Loading ...Looks like Chris Dickerson has very quickly learned what Reds Baseball ™ is all about:
Chris Dickerson had no excuse.
He was picked off first base Thursday. He was walking back the bag with his head down when catcher Humberto Quintero threw to first. It was a big play. The Reds were down 2-0 in a game they ended up losing 3-2. Dickerson was only the third base-runner of the day to that point.
“I was being lazy,” he said. “I dropped my head. It was lackadaisical, lazy on my part. It’s so basic, so fundamental: Know where the ball is at all times. I lost sight of that.”
I like Chris Dickerson — he’s going to be a decent backup outfielder for someone for the next few years — and I don’t mean to pick on him. It’s just that after eight years of watching this exact same nonsense, it gets tiring.
I thought Dusty Baker was going to stress fundamentals with this team. Has anyone seen any indication of that?
http://www.cubby-blue.com/my_weblog/images/2007/10/16/fundamentalphonecall.jpg
didn’t know if I could post a picture in the comments section lol so…
Dusty Baker and fundamentals don’t mix together. Never have, never will. Get used to it.
He won all those years in SF by letting Barroid Bonds swing for the fences, and he won in Chicago letting Sammy Sosa swing for the fences as well. Does it actually surprise anybody this team has regressed?
Well it’s somewhat of a contradiction to “stress fundamentals” and at the same time not understand the concept of getting on base or batting Patterson in the leadoff spot.
Not getting out == a fundamental
I have no idea if Dusty stresses *anything* but EE’s and Dunn’s defense did seem to improve this season.
I was surprised to read in an article about the Dunn trade a quote from Dunn saying he “took groundballs at 1B every day” and that he “would play 1B”. While I have no idea if this is a change because of Dusty (maybe Dunn has ALWAYS taken grounders at 1B?) but that contradicts what some people have said about Dunn.
Re: Does it actually surprise anybody this team has regressed?
How many people understand the amount at which this team has gotten worse? Not all blame goes on Dusty but also I Krivsky.
All we have to do is compare every major part of the team from this year to last and we see something very ugly
The Reds rankings in baseball
Offense (EQA): 24th in 2008, 17th in 2007. note: they have also had the worst offense in ALL of baseball since trading Dunn.
Rotation (SNLVAR): 22nd in 2008, 23rd in 2007
Bullpen (WXRL): 21st in 2008, 28th in 2007. We improved but still stink
Defense (defensive efficiency): 30th(!!) in 2008, 26th in 2007
This team is terrible in *every* way and other than a slight improvement in the bullpen (I hope so after spending all that money on a closer) they are worse this year than last.
The only hope at all is the youth on this team but now that the team has a MASSIVE hole to fill in Dunn I don’t see the team getting better than last year unless they spend a LOT of $$$$.
Pete Mackanin was the right guy and the Reds management couldn’t see it. They slipped into the Dusty Baker reality distortion field.
Actually Wayne wanted to keep Pete, but Big Bob wanted Baker.
I Krivsky.
Boy, that’s a nightmare novel in the making, huh?
John Fay had an interview after the firing of Krivsky where Krivsky stated that HE wanted Baker and talked with him for quite a long time.
Regardless of whether Walt or Krivsky or Big Bob wanted Baker, it was instantly clear that fans didn’t want him and knew not to hire the joker. But fans are stupid, don’t know anything, live in their mom’s basement, and don’t understand how the business of baseball works — that’s all privileged knowledge reserved for the smartest people in the game.
Guys like Dusty Baker and Wayne Krivsky.
Yeah.
Guys, Dusty does some stupid and stubborn things, but there’s no human on earth who could’ve managed this team to relevance. No one.
I’m not saying they’re all the same, but I just don’t think they can possibly make much difference — a handful of games, max.
Right-o, Dan.
On the subject of Dickerson, here’s an excerpt from a blog item I posted in early May after seeing Louisville play in Richmond:
“Chris Dickerson got picked off first in a weird play in which the first baseman made a wild scoop of a pickoff attempt, then faked out Dickerson as if the ball had gotten by. [Rick] Sweet’s expression after that play was priceless.”