The Cincinnati Reds are hoping for a better result tonight than they had last night when St. Louis jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back. Cincinnati, chasing a playoff spot with 19 games left, is in must-win mode from here on out and facing the team with the worst record in the division is a good place to be – at least in theory. Tonight’s first pitch is set for 6:40pm ET.
Starting Lineups
St. Louis Cardinals |
Cincinnati Reds
|
| Lars Nootbaar -CF | Harrison Bader – CF |
| Paul Goldschmidt – 1B | Spencer Steer – 2B |
| Nolan Gorman – 3B | Hunter Renfroe – DH |
| Nolan Arenado – DH | Elly De La Cruz – SS |
| Willson Contreras – C | Nick Senzel – LF |
| Alec Burleson – RF | Christian Encarnacion-Strand – DH |
| Tommy Edman -2B | Tyler Stephenson -C |
| Richie Palacios – LF | Noelvi Marte – 3B |
| Masyn Wynn – SS | TJ Friedl – RF |
| Zack Thompson – LHP | Carson Spiers – RHP |
Starting Pitchers
| Pitcher | IP | ERA | WHIP | BB | K |
| Carson Spiers | 4.0 | 6.75 | 1.75 | 2 | 7 |
| Zack Thompson | 46.0 | 3.91 | 1.46 | 18 | 53 |
| Links: Carson Spiers’ Stats | Zack Thompson’s Stats |
|||||
Carson Spiers
This will be the second big league start for Carson Spiers. He made the jump into the big leagues from Double-A as a Covid-related injury replacement player. Spiers had been pitching well for Chattanooga when he got the call. He struggled early on in his debut, but settled in during his final two innings (he only threw four) and picked up seven strikeouts on the day. He’ll look to build upon that.
His splits aren’t all that reliable, at least in terms of the numbers, because they came against Double-A batters. What probably is reliable, though, is that righties won’t fare as well against him as lefties do. That kind of split does tend to hold true.
Splits (AA & MLB)
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 195 | 36 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 64 | .207 | .287 | .305 |
| LHH | 186 | 40 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 25 | 49 | .258 | .376 | .432 |
Pitch Usage (MLB only)
| 4-seam | 2-seam | Cutter | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 93.4 | 93.1 | 88.9 | 82.3 | 85.0 |
| Usage | 26% | 20% | 17% | 25% | 11% |
Zack Thompson
A reliever much of the year with the Cardinals, Thompson joined the rotation three weeks ago and has made four starts in a row. His last start was a 7-inning, 3-run performance against the Pirates where he walks no one and struck out six batters.
With only 46.0 innings thrown this year, his splits aren’t all that reliable, either. The sample is small and just doesn’t give enough data. That said, like with Spiers, the overall trend is probably true. Lefties probably don’t hit for as much power as righties do against him.
Splits
| Split | PA | H | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| RHH | 140 | 34 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 39 | .272 | .331 | .440 |
| LHH | 61 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 14 | .283 | .361 | .340 |
Pitch Usage
| 4-seam | Curve | Slider | Change | |
| Velo | 94.3 | 76.1 | 86.7 | 85.4 |
| Usage | 53% | 29% | 16% | 2% |
When and Where
- Game time: 6:40pm ET
- Where: Great American Ball Park
- Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.tv (out of market)
- Listen: 700 WLW AM (Cincinnati area)
- Forecast: 77°, cloudy, 15% chance of rain
News and Notes
Roster Moves
The Reds called up Alejo Lopez from Triple-A. The club placed Stuart Fairchild and Alex Young on the Covid-19 injury list.
The #Reds today added IF/OF Alejo Lopez from Triple-A Louisville as a substitute player, placed OF Stuart Fairchild on the COVID-19 injured list and transferred LHP Alex Young to the COVID-19 injured list, retro to Friday. pic.twitter.com/J22CixbCDc
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 9, 2023
Rehabbing Reds
Last night Jonathan India, Joey Votto, and Kevin Newman all played in Louisville. Here’s how they did:
- Jonathan India: 1-2, BB, 2B, 2 runs, 2 RBI.
- Kevin Newman: 3-5, run, RBI.
- Joey Votto: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2K.
Wild Card Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Philadelphia | 77 | 63 | +4.0 | 96.5% |
| Chicago | 76 | 66 | +2.0 | 85.2% |
| Arizona | 74 | 68 | 0.0 | 46.7% |
| Miami | 73 | 68 | 0.5 | 33.5% |
| Cincinnati | 73 | 70 | 1.5 | 15.3% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | Top 3 Make Playoffs | ||||
Division Standings
| Team | W | L | GB | Playoff Odds |
| Brewers | 78 | 62 | 0.0 | 98.3% |
| Cubs | 76 | 66 | 3.0 | 85.2% |
| Reds | 73 | 70 | 6.0 | 15.3% |
| Pirates | 65 | 76 | 13.5 | 0.0% |
| Cardinals | 62 | 79 | 16.5 | 0.0% |
| Playoff Odds via Fangraphs | ||||
Great experience for the young guys. Always important to feel the added pressure of a pennant race.
Spiers was a feisty guy in his first start. I hope he can be more calm the second time around and give the team some length.
Fingers crossed and hopeful for a big Win and some big losses by the other guys.
Go Reds!
Is Fraley hurt?
Also, isn’t Friedl is hitting around .300 vs lefties this year?
Some were thinking Fraley is maybe waiting on a COVID test. Friedl seems to hit lefties just fine … but that doesn’t follow the prescribed gameplan of one HDTBell. At least he’s in the game.
We get Annie with Chris on the pre-game … 😀
.317 actually , .320 for his career
That’s what I thought…so why wouldn’t Bader hit 9th and Friedl leadoff assuming Fraley is unavailable as the only reason Bader would be playing at all? Can anybody think of one reason Bell would intentionally want to give Bader more AB’s this game than Friedl?
More than that, if Fraley is not available doesn’t Martini make a heck of a lot more sense than Bader? I realize Bader is better defensively but Bell’s overly handedness lineups have a bad track record….maybe play the hotter hitter?
Didn’t realize Annie was hitting that high against LHP. But it makes sense 😀 😉 😛
For a supposedly analytical numbers guy Bell must be blind in one eye and can’t see out of the other one. Bat 9th because you are a lefty darn the avg.
How many hits total does Bader have after coming over?
Melvin, I think the number is one, but may have missed one along the way.
I think Mark has Annie leading off & cleanup:)
+5,000
Marte may be scratched. He got hit in the face playing catch with Elly. Might be a man short today
Marte take one to the cheek in warm-ups? 😮
Yep. Steer at third
Tough way to get a Lopez sighting.
Ugliest uniforms in their entire rotation. My wife says they are distracting 😀
Lead-off walk … oh well. At least I have T-bones for dinner tonight.
Need a pair of Bike Helmets here
What happened to Marte?
Took one in the face when playing warm-up catch with Elly.
Oooh. That could hurt especially playing with Elly. Hope he’s available if needed.
He’s scratched. Line-ups had already been presented. So we’re a man short.
Somehow always as usual it would seem.
St. Louis always has a big softball player in their lineup.
Fill in the blank:
2 singles plate a Cardinals run in the 1st because of a ______________.
walk!
What do i win if correct?
Nothing…because you’re tied with at least a thousand others. 🙂
Bader 2-15. Maybe the Cardinals can pick him up next week when he is, hopefully, DFA’d.
About 20 games left in the season and you strikeout on a timer violation. You must be a special kind of idiot.
19 games. It’s a stupid mistake on his part.
And now the Reds are truly giving away outs.
Are we sure Bader is on our side?Just saying.
My level of “impressed with Bader” continues to drop. He was in the box fiddling around and the young Chumpire looking to make a statement rung him up for the violation.
3 punch outs with bat on shoulder.
I just watched two guys stare at strike three rather than trying to protect the plate, and another guy get called out for not paying attention. Maybe the phrase “the Reds don’t quit” should be changed to something like “the Reds always start trying to win the game at some point.”
Looks like they flipped a coin or drew straws and it came up to start in the 2nd inning. 😉
Winn might be the worst bunter I’ve ever seen.
Much needed Bike Helmets.
And I continue to wonder why Cowboy isn’t a pitching coach somewhere. I’ve got to believe he’s had the opportunities.
How about Sadak?
How about Sadak … I personally think he should be calling pony-league softball. Which is why I don’t listen to him at all if I can help it.
😀
Pony league doesn’t deserve that punishment
No problem if the mute works.
He probably likes his current gig much more than that one.
Cowboy’s first dream was to be a broadcaster. I’ve talked with him about it. It’s a cool story.
Now THAT was a terrible call by our Chumpire of the night.
But Nick takes care of business anyway.
That high strike(ball) was so high that Contreras tried to frame it and he still couldn’t get it in the strike zone.
Good to have TS in the lineup today…
Any day.
Stephenson needs to start playing every day for the rest of the way until he shows he needs a rest. Can’t afford not to have him in the lineup Mr. Bell.
+1,000
That’s definitely a blind spot for HDTBell as I see it. Ty is hotter than blazes right now. And we’ve got days off.
Bell will eventually figure this out. Just give him a couple more weeks.
Or perhaps in the 3rd year of his extension (so he can get another one).
Been saying this for a week to no avail. Regardless of how hot he is the catching rotation will not change, he sits the bench again whenever it’s Maile’s normal turn in the next 2-3 days. It is literally my biggest gripe with Bell….he is so stuck to his preconceptions that he won’t allow for any changes based on what is actually happening right in front of him on the field.
Nice 2B by Tyler. House sends Nick given who is in the OF for the Dirty Birds and he can’t even make a decent throw, let alone a perfect one.
Time for HDTBell to start jawing at the Chumpire. And Lopez says he doesn’t care either.
And that’s why I wasn’t happy to see Lopez DFA’d. Guy makes contact.
He’ll likely be a 40 man victim again this winter. Reds have too many other pieces to protect.
Lopez is a valuable asset. Don’t understand why teams don’t realize that. Yes he’s hitting for more power this year too.
But Friedl can’t even get wood on a LHP. Amiright? 😮
On his 3rd hit (in 16 chances), Bader delivers something. All 3 runs on Burleson.
Baseball is a funny game, Bader makes the goofiest swing ever on an 0-2 pitch and doinks it softly over 1st for the hit while Friedl hits it really well opposite field warning track for an out.
That half check swing whatever that was by Bader maybe the most unique swing I’ve ever seen get a hit in baseball history. When you watch the replay in slow motion it’s just wild.
+500
And the Bearcats score again … up on Pitt 17-7 (assuming the PAT is good).
Syracuse Fan. 🙂
Oh, I absolutely bleed ORANGE, JB. I’m an upstate native. Loved that crushing win in the Carrier Dome (it will always be that) today.
Cardinals looking every part of a last place team right now.
OK, kid. The boys backed you. Jobu must be in the dugout and at least half sober. Show us some stuff. Nothing fancy. Just get outs.
I know Elly is good at SS and has what may be the best arm of his generation. But I’d still rather see him at 3B and MattyMc at SS going forward.
Who goes then Marte or India?
It’s a good question and one of those 2 could be trade bait this winter. It might depend on what other teams want with those two, and what the Reds can fetch back.
Keep them all.
CES and Marte can start getting some outfield reps
I think I’m starting up the #EllyCF fan club again. 😉
@MM…. I’d still like to see if he could play centerfield. All his talents play well there
@Melvin imagine a swift centerfielder with power wearing #44. Lightning can strike twice. I’m with you Melvin
I don’t disagree. I just wonder how they make that happen in just the offseason.
That can easily be done in the off season in my view. There is no snow in Arizona. 🙂
Yep. He messes up too many simple plays at SS, for whatever reason doesn’t have that issue at 3rd.
Ty fielding that one while blowing a bubble 😀 Got to love it.
And the Chumpire continues to blow calls. Marmol and/or HDTBell are gonna get run yet tonight.
I wonder if Ty will catch the day game after night games tomorrow, or will we still be taking turns with 18 to go?
I’m guessing sitting out tomorrow which gives even more reason why he should have started last night. If that is indeed the case that of course means your hottest hitter sitting out 2 of 3 games.
It would be completely absurd for him not to start tomorrow the way he’s hitting the ball right now. You have got 3 weeks left in the season and you’re two games back in the Wild Card.
I’m generally a fan of consistency. So it’s nice to be able to dislike Contreras about the same as I disliked The Neck Tattoo 😛
Well nuts!! And the additional run is courtesy of the Chumpire (at least in my book).
I can’t stand the Cubs because of him. I really hate the Cards.
2 out walks shouldn’t be that damaging, but they have killed the Reds these 2 games.
Home runs have killed the Reds, not the walks. Walk only puts a guy on first base. The HR brings him trotting all the way around, followed by the guy who hit the HR trotting behind him. The walk account for one base, the HR accounted for 7 bases.
WContreras the Reds Killer of this series… Unbelievable…Always after a walk ….When will this stop?
Bearcats stopped Pitt and Pitt downed a punt on the 1-yard line.
Here we went again 2 outs nobody on walk then a 2 run HR after being up 1/2 in the count. The Reds teach guys how to throw technically outstanding pitches but most of seem clueless about situational pitching.
It’s pathetic to be honest – happens way too much …. Derrick Johnson just not impressive to me … amazing how this has happened continuously all year long
It’s all part of fundamentals of baseball or lack thereof.
Six Cardinal runs scored Friday after walks with 2 outs and nobody on base. 5 of their 9 total runs reached on walks or HBP. Tonight 2 of their 3 runs reached on walks.
I guess David Bell isn’t responsible for getting his pitching coach to get the guys to cut the walks out. 😉
“This won’t change who we are!”
Nope of course not. Not as long as they like him.
Pleas get Spiers out the game – CANNOT WALK PEOPLE LIKE THIS SON !!!!
My wife is telling me about Annie’s pre-game tribute to Spuds (I saw some of it). She told me Annie drove a Pinto. Kind of amazing since I drove a used Pinto and Annie is young enough to be my daughter. 😀
I drove an orange Pinto. Lol
I had the model with the all glass hatch that was painted a sparkly copper and had rally stripes.
Those Pintos were dangerous weren’t they? Didn’t they have a high fire danger in a rear end collision?
I had a red pinto, an orange one, a gold one and a forest green one.
The red one was an original stripped down $1995 model which they really did not want to sell to me because it was the only one they had on the lot and they wanted to be able to advertise they had it then switch people off.
The gold one was factory customized for drag racing. The guy who ordered it walked on his deposit; and, I got it for a song because the dealer just wanted it moved.
I never raced it. However, it would cruise comfortably at 65 in third gear and wind another 20mph (at least) in third on country roads. I have it from a reliable source it had some kick left at 110mph in 4th but how much more is unknown to me. 😉
Nick has Thompson’s number tonight.
He needs to pass that number around to other hitters.
Nick is unfortunately a RH bat in a world where 70% of pitchers are RH. If things were reversed, he’d be all we expected and more.
And he just reminded us he’s a 3B guy who can play OF in a pinch, but it might not be pretty.
I dislike Bader quite a bit less after that catch
Bearcats up 20-7 to end the 1st half.
Completely misplayed that ball. He either didn’t see it, got a late jump, or maybe both.
Looked like he came in at first.
Bad route and is sliced. Deadly combination.
Well. Senzel probably should have had that one. Cost a run.
+500
Please don’t go to Sims with the bases juiced.
Oh brother … time to spin the Wheel of Mis-Fortune.
IBB the righty to get to the lefty.
walks the lefty.
Is that wrong? 🙂
Scores again with 2 outs – this is unbelievable – these guys are folding like a beach chair …. Brutal work again from bullpen , just brutal
Cowboy saying Sims balked and it didn’t get caught. Perhaps a break for us?
OK…still in it.
Could have gotten ugly quick.
And we’re out of that inning with no more damage done. Everybody breathe and somebody get Dennis a drink.
And HDTBell is getting wound up now … good for him.
Apparently, the home plate umpire isn’t quite as convinced that Bell knows things.
Bravo!
I hope it was David Bell who got tossed rather than Stephenson. It was a terrible call though.
Man they need the challenge system seriously bad.
I saw Fraley in the dugout.
So that should rule out any COVID speculation.
Larkin – You can’t argue balls and strikes.
You can with the challenge system. We NEED it badly.
Another high strike.
Bell didn’t deserve that.
Jim Day said that all he said was “That’s high.”
If I was Lopez I would get my worth.
Poor guy. Finally gets into his first major league game this year after having a great year in AAA and gets thrown out of the game when hitting/playing well this game on a terrible call.
This ump is pathetic. Lopez is only 2’10”. lol That ball had to be high.
Who got tossed that time? Lopez?
Yep.
Mild mannered Lopez gets tossed. It MUST have been a terrible call.
Further proof that MLB has a major problem. This is going to kill the game if they don’t fix it. The Chumpire is just showing off now. It’s beyond ridiculous tonight.
So Steer to 2nd and Nick to 3rd?
On a side note this is a slow game isn’t it?
That’s what I was thinking
Two hours already in the 5th inning.
Not sure why that wasn’t a strike to Bader. It was only 5 feet outside.
+500
Exactly
Even the Cardinals announcers are saying those strikes are out of the zone. They also said Bell is an excellent manager for what it’s worth
Like Harey Carey they must drink in the booth.
Chumpire working with a Little League Bizzarro Zone. It’s so far beneath pathetic it can’t even see it with binoculars.
Shoulders to the ankles.
When are our guys going to learn how to slide head first without coming off the bag? Pete Rose never had that problem did he?
No because he just bulldozed them. Simple as that.
I guess we’re too nice these days. 🙂
It’s the oven mitt.
No way to grab on.
I’ve never understood how the oven mitt is even legal anyway. It makes the base even bigger.
I don’t recall Rose having the over slide problem, at least not on a consistent basis like guys do now.
Rose literally went into the base head first and could hug it with both arms as his chest came up into the base.
Most of these guys today are diving head first more or less parallel to the bag and trying to hook it with 1 arm while their torso never touches the base.
Ump is looking right down on the play and it’s unobstructed. He calls safe. NY calls him out. I hate umpires worst than Bader.
All players:
Report 30 minutes early tomorrow for sliding lessons.
Never seen umpiring this bad in all my life watching MLB … and I mean it’s leaguewide too
This chump behind the plate is completely lost !!! That’s ridiculous !!!
He’s a rookie Chumpire trying to make his mark. He’s making a few of our other “favorites” look competent by comparison.
It’s one thing to be wrong. it’s entirely another thing to be a tyrant demanding you’re right when you’re wrong…..worst umpire I have ever seen. reds should walk off the field and embarrass MLB and umpires..
Just keep arguing and get everybody tossed. That would be a sight to behold.
Commissioner’s office would have a very hard time dealing with that.
Reds need to regroup and not worry about that ump.
Couple more bologna sandwiches and Burleson doesn’t get that.
It tailed back toward him right at the end. Otherwise, Bader would have scored.
Yep, topspin fader.
Bearcats now up 27-7.
Reds need to find a way , find something … completely snakebit right now and every
single thing going against them this game ….
Votto coming back tomorrow? I’m a big time Votto fan but I don’t know about that one the way Martini has been hitting. We’re in a pennant race. Got to have the best guy doing the best job at the moment. Votto had better be strong. Personally I believe most likely what happened this year was that he started out strong on his second come back but weakened fairly quickly. It will take more than a year to be fully healed from what he had and the operation to fix it.
It’s his birthday. So I guess we celebrate by bringing him back, activating him, and starting him.
If he does I hope he does well because we need a hitter in his spot.
It could also be that’s there are only 17 games left in Joey Votto’s career.
Can’t even hit Cards pathetic bullpen …
I’m beyond tired of this version of Harrison Bader. How much will he collect for the next 19 games whether or not he plays?
That a boy Bader. Give the Reds every reason to release you next week. I’ll take Newman over his pathetic butt
He should be playing the role of pinch runnner/defensive replacement but of course David Bell won’t use him that way.
New hitting coach needed , new pitching coach needed
Never seen a group of guys whiff like these – unreal …. Zero plate discipline
The hitting coach was a highly touted “rookie” from the college ranks. Seems his skills might not translate to MLB quite as easily as they thought. But I’m sure the players love him.
Pitt battled back on a 4th and goal desperation play. Their QB got hit as he threw a perfect TD pass.
Worth repeating again Reds will go as far as the offense takes them.Losing record at home is just not acceptable.They must win the games they should win and this is one of them.Lets be honest 2 come back wins on this home stand against the Cubs and one against the Mariners and thats it.
Yep. If you can’t take care of business in your own house, things will likely not go well for you.
Better get Gibaut out now … bout to give it up
Let’s see if Gibault can hold Edman on.
He usually ignores the runner.
Pirates are beating the Braves. Another team on our easy schedule.:)
Very close play. Nice work by Steer.
Reds will have to go on a winning streak of 5 or 6 games just to get close.They just don’t have that in them right now because of a lot of reasons.Starting pitching one night,bad defense anther night and the hitting is very very Inconsistent from game to game.Just the mark of a young team that really doesn’t have a veteran like a Goldy or a Nolan A to lead them.Not throwing in the towel but it is what it is
At least 5-6 games. And they can’t fall off the wagon like we’ve seen them do. Right now, it’s a complete crap shoot as I see it.
Because Goldschmidt and Arenado are really leading the Cardinals to the WS right now?
Gibaut down to 3.22. He’s solid and Sims is solid overall. Cruz & Moll can help. Maybe Antone. We just need another hammer and a solid long man next year
“Long man” is from a bygone era I’m afraid.
We never got Gallegos. Probably get all 6 outs. Rip 2023 Reds.
Arizona earned it and Miami is hanging around with good teams.
It’s almost like teams coming to Cincinnati are coming to their home ball park winning more than the Reds obviously.
Is this umpire terrible or what?
That last strike may have been legit but the one before wasn’t.
Exactly. I’m out if Martini doesn’t do anything.
It’s ridiculous … might be stringedtvcase I’ve ever seen for robo umps …. This guy stinks !!!
How does an ump this incompetent make it to this level ????!!!!
Strongest case …
Martini Magic?
Gallegos 34 ip lifetime 1.30 vs the Reds
Game set match
Pitt has scored 14 unanswered points. Bearcats trying to take a page out of the Reds playbook. About 12 minutes left in that game.
I went to the Texas- Bama game.
Should say switched over. I’m not really at the Bama game .
That’s up next for me as soon as this game is through.
I know the Reds “never quit,” but they just had two terrible at-bats to lead off the 8th inning down by a run. Fraley swung at two balls nowhere near the zone and took a strike (which might have been an inch low, but might not); Elly took yet another strike three and it was clearly a strike. I wouldn’t mind seeing them treat every inning like it’s the 9th inning once in a while.
In Elly’s defense, he’d been hosed a couple pitches before on a ball 3″ outside the zone, and he likely was leaning in a bit to protect against that portion of the phantom zone. But yeah, it was a strike and ya gotta be ready to react to anything close. At least he’d attempted a bunt on strike one. Baby steps.
On the bright side, the Reds are making a run at the 2024 MLB draft pick lottery.
Much better version of Cruz tonight.
Time to put up or shut up. I still think this is a watershed game (and series).
Good to see Cruz get dialed back in
Can’t believe he called that first pitch a ball. hahaha
Good job CES to take out the 2B guy. It would have been a DP anyway. Might as well try.
That pretty much cooks our goose tonight.
Meanwhile, the Bearcats threw an INT on a 3rd and 13, so they are trying to give that one away with about 5 minutes left to play.
Worst umpires game I’ve witnessed all year … on all fronts … replay clowns as well
He slid into the bag. Ridiculous.
P poor call there and the ump going at us Deliverance style all night. CES did absolutely nothing wrong on a ball that was never going to be 2. That’s messed up
Ump didn’t make that call
I agree … man what has baseball become !!!!
This isn’t even real baseball any more
That’s going too far. They’re making baseball a wimpy game.
I said it before…I will say it again….weakest remaining schedule of the team’s fighting for a playoff spot, the worst manager in MLB=collapse down the stretch…see 2 years ago
Yeah Bell’s fault HG & Lodolo did nothing all year. Half the team is hurt and nobody can hit a bad pitching staff either. GM gave him 18 rookies and they all gotta have major roles. That’s always a winning formula
He’s my #95 out of 30 with a bag of bricks tied to his ankle.
Only #95? 😉
Can’t win at home …. Inexcusable
Oooo eee Reds….you sure gotta purty mouth
Rookie HP ump
This weak schedule sure is helping boy.
Bearcats bowed their backs and held off Pitt to take over on downs. So at least one Cincy team still might win.
On to Texas v. Bama
Catch y’all tomorrow.
Time is running out. These young pitchers are doing their best to keep us in games. Lack of offense is embarrassing.
The only bright side of this debacle is that most of the pro-Bell folks won’t show up to whine and complain about how he’s not getting enough credit. They’ll take another day off.
In fact, is it my imagination, or do most of the pro-Bell folks say almost nothing during most games? Could it be possible that a lot of them are just fair weather/bandwagon/casual fans who only want to discuss the Reds after wins? Or am I being too cynical to imagine such a thing?
I postulate that the theory presented is plausibly true.
JimDay:
“Are you concerned about these losses.”
David Bell:
“Not at all.”
QED.
I don’t know if that quote is supposed to be a sick joke or something he actually said. Could really be either.
The quote was from the post presser. Same as it ever was. QED refers to a Latin phrase which refers to objective observations, proofs, or theories that re presented that roughly translates to “that which has been demonstrated”.
No, J. None of them are nearly as critical and negative as you appear to be. That’s pretty much why, I’m guessing.
The pro Bell folks as you call them are probably just watching the game and not getting tennis elbow reaching for the phone faster than Elly can score from third base to comment on a website. They aren’t casual fans. They just aren’t looking to whine and complain about every single thing they see. Baseball is a long game. I can’t imagine complaining every single day for six months about a game. That sounds entirely exhausting. Watch some games and put your phone down. It’s probably a lot better for you specifically given how confrontational you seem to be with this comment. It’s like you are looking for a fight for some reason.
Maybe tomorrow they’ll take the first inning seriously and do something more than taking two called third strikes and getting called out for literally not paying attention. It would be nice to at least see three swinging strikeouts. Maybe even put a ball in play.
Recap is going to be late tonight. I went to the game and won’t be home until like 11.
Blame me for the loss.
That was you that riled the umpire up?
Not sticking around for the concert?
He knows exactly what he did and I regret nothing that I said about him or his mother.
hahaha Wow. His mother. 🙂
Can’t believe you did that. 😉
Giants are currently beating the Rockies. If this holds, the Reds drop to 6th place in the WC race. The division lead is now out of reach. The season is about over. That’s okay, soon Votto and Newman will be back. What more could a Reds fan want?
Collapses in two of the last three years, sandwiching a 100-loss season. Well done, Krall, Bell, and the Castellini clan. Yet plenty of folks still believe Krall will do enough to build a World Series contender this winter.
That’s why they extended Bell for 3 years – his stellar record of success
Yes, Jon. I believe he will win a World Series in the next 5 years.
These are the games you have to win. The Cardinals are not good. I know the Reds are the walking wounded at this point but you’ve got to find a way to beat one of the worst teams in the league. Have to avoid the sweep tomorrow and go on a run from there.
+10K (at least). I wonder what the Reds game preparation routine is. There just seem to be days when they are not ready to play and others when they come flying out of the chute like a the bulls at a bull riding event.
The so-called easy schedule has never meant much to me as a baseball fan. Any team can beat another in the long season with it’s inevitable ups and downs. I’m sure division rivals such as the Cards and Pirates love to try and take the Reds out of the wild card race after the Redlegs surprising positive publicity since June.
I suppose global warming and earthquakes are Bell’s fault, too? Any chance some of you guys take this too seriously? Any chance at all? Give it a break, will ya? It’s a baseball game.
I agree Scott. This is a team many thought would lose 100 games this year. They’ve called up more rookies and we can count… many of whom either weren’t ready or have hit a wall that many hit.
For at least two years, I have said they can be really tough starting in 2024. All these rookies gaining valuable experience. More high end youngsters pushing them… because they did not trade them away two weeks ago, and money to spend this winter.
Nick Krall did not publicly announce his plan, but it’s not hard to see… at all.
And you are right, it’s a game. My wife’s best friend is battling cancer. She is fighting for her life like nothing I’ve ever seen. She still has kids at home. Tell me again how important baseball really is.
So what’s the plan? He cut all the salary he could cut. He acquired prospects. Now what? It’s not like there are many good free agents available this winter (which will also drive up their price). That means unless the Reds get lucky, they will have to trade away a boatload of these top prospects to improve the team going forward and transform this sub-.500 roster into a World Series contender.
GR,
Condolences to your wife’s friend. However, this is a Reds blog, so it attracts people who really care about the Reds and take games very seriously. That should be a given. It’s also where a lot of people like to vent their frustrations so that they they don’t have to bottle things up and/or vent to people who don’t understand, don’t care, etc. It allows some people to forget their “real problems” for a while. (In fact, I could give you a long list of my own serious health problems if I were so inclined, not to mention a list of people in my life who’ve died in the past 10 years.) There’s no requirement that everyone has to react the same way. There’s no requirement that everyone who comments on a sports blog has to be happy-go-lucky, optimistic, grateful for “beating expectations,” uncritical, or whatever it is that you want a sports blog to be. People are allowed to be repetitive, negative, and boring if that’s their jam. Nobody is forcing you to read the blog, or to read the comments, or to read the comments from people you know are going to upset you. So, how about you just make whatever comments you want to make about the Reds, let other people make whatever comments they want to make about the Reds, and stop trying to dictate your own preferences to everyone else. That’s what I used to believe the rules of this site were, and I followed them for the longest time, and I’d be perfectly willing to start following them again, but at some point, when the personal insults and antagonism were allowed to continue and become increasingly obnoxious, I started standing up for myself and fighting back.
Actually, no – people are not allowed to be repetitive and overly negative. We’ve got rules here my man. Please read them. https://www.redlegnation.com/about/
Jon. Indeed, NK cut a ton of payroll. It was almost entirely non productive. Maybe the FA class isn’t great this year. It’s hard to plan much for that given guys who sign extensions before they reach free agency. Regardless, he has money to spend, and there will be improvements to be made. I think they can get either an above average bat or an above average starter along with a couple of good relievers just with the money that falls off the books. I don’t have names to drop, but it’s not that hard to see.
I also know sometimes guy’s best year is their rookie year and they never reach those heights again, and let’s hope that doesn’t happen. But if all these guys come back strong in the Spring, the Reds could be a very good team without adding free agents. Don’t take me as supporting this idea… I think they do need to add a couple of guys not only to make the team better, but to keep the small percentage of their fan base who supports what they have done in the last two years.
J, I agree that maybe I shouldn’t have brought up the cancer thing. You are right, this is a place where Cincinnati Reds fans gather. And I am one of those. I do take the Reds seriously… in fact it’s the only Sport I still follow.
It’s just that some treat the Reds success or failure almost as life or death to some here. I sometimes just don’t understand the name calling and out right hate for someone who plays or coaches a Sport.
Again, you are right, IMO. This probably was not a great place to mention my wife’s friend. I was only trying to add perspective.
GR,
Thanks for that. I wish everyone who doesn’t agree with me could be so reasonable. It’s true that some of us rant and rave as if this is the most important thing in life, but I think it’s basically a form of therapy, and if you bear that in mind, it might not seem so annoying. If you stop and think about it, why does anyone care about sports AT ALL? I think, to a large extent, it’s a way for people to deal with stress. It’s a form of “low stakes” stress that allows us to stop worrying so much about higher stakes things — at least temporarily. It’s probably the same reason people watch scary movies and allow themselves to get totally freaked out even though they obviously know it’s just a movie and not a real threat.
J, I agree on the the Sports thing in general. It’s just way too important any place it exists in American life.
My son brought home his school yearbook from last year. They finally arrived this week. The first 71 pages of the book were entirely coverage of all the Sports at his school…. 71 pages. The National Honor Society has a 1.5 X 3 inch photo along with a listing of all the names of the students that appears in the appendix on nearly the last page. It is actually in the appendix. I’m not kidding.
Add to it, his school hasn’t won anything Sports related at the state level in many a year.
I don’t understand it, and I don’t understand how parents allow that to happen. My wife and I call it out all the time. I’m sure they are tired of hearing from us.
Holy cow. That’s… I don’t even know what to call it. Pathetic? Scary? Even as someone who cares about sports and pays a fair amount of attention to it, I’m also appalled by how much attention it gets — especially compared to other things that we probably ought to be caring more about. Like most states, the highest paid public employees in the state of Ohio are all coaches. Not the governor, not the people who teach math, science, or medicine. Not the cops or fire fighters. Not researchers looking for a cure for cancer. It’s football and basketball coaches. As if this is the most important thing that exists in the state.
Why/how this has happened in our society, who knows. But it does seem to be somewhat universal, since we’re obviously not the only culture that places so much emphasis on sports. I suspect it has something to do with evolution; we’ve probably got some sort of gene that makes us competitive, but most of us don’t get to fight for territory, food, etc., so we need to fill that void. I bet there are various books and/or PhD dissertations on this very topic.
If you don’t take the games seriously and it upsets you to see negativity, maybe a sports blog isn’t the best place for you. Maybe you should knit or read or — here’s a thought — just watch the games, read the articles, and not read any comments. Ever think of trying something like that? You might be a happier person. Just a thought!
Maybe you should knit or read or – here’s a thought – just watch the games, read the articles, and not leave any comments.
Ever think of trying something like that? You might be a happier person. Just a thought.
Doug, from what little I know of you, I’m concerned that running this blog might not be what you really want to do. You’ve periodically complained about various aspects of running it, you rarely get involved in discussions (it used to be quite common for the posters on this site to be active participants in discussions; I miss some of those interactions), and now you seem to be going out of your way to insult and antagonize some of your most loyal and informed commenters — recently referring to us as “whiners and complainers,” and suggesting we’re just kooky for thinking some of the things we think. I know enough about baseball, probabilities, logic, etc. to know that a lot of us aren’t kooky. (Part of my job is essentially teaching people how to think more rigorously and analytically about complex problems.) Even if you might find us annoying, our ideas aren’t wrong.
If you don’t want to see so many anti-Bell comments on your blog, you could just ban them. I know I’d stop making those comments if they were banned, just as I don’t swear and don’t bring my politics into the discussions. I assume your traffic would drop quite a bit, and I think the discussions would become quite stale, but maybe you’d enjoy the blog a bit more? Maybe it wouldn’t feel like such a burden? I know some of your readers would certainly appreciate it. And perhaps you’d even see enough of an increase in your pro-Bell traffic to offset the losses. (I doubt it, but maybe?)
You could also just ban the individuals you don’t like — starting with me. You could delete this comment and tell everyone you’ve banned me for violating the rules. It would be like a warning shot to everyone that they’d better start agreeing with you, and, as you note, maybe I’ll be happier if I stop commenting here. I’m getting tired of being insulted by some of the other commenters and you.
I don’t want to have to play babysitter to a bunch of people who pretty much only log in to whine and complain. So you’re right on that one. I want to write about baseball.
The difference between what used to be when it comes to comments today and “back then” is that there simply are far more comments to deal with. On a typical game day there are around 500-ish comments per day. There simply isn’t time for someone to “interact” with that while also doing all of the work that I’ve got to do in order to actually keep the site full of information.
The problem isn’t “anti-Bell” comments. The problem is the same 15 people making the exact same comments 6 times per day for 115 games.
If people wanted to have their complaints – there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s when it happens daily, repeatedly, antagonizingly, as you stated “just venting frustrations” – that’s the problem. I mean for crying out loud you were trying to call people fair weather fans/bandwagon fans/casual fans. There’s no such people showing up at Redleg Nation and leaving comments on a daily/weekly basis. Those people see something on google, stop by once and type something that may never even get through the moderation queue, and never show back up again. You dropped in to try and talk down to a belittle “pro-Bell folks” about how they won’t “show up to whine and complain” today. You showed up looking to try and start an argument/fight with people with that. And for what? That’s not what we want here.
And yeah – there’s probably been more of it going on than I’d like and there’s absolutely stuff that I should have tried stopping that I simply didn’t see because I do not have the time to read 500-something comments per day and still write all of the stuff I do. Some days I’ll see more comments than others. Some days I’ll see 10.
I mean, Doug, my man, you’re actually throwing the “rules” at me, when I’ve repeatedly cited those very same rules and asked you to enforce them? I’ve been called some really nasty things on this site (as have others who share my opinions), simply for saying things about the manager of the Reds, and nothing ever seems to happen. It seems to me that if you’re going to enforce any rules, that one ought to be at the top of the list. It’s almost impossible for a blog like this to avoid repetition and negativity about the manager, but a rule about personal insults ought to be enforced. You’ve not only chosen not to enforce that rule, you’ve recently broken it yourself. I mean, honestly.
If I see someone breaking a personal insult rule, I do enforce it. I just can’t possibly see every comment every day. Email me if and when it happens. But no, I haven’t recently broken the rule.
The rules say “No personal attacks. This covers other commenters, the post author, players, agents, coaches, journalists and front office personnel. This includes renaming people in a derogatory manner. In general comment on the Reds, not other commenters. Treat people with respect.”
In a recent defense of Bell, you referenced the “whiners and complainers” who frequent this site and don’t give Bell any credit despite the team beating expectations. You didn’t specifically identify these “whiners and complainers,” but it was reasonable for me and a few other people to infer you were probably talking about us. Do you consider “whiners” and “complainers” terms of respect? I don’t. I consider it a pejorative term. I doubt you’d appreciate being called a “whiner” by someone who doesn’t care for something you’ve written. You could simply have said “I think Bell deserves credit, and here’s why…” That could actually have been an interesting and productive discussion/debate, but you chose to go a different way.
That comment, in fact, was the basis for my saying the pro-Bell folks wouldn’t show up to “whine and complain” after this game. You apparently think I came here insulting people out of the clear blue sky, when in fact I was responding to previous insults by other commenters and you. On multiple occasions I’ve asked that people stop insulting the anti-Bell crowd (and I’ve quoted the rules), and on multiple occasions I’ve noted that a pattern exists in which some of us complain about the manager of the Reds and others complain about commenters. At some point I just decided I’d start behaving like the other side does, and let them see how it feels for a while.
If you really want me to email you every time someone insults someone on this site, I suppose I can try, but it’s probably going to be a LOT of emails based on what I’ve observed. Because life is too short, I would probably have to overlook the somewhat more subtle insults (such as constantly referencing the “armchair managers,” “armchair GMs,” “know-it-all commenters” and the like), and focus on the more explicit ones.
Maybe tomorrow you should post a note saying comments that are redundant and/or overly negative will no longer be tolerated — which I guess means nobody can complain about the batting order, Bell, Krall, Johnson, the anonymous hitting instructor, ownership, strikeouts and poor plate discipline, bad baserunning, bad fundamentals, walking the leadoff hitter, the TV crew, bad umpiring, failure to make any meaningful trades this year, Harrison Bader, Kevin Newman, EDLC, Joey Votto, or the general state of Major League Baseball — and see what the game thread looks like. I bet it will be very… peaceful.
Rather than “behaving like the other side” in which you clearly don’t appreciate how they behave, yeah, I’d prefer you email me and say “so-and-so is being insulting and here’s what they said” instead of doing the thing you know is against the rules.
I don’t consider a generic comment of “the whiners and complainers” to be an insult, no. It’s definitely not a personal insult when attributed to a generic group. A personal insult would be if I said “Doug Gray is a whiner”.
As for the repetitive and redundant stuff…. it’s doing it every day. Over and over. Saying the same things. What it’s not is having a very specific thing to say on a given day.
And yes…. I’d LOVE to see a gamethread, and every other comment section I open up on here to be peaceful. Reading the comments is truly painful. It’s unhealthy. There are studies on it and everything.
It’s interesting, Doug, that when I mention people — nobody in particular — showing up to “whine and complain,” you think I’m trying to antagonize and start a fight, which is “not what we want here.” But when you show up to call people “whiners and complainers,” that’s just an example of, I guess, an honest assessment or constructive criticism? And I guess it IS what we want here? And the reason it’s okay is because you didn’t name any names? (Mine also didn’t name any names, and, unlike your comment, mine wasn’t a direct response to anything anyone had just said, but I guess the targets of my attack would still feel antagonized, whereas your targets would somehow not realize you were talking about them because we’re too stupid to know who you mean?)
I’m trying very hard to see whatever you think is different about these two comments, but I must confess the only difference I can see is that I said one and you said the other. You showed up in a discussion just to make a condescending and somewhat inflammatory remark (which, in fact, led to a fight in that thread and encouraged at least one person to post some very insulting remarks in support of yours; I believe that person probably felt somewhat liberated to let loose based on you taking a clear position on the debate). Maybe you were in a bad mood because of all the anti-Bell repetitiveness and just had to “vent,”or maybe you genuinely thought you were being constructive when you suggested the whiners and complainers are all a bit kooky for not giving Bell his proper credit, or maybe you just didn’t think about what you were typing at that moment and what effect it might have, but the bottom line is that I was deliberately copying your approach. You may not see it that way, but I know why I chose the words I chose. Perhaps next time, instead of mimicking your style, I’ll just email you to say there’s a guy insulting and antagonizing people on your blog, and his name is you. (I did, in fact, make this point in a comment, citing the rules and what I perceived to be your violation of those rules, but I guess you didn’t read all the replies to your comment.)
There’s another Reds blog that I’ll leave nameless. But at one point, it has a massive amount of in game comments and the writing was amazing. Many commenters are insightful and funny. There was a small group of extremely negative commentators (and the bloggers were among the group) and if anyone defended the team’s ownership or Bell, they were attacked by this virtual mob. Eventually, all the reasonable fans who enjoyed the writing on the blog left. And the bullies had no one left to bully except on those occasions where some unsuspecting fan wandered into the nest.
I don’t want to see this blog devolve into that (and it’s not there but I see some signs). There are a lot of insightful comments on this blog. But more and more, there are negative, repetitive attacks on a team and manager that probably out kicked their coverage for most of the year. Obviously a baseball blog will have some negative reactions to what’s going on with the game and the team (and the Ump last might deserved it all). I’m personally very grateful to this team and this blog and enjoy both. I want to keep enjoying both.