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Time for a recap of tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Cincinnati 1
Colorado 3
WP: Marquis (15-10)
LP: Maloney (0-4)
S: Morales (5)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Matt Maloney deserved better. Maloney pitched five strong innings, giving up four hits and just one run. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get a win because (a) the Reds couldn’t score for him and (b) he developed a blister that forced him to leave the game after throwing only 65 pitches.
NEGATIVES
–Four hits? TOS*
–Pedro Viola and Daniel Herrera didn’t help the cause. For the second straight game, the bullpen has let the team down.
–The Reds were 0-8 with runners in scoring position.
ETC.
–Two losses in a row. Welcome back to earth, Cincinnati.
–I feel pretty bad for Maloney. This is a guy fighting for a spot in the big leagues, he is cruising along against a pretty good team, and he is forced to leave the game early.
–Mark Sheldon notes that, with an 0-3 night, Joey Votto is now below .300 on the season.
–Another night game tomorrow. Hopefully Bronson Arroyo can get the Reds back on the winning track.
*This Offense Stinks
Maloney needs to get as many starts to end the season as he can manage. Furthermore, he needs to be penciled in as the 5th starter before spring-training begins. He has nothing left to prove in AAA.
Maloney’s 2009 IL performance:
2nd in ERA
4th in Ks
2nd in WHIP
1st in CG
Unrelated, but I noticed that Corey Patterson is now on the Brewers MLB squad. Combined with W*******, I think Chad should starting rooting for the Brewers.
I’m glad they are losing again, winning only helps one person, and I don’t want that person to have any help at all.
Chad, every time you guarantee a victory, we lose. Maybe you should leave the prognosticating to the experts, like Jeff Brantly or Joe Buck.
I agree, RCR. I’m going to quit trying to predict what this team will do.
Is there something about Colorado’s lineup that Dusty felt like we should have a diminuitive lefty pitching at all times?
TOS, next year something has to happen with the bottom of this order. There’s no production at all.
They won five, lost two, won seven, lost two. Based on my own complicated statistical analysis, I have concluded that the Reds will now win their next nine games.
@JasonL: Sounds like the BCS formula to me!
Janish will never hit enough to justify a starting spot. 2 on, no one out and down by two, Dusty has his #2 hitter (janish) bunting. Fine, whatever. But Janish couldn’t even manage that! Fortunately, by virtue (?) of his weakness, he didn’t ground into a double play. It’s the same kind of crap that got Gonzo run out of town. We can do better, much better.
Herrera needs to get back to throwing more screwgies.
Balentein hasn’t done anything to hurt his chances of making the club next year.
I don’t ever want to see Tatum and Miller in a Reds uniform after this season.
Agree that TOS.
OK, looking ahead to next year (the next time the Reds will be playing truly meaningful games), do we agree that we’re set with Janish at SS and Phillips at 2B? (Looks that way. I’m reasonably OK with that, but we have to recognize that Janish isn’t going to hit much. Maybe .240/.310/.330 or so? I’m ball-parking, but it’s going to be bad.)
Given that, a) he’s got to be hitting 8th (oh Dusty, are you listening??) and b) we can’t afford offensive holes anywhere else.
So what do we do with LF?
I’m a big Gomes fan, but in my opinion, to do it right, if we’re going with Gomes, we need to go all the way with him. Put him out there every day. I don’t think he’d do too well getting 200 AB’s and a spot start once a week.
Gomes (career) as a starter – .246/.336/.480
Gomes (career) off the bench – .162/.253/.297
What do you all think?
And as a related question, how bad is Gomes’s fielding? I know it isn’t good, but how bad are we talking? (I don’t mean, by eyeballing him in the field, I mean by the numbers.) I can live w/ some below average fielding from a LF slugger. But if he’s just terrible then maybe we can do better elsewhere.
Thoughts on Jonny?
(Whether he’s back or not next year, I have to say, I’m a big fan of his. He’s handled his up-and-down playing time well, and when he’s been in there, he’s really produced well — .279/.349/.558 for a guy who didn’t even make the team out of spring training. Damn good. Seems like a good guy and a fun guy too.)
Also, on Gomes…he said if the Reds don’t offer him arbitration this winter (today’s Enquirer), he’ll go whereever he’ll get the most playing time.
So what’s the prevailing wisdom on how bad Gomes’s defense is? Worse than Dunn’s, or just a little below average?
Gomes’ defense is no where near as bad as Dunn’s. I am an AD fan, but Gomes has better range and a much better arm in LF.
b) we can’t afford offensive holes anywhere else.… this is the rub isn’t it? Given Cincy’s place in the salary chain, we’re probably going to have to have a spot or two where we “settle” for a less than ideal player. SS seems like a good place to settle b/c the defense of that position can be very, very helpful.
That being so… I’m just as concerned about CF as I am with LF. This team can’t absorb Janish AND Willy and expect to do very well. Hannigan is also somewhat of an unproven commodity for the long haul (no fault of his own), but in my mind he’s our everyday catcher. I’m keeping Gomes (and starting everday) only if I can’t find more production via trade/free agency.
I don’t know, this all drives me crazy. My wish is that we have a line-up that has as few guys on it as possible that the majority of teams would never seriously consider for a starting position if that player suddenly became available. Doesn’t some of this assume Bruce is hitting better too? My head hurts.
And while we’re talking about the infield, Justin Turner (2nd baseman sent to Baltimore as part of the Hernandez deal) made his major league debut last night, going 0-2.
I like Hannigan and have high hopes for him, he’s one hell of a defensive catcher, but, I’m wondering if Miller doesnt call a better game than Hannigan. I don’t know what the numbers are and don’t know where to look them up but it seems pitchers have a high pitch count much sooner in the game with Hannigan catching because he tries to nibble at the corners a lot more than Miller. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather have Hannigan in there every day, but if I’m right then somebody should be working on that with him.