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Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 2
St. Louis 5
WP: Motte (2-1)
LP: Arroyo (7-4)
S: Franklin (13)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–None. No, wait, there was one positive. Ramon Hernandez stole a base. Can you believe it? Great slide by the big guy to get into second base safely.
NEGATIVES
–Officially, the Reds had no errors, but the defense was extremely sloppy all night long. Not a well-played game by the good guys. Heck, the television crew couldn’t even find a “Hot Dog Play of the Night” after the game.
–Bronson Arroyo gave up five runs in five and a third, but he wasn’t that bad. Frankly, Willy Taveras, Laynce Nix, and Carlos Fisher are largely to blame for four of those runs (although Arroyo doesn’t escape all responsibility himself).
In the sixth, Willy Taveras first broke in on an easy fly ball, then he appeared to loaf back and watched as the ball got over his head. There is no question whatsoever that Taveras would have caught the ball for a key second out in that inning if he had been sprinting full speed to the ball (even after breaking the wrong way at first). Completely unacceptable, and there is no excuse for that.
If his hammy has not healed fully, don’t put him in the stupid lineup to cost us runs. The game was tied at 2 when that happened, but the Cards took a 4-2 lead on that play and never trailed again.
–Because Taveras didn’t catch that ball, two runs scored and the hitter ended up at second base. Carlos Fisher then came into the game and promptly threw two wild pitches to allow that run to score. Arroyo was not as sharp as he has been the last two starts, but he deserved better.
–Earlier in the game, Laynce Nix misplayed a ball in left field off the bat of Albert Pujols, and the tying run scored because of it. I’m telling you, Arroyo’s line could easily have looked a lot better. His defense let him down (I shouldn’t have to say this, but no, Cary, they didn’t do it on purpose).
–Of course, Arroyo didn’t get any offensive support either. Bad night for the bats.
ETC.
–Reds have allowed a first inning run in their last six games. No wonder they’re struggling right now.
–If you can’t tell, I’m seriously irritated with Willy Taveras right now. (Chris Welsh was pretty unhappy with Taveras on the television broadcast, too.) If Taveras didn’t sprint back because his hamstring is still hurting, then he had better be on the disabled list in the morning. Taveras isn’t good enough for the Reds to screw around with the DL once again, waiting for him to be healthy enough to play.
–Free Drew Stubbs.
–Well, tomorrow is a new day. We’re counting on you, Johnny Cueto.
All that negativity towards Taveras, while not free of blame, is strange considering Nix looked like a minor leaguer in the field tonight.
Taveras’ drifting on the routine fly ball was sickening. He was just plain loafing, that had nothing to do with his hamstring. Bench him.
Gonzo has played some great D this series. Too bad about his O.
“Ordinarily he runs that ball down and the score is 3-2 with two outs,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “I guess we have to go back to the drawing board on him. [Chris] Dickerson will play center field [Wednesday]. I thought Willy was in better shape, leg-wise, than that. So we’ll have to take a little more time.”
Good to hear that Taveras will be out for a while longer, but I still think his drifting toward the fly ball was just plain loafing, nothing to do with his hamstring.
Maybe not an error, but defense is key. Am I addled or was our last World Series win founded upon an amazing defense. Rijo, Nasty Boys and D. Eric D, Paul O, Barry L……..sigh. Maybe not what anyone wants to hear, but I have to admit, similar elements have improved from last year. Outfield improved. Middle relief…improved. Leader…oh well.
The official scoring in this series is unbelievable. In game 1, inning 4, Hernandez hits a single to right and stops. Then Ankiel throws the ball away and Ramon ambles into second. The official scorer gives him a double ! Mike Shannon and the other Cards radio guy are ragging on the scorer. (Surprisingly they didn’t mention Ramon’s slowness.)
Then Nix doubles and Ramon’s run is earned, so the official scorer reverses his decision, taking away R.’s double and charging Ankiel with the error. That makes the run unearned.
Chad well said on the recap once again, you summed it up nicely. Nothing more to add.
According to Fay in this AM’s Enquirer, it’s the 6th straight game the Reds have allowed runs in the first. Arroyo has allowed 12 runs in the first inning over his 11 starts (at least one in 6 of them).
I was listening to the game coming back from the Dragons game…in 6th, Marty was all over Jay Bruce calling his throw to 3rd “ill advised”, but Brantley said “if the throw had been on line, they had a chance to get him”. If they had a chance to get him with a good throw, and it was simply a bad throw, that’s one thing…throwing when you have no chance to get the runner is a mental error, IMO, that’s different. Both said the throw was high (over Gonzalez head). I didn’t see the play, so I don’t know.
I thought he had a chance to get him. The TV replay showed that the ball hit something and ended up off line(announcers were debating whether it hit the runner or whether it took a funny hop on the ground…did they come to a conclusion?)
My complaint about FSN broadcasts this year is that they don’t do a good job with replays.
ETC – the importance of strikeouts vs. other types of outs…only 1 strikeout by the Reds batters all night (9th inning) and they only score 2 runs. This year’s team through the first 50 games struck out 45 times more than last year’s team through 50 games, yet scored 11 more runs.
I am just wondering why Arroyo went out for the 6th after having thrown 98 pitches through 5. The first guy he got out, then hit the next guy in the back. He should have been pulled right then IMO. There’s no reason he should be throwing 110 pitches through 6.
If Bruce puts the throw on line, Molina is out w/o attempting to slide–boom 2 outs and the inning has a much different result. A terrible night for the defense. I’ve played center my whole life and have never gotten a jump as bad as Tavares’. It was almost like he wasn’t watching the pitch, then reacted in an ‘OH SH*T!’ type manner. Regardless, we have no use for him until he stops hitting the ball in the air.
Tonight’s game is HUGE w/ Carpenter looming tomorrow. Lose tonight and the prospect of treading water until we get healthy turns into a life or death struggle. A 1-6 record against the top 2 teams in the division would be devastating.
Absolutely right on your criticism of playing Taveras. He has become a sup-par lead off hitter, terrible (horrible) at driving in runs, and now apparently a liability in the field. We have Chris Dickerson who is a better hitter all around.
Reminder of the first game in the Milwaukee series – Dusty didn’t bunt with no outs and two on in the eighth inning because of his LACK OF CONFIDENCE in Taveras to drive a run in from third with one out.
He should be on the bench playing the role of a pinch runner.
THANK YOU!! Free Drew Stubbs is exactly correct! What does the guy have to do? This is the CF of the future. He is only hitting .295/.395/.437. His line in ‘08 was .293/.354/.480. He’s increased his walk totals and should be ready. He already has plus defense.
Very good recap Chad.
The Bruce throw to third was the right play and should have nailed Molina. It looked like it hit right where the dirt and grass meet and took a funny bounce, making the throw off line. Otherwise he would have been gunned.
Why does Hannigan hit behind AGon and Rosie Red?
Twice, we hit into DPs in critical situations last night. We let them off the hook offensively and defensively.
Jacob, I was thinking the same thing. The only reason I can think of is that he was due up next inning and didn’t want to burn a RP for 2/3 inning.
I thought Arroyo only gave up four runs. The fifth occurred while he was in the dugout.
I thought Arroyo only gave up four runs. The fifth occurred while he was in the dugout.
Yeah, but Arroyo gets charged with the run because the runner that scored there actually reached base on a pitch from Bronson (the ball that Taveras should have caught).
That guy scored on two wild pitches from Arroyo, and only reached base because our centerfielder screwed up, but Arroyo gets the blame.
Bruce was right to throw to 3d. It was a very tough play (he really hustled in to get to the ball, then got rid of the ball very quickly). The throw wasn’t horribly off-line, given the circumstances (the above, plus a wet ball, plus it probably either hitting the runner or a seam on the field). It was the correct decision, executed pretty well – it just didn’t work out. X(
Free Stubbs…he is great in the field and can’t possibly be any worse than Willy at the bat.
The misplays by Nix and Tavarras cost the Reds three runs. Those were the just the obvious goof ups. Arroyo pitched well enough to win but the Cards got several extra outs last night and it cost the Reds dearly.
Only about 10 days ago I rejected the idea of a Dickerson-Taveras platoon, but I was careful to qualify my statement with a “for now.” Time for an update, that platoon sounds like a good idea to me.
And don’t play Taveras at all if he isn’t ready, and DL him if he’s not ready soon.
PS I guess I’m just a frontrunner.
I said this when we first acquired Willy T. He takes some funny routes to the ball. I watched him in an awful lot of Rockies/Astros games and it’s just something he does. Usually his speed makes up for some of the bad decisions, but not always. He doesn’t pick the ball up especially well off the bat, regardless of stadium he plays in. Yeah, he wasn’t sprinting on that one, and maybe the hamstring contributed, I can’t say. But after sofa scouting (dare I use that word) lots of his games in the past I cannot say I’m suprised. Wait until you see him have to get within 4 feet of another fielder. He panics.