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Let’s recap tonight’s titanic struggle….
FINAL
Pittsburgh 2
Cincinnati 8
WP: Cueto (5-1)
LP: Morton (1-9)
BOX SCORE
POSITIVES
–Johnny Cueto is just locked in. In six innings, Cueto didn’t allow a run and only permitted three hits, while striking out nine. He’s now 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA. That’s just great.
–Jay Bruce had a double and his eighth homer. Scott Rolen also had a homer, his eleventh, to go with a single, a walk, and 3 RBI. The homers were back-to-back jobs in the first inning that really got the Reds rolen*.
–Jonny Gomes was 2-2 with a walk and our man Miguel Cairo was 3-5 with three singles and two runs scored.
NEGATIVES
–None!
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
–Seven runs after two innings will get it done every time.
–Cueto is doing great, but you will recall that he was doing very well last year until a disastrous start against the Phillies right before All-Star rosters were announced. How Cueto finishes the season will show us how much he has grown up.
–Vote Votto. Joey Votto didn’t play for the second straight game because of a stiff neck, but who cares? Miguel Cairo is clearly a better player**. Vote Cairo!
–Three wins in four games after returning to the Queen City. Now the lowly Astros come to town, and the Reds have a chance to turn this into a special homestand. Tomorrow, it’s the major league debut of Sam LeCure!
–They went back-to-back in the first inning, now they’re back to back in the recap:
Scott Rolen
Jay Bruce
*See what I did there?
**Yes, that’s sarcasm. Settle down.
I believe that was Jay’s 5th HR of the season.
Also, on the positives, this one was an easy win, that doesn’t happen often!
I have voted Votto/Hanigan 100 times so far…I think I have a couple more emails to burn up too!
For the Reds to stay in it, it’s critical that Cueto have a decent 2nd half. His not having pitched winter ball was a very good idea.
And if he does start to show signs of fatigue in the 2nd half, let him skip a start, don’t keep marching him out there to get hammered and eventually hurt his arm.
“–Seven runs after two innings will get it done every time***”
***8 runs might not. But lets not dwell.
The most exciting thing for me in this game was Bruce’s power hitting. When he got that dinky little single to left last nite, I liked it, it meant he was staying back.
And now the payoff.
Agreed… but fat chance.
@pinson343: I agree! Between no winter ball and no WBC this year, Cueto should be strong for the whole year. Plus tonight was the 2nd time he had gotten an extra day of rest, that is crucial when you have a stretch the Reds are in right now with no off days.
@Jared: Exactly, Jared. I was about to make that point.
And I’m with BJ about an easy win being a big positive, I really wasn’t sure they would manage that, even tonite.
PS “That point” being that recent 8 zip lead after 2 not being enough.
This may have already been linked somewhere else, but some good mentions of the Reds in Rumblings and Grumblings. The Reds are 55-27 when Rolen plays since he was acquired. That’s amazing.
When I saw that Rolen hit the homer I was reading Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? (to my daughter – though I’m not above reading it for myself either) – “Boom boom boom, Scott Rolen is a wonder! Boom boom boom, Scott Rolen makes thunder!”
Where’s Cueto’s sombrero?
“our man Miguel Cairo”
Fan-Freaking-tastic
Maybe while Cairo is hot, the Reds can trade him for a box of superglue and a gallon of pickle juice. I hear those work well to keep away blisters on the pitching hand.
Once a year or so, Juan Castro would have the kind of series Cairo just had.
I remember his getting 5 hits against the Mets in a series, where he was batting second (which of course he generally didn’t do).
The NY broadcasters kept calling him Cairo.
Great. Now they’ll never get rid of Cairo
Great. Now they’ll never get rid of Cairo.
I haven’t disagreed more strongly about a comment in the Titanic Struggle posts in a long time.
“–Cueto is doing great, but you will recall that he was doing very well last year until a disastrous start against the Phillies right before All-Star rosters were announced. How Cueto finishes the season will show us how much he has grown up.”
I think Cueto’s season last season is easy to explain. I also think how he does the rest of this season has absolutely nothing to do with him “growing up”. He got REALLY and OBVIOUSLY tired last year. Some think off season pitching but I think it was Dusty leaving him in games too long.
I think how Cueto does after the all-star break has more to do with Dusty. If we (umm Dusty or the pitching coach not we) watch his pitch count and try and pay attention to see if Cueto is getting tired we’ll be fine.
currently Cueto’s pitch count after 9 games is down around 25 pitches from last year and he didn’t pitch this off season. But honestly I think the most important thing to do is that if he becomes obviously tired at any point in the season like last season just skip 1 start.
has anyone noticed that the Reds offense has quietly been climbing up and up since the 1st month of the season? The obvious turnaround for the team was the starting pitching going from @#%@#$% to great but the offense has slowly gotten better and better.
After April the Reds team OPS+ was 11th in the NL and below league average at 94
In May??? Ready for this? The Reds OPS+ is #1!!!!! in the NL at 130!!!!
read that again. In May the Reds have had the #1 offense in the NL!?!?
Now, overall the Reds offense is 4th in baseball! (What the #$@Q$#%????)
Yup, behind only the Yanks, Brew Crew and Dodgers.
That’s insane
The offense ranks 4th in baseball
The starters rank 20th in baseball
The bullpen ranks 17th in baseball
The defense ranks 15th in baseball
and we have games against Washington, Houston, KC and Seattle coming up soon! Time to build a lead in the division!
That really is incredible, mike. What a turnaround from the first month.
And our interleague schedule really is fortuitous. They’d better feast on those guys.
And lastly, @Jared: We’ve got more depth this year, with LeCure and Wood and Maloney, so that makes it a lot easier to skip a start or two if any of our young guys get fatigued.
Haven’t posted in awhile, so I have some catching up to do.
I can’t believe I am doing this, bu I am defending Dusty in the 10-9 debacle loss to the Braves. He was trying to do the same thing he did last night – give some pitchers who needed work a chance to pitch in a blowout win. It worked last night, the pitchers blew it against the Braves.
As far as bringing back Bronson Arroyo, the answer is on your site. The Reds have an option to sign him for 2011. Unless he gets hurt, they should definitely do it. No need to decide whether or not to extend his contract until after 2011.
Think the Astros would take Harang and a prospect or two (not named Wood or Chapman) for Oswalt? The Reds could afford Oswalt if they could dump Harang’s salary.
I don’t see why the Astros would take Harang, but I think they would move Oswalt for a couple of prospects if you paid the rest of Oswalt’s contract. The Reds would have to move Harang in a separate deal.
Someone on ESPN radio was running down the list of Oswalt suitors last week, and he just dismissed any NL central teams because “the Astros don’t want to trade Oswalt within the division.” Why? I could understand if Oswalt were in his 20′s. But he has 1.5 years left on his contract, the Astros don’t figure to compete in that timeframe, wouldn’t that be an opportunity for them to “dump payroll” on a division rival while taking some of that rival’s prospects?
Oswalt only makes $2.5 million more than Harang.
@mike: I just wrote a long retort on why I don’t think you can “easily” explain Cueto’s poor 2nd half and subsequent revitalized start to this year. For some reason my computer “timed out” when I submitted and I lost the comment. I don’t feel like rewriting the whole thing but the gist is that there are most like many factors that contribute to Cueto’s performance on the mound and it’s very difficult to determine the weighting of each factor. But I do agree that it has nothing to do with his “growing up”.
@MikeC: I hate to argue with your first post in a while, but Dusty’s use of the bullpen last night was nothing like Atlanta. He used 3 pitchers last night, one inning each. In Atlanta he tried to use one pitcher for three innings, when he had several guys available that hadn’t gotten work in a while.
Mission NOT Accomplished
First, from Baker last night: “We got (Cueto) out of there as a precaution for that blister. He had a big lead and it came out fine tonight. He also had a lot of pitches (24) that sixth inning.”
Then, from Cueto last night: “It was kind of painful. The last inning, it kind of burned a little bit. It’s hurting right now.”
Baker left Cueto in to throw 101 pitches.
Found both quotes from Mark Sheldon
@mike: The team hitting homers in 14 some odd games in a row will help that. I was so happy to see Bruce put one out last night. He had quietly been in a long homer drought. Not the worst thing in the world when he’s still otherwise hitting, but it was nice to see wasn’t it?
Can anyone explain to me why in the heck Dusty left Brandon in the game after he came up limping and you could tell he was having issues? I mean really the game was in hand, Sutton is fine at 2nd yet you keep him out there? Why is he still the manager of this team?
@Matt WI: Just looked at the game logs. That was Bruce’s first HR since April 29th.
Here’s my concern for late in the season (and I’m sure I’m not the first to say this):
Even if the Reds are in the thick of the NL Central race late in the season, at some point Leake will need to be shut down. When Chapman comes up, the same will be true of him. If we are contending, we might really need to think about picking up another solid starter at the trade deadline, maybe?
I hear we might be able to sign Edinson Volquez.
Perhaps, perhaps.
But the very sensible suggestion has been made tha Volquie comes back in the bullpen for this year – I mean, how many inning could you expect out of him as a starter this year?
But it also occurs to me that I have no idea how much Chapman threw back in that island paradise he came from. Maybe he’s used to 200+ innings? Does anybody know?
I doubt anyone knows exactly how many innings or such Chapman has thrown. This start tonight by the rookie could be interesting.
@mike: Yep, I posted about this yesterday. Are they really this good? AND there pitching is actually better than the numbers show…those numbers are still inflated due to a horrible first couple of weeks by all the starters (except Leake) plus inflated ERA’s of Ondrusek, Fisher and Masset….So again I gotta ask – Are the Reds for real?….I’m starting to think they are. The bullpen has been shaky at times and the bench is real thin, but for the most I like this team.
On pitching, trades, youth…
I cannot see the Reds going after Oswalt. One, the Astros would have to trade him in division. That seems unlikely. Two, Oswalt has full no trade protection and holds all the Cards. Three, because he has a year and a half of control he’ll cost more in prospects.
This summer is a buyer’s market in terms of starting pitching. Kevin Milwood, Cliff Lee, et al. will be available for a lower price tag. A rental is far more likely.
I’m far more concerned about the bullpen than I am about the starting rotation. For that reason, I would love to see Chapman used like Feliz. Bring him up in August and put him in to get a little experience at the MLB level AND help the bullpen with another arm.
@dn4192: He’s had 9 starts and pitched 45.2 innings. 55 SO, 25 BB, 1.47 WHIP
You can get to the Louisville site by going to the Reds official site and putting your cursor over ‘Roster’ and then clicking on ‘Minor League Affiliates.
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cin
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/mlb/minorleagues/affiliates/index.jsp?c_id=cin
We were talking about how much he threw *in Cuba*, and thus, how much you’d want to push him this season. I can’t imagine they play a 162 game schedule down there…
I was refering to what he did on the cuban team, I dount if we will ever know what amount of pitching he did with them.
And I can’t find the URL for El Cubo de Beisbol.
The Astros COULD take Aaron Harang in an Oswalt deal and still save $20M versus their current commitment to Oswalt if they declined Harang’s 2011 option.
The WOULD they comes down to who else the Reds would send them and the strategic issue of whether to dump Oswalt within their home division.
I think the Reds have to set to be a player on Oswalt in case it comes down to blocking the Cards from getting Oswalt. By most accounts the Reds have the Cards covered on any potential prospect package. It would be a matter of did the Reds want to pull the trigger at a price the Astros were asking.
The solution to replacing Leake, when he’s pitched his 150 innings, will not be Chapman, even if Chapman is pitching well. Chapman is also on an innings limit this year, regardless of what he did in Cuba. I think this is wise.
I’d love to see Cliff Lee in a Reds uniform, but that’s a fantasy, the Mariners would want a king’s ransom, and the Dodgers are after him. We do have some decent in-house candidates: Maloney, Wood, and maybe LeCure. But of course none of them will pitch nearly as well as Leake has.
I would bring back Volquez slowly, in the bullpen.
The fact of the matter is that Drayton McLane is too stubborn to trade Oswalt within the division. If the Reds are in the position to add a starter via a mid-season trade, I think they should be looking at Cliff Lee, Ben Sheets or Erik Bedard (if healthy). The cost in prospects will be far less, and the Reds may even be able to recoup some draft picks for Sheets or Lee if they’re not resigned and leave for free agency.
Yes and Cueto didn’t even throw his slider last nite, which aggravates the blister.
A starter that is pitching well being shut down by Dusty?? Surely you jest. (I know, dont call you Shirley) Don’t you realize that Dusty has a special pen that when used in filling out the lineup, gives the pitcher extra strength and endurance. He’s had that pen since his days in Chicago. He saved it for special occasions the last few years … Harang was the recipient a couple of times and Homer was the latest vict – latest helped by its powers. I’m sure Dusty wont hesitate to use his magic pen to “help” Leake.
HA!
Cardinals need shot in arm from Aaron Miles’ hot bat!
Read for yourself.
@eastcoast redsfan: Your point is well taken, and I love the Shirley reference. But Dusty is not being allowed to be Dusty with Leake. WJ (and Pryce ?) have come up with some strict rules for Dusty to follow, that’s already been evident.
I think that Harang’s option becomes a player option if he gets traded. That makes it unlikely that Houston takes him as their savings becomes much less.
I think the # of prospects you have to give to get Oswalt will depend on how much of his $$ you pay.
“I think the # of prospects you have to give to get Oswalt will depend on how much of his $$ you pay.”
I’d pay every last stinking dime of it if it keeps him away from somebody we might have a shot of playing in the post season.
@dn4192: My bad. Your right…It’s very hard to get stats on Cuban players. There are two websites I stumbled across –
http://www.cubanballplayers.com/
http://cubanballplayers.blogspot.com/
I haven’t really explored either site other than the other week when trying to find info on Felix Perez, but they might have info on Chapman from his days with the Cuban National Team in their archives.
@Furniture City Red: I’ve been asking myself the “are the Reds for real” question for a couple weeks. I think it’s nearly impossible to answer.
There are SOOO many factors. Here are just a few things I’ve been thinking about.
1. The offense the 1st month was bad. We knew it was going to get better but lately I think it’s been playing over it’s head.
2. The starting pitching was bad. We knew it would get better. I still think there is room for improvement. That’s good news
3. The defense was bad….it’s improved but I think it’s peaked. Our left side defense of Rolen/Cabrera/Gomes is horrid.
4. Our schedule in recent weeks has been as easy as a schedule can get. Lets not forget just how bad Pitt is. Then again, those are the games good teams should win and the Reds have.
5. Our division is horrible. It should be easy to come in 2nd
lets revisit this question in the middle of July. Late June, early July the Reds schedule is Philly, in Chicago, at NYM, at Philly and Colorado. That will probably be our most difficult stretch. And of course soon after the Reds go on the dreaded west coast trip. Those two portions of the schedule will decide the Reds fate.
@preach: just an idea about giving up prospects for Oswalt. Do we really need Francisco and/or Alonso? I have no idea if they’d be enough and no team would probably trade for both but with Votto there is no need for Alonso and I just don’t think Francisco is ever going to make it. Now here comes the big question. If the Reds were to pay a good chunk of Oswalt’s contract and trade say Bailey and Alonso for him…..would you do it?
@mike: You know who’s going to need a big hitting first basemen soon? Milwaukee. Send Alonso yonder if they’ve got anything the Reds need. You know, like Todd Coffey.
We don’t need Francisco and Alonso. That is, we don’t need Francisco. We could very much use a hitter like Alonso.
@pinson343: If Alonso can play LF he will be useful. I just hope Votto is a Red for a LONG, LONG time.