I’m prepared for a letdown after the electrifying Cueto debut…but I’d love to see Voltron keep his insane spring-training K-to-BB-to-IP ratios going. It’ll be a tough go of it against Brett Myers – hope he tires quickly.
I look forward to watching the game on Tivo. For now, I’m heading out to see the classic matchup of Wes Whister and Tyler Clippard, as the Clippers host the Charlotte Knights!!!!!
Perhaps it’s partially just that I’d gotten used to Narron & Miley’s seemingly less-than-optimal leadership skills and Krivsky’s no-comments, but I’m more and more impressed by the way Dusty Baker handles people and his players. Here’s a bit about Cueto and Voltron:
“Baker inserted soft-throwing Josh Fogg between the two flamethrowers to give different looks for the opposition. Baker also wanted to prevent unhealthy competition between the two. ‘It helps a lot to have some friendly competition,’ Baker said. ‘I don’t want them to try to outthrow the other.’”
His game-managing decisions I may not always like or agree with, but I have to admit he’s said a lot of the right things about the young Reds players that I was worried would be mishandled. We’ll see what happens when they encounter some real adversity.
Voltron hit 96 on that pitch (98 on the stadium gun). He’s got quite a range on his pitch speeds: 76 on the slow curve, 82 on the change, 88 on the slider, and usually 94 on the fastball.
I agree, I think Kep has earned the starting SS position hands down. When Gonzo comes back, hopefully it’ll be in a back-up role with Castro getting the pink slip.
Gonzo will be starting as soon as he’s back…Keppinger will cut into EE’s time at 3B….and maybe a platoon at 1B. Gonzo’s making too much money to sit on the bench…though they’ll talk about his defense.
Nasty strike 3 to Howard…wow. He’s in the mid-90’s pitch count wise….only going to get 6 out of him it appears. Hopefully, he’ll get through this inning.
Great outting by Volquez. Needs to work on throwing more strikes, but nice job nonetheless. Kudos to Dusty and Dick Pole for taking him out with his pitch count getting up there.
Regarding Dick Pole – Jim, I can’t get used to that name, either. Why couldn’t he have gone by Rick or Rich???
I think Castellini et al., will pull another Stanton by benching Gonzo and releasing Castro when Gonzo returns. I think Castellini wouldn’t think twice about having Gonzo on the bench. Castellini seems very passionate about winning and is smart enought to realize that Kepp gives them a better chance to win.
One thing for all you Dusty-bashers out there, we have seen very little of Juan Castro this year. My guess is that as long as Kepp. is producing, Gonzalez is going to continue to be under the weather. I can possibly live with Patterson leading off as long as we have Kepp.’s high OBP batting second, but Patterson and Gonzo hitting 1-2 would be disastrous.
One thought: those Tommy John surgeries have done wonders for Mike Lincoln. He is throwing 3-5 mph harder, consistently, than he did before he was injured.
I had my doubts about Lincoln – out of the majors for three years? – but he’s looked good early on. I have some of the same doubts about Mercker, and he’s looked similarly strong early.
A win tomorrow gives the Reds wins in the first two series of the season…against last year’s champs in the NL West and NL East. Not a bad start to the season.
Just some thoughts from today’s game. I don’t know how you can look Keppinger in the eye and tell him that he isn’t the starting short stop after the start he has had. I was not happy about the Corey Patterson signing, but the guy hasn’t been playing very bad at all.
I don’t think anyone has a huge problem with Patterson. We have a huge problem with Patterson hitting leadoff.
Put him at 7th in the order and he’s a somewhat adequate solution. He’s not going to hit very well all season, but he plays good defense and has some speed.
Patterson is a great lead-off guy, but not as a true lead off, but as a baserunner mover. He is fast and can bunt well, so when the 8th and 9th batter fail to move the batter, CP can move them over so Kepp can bring them in. How many times does a lead-off hitter start an inning off on average? If you bat him 7th, you are just saying we don’t care about the 3rd inning(7/8/9)?!
Kepp’s pretty well locked in the 2-slot. I could live with him leading off but I think it’s unlikely (especially Dunn getting moved up). Like Keppinger himself said, pitchers can dicker around and throw off the plate and he’ll take the walk to set up the big 3. He has the ability on the other hand to hit strikes on a line regularly so he really forces the pitcher to throw his A-game ala Brandon Webb. Since most pitchers aren’t that good and most don’t want him on base for Griffey/BP/Dunn, expect him to contend for a batting title.
Sucks to see Milwaukee and St Louis sitting at 5-1 to start the season. I think there’s a good chance I’ll be in St Louis for the last 2 games of the year, here’s hoping they matter.
One thought I had during the game: This new strikeout-heavy rotation is a huge help to the Reds, particularly. With a still-lousy defense and a HR-friendly park, the Reds might be helped more by Cueto/Voltron even more so than most team.
I understand the point you are trying to make, Ryan (comment #75), but I think you may be missing the point. Though Patterson may only lead off an inning once a game, he will ALWAYS be batting in front of the best hitters.
With Patterson’s crappy OBP, he is rarely going to be on base for the big boppers to drive home. You ideally want to have someone hitting in the 1-spot who will get on base a lot so the big hitters can bring them around.
Putting Patterson at 7th keeps his excellent defense and speed (and bunting ability, if that sort of thing impresses you) in the lineup, while not creating excess outs before the best hitters come to the plate.
And Jared, you’re right, it was a positive game thread. It was a fun game to watch.
I think the Reds may have struck a gold mine with Cueto and Volquez. Add Bailey to the mix, along with Arroyo and Harang, and the Reds are VERY well set up for the next couple of years.
2009 stats: Sarasota 2-1 8 Games 8 Games Started 42.1 IP 4.89 ERA 1.44 WHIP
Carolina 3-2 6 Game 6 Game Started 36 2/3 IP 2.95 ERA 1.09 WHIP
Louisville 2-2 5 Game 5 Game Started 29 IP 2.48 ERA 1.21 WHIP
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The Big Board -- In-Depth Reds Organizational Depth Chart (updated 2/23/10)
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I’m prepared for a letdown after the electrifying Cueto debut…but I’d love to see Voltron keep his insane spring-training K-to-BB-to-IP ratios going. It’ll be a tough go of it against Brett Myers – hope he tires quickly.
I look forward to watching the game on Tivo. For now, I’m heading out to see the classic matchup of Wes Whister and Tyler Clippard, as the Clippers host the Charlotte Knights!!!!!
There should be a half dozen or more former Reds in action today (Boone!! Olmedo!! Wise!!), so I’ll try to get some pictures.
Perhaps it’s partially just that I’d gotten used to Narron & Miley’s seemingly less-than-optimal leadership skills and Krivsky’s no-comments, but I’m more and more impressed by the way Dusty Baker handles people and his players. Here’s a bit about Cueto and Voltron:
“Baker inserted soft-throwing Josh Fogg between the two flamethrowers to give different looks for the opposition. Baker also wanted to prevent unhealthy competition between the two. ‘It helps a lot to have some friendly competition,’ Baker said. ‘I don’t want them to try to outthrow the other.’”
His game-managing decisions I may not always like or agree with, but I have to admit he’s said a lot of the right things about the young Reds players that I was worried would be mishandled. We’ll see what happens when they encounter some real adversity.
Those Arroyo and Welsh JTM commercials are hilarious. Way better than that stupid and haunting “GET LOST IN THE TASTE” Gold state chilli commercial.
*gold star
That was a nice 0-2 pitch to Rollins that he just got into RF for a single. Sometimes you make a good pitch and the hitter hits it well or gets lucky.
Jenkins has made a couple of nice players in RF to hold players to singles on hits that normally probably could have been doubles.
Very impressive second inning for Voltron. Looks like I missed the first Griffey homer of the year – 6 to go for 600?
Bako looking shakey on Defense in the first inning. He trying to pull a Gonzalez on us?
SHARP! 4 K’s through 3, and looking absolutely electric the last couple innings.
Pitch count good so far.
Keppinger has won the starting SS job, whenever Gonzalez returns. 3-0 Reds.
Losing some of the pitch efficiency this inning.
Darn! If Phillips had it cleanly then Jenkins is out.
Voltron hit 96 on that pitch (98 on the stadium gun). He’s got quite a range on his pitch speeds: 76 on the slow curve, 82 on the change, 88 on the slider, and usually 94 on the fastball.
Will we ever get used to the name “Dick Pole?”
Cha-ching!!! K #6!!!
6 K’s, but 24 pitches that inning – 62 through 4. That’s a fine pace to get to 6 innings, which I’ll take all year long from a nominal #5 starter.
Umpires screw up one.
Love that shot of the ball in the stands. There’s shoe polish all over it!
Umpire arrogance at its worst.
Whew – Marty off on a rant about college basketball and college basketball broadcasters. I don’t care!
Hey, Marty!! This is baseball!
All I care about the NCAA final is that Kansas wins so I win $80.
I agree, I think Kep has earned the starting SS position hands down. When Gonzo comes back, hopefully it’ll be in a back-up role with Castro getting the pink slip.
Time to deliver, Joey!!!
Gonzo will be starting as soon as he’s back…Keppinger will cut into EE’s time at 3B….and maybe a platoon at 1B. Gonzo’s making too much money to sit on the bench…though they’ll talk about his defense.
Probably Volquez last inning here, unless it’s a really quick one.
That strike 3 pitch to Howard was awesome!!!
Nasty strike 3 to Howard…wow. He’s in the mid-90’s pitch count wise….only going to get 6 out of him it appears. Hopefully, he’ll get through this inning.
This pitching staff (minus Fogg) could be one that should draw fans to the ball park. I know they make me want to go!
Not even that long. After a nice strike out of Howard, a single marks teh end of the day for Voltron: 5 1/3 innings 1 run.
Nope – Burrell sinks his battleship. Affeldt has to get better than Stanton at some point, right?
Great outting by Volquez. Needs to work on throwing more strikes, but nice job nonetheless. Kudos to Dusty and Dick Pole for taking him out with his pitch count getting up there.
Regarding Dick Pole – Jim, I can’t get used to that name, either. Why couldn’t he have gone by Rick or Rich???
Grandkids in the radio booth!
Actually, Voltron threw 58 of 95 pitches for strikes today – 61%, which is right on average for the majors. Cueto spoiled us a bit.
I sure feel different this year when the bullpen enters the game.
Justifiably so, Jim. Burton slams the door in the 6th.
The umps certainly called some close pitches as balls today as well. If a few of those calls had gone as strikes he might have pitched seven innings.
Wow, we actually have a bullpen now too!
The days of Jimmy Haynes and Danny Graves seems like ages ago!
Get some revenge, Kepp!!!
Good – wild pitch lets Keppinger swing away instead of fooling with the bunt. And he strikes again! And again!
I don’t care what Gonzalez is paid. He’s on the bench.
Make it sweet, AD!!!
Man. Everything is going right here. 6-1 now, bases loaded, no out, Dunn up.
Nice piece of hitting by the Dunner!!! Took a non-strike through the middle for the run scoring hit!!! Bases still clogged!!!
I think Castellini et al., will pull another Stanton by benching Gonzo and releasing Castro when Gonzo returns. I think Castellini wouldn’t think twice about having Gonzo on the bench. Castellini seems very passionate about winning and is smart enought to realize that Kepp gives them a better chance to win.
Only reservation I have about the Reds bullpen is that there’s no long reliever. That’s readily remedied when Belisle returns, though.
Now this is the right kind of situation to double-switch Dunn out of the game – up 7 with 3 innings to go.
That play helps the Keppinger at SS argument!!!
whao. Kepp with the assist. Saves an error on EeE. I’d rather have Kepp throwing across the infield anyway.
When Bellisle returns, it may be only initially as the long reliever if Fogg doesn’t demonstrate something.
DA, hopefully the long relief is remedied by Fogg with Belisle taking his place in the rotation until Homer returns.
Is that the saxophone player that plays outside the stadium?
One thing for all you Dusty-bashers out there, we have seen very little of Juan Castro this year. My guess is that as long as Kepp. is producing, Gonzalez is going to continue to be under the weather. I can possibly live with Patterson leading off as long as we have Kepp.’s high OBP batting second, but Patterson and Gonzo hitting 1-2 would be disastrous.
Agreed on Belisle and Fogg. I sure think Belisle is more likely to put up a sub-5 ERA.
I think if we are in a pennant race, we could see Homer Bailey in relief this year.
Hopper misplayed that ball. Took the wrong line on it.
Huh. Hadn’t thought about that for Homer. Don’t think I’d do it, but it’s a possibility.
I wouldn’t have a problem with Homer in relief for the rest of this season. Might be good for him.
Joba Chamberlain is doing it, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t be an outstanding starter very soon.
Fun game so far, though, huh?
One thought: those Tommy John surgeries have done wonders for Mike Lincoln. He is throwing 3-5 mph harder, consistently, than he did before he was injured.
I had my doubts about Lincoln – out of the majors for three years? – but he’s looked good early on. I have some of the same doubts about Mercker, and he’s looked similarly strong early.
Nice relief effort by Coffey and the pen.
…and this one belongs to the Reds!
Great job by Coffey. That’s good to see.
Nice and easy win. Afternoon game tomorrow – lot’s of daygames in the early going, eh?
A win tomorrow gives the Reds wins in the first two series of the season…against last year’s champs in the NL West and NL East. Not a bad start to the season.
Just some thoughts from today’s game. I don’t know how you can look Keppinger in the eye and tell him that he isn’t the starting short stop after the start he has had. I was not happy about the Corey Patterson signing, but the guy hasn’t been playing very bad at all.
Patterson, in the short term, has been adequate. Let’s see where he is in May. For that matter, let’s see where Bruce is in May.
Keppinger has demonstrated that he is a professional hitter.
I don’t think anyone has a huge problem with Patterson. We have a huge problem with Patterson hitting leadoff.
Put him at 7th in the order and he’s a somewhat adequate solution. He’s not going to hit very well all season, but he plays good defense and has some speed.
Reds pitching is 3rd in the majors in K’s
I agree that Patterson doesn’t have the patience to bat leadoff. Kepp in the leadoff spot followed by Dunn seems a better solution.
Patterson is a great lead-off guy, but not as a true lead off, but as a baserunner mover. He is fast and can bunt well, so when the 8th and 9th batter fail to move the batter, CP can move them over so Kepp can bring them in. How many times does a lead-off hitter start an inning off on average? If you bat him 7th, you are just saying we don’t care about the 3rd inning(7/8/9)?!
Bellisle’s rehab outing was pretty good. Fogg’s days are numbered.
Kepp’s pretty well locked in the 2-slot. I could live with him leading off but I think it’s unlikely (especially Dunn getting moved up). Like Keppinger himself said, pitchers can dicker around and throw off the plate and he’ll take the walk to set up the big 3. He has the ability on the other hand to hit strikes on a line regularly so he really forces the pitcher to throw his A-game ala Brandon Webb. Since most pitchers aren’t that good and most don’t want him on base for Griffey/BP/Dunn, expect him to contend for a batting title.
Wow, sorry I missed this game. This has got to be the most positive game thread I’ve ever read through.
No games on TV here until at Milwaukee next Sunday. Getting all of the regional FSN channels from Dish didn’t work out like I planned.
Sucks to see Milwaukee and St Louis sitting at 5-1 to start the season. I think there’s a good chance I’ll be in St Louis for the last 2 games of the year, here’s hoping they matter.
One thought I had during the game: This new strikeout-heavy rotation is a huge help to the Reds, particularly. With a still-lousy defense and a HR-friendly park, the Reds might be helped more by Cueto/Voltron even more so than most team.
I understand the point you are trying to make, Ryan (comment #75), but I think you may be missing the point. Though Patterson may only lead off an inning once a game, he will ALWAYS be batting in front of the best hitters.
With Patterson’s crappy OBP, he is rarely going to be on base for the big boppers to drive home. You ideally want to have someone hitting in the 1-spot who will get on base a lot so the big hitters can bring them around.
Putting Patterson at 7th keeps his excellent defense and speed (and bunting ability, if that sort of thing impresses you) in the lineup, while not creating excess outs before the best hitters come to the plate.
And Jared, you’re right, it was a positive game thread. It was a fun game to watch.
I think the Reds may have struck a gold mine with Cueto and Volquez. Add Bailey to the mix, along with Arroyo and Harang, and the Reds are VERY well set up for the next couple of years.