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Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 7
Toronto 5
WP: Cueto (7-4)
LP: Camp (0-3)
S: Cordero (18)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Smilin’ side of the scoreboard!
–Seven runs? Fifteen hits? Who are these guys, and what have they done with our Reds?
–Have we mentioned that Joey Votto is back, and we’re happy about that? Votto came out slugging tonight, going 4-5 with a double, 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, and the homer that put the Reds on top to stay. The guy is just clutch. Give him a honey-baked ham; he’s the star of the game.
–Jonny “Not Darnell McDonald” Gomes continues to rip the ball. Two more hits tonight, including a double, a run scored, and an RBI. Heck, he even threw in a base on balls too. Gomes’ BA is .351; his OBP is .449. Someone explain to me why Gomes hasn’t been on the roster all season long.
–Some guy named Paul Janish played shortstop tonight. He did okay, I guess. Just two hits (one of those a double) and a run scored, plus some great defense. Still, he’s no Alex Gonzalez (according to Chris Welsh; see below).
–Outstanding work by the bullpen, after Johnny Cueto tried his hardest to blow the game. Nick Masset, Francisco Cordero, and some other guy pitched three scoreless, hitless innings to close out the game.
–Clearly Willy Taveras is a superstar and Dusty Baker is the smartest manager alive. A 3-5 day brings his June numbers up to .074/.074/.074. And now we’re going to see Taveras in the leadoff spot for the rest of the season. Woo-hoo!
NEGATIVES
–Johnny Cueto blew another big lead, for the second straight start. Not good. Not good at all.
ETC.
–Wee Willy had an excellent game, but there is still no justification whatsoever for having Taveras at leadoff and Chris Dickerson hitting ninth. An absolutely ludicrous decision, and that doesn’t change just because Taveras lucked into a couple of hits. Unfortunately, all it’s going to do is embolden Dusty. He’ll be more stubborn now. After all, he knows that he’s always the smartest man in the room.
–Joey Votto!
–We love Reds broadcaster Chris Welsh. He’s the best. But he said tonight that Janish was “not that much of a step back” defensively from Gonzo. Sorry, Chris, but that’s just absurd. You’ve got it backwards. Paul Janish is so much better defensively at shortstop than 2009 Alex Gonzalez, it’s not even close (2004 Gonzo, maybe you have an argument). Janish was dazzling tonight.
So much fun to watch a guy that can pick it out there. Janish and Brandon Phillips are an outstanding combo up the middle.
–Okay, good win. Reds avoid the sweep. Let’s hope the good guys can take two of three in Cleveland this weekend.
Bless you Joey Votto. Nice win.
What happens when Edwin comes back? JHJ the starting SS until Alex comes back?
The complaining about Jonny Gomes not being here at the start of the season is getting old. They made a call, it was wrong, they corrected it. There are plenty of other things to complain about and plenty of other things that still haven’t been corrected (Taveras leading off, Hanigan not playing, Janish).
Taveras should be forced to bunt at least once per game when he does play.
The Gomes situation eats at me because it was such an obviously wrong move at the time, yet Walt Jocketty couldn’t see it. And it took him six weeks to realize it.
It provides us with an unsettling glimpse into Jocketty’s player evaluations. As such, it continues to be a timely subject, since I’m not sure we can trust Walt to make the right decisions.
And, for what it’s worth, I’m going to keep complaining about it. Sorry.
I don’t think one wrong decision defines a career. The guys track record speaks for itself.
No, he’s had an excellent career. But his recent history is not encouraging, and that’s being charitable.
And there’s a reason he was forced out in St. Louis.
and it’s “Jockerty”.
gah i hate when grande calls him jockerty
Loved the not so subtle stab that Brantley took at Gonzo after Janish made a great play: “and folks, that’s what its like to have a shortstop who can pick it.”
Put Taveras batting 8th, play Janish at Short 3-4 times a week, and play Hannigan 3-4 times a week and I’d have no problems with Dusty Baker.
We already have a weak lineup, we can’t be having Dusty making unwise decisions on a daily basis with the roster we have!
Nice game by Taveras tonight, but I kinda agree with you guys. I’m afraid it will embolden Dusty to stick with him for longer then is necessary.
Consistency is the key with any baseball player. Until Taveras gets on base 1-2 times a game for 4-5 games in a row he won’t be too useful in the leadoff spot.
Put Taveras batting 8th, play Janish at Short 3-4 times a week, and play Hannigan 3-4 times a week and I’d have no problems with Dusty Baker.
Actually, that’s quite sensible. I could live with Dusty if he were doing these things.
Really, platooning Taveras/Dickerson in CF and Gomes/Nix in LF should be a no-brainer. And Taveras should never be near the top of the batting order.
But Dusty has hitched his wagon to Willy, and it’s going to be much more difficult to get him out of the lineup (or even just further down in the order) than it was with Corey Patterson last year.
My goodness, Gomes is hitting .351/.449/.614! I seriously hope this guy keeps getting regular AB’s. (All things considered, I’m afraid Taveras is the 5th best OF on this team. Out of 5.)
Dennis,
That was referring to JHJ, not Gonzo.
Re: Gomes
IMO Jocketty can take credit for allowing Gomes to find his swing in AAA. He wasn’t lighting anything up in ST, nor in April.
Riiiiiiiiiight, that’s what Jockerty was doing. Letting Gomes find his swing.
of course, Gomes’s spring training numbers were better than McDonalds. And Jockerty didnt’ send Gomes down to find his swing, because Jockerty didn’t know if Gomes would accept the assignment. He willingly took the risk of losing Gomes so that he could keep McDonald; clearly, he thought Darnell was a better player in the face of all evidence tot he contrary.
sure, losing jonny gomes wouldn’t have been the end of the world, but losing him so that you can hang on to darnell freakin mcdonald is the height of insanity. I’ll never trust jockerty’s judgment again after that fiasco.
Would we have won that game without Joey ? That was a rhetorical question.
Cueto mentally still doesn’t have his act together. I felt sure he’d blow the lead.
Some of us have been suggesting a Dickerson/Taveras platoon for a while, it’s the way to go for now. As for Willy batting 8th, it’s just not going to happen.
On this nite, let’s give Dusty and Taveras their due. I loved that suicide squeeze. Dusty had the chutzpah to call it with Toronto looking for it, waiting out the pitchout and then going for it. Nice bunt by Taveras, he’s got to bunt and get infield hits to even belong on the field.
Got ya. But I think it works for whoever you put in there. To beat a dead horse, Janish is clearly the best defensive options. Being that defense was preached so heavily out of spring training, its foolish for dusty to keep playing ‘his guys.’
I don’t mind griping about the Gomes/McDonald gaffe by WJ.
It probably cost us some games in April/May, and I don’t understand why people talk as if those games don’t count.
And as has been pointed out, Gomes could have opted to go elsewhere. Luckily he saw that the Reds hole in LF was bigger than anyone else’s, and he made the right decision to stick with the Reds.
Speaking of a hole in LF, Lind looked just awful out there. He helped us in the first inning.
Nice win now we have 3 in Cleveland against a struggling team and 3 weak starting pitchers. A sweep is called for. (Our sweeping them, that is.)
So…Dusty is spending all this time trying to get Willy back on track…
who’s helping Jay Bruce get it together?
@21 John
good call there. Bruce as a cornerstone of the franchise, his long struggle at the plate has to be a concern. Reds need him to get going and producing better. hitting .212 for may and .173 for june is crazy for his talent.
All I’m going to say is that the photo of a big smilin’ Joey Otto with the sombrero hat on makes me happy.
It must be wonderful to have never made a wrong decision. Gomes was not that great in spring training either. Obviously it was the wrong call and it is completely fair to point it out, but it seems like it has been in every other post since the start of the year. The definition of insanity is not willing to admit you make a mistake and keep committing the same mistake over and over again (IE Taveras and I blame Baker AND Jocketty for this as Jocketty is letting him get away with it). I am not a Jocketty apologist I just believe his track record should grant him a little more leeway. I am the first to say I am disappointed he has not stepped in and corrected the Taveras situation so I’ve been critical as well. I would like to see a Nix/Gomes platoon, Dickerson/Taveras platoon (with Taveras batting eighth), Janish at SS and Hanigan and Hernandez splitting time behind the plate with Hannigan getting more playing time than Hernandez.
Actually Gomes ST numbers weren’t all that bad. .250 BA – .320 OBP – .558 SLG
BTW, McCoy has a nice Votto article on his blog. Talks about his twin 9-year-old brothers.
Here’s the link:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/cincinnatireds/
It must be wonderful to have never made a wrong decision.
It really is wonderful.
Of course, half the people who leave my courtroom would probably disagree with the assessment that I’ve never made a wrong decision.
What was most impressive about Soft J was his arm. He gets the ball to first right now. I had to replay the DP he turned w/ BP just to see his throw to 1st again. On that same note, how good was Toronto’s infield? Hill, Scutaro, and Rolen picked everything that came even remotely near them all series. Yesterday, Rolen’s throw from third as he was falling away from the play to get JHJ was amazing and Scutaro’s throw from the hole off his ass (to get Gomes I think) was equally impressive.
Chad, I always thought I was the only one out there who has never been wrong. I used to think I was wrong about something, but I was mistaken, I was actually right about that too.
Toronto has a solid ball club. I like them. It’s unfortunate the division they play in.
Shouldn’t JV be wearing a Mountie hat?
That play Rolen made on Hairston was awesome.
I’m starting to get a little concerned about Cueto and his inability to hold leads.
Platoon? I know it is going to seem like I’m making a joke, but does Dusty even have enough of a rudimentary grasp of statistics to actually use two players in a platoon situation? Think about it……..
I actually am convinced that statistics play ZERO part of Dusty’s managing thought process. I do however, believe that he is a good leader of men. If he could tackle the mathematical aspect as well, then we might actually have something.
I was very impressed by Toronto, their infield defense, strong lineup, solid play. As of yesterday, they were tied with the Yankees. We did well to beat them.
I knew they’d get to Cueto, and wasn’t sure how our bullpen would do against them. Kudos to the bullpen.
I don’t worry so much about Cueto… he’s still quite young and has a few more ropes to learn. He simply exceeded most expectations earlier this year, and is now rebounding back to his normal learning curve a little bit. He’ll be fine, he’s just not Cy Young yet. He could get there though.
..and that’s without their ace.