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Assessment: Two thrilling wins, two frenzied capacity crowds, two painful stabs deep into the gut of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
No matter what happens today, the Reds have won this vitally important series – without two of their superstar players. Don’t be distracted by the phony controversy surrounding the alleged bean balls, umpire warnings, ejections or collisions. As crazy Ross Perot used to say, that’s gorilla dust. Let the Pirates and their fans fret over that stuff. It’s a sucker’s bet. Keep your eye on the baseball.
Mission One: Win series Accomplished
Mission Two: Finish them
Would a sweep of the Pirates guarantee the division championship for the Reds? No. Dozens of games remain to be played, and not all against the stupid Cubs and AAstros. The Reds still have nine games against the Pirates and Cardinals, six of those on the road. Can’t look past the defending World Series champion just yet. Three games await against the retooled powerhouse L.A. Dodgers and seven loom against the Phillies. Philadelphia may be in last place and may have traded away two outfielders, but they still roll out Halladay, Hamels and Lee three out of every five games and Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley suit up every day.
Nonetheless, today’s game offers Dusty Baker’s club a tremendous opportunity. The Reds have their spikes firmly and indelicately placed on the throats of the Pirates. They need to press down with the force of Scott Rolen’s head-first slide. A series sweep would put the Reds on a direct path to win the NL Central and turn the thoroughly-defeated Pirates’ attention toward the wild card.
All the pressure is on the Pirates today, desperate to win. The Reds will certainly get the Pirates’ best game, along with their ace pitcher, A.J. Burnett. A win by the Reds and Homer Bailey — a series sweep — would stagger the Pirates.
Pete Rose said it, ”Somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose.”
Photo: Cincinnati Enquirer
P.S. From my seventh-row seat last night, I was lucky to have this exact view of Scott Rolen’s slide into third base on his triple. Watching him launch his 37-year-old body into the air — risking all with reckless abandon, pounding that shoulder into the ground — was simply breathtaking. Scott Rolen demonstrated the same gutsy and raw determination to win that made Pete Rose the great player that he was.
Still no Phillips. No Rolen today, either.
Cozart – SS
Stubbs – CF
Bruce – RF
Ludwick – LF
Frazier – 3B
Cairo – 1B
Valdez – 2B
Hanigan – C
Bailey – P
Love it or hate or in between, this is a typical Dusty line up for the situation. The team winning buys another day for BP to rest. Rolen sits for a day game after a night game, particularly since they are flying afterwards. Catchers also flip because of the night game/ day game thing.
However it will be interesting to see how he uses the catchers with Navarro in for Meso. Will he try to stretch Hanigan to 80% of the starts? I figure that they will move Meso right off of the DL and into serving his suspension while Navarro is already up even though they will have to send somebody else down to activate Meso to serve it. Another possibility is that they let Meso sit for a month on the DL and not activate him to serve the suspension until after the roster expansion. A side benefit of that strategy would be that it would make all three catchers eligible for the playoffs when typically most teams drop a pitcher or two.
I held my breath that Rolen didn’t jam his bad shoulder when he went in head first. On the replay though he clearly protected his left shoulder as best he could and appears to have dodged another injury. Still seeing him lay it all out there like that has to inspire the younger guys. As for the Pirates and their yapping, the Reds have clearly taken up residence in their heads and they seem to be focused on everything but winning. Keep it up boys.
I was just wondering if we would see Cairo at 1B today. I think they still need to be careful with Rolen to make sure he is rested and healthy for the stretch run. These guys have gotten it done lately, lets hope the run continues. I have to admit I was being greedy and hoping that rolen would play today.
Dusty knows that we won this very important series. Why risk anything?
Still plenty of baseball to play and we want to see our players fresh until the stars come back.
Can we start a pool on who is getting plunked first today?
@OhioJim: Unless Navarro starts getting some hits and can prove he is good defensively, I would think the Reds would DFA him when Mesoraco comes back.
I am not judging him on yesterday, but why keep a guy on your roster if he struggles? I guess that’s how I see it working out.
@rfay00: My view is where is the added value from having Meso as opposed to Navarro? I don’t see any.
Navarro has not worked with this Reds staff but he has significant MLB level experience, including making the AL All Star team in 2008.
Neither of the two would make the team based on offense. Navarro’s offensive numbers at AAA this season are as good as or better than what Meso did last year; and Meso had the advantage of being surrounded by a stellar line up whihc Navarro hasn’t had.
So to me it is a wash and Meso’s hissy fit may have just switched the pecking order..
@OhioJim: Yeah but if Mes is the catcher of the future, wouldn’t it make sense to have him on the team during a playoff race?
From what I have seen, I am less than completely certain. Sorry, just my opinion. I’m into winning this thing (WS) and if Navarro ends up being the better choice. at this time? Years like this seldom come around and I know a lot of folks are counting on 2013. I’m not there.
So maybe the worm is turning on how the Reds handle injuries. The quote below is from the Enquirer’s Reds blog (actually posted by Tom Groeshen and not Fay)
Phillips was in Saturday’s lineup, then was scratched shortly before game time. Why?
“It wasn’t him, “Baker said. “We had a meeting with our medical staff and (GM) Walt (Jocketty). I’m a manager and not a doctor. Through much discussion, we decided it would be better medically because of the potential repercussions if he did hurt it seriously, and how long he could be out.”
Phillips could be available to pinch hit today, Baker said.
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2012/08/05/reds-sunday-lineup-20/
@CharlotteNCRedsFan: For some time I have been posting here that I thought it made sense for the team and for Meso’s future to switch Meso and Navarro.
With a prototypical back up guy like Navarro available, if the “catcher of the future” is going to sit 60% of the time at the start of games plus be pulled late in games he starts for offensive and defensive purposes, then it seems to me like the place for the catcher of the future is to be honing his game by playing every day at AAA.
And I suspect within a year or two Tucker Barnhart may have something serious to say about just who is the catcher of the future.
I know he has had a couple of hiccups behind the pentagon, but Navarro looks good to me by and large. I think he looks comfortable and I think it took some work to get Leake as deep into the game as he did yesterday.
Love the positive attention on Rolen, the guy makes a difference.
Here’s hoping to see the good Homer today.
And,I’ve never thought so much about what food I should never eat.