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FINAL:
Cincinnati 3
Colorado 0
W: B. Arroyo (6-6)
L: D. Pomeranz (1-6)
S: A. Chapman (20)
BOX SCORE
THE GOOD
Love me some Bronson Arroyo. The guy is just a bulldog. His strikeout of Rutledge with the tying run in scoring position was wily veteran-type stuff. Ryan Ludwick just keeps on keepin on. 2 for 3 with a walk, 2 runs scored and an RBI. Two more hits for Scott Rolen, who keeps stepping up in the absence of JoeyMVP. That’s what leaders do, yeah?
The Man With the Golden Arm does what The Man With the Golden Arm does: Get. People. Out.
THE BAD
The Jay Bruce Disappearing Act tonight.
THE UGLY
The 1-2 spots in the lineup go 1 for 10. Not a single walk. At what point does Walt step in and just tell his manager to get somebody up there who can get on base at the top of the order. Good grief.
NOT-SO-RANDOM THOUGHTS
The Reds are now 9-2 in Joey’s absence. I don’t know about you, but if Howie Mandel had offered me a .500 record to just walk away and fast forward until Votto’s return, I probably say “Deal.” 
Boy, that Dexter Fowler would look good patrolling CF in Great American Ballpark.
Every night, it’s another guy stepping up. 59 Wins. Only the #$%&# Yankees have more (60). Maybe an extra scoop of UDF for Mr. Brantley tonight? Ya think?
Oh, yeah. Adam Ottavino, who relieved tonight for the Rockies, once played for the Brooklyn little league where I once coached my son. How cool is that?
Source: FanGraphs
Not to push Uncle Walt too much but:
Denard Span’s line tonight: 3 ABs, 3 runs, 2 hits, 2 walks, SB
How many lines, like that, have we seen out of our lead-off spot this year? Is he or isn’t he the missing piece to win a World Championship?
Special mention in the GOOD: Xavier Paul – nice solid pinch hit. Kid is looking like a keeper!
Special mention in the GOOD: Xavier Paul – nice solid pinch hit.Kid is looking like a keeper!
@CharlotteNCRedsFan: i now forgive him his first AB as a Red. I hope he sleeps better. I do.
Impressive, very impressive outing by this team
Despite all the calls for his release and/or retirement Scott Rolen has hit .333 with a .405 OBP since the All Star Break. Good job by the Reds with keeping him around.
Arroyo, the broadcasters drew a lot of attention to his prior struggles pitching in Colorado, but he pitched well. I was surprised how he departed – Bryan Price came out to talk to him with a runner on base, Arroyo apparently made the call that he was finished after 85 pitches and Price called in the reliever. Dusty almost always makes the pitching changes. I wear my Arroyo shirt to Reds games but I think I should see more of them.
I’m rooting for Boston this weekend to help the Reds pass the Yankees for the best record in MLB.
When will FanGraphs realize that as soon as Chapman comes in the ballgame its over. The guy had been lights out and the guys on MLB Network love it when Chapman comes in to close out the win!
The Reds aren’t going to be acquiring Marco Scutaro from the Rockies. Nor are they going to be facing him any more this weekend……….He has been traded to the Giants.
I wonder if the choice of Simon to pitch the 8th tonight indicates a change in the pecking orderor could be a precursor to a deal.
In the the Beat Reporters’ sound byte on the radio broadcast, Mark Sheldon said that Jocketty and his senior staff were all back at the hotel looking at transactions in what sounded like a war room mode.
Sheldon seemed to think the Reds will do a deal for a “LH bench bat” and also that a deal would be there for them to get a front of the batting order type guy if they decide they need one bad enough to pay the asking price. Span’s name came up; Sheldon seemed to think the Twins were so needy in some many areas that they might set the bar on Span so too high for the Reds taste.
BTW, I see where Marco Scutaro was moved by the Rocks to the Giants after the game.
Boy, how many Reds fans are going to mention Dexter Fowler? I live in Denver and there is no way the Rockies, in one of their most pitiful years yet, are going to upset their fans even more by trading one of their up and coming players/stars – no matter what the Reds try and do. Sure he would look great, but, for that matter so would Josh Hamilton. Why not mention him? Dexter is going nowhere – ROCKIE fans LOVE HIM!!
“I wonder if the choice of Simon to pitch the 8th tonight indicates a change in the pecking orderor could be a precursor to a deal.”
Simon hadn’t pitched in a good while, so he was due get some work I’d think. It’s kind of hard to argue with what he has done, but he hasn’t really had much work in tight games either, so it was probably time for it to happen too.
Alfredo Simon has the third best ERA of any NL pitcher with 30 or more innings, per John Fay.
I agree that tonight was *not* a change in the pecking order, just work for Simon (Baker said that also). However, I wish there were a change in the pecking order.
I would not trade for Dexter Fowler. The cost would be exorbitant. Also, I don’t like trading for Rockies who have enormous home/road split differences. Fowler is .726 OPS on the road–that’s not much of an upgrade from Stubbs. Obviously, at home Fowler is a beast. And he would probably do better than his road OPS playing in GABP. It just still makes me nervous, these Rockies hitters.
At this point, I think the only deal that “might” happen is trading for a left handed bat that has some experience coming off the bench. Other than Kotsay, who has been mentioned at least on the site, I would be curious who the Reds might be looking to get.
@earl: I
I would think Kotsay or Nix.
What about Scott Podsednik. He’s sitting at Boston’s AAA team and showed he still had some left in the tank before going on the DL in June. Plus he’s got it done in the postseason before.
@redsfanman:
Boston never misses an oppurtunity to miss an oppurtunity.
Chapman slider update:
40 sliders thrown in the zone (or swung on). 1 hit against it for a .025 BAA. Only 9 times this year has anyone even made contact with it, a 22.5% -contact- rate. Crazy stuff.
Tommy Lasorda, roughly quoted: Play even with the big guys, beat up on the little guys.
The club’s ERA was 2.69 since the All-Star Break entering Friday. We’re winning for one huge reason: Pitching! Stellar.
The Reds are last in the National League in hitting (.200), on-base percentage (.247) and slugging percentage (.304) from the leadoff spot. The 1-2 spots in the lineup go 1 for 10. Not a single walk. At what point does Walt step in and just tell his manager to get somebody up there who can get on base at the top of the order.
The “manager” has no clue about a leadoff hitter so Walt will force his hand with a trade. “Reds manager Dusty Baker isn’t involved in the talks on a daily basis. He said he hadn’t seen Jocketty in Denver”. REALLY? Tells me a lot.
I’ve often thought Walt’s job is to “Dusty-proof” the team by getting rid of all players that seem like Dusty-type leadoff hitters, which is apparently the only way to force Baker to alter his lineup. Patterson and Taveras had to go, because Dusty couldn’t be trusted with them. Baker doesn’t seem committed to the idea that Stubbs must lead off, so Stubbs is still here. But I bet Walt is looking to see if there’s a way to trade Cozart for a speedy shortstop who gets on base fairly often.
Or, Baker does seem to be set on using Stubbs in the 2 hole. And, Walt could still be looking for a leadoff hitter so that Cozart can go back to the 2 hole.
Maybe. But I wouldn’t trade Cozart. Who in the entire Reds organization do you trust to play SS everyday? I don’t trust Valdez every day. I haven’t seen any advanced metrics on Didi but his FP is a lowly .960. Cozart has the 3rd best fielding percentage in the majors as a SS and is rated the 9th best defender based on Defensive WAR. His play at SS has been critical to the success of the team.
Far be it from me (the guy who complains five times a day that Dusty has the wrong guy leading off) to tell other people how to spend their time, but I’ve never understood why so many people seem to enjoy debating the merits of hypothetical trades that nobody in the organization has even mentioned as a possibility.
Stubbs was great…in Houston….that being said do we have to wait another month for a couple more timely hits against a horrible team from him. Just friggin drop him in the order already. I know I’ll get blasted for saying this, but I think we need to see Valdez a little more at SS and hitting at the top of the order. He hits opposite field and is a good bunter. As much as I like Cozy, this is getting into August and lets not forget hes a young Rook. I think he produces much better with 2 or 3 games a week on the bench. Could someone please text or call or shout to BRUCE to wake him the heck up. His ab’s look awful again. Seems like he is missing or fouling off a lot of hittable pitches. Congrats to the warhorse they call Arroyo
! You know things are going well when he dominates in Coors field. I love a win….I love a win even more when the Cuban Missle brings the heat and excitement! Go REDS!
In my mind SS and Catcher can be a little bit of an offensive liability. Much of their value is based on the D.
@TC: Speaking of which: anyone see that triple by Grandal last night in extra-innings? About a hard a hit ball as you’re libel to see and he showed very good speed too. Mat may have his work cut out for him, in justifying that trade. Hope we kept the right catcher. Grandal’s slash line in 75 ABs: .307/.325/.600/.925 and 5 Doubles, 1 Triple, 5 homers, 14 RBIs.
My mistake: 6th inning triple.
By the way, that’s 9th best defender in the big leagues at any position based on Defensive WAR.