Loading ...Brandon Claussen vs. Carlos Zambrano tonight.
I keep having this dream. Imagine if Claussen improved, like you would expect for a pitcher of his age, over his numbers of last year (which were pretty good).
Now imagine that Eric Milton continues to pitch like he has been.
That dream ends with the Reds having four quality starters … and a trip to the playoffs.
Dream, Reds fans. Dream. I believe!
I wish I would have that Pickle dream.
I’ve had the Milton one. It’s a great one.
I also had this dream about getting around the stupid blackouts on MLB.TV, especially on Saturdays. It came true today. Life is good. Techies may be dorks, but they’re awesome.
I think you are not giving Lizard enough credit. He’s been the victim of some bad luck. Of course, he’s not a superstar and never will be, but he is a good fifth. I’m thinking more along the lines of five quality starters, although I guess in September we’ll be using four, with one shoring up the pen.
Oh, that September dream is my favorite…
Kearns is in the lineup. Whew!
Chad,
I think it can happen. For the most part the starters have done a pretty good job.
The dream I keep having is the one where the bullpen is actually effective….Then I wake up to the nightmare.
Pickle dreams…
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch: No…
Chris Knight: Why am I the only one who has that dream?
Ross catching Claussen. Maybe that will help Brandon.
MLB.com: “His last time out, Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano tossed 7 1/3 hitless innings.”
What do I hear for odds? I say he doesn’t get three batters without giving up a hit tonight.
12 pitches, 10 strikes
If only he could do this for nine innings in a row.
Zambrano is always a crap shoot. He’s dynamite one moment then implodes the next.
Junior!! You the Man!!
So Claussen starts off 3-0 with the first hitter of the second. This is his main problem.
Hal McCoy should do an sports talk radio show for NPR.
Check that, Marty & Hal should both do that NPR sports talk. They’re just so ornery together. One says something a little bit trash-talky, and the other chimes in, ‘yup, yup, that’s absolutely right’ and then builds on that, and it goes back and forth.
Pickle always scares me, but that was a good inning, minus that one pitch.
Amen to that, DA. I love them together.
Is it “Pickle” or “Pickles” with an “s”?
That’s a good question. “Pickles” with an ’s’ sounds more cutesy and diminishing, which maybe is appropriate.
So true, but since he is good or bad, maybe Pickle is for the good innings and Pickles for the bad?
Scott Hatteberg walks. Shocker. He’s got to have walked almost as often as he gets a hit.
Sing to the tune of John Lennon’s Imagine
Imagine Claussen pitching well
It’s easy if you try
No teams above us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the Reds fans
Living for the playoffs
Too complicated and too small a nuance to keep track of. Maybe he could be “Pickles” when bad and “Big Pickle” when he’s good. You know, like a counterpart to Randy Johnson’s nickname.
I’m listening to the radio play-by-play with the Fox broadcast tonight. I notice the TV lags a second or two behind.
I vote for “Pickle” since he seems to get himself into a pickle so often.
So it appears that Elvis is everywhere.
So it took how many pitches to strike Perez out?
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
There are many in Cincinnati
Who only want number one.
Imagine there’s no Cardinals,
it isn’t hard to do,
nothing to moan or roll eyes for,
and no Astros too.
Zambrano is really a horrible hitter.
six pitches to Neifi. 1 ball, four consecutive fouls, 1 swinging strike 3.
How’s Kearns look in the field? Tentative at all on playing that Pierre double?
I’m sitting here at Great American Ballpark…and the City of Cincinnati should be embarrassed at the number of Cubs fans that are in the stadium today. They’re as loud or loud or louder than the Reds fans here.
It’s disgusting. I’m sick of seeing so many blue shirts and hats everywhere.
hey, has anyone ever been to a Reds game where there was a rain delay before the game started (hour and half or a little more) and when it did they closed down the concessions in the middle of the fourth inning (approx. 10pm)? I’m still trying to figure out why they did that at the Nats game I went to last night. It went into 12 innings. I’m trying to figure out if this is just some RFK thing or if it is MLB wide.
Yeah, it kind of ruined the baseball experience. You couldn’t even get a hot dog, not just beer.
Is there wireless at the ball park?
I’m not surprised. They even infested the park during the era of the Big Red Machine.
Chad – I think Reds bloggers should get together and try to do a “wear a red shirt” marketing campaign. I don’t feel like the marketing department does a good job. We could try it ourselves. I get so jealous everytime I see the Busch faithful wearing their Red or the Cubbie blue.
All the concessions or just the beer lines?
But, to defend Cincinnatians, it has rained all day and the game is on television again tonight.
FSN recently added these games and, I believe, the games in the White Sox series to their schedule.
It’s no small wonder attendance isn’t where they want it. If they wanted to add games to the schedule, they should have added away games, but I would assume they’re more expensive to produce.
Are the new DC owners actually in place yet? This concessions thing could be a rule from MLB, where the vendors go home at a certain time of night no matter what. Selig and the other owners can save a few bucks.
I believe it’s a league rule that the beer flow has to stop 2 hours (or some number, can’t remember exactly) after the scheduled first pitch time.
The Reds should get off the bobblehead kick and give out t-shirts, caps, visors, etc. for their promotional give-aways.
The bobbleheads draw crowds, Jim…always, big crowds.
No wireless that I know of, and I’m not quite dorky enough to bring a laptop. I am dorky enough to check the game thread from my blackberry.
The concessions. “Last call” means everything at RFK.
No, DA, the new owners are not officially in place, but we employ Aramark, which does about half of MLB stadiums.
RFK is the worst baseball experience ever. I go to a lot of games (11 already this year) but I usually leave with a sour taste in my mouth. (Lack of water?)
Great catch by Junior!!
The rule at RFK is 65 minutes after a delayed game time. Unless the game starts on time – then it’s the seventh inning. Seems arbitrary to me.
That was such an awesome catch by Junior.
I sure the bobbleheads are popular but if they want to get some Reds “spirit” then passing out hats and shirts would be a good way to do it.
Besides, I’m sure the bobbleheads were made in sweatshops somewhere overseas.
RFK is a pretty lame experience.
BTW, what was RFK originally named?
RFK: Worst experience ever? You definitely never went and saw the Nationals when they played north of the border. Although I didn’t mind it that much, every other human being on the planet passionately hated seeing a game at Stade Olympique. And playing on the turf wouldn’t have been any picnic either.
I loved the outside though – I love that neo-expressionist architecture. Some of my photos of the exterior are among my favorites.
RFK began its life as the infinitely creative “DC Stadium.”
Red shirts! They need to pass out red Reds shirts often so we can have our “sea of Red” at GABP. Castellini “dreams of it” according to Steve on his blog. T-shirts, also made in sweatshops, are so cheap. They have to be Red.
Went to RFK last year. I agree it was a terrible experience — awful food, dirty ballpark. But the fans were very enthusiastic. Wish it were that way at GAB on a more consistent basis.
This is the start of the Zambrano Meltdown ™ .
Oh, last year was totally better, mostly because the Nats were in the playoff hunt until two weeks before the season ended. This year, the fans at RFK are pathetic. You can hear a pin drop sometimes. And the experience is worse this year because last year they wanted people in the seats (to increase market value?) This year they don’t care. I can’t wait for the new owners to take over at the end of this month!
At the start of this game, Adam Dunn had more walks than hits this year.
Adam Dunn:
17 singles
12 doubles
0 triples
19 homeruns
——–
48 hits
52 walks (plus another tonight)
69 strikeouts
With the prices that MLB concessions cost, it would be nice if there was a creed of good food and good service. Actually, it would be nice if minor league baseball would do that. I went to a Clippers game in April. After standing in line for fifteen minutes, I was told that they were out of hot dogs. How do you run out of hot dogs???
Dunn will rule soon! He has too!
I sooooo wish I could go to GAB soon. I get to see the Reds at Shea in less than two weeks. Can’t wait! Hope Mets fans don’t throw stuff at me. Can’t be as bad as Phillies fans. (I go there to see the Reds every year. Those people are evil. :evil:)
That’s has “to”, sorry.
Philly: those people are evil to everybody, especially their own team.
Hatteberg always seems to be drawing walks, and yet his stats, in comparison to Dunn:
28 singles
13 doubles
0 triples
4 homeruns
————————–
45 hits
28 walks
14 strikeouts
45 hits
This could be the “Ned Flanders” inning.
Walk to Zambrano. Pickles may have the meltdown before Carlos does.
I wonder how few DP’s that Pierre has hit into.
Flanders takes a holiday???
Nope, isolated incident. Still scoreless after 5 for Big Pickle.
Somewhat surprisingly, Pierre has hit into 3 doubleplays this year and has been very consistent at about 9-10 GIDP’s per year for the past several years.
I wonder if the bookmakers have odds on Claussen every pitching a complete game. The odds would have to be something like 5,000,000 to 1.
Pierre must hit the ball sharply a lot.
DA – Stade Olympique: did that have stuff falling on you or have bolts falling out of your seats? Seriously, I want to know. RFK is falling apart. And you can’t get much more than a hot dog except a $10 pulled pork sandwich that is nowhere near Burbank’s. Quite honestly, I think Burbank’s pulled pork is in my top three favorite foods ever. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.
The Nats are playing the Phillies this weekend. Philly is only 2.5 hours away, so there are plenty of obnoxious Phillies fans at the ballpark. (I guess that’s redundant, isn’t it.) I wish RFK would fall on them.
I think the adjective “ghetto” describes the appearance of RFK. Peeling paint, rust, faded color in the seats, etc.
Bowden and MLB ran a crappy operation.
Oh yes, I always called RFK the ghetto of MLB!
So how far from RFK is the new park being built? Isn’t it part of a plan to develop the river area?
I so wish I could go to GAB. (Why did they decide to split ballpark into to words? Ballpark is one word, and GAB is so much better than GABP. You can’t even pronounce GABP without spitting on yourself.)
Actually, daedalus, two pieces of concrete fell off of Montréal’s stadium a few years ago, somewhat famously. One was a very large chunk that fell onto the field while the team was away.
The seats were either blue or neon orange molded plastic, and when the spring action on the bottom snapped up, they were loud. The few fans that were there in the last years would bang the seats up and down to make a lot of crowd noise.
Concessions were pretty good, though. Say what you want about the Québécois, and I know I do, but they’ve got good food.
2008. They say it will be done on time, though they’ve just broken ground about six months late. Long story, stupid DC politics. Made us almost lose the team after a year. DC is electing a new mayor soon, and the ballpark issue is the main issue, as all of the candidates are on city council, who made a mess of everything. I’ve never seen such idiocy in politics, and that is a very, very strong statement.
Not to jinx it, but Claussen is about to nudge his ERA just south of 5.00 .
Marty ragging on Claussen for throwing over to 1B to keep Barrett close.
Looked like Ramirez was going to throw his bat after that K.
Daedalus , good luck at Shea…of all the major league stadiums I’ve been to (6 or 7), it’s by far the worst. Dirty and nasty. Of course, maybe it’s better now, I was there about 20 years ago.
Claussen has matched Zambrano pitch for pitch, Marty should shut the hell up.
It’s below 5.00 as we speak.
Unfortunately Zambrano has dropped his below 3.00. I wish somebody would light him up.
Dayton gave Robert Manuel (of the Dave Williams trade)his first start tonight. Wonder if he’s taken Valiquette’s place in the rotation.
Marty acted like the only reason that a pitcher throws to 1B is to prevent a steal. There are many reasons for keeping a baserunner close.
Bill – I don’t care about Shea, I’m just happy to get to see the Reds! (I’ve heard it’s the worst, but it cannot be as bad as RFK!) I get to go to Yankee Stadium, too. Of course, I hate the Yankees, but Yankee Stadium is the Mecca of baseball! My family is coming from Dayton area and we’re going to do the whole tour and all. We’re a baseball family. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up going to two of the Reds games.
The thing about Claussen is that he can be pitching brilliantly, and then suddenly sux, and then good again. He’s been quite good tonight. Maybe Chad’s dream will come true!
2.89 ERA for Zambrano. He is humming! He’s at 87 pitches though. This is probably the last inning of work for him and Claussen.
Hats off to Claussen! He has saved his job for the time being.
Um, do you realize the Reds only have one hit?
Jim, PLEASE don’t say anything about how well Pickle(s) has been pitching. We odn’t want the jinx!
Enough is enough. I ended up being right that Zambrano wouldn’t last three batters without giving up a hit, but I failed to predict that the Reds would get any more hits off him. So I now predict that Zambrano will give up at least two of them in the seventh.
The Reds need to find a way to make Zambrano lose his cool.
DA, let us bow our heads in prayer to that.
Ha! Last inning of work for Zambrano based on pitchcount? Dusty would leave him out there through the 15th inning if he could.
Z threw 150 pitches in one game last year, I think.
The TV delay lapse is freaking me out. The ball hasn’t even left Claussen’s hand and Stewart is saying foul, strike, etc.
Z threw 150 pitches in one game last year, I think.
Well that explains the Wood and Prior injuries.
Where was that pitch?
Well that explains the Wood and Prior injuries.
Yeah, no kidding. Dusty ought to be ridden out of town on a rail for how he’s beaten these guys.
Jerry was just rolling his eyes coming out of the dugout.
Pickle’s best outing? He knows his job’s on the line.
And I have no faith in Yan in this situation.
Argh. Good job to take out Claussen before this situation goes nuclear, but Yan? I have a not-so-good feeling.
Yan is too wild to bring in with the bases loaded.
If yan can just throw strikes. His stuff should look like it’s moving 200 mph after Claussen’s stuff.
It’s a risk is all I’m saying.
Heart failure!!!
I don’t like bringing Yan in here…
ooooooh god
Wow. Awful.
Yan – the new Rick White!!
sad thing is that Claussen is in line for the loss, and he pitched a heck of a game.
and we only have 9 more outs
Game over…
That ball was crushed, Claussen didn;t pitch that bad tonight
Phillips is kicking himself for not getting that out on Pierre.
Meltdown.
Numbers say a quality start by Claussen, but yan is not good at all tonight
Outside of going 3-0 on the leadoff hitter three times, Claussen pitched one of his best games as a Red.
Zambrano has thown a lot of pitches…if we could only get to the Cubs pen…
Numbers also charge three runs to Claussen, which is a total injustice.
Marty saying the rain has people leaving for cover. is he sure it is the rain or is it that blast by Barrett?
Claussen pitched great. I don’t understand the decision to use Yan. If you want to use a RHP, use Weathers…
Like last night, plays not being made left the door open, the Cubs take advantage.
Didn’t we just see a bases loaded?
No way can the defense be held responsible for this meltdown. This is all on Yan, who has just loaded the bases again.
The Reds need to start taunting Zambrano to see if they can create the always imminent Carlos implosion.
i hate this bullpen. yan is krivsky’s first dumb move.
yes, i’m pissed.
OK finally the inning is over, NEVER say die Reds up to bat
If Narron had a bullpen, he’d be in the running for Manager of the year.
Krivsky needs a off season to rebuild the team, he is trying which is more that O’Brien would or did do.
i think krivsky’s best bet is to raid the nats’ bullpen. they have a couple good relievers, and they definitely need a backup catcher. i hate that “if they’re in contention by trade deadline…” they’re in contention now! but if they don’t do something soon, they might not be at the trade deadline.
If Narron had a bullpen, he’d be in the running for Manager of the year.
He’s in the running anyway, despite all the Jerry Narron WTF Move Of The Day ™ maneuvers.
Certainly bringing Yan in for such a crucial situation is tonight’s award winner. Unless he pinch-hits for David Ross or something.
Would be nice to have a stacked minor league team.
Quin-Ton! He shall start the comeback.
oh look, mcsucken is on deck.
today’s my half birthday. not a good present.
Would be nice to have a stacked minor league team.
Stacked with 20-year-olds rather than 30-year-olds.
McSucken gets on base? Is it the apocalypse?
How big does your ego have to be to take Griffey’s discarded number?
Phillips needs to get nasty on something here
ok, no get Carlos mad
Mays makes his debut.
ok new adventure here with Mays, lets hope he turned a new leaf
Mays has a 0.00 ERA! After 1/3 of an inning.
Just a thought, if Mayes works out after a few innings, why not use Besile in short releif when he comes back?
Dusty has no confidence in his bullpen (and probably rightly so) – lets Zambrano bat after having already made 109 pitches.
Okay. What is with this gangsta stuff of Marty and Steve’s?
Why not use Belisle, period? That would be a good first step. For some reason Narron called on him extremely rarely despite being effective when he was in there.
Belisle’s on the DL.
The trivia questions follow a theme determined by the opponent. Chicago is known for all it’s gangster activity in the 20’s, and so the trivia questions when we play the Cubs are in the them “Gangster? Or Gangsta?” (as in, gangsta rapper).
Why use Bellisle when you have the likes of Burns, White, and Ya(w)n?
I know Belisle is on the DL. But he was healthy for the first 6 weeks of the year, and threw just 18 innings.
Jr makes me smile
Do they only use it with Chicago because I’ve heard it before?
Now lets not get bunt crazy here
Ken Griffey Junior strikes. More coming.
Junior should have jogged around the bases a little slower. Zambrano is much too calm.
Yeah, Griffey should have pointed is bat or something. Or made eye contact with Z and mouthed the words, “I own you.”
Bye-bye, Carlos!!
Yeah, Griffey should have pointed is bat or something. Or made eye contact with Z and mouthed the words, “I own you.”
or “I want you.”
Kearns can do some good here. Bullpen taking over.
MEMO
ATTN: REDS LINEUP
RE: CUBS BULLPEN
It has come to our attention that the Cubs’ bullpen leads the league in walks by a large amount. Be patient with Chicago relievers and wait for your pitch.
Austin be patient!
Here we go, Reds!! Here we go!!
Walk by Austin, nice to have Ross up with a chance
Good job Austin. David Ross comes to the plate representing…
If Ross gets on, Jr is up in the bottom of 9
We need a JACK right here, right now!!
Wild pitch, single scores 2. A winning team will make this play
Okay!! I’ll settle for a two-run single!!
Crap!! He swung at a ball!
The Reds have to face the Cubs seven times in September. Considering what a pain they have become that is not good news.
#
The Reds have to face the Cubs seven times in September. Considering what a pain they have become that is not good news.
Comment by Jim McCullough
Thanks for the good new Jim
I like Nevin about as much as I like Jim Edmonds.
I’m thinking we blame Chad and ban him from GAB…for the balance of the season.
Come on, Weathers. Don’t do this.
Bases loaded for a third time tonight, and its not the Reds doing it
OK to the bottom, lets take a few pitches, no first pitch swinging!
Whew. Good thing the Cubs don’t know what “patient” means, and Stormy Weathers gets out of it. Who’s due up in the bottom of the ninth?
Due up, Olmedo, López, Phillips, and then Griffey.
OK Brandon, nothing foolish
Flyout to deep center for Rainier, double to deep center for Felipe.
Patience patience patience…leads to a RBI single. Keep it going JR.!
Jr up with 1 in and 1 on…Do your best Jr.
Where did the patient part go, first pitch with Jr and Rich A.
Actually Aurilia took one pitch. Not that that’s much better.
Another close loss. These will even out. It’s the big losses that reveal a bad team.
Although, as usual, I have questions about Narron’s ability to effectively manage a bullpen – even given the Reds’ less than optimal talent in that area.