressive, whereas Benson’s home runs tend to be fairly pedestrian?
No, I can’t.
How’s that for short words?
Pretty short. Thank you.
Bell is manager. You just wouldn’t see this from a competent manager.
I think Bell is still “building his confidence”, considering his aggressive mentality and major struggles early in the year (higher in lineup.). It’s working, why mess with it?
I’m ready for Votto to get a “rest” day.
I would move India to lead off, drop Elly back to cleanup, and let the others shift around those changes.
Friedl OPS under .800
Votto OPS under .800
Stephenson OPS under .700
All are in free fall. Stephenson already 8 hole but time to move benson up and Friedl down and platoon Votto at DH. India isnt playing so the crosshares are off him.
I love all 3 but we are reaching statistical significance here on those guys. Play the best guys.
Leadoff hitters don’t need OPS. They are OBP guys.
Ronald Acuna?
Christian Yellich?
Elly did ok tonight right?
Lost Yelich AGAIN!!!
And now throwing garbage stuff to Contreras.
Saved by the Bike Helmets again!!!
Bike helmets ,Mark!!
Now I’m getting greedy and want to see “despite not having his best stuff, Ashcraft battled through six innings, allowing just one run…
Only if we’ve got somebody all warmed up and ready to rock (which we should). He’d have to start with Adames (have I mentioned how much I dislike him?).
Fair enough.
They may try to push Ashcraft for 1 more inning. Or, bring him out for the 6th on a short leash.
Bell likes the one out or 2 outs in an inning that he pulls guys.
Hedging against the 3 batter minimum rule I’m guessing.
TJ needs to level out his swing
Exactly. Way too much air under those balls.
Friedl looking like he’s trying to hit it out to me on that swing. Probably not the best approach for him.
Not at all
He’s almost entirely abandoned bunting, and it seems to me that he used to try to hit the ball the other way sometimes. Now it’s a LOT of fly ball outs.
On point.
Rea 78 pitches in the 6th. He should buy dinner for the ump.
Yeah Freidl hits way too many flyballs for a little guy. Bunts are great, but you negate some of the effectiveness when you make them pinch the corners but you don’t slap it by them. He should be 9th imo. Doesn’t walk a ton either
His game should be bunting, oppo, linedrives & in the old days he would be termed as a punch and Judy hitter.
K Adames 🙂
Honestly you could feel it coming.
Yep
Poopy
Why is Ashcraft still in this game?
HT to young Frelick. He bruised what was intended to be a waste pitch. His first in The Show.
Get Ashcraft out now
Ashcraft getting squeezed AGAIN … this Chumpire is complete crap!!!
Why is Buck Farmer just starting to throw? It’s not like Ashcraft was going another inning.
Philly lost again. They’re fading. Harper can only DH and Castellanos and Schwarber as corner OFs is like having 2 donkeys in the Kentucky Derby
Harper playing 1B now.
Quite well actually.
Ashcraft competed but ran out of gas in the 6th. Buck Farmer warming up doesnt inspire confidence with his ERA of 7 the last month.
Down and in to the lefty
Rinse….repeat.
Nice game by Ash regardless.
Kid golfed it.
Reds are being WAY TOO conservative as far as steals go recently. We are successful 2/3 of the time when we try to steal. Yet lately we hesitate,… pitch after pitch. Had McLain stolen that base last inning, then we score. But he waits,..hesitates. Fraley gets a line drive hit,..McLain goes to second (where he would have scored). Steer hits into a double play,..all because McLain does NOT steal the base. Now a homer in the bottom of the inning,…and we’re tied. Sad. Resort back to hesitation instead of aggression. I blame Bell!!! Oh well. This is not the first time. When we win, we steal bases. When we lose, we hesitate. We become defensive. Simple as that. Dadburnit!!!
“When we win, we steal bases. When we lose, we hesitate. We become defensive. Simple as that. Dadburnit!!!”
Maybe someone on here with some clout can pass that along. 🙂
The Reds offense is still in a funk. Although the HP umpire cost them one run by calling Stephenson out on strikes when he actually should have had a base on ball preceding Elly’s blast.
Yes!!1
Not true.
Everything changes. Pitched to differently, ect.
Butterfly effect.
You’re right…Rea would only give up a 460 foot bomb with one man on base, not two.
After the game has been tied, with Ashcraft looking shaky through the whole game and over 100 pitches, third time through the lineup, what’s Bell’s theory when he lets him face another hitter in the middle of their order? Now he’s all of a sudden going to get two quick outs? Bell really is nuts.
The 3-1 pitch was a strike
Yes, but it’s been called a ball (for them) all night. If your theory is “Ashcraft can throw three balls to the next guy and then get a borderline pitch called for strike two, then get him out on the next pitch,” you’re probably going to be wrong. Maybe just take him out before it gets to that point, and let Farmer come in with nobody on base and one out. What’s the downside of that?
This is on Weaver, IMO. Bullpen is on fumes, Bell is trying to win this one. Ashcraft stuff was still good.
Ashcraft stuff had too much movement tonight. Crazy stuff. He could’ve started it a foot outside and just wiped them out Chris Sale style, but hung a few instead.
Oh well. Let’s get going!!
Must be embarrassing to be an umpire these days as many times as they get it wrong.
We need AI,..and go by the hologramic box. No doubt about it. At minimum,..the umps should get immediate feedback (through headphones) as to how far they are missing ball/strike calls. I actually don’t think they are trying to screw the Reds,….. though that seems to be the case. I just think they are horrible at calling balls and strikes,..and it means everything to who wins and who loses. Either use the hologramic box and/or AI,..or give the bums some feedback as to how bad they are. These game are 100% in the hands (or eyes) of blind umps who don’t know a ball from a strike. Sad.
2nd base umpire is just as incompetent as the home plate ump. How did he miss that?
Ashcraft battled hard, salute to him. But he is quite fragile mentally. Once he gave up a big hit, he couldn’t recover, he lost focus. Bell needs to know this and be quick on pulling him.
The HP Chumpire’s constant squeezing and Phantom Zone didn’t help that at all.
Yep. That figures. TySteve did everything he could as id MattyMc.
I’ve got about another 30 minutes I can invest tonight.
Why would the manager take him out to start the inning. It’s crazy to let him start the inning with 95 pitches. Oh well David (Dumb) Bell had to show up. What is the home plate umpire calling tonight (balls and strikes) and the ump and second has had a bad night. Oh well just another day in paradise. UMP BOOOOOOO! Ashcraft deserved better from the ump and our manager.
My suggestion is to get rid of the umps calling balls and strikes for next season. The new bargaining agreement should call for the three lowest rated umpires each year should be fired. The guy at second base should be given time off for incompetence. LOL Pitiful and embarrassing.
Good K there Farmer. Keep it up.
Yeah, Buck brought it tonight.
When it takes 4-5 strikes to K a batter … y’all know the drill.
Farmer didn’t get the call that time. It’s been called earlier. Got the next one. Good job. 🙂
I may be bias but the Reds have really been on the short end of the strike zone as of late.
Ty is 53 out of 58 in pitch framing.
That’s why.
Of course that’s not strike 3 since we threw it. Robo ump these pos out of jobs
LHP, this is where you would PH Senzel over Votto.
Again, a mistake by Bell. May not cost the game. But, it also could cost the game.
Im a ty Steve guy but he tried to catch a ball backhanded instead of blocking it. I was on the move to DH and share catching bus. But that hasn’t worked. Ty has had a tough year. Time to play him back at catcher at 100% and get him focused on one position and one role. Maybe just re-sign Maile as the backup.. Hes been solid .
Stephenson healthy at least.
Anytime the offense would like to show up tonight would be nice.
Bell? Newman is back ?
First Bell keeps Ashcraft in over 100 pitches against a lefty. Now he let’s Votto bat against a lefty. Does Bell not want to win?
Love Votto. Know he’ll get more hits. Will homer again sometime. But right now he’s a black hole in the lineup.
Why is. Votto hitting against a lefty? Votto hasn’t done that for 5 years …hes hitting .180???
I guess David bell doesnt care about winning.
We thought the same thing at the same time.
It’s decisions like this why I can’t support the notion that Bell is qualified to be a ML manager!
Steer has been a one-man wrecking crew tonight! Hope he gets a chance to redeem himself!
Votto should never have batted there…we only have 9 outs left…a waste
Yes!!! Bell has no clue as to how important his decisions are. He thinks it really does not really matter what dumb move he makes. Counsel is brilliant. Bill is a stooge. That’s the main difference this year betwen the Reds and the Brew Crew. Sad.
Bell,..not Bill.
Bell should be in his Happy Place now! He’ll get to use a minimum of 4 RPs regardless of the outcome!
I heard that!
CES chased that one. Not like him.
For the love of ….
TS with two infield hits tonight. The “wheels” are moving. 🙂
Glad we left votto in there. Now we get to see him face Williams in the 9th…. that phantom strike three to Benson is coming up huge this game!
We’re playing right into the game plan of the Brewers. Battle of the bullpen.
When a team has your number, you have to do the little things to get it going. Bunts, hit and runs, steals etc. The Reds refuse to adjust.
Thought about that with McLain on 1st and Fraley at bat. 1st and 3rd could’ve made a difference. You knew Fraley would get a good swing on 3rd atbat
We lost. We can’t score on their pen and they have the umps
I wonder why the Reds keep losing against the Brewers? Could it be being outmanaged?
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone may need to remind Bell that he’s got Senzel, India, AND Newman on the bench tonight. Getting a leadoff batter on in that inning might have been pretty useful.
I really just can’t stand him. Win or lose, I don’t know how anyone can defend him.
Agreed. A bottom of the barrel manager.
Let’s see! Farmer at 10 pitches for a partial inning so, he’s good to go one more?
Don’t be ridiculous.
Nope.
Nope! Not our manager! Gotta burn at least 4 RPs in Game 1 of a crucial 3-game series with your division rival!
We need one big hit, just one. My 2nd ask tonight. My first ask was given handsomely. Hope.
That one’s for Dennis 😮
“Ok, I’ve got a relief pitcher in the game who looked pretty good. Struck out two guys with a runner on base, threw 10 pitches. Gotta get him out NOW.”
Off season, one mistake has to be fixed. . .Krall deserves his own manager. Now, we can get a much more competent manager.
Reds pitchers walk too many batters. Simple as that. Brewers do not. Counsel is smart. Bell is not. Same thing.
Brewers steal bases. Reds play it safe. Smart manager verse a dumb one. That’s why the Brewers win all the games. Reds are a better team. Brewers have a MUCH BETTER manager. Brewers win because of Counsel. We win in spite of Bell.
Reds have more talent. Brewers are better coached and make fewer mistakes. You have to beat them. They aren’t going to beat themselves.
+1,000
>>>Reds have more talent. Brewers are better coached and make fewer mistakes. You have to beat them. They aren’t going to beat themselves
What is the deal? I’m starting to agree with you every now and then. You are 100% correct. Bad wrong about CES and so many other things,… but you are right on the money here. Sad thing is,..it does not really matter. As long as we have Bell making the calls, we are not winning a division,..or anything else. Fire BELL!!!!! The sooner, the better.
They score here and I’m at Clete. Just cannot take any more of these ridiculously crappy calls by the Chumpire.
I’m with you, Mark! Work day for me tomorrow! Will read the sad news tomorrow how Bell found a way not to manage a clearly superior team to a win!
So, what does Young do with the first batter in a tie game? Walks him! Now watch Counsell out-manage Bell by playing Small Ball to get the go-ahead run in this inning!
Both Thrall and Welsh have struggled tonight with the high degree of variability the Chumpire has injected. I’ve caught them almost at the point of having to correct themselves a few times.
Puts the capital “P” in PATHETIC.
Cruz verse Contreras and or Adames. Not a great feeling here..:
So, what are we looking at now, a minimum of 5 relievers, for less than 4 innings? Right after we just had 6 relievers go 5 innings last night?
Krall, warm up the hot line again. Bell is going to need another reliever. He just has no clue how to use them.
That’s the problem! He doesn’t USE them! He ABUSES them!
Although I agree he doesn’t know how to use them, He had to throw everybody yesterday, so nobody was going 2 today.
Blame Weaver.
Cruz? Seriously? Cruz? Someone please tell Bell he does not have to use every RP tonight!
Don’t worry, Dennis. I was expecting it.
And they keep on sucking me back in … 😮
Thought that was bye bye.
Wow. Wiggled out again. We have to take a shot on the bases if we get anyone on. Make something happen
As Porky Pig used to say at the end of the cartoon – “That’s All Folks!”
Reds are going to have to do something against these “Big 3” Milwaukee relievers sometime.
Choke up. Bunt. Do something.
Just hoping the Reds manage to see five pitches this inning.
They did it!
Too much air under it AGAIN for TJ
Freidl thinks he’s 220 lbs
You are right Indy. Friedl hitting fly balls are outs. If he cant spray the ball for line drives or hard grounders …Hes not an everyday player. Good observations.
I would like to see him lower his trajectory some more. Yeah, I know he can hit HR’s, but he’s not a HR hitter. In the 2 hole, he needs to get on base, OBP.
If you cannot beat the Brewers, why trade for anyone ?? Why waste your system this year? Fire Bell in the off season and get something done.
Thank you!!!!! You have the correct answer. Enough is enough. Whether we win or lose,…Fire Bell!!! Brewers are just plain not that good. We are much better up and down the line up. We choke and Bell makes dumb moves. Hard to win when that is the case.
Again, “we don’t play the Brewers everyday”. Brewers beat Reds, Reds. Eat Arizona, Arizona beat Atlanta, Atlanta beat Brewers. Circle of baseball.
Should be 3-2 right now if not that bogus call on Benson. Instead 2-2 with law in…. we need a miracle.
Reds relief pitchers usually walk the first batter they face. Reds hitters, facing a new reliever, see a total of five pitches.
Boy, I hope AA has a complete game in his arm tomorrow.
Going into the game Friedl was 13th in MLB in batting. 13th. Everybody here wants to send him to AAA.
I’m not hearing “send him down”.
I’m hearing “get him to change his approach because the weak fly ball stuff isn’t working.”
He needs to get back to what he was doing when he was hitting better and getting on base.
Adames with 3 Ks tonight… Incredible
That makes me happy.
Have I mentioned I REALLY DON’T LIKE Adames?
Law: “I’m a new relief pitcher, so I’m supposed to walk you.”
Adames: “Sorry, I won’t allow it.”
Law: “Well then, I’ll walk the next guy. You just watch.”
Law then gave the next batter the free pass 🙂
The small sample size from Joey is not too small now. The Brewers are so sound from a fundamental standpoint that it takes a lot of effort to beat them.
At the very least they have figured out how to pitch to Adames and Weimer
Well, at least the reliever didn’t walk the first batter he faced.
We’ll just walk the next 2.
Threw 7 balls to adames. Walked the next two hitters. Council owns Bell. Everything we play them, the brewers have us in bad situations constantly.
We’ve walked 6 and we just tried to walk Adames and he wouldn’t take it. We’ve drawn 1 walk. That’s not on Bell. Thats on our pitchers and the umps
Bell’s logic, if I use Sims tonight I can’t use him tomorrow. Lol
Can we trade Bell?
DFA
Please!!!
For sure. Pleading to Bob!
To who? Maybe an NHL club?
I stopped paying attention to how bad the calls are by the HP Chumpire. I just assume we’re getting screwed regularly now.
Clete is now loading …
We’re not escaping this one. Total gift too
We have flirted with disaster the whole night. At some point in time , it’s going to explode.
When your relief pitcher has tried his best to walk the first guy, then walked the next guy, maybe you should go have a chat with him BEFORE he’s walked the next guy? Must he ALWAYS wait until it’s too late?
Always. I’ve said that time and time again.
It’s the “no sense of urgency” theme. Until we’re at the very very very tail end of the rope, with almost no hope of survival, there’s no reason to do anything rash like visiting the mount or pinch hitting for Votto or trying a hit-and-run.
THAT was good fundamental baseball.
Got that one. lol Out at home. One more. 🙂 Good play by Steer.
Law said let’s have some fun tonight, let’s give Reds fans heart attack.
No problem! Just as the manager drew it up, I’m sure.
It’s just mind numbing how lucky they are tonight.
Law did everything he could to lose the game that inning. Bell will probably reward him and send him back out for the 9th.
Reds pitchers have walked seven batters and the game is still tied.
Have Reds’ hitters even looked at 28 pitches in this game? Could they even have theoretically walked 7 times?
That is management,..Bell, and pitching coach,..both. If you can’t throw a strike, then you should not be in the game. Simple as that.
No idea how Derek Law escaped that inning. i m sorry. Brewers arent very good. they just play well with the talent they have and the pitching they have. there is a difference.
They have pitching that stops their top divisional rival time after time after time.
hahaha Bullet right at Fraley. Got out of that one. Better score some runs…somehow.
Law should be a dodger the way he dodged bullet that inning.
Council has looked like a genius tonight. That stupid 1st and 3rd and try to steal home like they’d in little league. Letting your guy go in contact with a ball hit to 3rd. If Bell did that stuff you guys would put up a billboard to fire him.
To be clear, we always have the billboard up. Next week we’re adding neon lighting.
I thought the same thing about the “go on contact” without seeing where it was hit. He was out by a furlong. Surprised Counsel put that play on that way.
I am surprised Counsel did that. Bell does that 100% of the time.
I’ll tell you what, after getting through that horrendously pitched inning by Law it just might be our night. It’s a fricking miracle they didn’t score between walking two guys, Stephenson letting the ball get by and two balls hit that were absolute rockets by the last two batters right at Steer and Fraley, just maybe it is our night to finally break this Brew Crew spell.
I got my doubts, sorry to say.
As frustrating as this game has been for Reds fans, it’s got to be even worse for the Brewers. They’ve left a small village on the basepaths, and have had guys on 3rd with less than 2 outs multiple times and haven’t scored on them.
Also, Brewers reliever only threw 5 pitches in the eighth and Counsel didn’t bring him back for second inning.
The thing is, they win this game. I hope I’m wrong and have to eat crow,..but I’m not.
Glad we saved votto in the 7th for that AB.
Williams vs Votto. Not even fair.
Williams vs the whole Reds team isn’t fair. Are you paying attention, or is your goal to just bash Votto?
I love Joey. I really do. But he promised us if he couldn’t compete at a high level again …
I can’t even type it. I just can’t. But we can’t offer up an automatic out like that if we’re going to win the NLC. We just plain can’t.
I’m with you.
V out to
Votto has completely cratered since the AS break. No idea what happened to him over those few days.
Father time . He is undefeated.
He was on fire before the break. You would think the days off would do him good.
If Bell was going to pinch hit for Votto there logically it would have been India. Interesting.
Extras actually favor road team slightly, but Bell has Cruz get 1 out and didn’t push Farmer either. Idk? Gibalt probably gets 10th if we get there. Need 2 with the ghost runner
I predict the Brewers end it this half of the 9th. I hope I am reverse jinxing the Reds.
Maybe Sadak can say it.
This game can now end with Votto and Friedl both getting 4 at-bats, and CES and Benson getting 3 at-bats. But, whatever. It’s great to have a strong bottom of the order because… uh… reasons.
Votto needs a break tomorrow. And tomorrow’s tomorrow. And possibly tomorrow’s tomorrow’s tomorrow.
Diaz? Curious move.
Positive spin (in a weird way) …
If Diaz holds them down here, Joey will get replaced (already happened).
One thing I’ve noticed is that the Brewers don’t mind taking walks. I wonder if that helps teams win games?
Who had “Reliever walks the first batter” on the Bingo card?
Can we quit pretending that Votto is going to bounce back? Can Bell move India back to lead off? Move EDLC to the #3 slot? Can the Reds go back to putting the ball in play and stealing bases? Can Bellteach them how to mentally face the Brewers?
Thinking about it, with how you said it, that would be a good time for a closed door players only meeting. But, who would call it?
I abandoned that fantasy a week ago. 2 for 36 with 11 Ks. They just throw him cheese in the heart of the zone because they know he can’t catch up to it. Massive respect to him for the career he’s had, and his commitment to the team, but this isn’t a cellar year where we can afford to give him a farewell tour. He’s dead weight and he needs to swallow his ego, accept that, and take a backseat. Make Steer the every day 1st baseman, with the occasional CES start when Steer gets a rest day or someone else needs a DH day, and Votto rides the pine.
Dennis would appreciate that walk to the first batter.
Too bad Votto is struggling for so long and so hard. At what point does the veteran say I need to sit for a few games to break this long draught?
Well, that can come down to the manager, also. Oh. . . Um. . . Oh, that’s right, I forgot. Sorry.
The Bernie’s JV … our old friend Winker.
Well, worse the Reds can be is 3 and half games at the end of Sunday.
Maybe they will fire Bell by next year. Hey,..a fellow can wish can’t he?
Diaz is going to blow this. If the opposing batter would never swing, he would walk everyone. Luckily they have not figured that one out yet.
Reds pitchers giving up 8 walks tonight… really bad stat
Come on Winker. Hit into a DP.
Skipping the Clete (load aborted).
Now loading is a fully blown STINK. FISH. POT!!!
Yep. Perfect timing for that on my part.
Tomorrow is another day, Scarlet. At least Diaz didn’t throw too many pitches.
MMMM booy. Not looking good.
Ok looks like bad version of Diaz shows up at the most inopportune time. Smh
I am done for the weekend. Good luck everyone.
It’s Monday.
They still live rent free in our head.
Like I said , they flirted with disaster the whole game. The odds were high they would lose.
Did you see it? There is a voodoo doll on the Brewers bench and it is red with a C on it.
The walk scores and we lose.
This game proves once again that we need better relief pitchers and another reliable veteran bat to beat the Brewers.
How so? Arguably the best if not second best closer in the game is who gave up the winning run; not another run was allowed by the bullpen.
How many runners reds bullpen let in base? Compare that to Brewers bullpen? But it does not matter, theirbullpen beat our bullpen, does not matter who gave up the run, does it? So, you don’t think Brewers have better bullpen than the Reds?
Your point was that this proves the Reds need better relievers, when in reality, they were very solid. They went almost 4 innings when their closer one of the BEST in the game right now, blew it. Your argument is weak. They lost because they couldn’t score more than two runs. You can’t win them all, but suggesting we need better relievers when they have literally been outstanding this season is just silly.
The Reds are not losing to the Brewers because of pitching. We scored two runs tonight. That’s a lot compared to several other games against them. We have to play a different type of game and have a different mind set to play against playoff teams. Otherwise it won’t matter if we make it. We’ll be out just like in 2020.
They have a veteran bat already….and he’s slumping badly
The Reds really underperform against the Brewers … Unbelievable… I’m tired to see this fs …
Absolutely found every way to lose that game until it finally happened. Terrible terrible terrible. 3.5 back looks very likely come Monday morning.
Today is Monday
Raisel didn’t like being brought in if it wasn’t a save situation either. Bad enough to walk Perkins (.631 OPS) on four pitches, but when I saw that Winker got a hit on Gameday I knew it was over.
Hey at least we scored 2 runs. So frustrating. We may be more talented, but Brewers are better team at this point. More aggressive on bases, and WAY better eyes at the plate which burns through our pitching. Our kids better learn some patience at the plate. Too many outs made outside the zone. The umpire (early on) didn’t help tonight.
It’s easy to take pitches that miss by so much.
Our catcher doesn’t frame the close ones.
But they Brewers aren’t a better team, unless they are playing the Reds. Losing record against the rest of the league.
I won’t say the Brewers are a better team. I mean, we do perform better against all other teams than the Brewers do.
But, they are definitely better against us. We epitomize. . .We have more talent, they are the better team. They have veteran leadership. They have better coaching, a better manager. Youngsters make mistakes; that’s common. The Brewers don’t make that many mistakes, at least against us. We are going to have to go out and beat them.
A Diaz is not perfect. I am sure he is pretty tired from pitching alot this year. Reds have to figure a way too hit this Brewers pitching staff. Brewers have the Reds number right now.
Reds can’t hit a hittable starter and look lost as ever against their pen.
Does Counsel own Bell that badly?
Yes he does.
Called it earlier. @OldSchool said wait til 10:00. Good call @OS. It was about 10:00 straight up here in the central time zone. CC continues to run circles around Bell.
Word up.
As the season has gone on Diaz is has really become vulnerable. Even when he gets a save it’s never clean. We need bullpen help more than starters. And as we struggle offensively, we’re playing with 8 hitters. Votto is an automatic.
If anyone needs evidence of why I think the Reds win games despite Bell and not because of him, I offer this game as Exhibit A. Against the team you’re battling for the playoffs, he didn’t even pretend that winning was priority #1 by allowing Votto to have those last two at-bats. I just can’t stand him. As I mentioned, his brilliant lineup allowed this game to end with CES and Benson both having fewer at-bats than Friedl and Votto. He made his first strategic mistake before the game even started, then compounded it later with additional mistakes. These “small” things that “probably don’t make much difference” can add up to not making the playoffs over the course of a season. There is NO reason for these self-inflicted wounds to happen night-after-night-after-night.
Elly, Benson, McLain does sound pretty nice 1-2-3. I think Bell will come around unless Freidl starts hitting again. Benson is much more patient and bigger /stronger
“Friedl starts hitting again”? Did you watch the Arizona series? 8th in the league in hitting, why in the world would Bell move him?
Yes he should have hit for Votto in the 7th. But you act like CES was a big threat in this game. CES looked completely lost the entire game. Benson was on base out of the 8th spot when Elly hit his HR. Had he batted 2nd after Elly, he wouldn’t even have been on base. Friedl came into the night 8th in hitting in the NL. I’m fine with where he is hitting in the lineup. Over and over again, Benson batting 9th has actually worked quite well. I’m not a Bell fan either, but your arguments are mostly weak. You want to talk about his bullpen use, then I’m with you.
People need to remember something. . .when we critique Bell, we aren’t saying he definitely cost us a game with one specific move.
Managers have 2 things to do:
1) Put the team in the best position to win the game
2) The overall health of the team.
For the latter, Sunday, Bell should have been able to get away with 4 relievers, at most 5; he used 6. Monday, Bell should have been able to get away with 3, at most 4 relievers; he used 5. That causes a taxed bullpen.
Diaz could have felt it last night. Including last night, Diaz has pitched 6 of the last 9 games. At that rate, that is 108 games over a season. Just how often has that been done over a season?
So, no, I won’t say that Diaz’s lack of performance last night was solely on Bell. No, that was on Diaz. But, was Diaz ready? Or, has he been getting tired?
Or, I won’t talk about “only” last night but ever since July 16th, Diaz has been pitching a lot. Should he have even been in the game last night.
With the former I mentioned, I posted early yesterday about how does a manager put the worst batter over the last 30 days at leadoff and the best batter over the last 30 days in the 9 hole? No competent manager would do that.
Elly struggled in the 4 hole for only 4 games, so Bell moved Elly to leadoff, some have said to “fix” him. Well, he’s struggled there for 9 games now (“But did you see that HR last night?” That’s a highlight reel. I’m talking about 9 games. Did he hit a HR every one of those 9 games?).
India was moved from leadoff (he still has the 2nd best leadoff OBP on the team, a tik over 370) to the 3 hole and now the 5 hole, where he’s been slumping now for 2 months. Some here has said, “That’s on India”, and I wholeheartedly agree. However, what manager in their competence leaves a player to slump in a position for 2 months? Bell moved Elly after only 4 games of a slump. Why move Elly after slumping for 4 games and not India after slumping for 2 months? Why move India at all from leadoff? Wasn’t Elly’s slump “entirely on Elly”?
Why didn’t Bell pinch hit Senzel for Votto last night? We all saw it. But, did that “non-move” cost us the game? We honestly won’t ever know. But, a non-move like that could very well cost us a game.
It’s quite clear to me that Bell has no clue how to manage players, put the players and team in the best position to win the game, etc. But, when we were looking for a manager back then, we had to scrape the bottom of the barrel. That’s where Bell was.
Votto is 1-25 the last week. He is hitting .,175 on the year and it s worse agaisnt lefties. Hes the slowest baserunner in the Nl . he is bad defensively. But, he is the every day player. Until votto is benched, there is no accountability and no winning..
all the while, bullpen is getting fried. Law and farmer are done. The august Dead arm period is already here.
N0 winning against the Brewers or winning the NL Central or wildcard.
Brewers can’t beat anyone else, so it’s not the end of the world. Brewers will miss the playoffs again because they don’t get to play the Reds enough.
Farmer has been outstanding his last two appearances. Doesn’t look done to me. Law, maybe, because he’s been pretty bad of late, but it’s not because he’s fried; he had a lot of time off on the IL.
Krall had to DFA Meyers, and Moose, or Bell would keep playing them.
Well, he could “DFA” Bell and solve the problem.
No one hit last night, not just Votto. Many offenses are good enough to hide one bad bat.
The Reds just need to get this series over with. Lets just forfeit the next two and move on to L.A. These guys just are spooked by a Brewer team that just really isn’t that good. The whole team should feel bad about losing 9 of 11 to this very average team. I would love to think they could win 1 of the next 2 but I just don’t see it.
I honestly think the main thing they do to spook the Reds is that they’re willing to see a lot of pitches and take walks. The Reds aren’t. Most pitchers will throw some balls if you’ll let them. The Reds often refuse to find out. The top three guys in the order saw, I think, 6 pitches in the first inning, and then had a 5 pitch inning in the 8th. Friedl almost hit one out, but a walk would have been better than almost hitting one out. The best at-bat in this entire game was Benson “striking out” on 11 pitches, which probably helped Elly get a good pitch to hit. But they don’t seem to make the connection between taking pitches and winning games.
Agreed. TJ needs to return to slapping the ball around. I’m getting tired of the HR swings. Except for when they hit them of course.
TJ just went 2 for 4 in each of the last two games against the snakes. Dude isn’t going to do that every night. Friedl is the least of the Red’s problems.
Diaz didnt look like he wanted to be on the mound in the 9th. That was an awful performance.
Everyone can complain and moan about this game and the Brewers as a whole when the Reds play them, but in the end, it isn’t going to matter. The fact is, the Brewers have a losing record against all teams combined except for the Reds. After this series, the Brewers will be done, because they only know how to beat the Reds. Good thing is, the Reds beat the rest of the league as a whole. Brewers at their current rate against other teams won’t even make the playoffs, so Reds won’t even have to play them again.
They’ll get Woodruff back and they’re more likely to trade imo. They know they don’t have time on their side like the Reds. We get swept again and we won’t win the Central and probably wildcard either
Plenty of time, Indy, plenty of time. Still over 2 months of baseball left.
You are right providing the Reds can hold their own against the Dodgers and Cubs. I hope they can at least go 4 and 6 on this 10 game trip. That would bring them home 7 over.
The beat the Dodgers two out of three and will most likely smoke the Cubs. The Reds, after this road trip have a much, much easier schedule from then on out than does the Brewers, who already struggle against the rest of the league.
You know I wouldn’t be surprised if they treat the Reds as their WS because they know that beating them is the only chance they have at making the playoffs this year at least. They really are a bad team even in their wins against the Reds, for some reason we always seem to play down to their level though.
It was very obvious that Diaz did not have very good stuff tonight…maybe his worst this year. It is what it is. We hit a few balls hard but not enough, so on to tomorrow. Bad omen on Elly’s ball to start the game. Just split the next two and on to LA. The Brewers have very good pitching, but a very average at best rest of their team. So the Brewers are now 9-2 vs the Reds since April 23rd but only 32-36 vs the rest of MLB, where the Reds over that same time are 2-9 vs Milwaukee but 46-23 vs the rest. Strange games vs them… lots of tough very low scoring 1 run losses. The Brewers do seem to get an inordinate amount of breaks, luck, umps calls etc vs the Redlegs this year. Sports are funny, sometimes a team just has another team’s number for no apparent reason… just one of those things. The Reds seemed fine tonight, I didn’t think they played tight…. just didn’t hit them in the right places. And again the Benson non-ball 4 strikeout was a huge bad call after a great 11 pitch AB.
Much has been made about the team’s record when Weaver starts, but I wonder what the record is the day after? He’s an easy target, but the bullpen is always on fumes and contributes to Bell’s bullpen usage in the next few games following. If you are going to wait on Greene/Lodolo, why not at least demote Weaver to bullpen (I’d prefer DFA) and commit to piggybacking another AAA starter on the days he is pitching to save the other arms.
Good point the bullpen pitches almost five innings for each Weaver start this year. The 8 walks is way too much for any team to overcome. It would have been better for the Brewers to score on the 8th and save Diaz today.
I don’t know the answer to that question, but you have a very good point and I would like to know. This was not a good night for Bell #1 he has to sit Votto. What every one feared when he came back is happening in real time. He is almost an automatic out.
Part of that use is on Bell still. With Weaver’s game, Bell used 6 relievers when he should have been able to get away with 4, 5 at most. Yesterday, Bell should have been able to get away with 3 relievers, 4 at most. This is what causes a taxed bullpen.
Make no mistake, a taxed bullpen doesn’t happen simply because a bullpen just gets used a lot after one pitcher. It gets taxed because it gets used a lot, period. Bell simply has little clue on how to use a bullpen.
Oh, I would have no problem dropping Weaver still.