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Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cleveland 7
Cincinnati 6
WP: Vizcaino (1-1)
LP: Weathers (0-1)
S: Wood (7)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Joey Votto. As if you didn’t remember why this team needs Votto, he reminded us. Two homers in his first two ABs after returning from the dizziness that has been plaguing him. Toss in a walk and four RBI, and one thing is becoming increasingly clear: the Reds cannot be competitive this year without the big guy in the lineup. Period.
–Ramon Hernandez continues to pound the ball, with a couple more hits including a mammoth upper-deck homer tonight. There are still serious questions about his defense (although he did play 3B tonight for the first time in his career!), his arm, and his ability to work with pitchers (tonight was a case in point; he and Bailey were having trouble working together), but his bat has made us forget Paul Bako, and that’s a good thing.
NEGATIVES
–Homer Bailey. Some in the game thread contend that there are positives to Bailey’s performance tonight, and I did see some good stuff at times. In the end, however, six walks is terrible. Not the impression Bailey wanted to make in what is probably his only start before being sent back to Louisville.
–David Weathers is terrible. I’ll never let him fool me again.
–The Reds left ten runners on base again. That’s not going to get the job done.
–Hairston and Hernandez had errors, again.
ETC.
–Brandon Phillips came up with a bloody thumb after fielding a hard-hit ball in the top of the 8th. He left the game thereafter. Hope that isn’t something that’s going to linger.
–This is a game that should have been won. Very disappointing.
The Reds score six runs in the first two innings then none off the Cleveland bullpen, which is horrid.
BTW, did everyone see Phillips wipe his bloody thumb on the turf? Call out the Clorox Wipes team. And what was this talk that he was in much pain in the dugout? He was smiling when he walked off the field. It was called a contusion, which sounds like a bruise to me. Probably out a few days unless Dr. Kremchek decides to replace it with one of his toes.
I think Baker is kind of run Hairston Jr. into the ground. It’s like Baker doesn’t think we can win without Hairston Jr. in the 2 hole. When Hairston Jr. is hot he is a huge asset to the lineup but give Rosales some starts over at third base. I don’t know. Not a huge criticism, but Baker sometimes just holds onto ideas for a little a too long.
Man Mark Derosa would be nice on the Reds. He’d be a little better platoon option than Hairston Jr. and Rosales. And you could just play him everyday at third base or in left field with consistent results.
I don’t know if I’d call this a very dissapointing loss. I was expecting Homer to give up a lot of runs, so the fact the Reds scored a decet amount was encouraging. I think Jay Bruce is about to have a really good game soon. If he can become somewhat consistent it’d make a big difference in this lineup.
I don’t think Bailey is done as a major leaguer, but man if the Reds are going to try and make a run at the playoffs and trade for a talented leftfielder or infielder then I’d probably include Bailey in the trade.
I don’t think LF is as big a problem as SS.
I think Dusty double switched a little too much tonight.
That proposed Bailey-Dye trade doesn’t look too horrible in hindsight, does it?
Bailey is still 23 years old, he still has time to develop. He needs to either spend the rest of the time until September in L’Ville working on his control and 3rd pitch or needs to be in the Reds bullpen getting to work with Dick Pole and getting mop up time while refining his skills. He does have stuff, it is just a question of when he will put it all together. I said it in the game thread, and say it again…Volquez had the same type of troubles at this age, and how did he turn out? He had 2 good innings, 1 ok inning, and 2 horrible innings. If he cuts out at least half of the walks the Reds win today. He really only gave up one really hard hit ball.
@Balrog…I still don’t make that trade, Dye is on the downslope…More and more players past the age of 32 are declining at a faster rate ever since the steroid testing began back to the way it was before the steroid era.
@Jim…Totally agree, I think SS is more a problem than LF at this point (now that Gomes is up).
Lastly, This team is so darn frustrating.
Bruble-The difference is that Homer Bailey’s stuff is nowhere near Volquez’s stuff (or Cueto’s for that matter) and he has learned nothing as far as how to pitch. He was a guy that overpowered hitters in high school and can’t do it in the major (to be honest, he hasn’t overpowered hitters in AAA either).
I agree that Hairston has probably been overused. He is better playing about four times per week, but there are not a lot of options on this team.
Another reason for Bailey to stay here in the bullpen would be the chance to learn the change-up from Volquez. Velocity-wise, he is about 1 mph lower than Volquez and the same as Cueto. He just needs to to improve the control. Adding a change-up would be huge.
David Weathers has been walking on a tightrope this entire year. He rarely has a 1-2-3 inning and its caught up with him in his last two outings. His stuff is not that great so if his control is just a little off he starts walking people or bats catch up with his 89 mph heater. If I was a manager he’d give me ulcers.
BTW I too was looking for much more out of Bailey last night. That was a failing performance.
@ Y-City Jim: Homer’s fastball is straight as an arrow. Cueto & Voltron have movement. Huge difference.
You obviously didn’t watch last night’s game. Bailey’s fastball had a lot of movement, which is part of the reason he was having trouble throwing it for strikes. It’s also the reason the Indians only had three hits. It’s also why he averaging 9 Ks per 9 innings at AAA.
Pitching charts from last night would show that Bailey was just missing with a majority of the balls he threw last night. That’s the difference between being good and bad in this game.
You’re right, I didn’t watch last night’s game. I was bartending and could only look up at the TV once in a while. I just know that Homer has usually thrown a dead-straight fastball that I could have hit in high school. I say we trade him to Cleveland for DeRosa.
Jim-I watched the game last night and I didn’t see that movement. Maybe I’m just biased, but I didn’t see it. Not like what Cueto and Volquez has.