AAA

Louisville 1 - Indianapolis 0

Drew Stubbs went 2 for 3 and stole his 32nd base.

Ben Jukich gets the win going 7 IP allowing 0 R on 3 H and 3 BB with 5 Ks. Jared Burton (1 IP), Pedro Viola (0.2 IP), and Robert Manuel (0.1 IP) each add scoreless relief outings. Manuel picks up his 8th save.

AA

Chattanooga 4 - Carolina 3

Todd Frazier went 2 for 4 with his 31st 2B. Stephen Chapman went 1 for 3 with a BB and a SB. Jose Castro tripled. Zack Cozart doubled.

Travis Wood gets no decision going 6 IP allowing 2 R, 1 ER, on 4 H and 1 BB with 4 Ks. Ramon Geronimo add a scoreless inning of relief.

High A

Sarasota 6 - St. Lucie 2

David Sappelt went 4 for 5 with 2 SB. Neftali Soto went 2 for 5 with a 2B. Jose Gualdron went 2 for 4. Jake Kahaulelio went 2 for 5. Jason Bour doubled.

Jeremy Horst gets the win going 5 IP giving up 1 R on 4 H and 4 BB with 2 K. Joseph Krebs and Enerio Del Rosario each add a scoreless inning of relief.

Low A

Fort Wayne 5 - Dayton 3

Cody Puckett went 1 for 3 with a BB and a SB. Jordan Wideman doubled.

Matt Fairel takes the loss going 5 IP giving up 3 R on 6 H and 3 BB with 5 K.

Rookie Ball

Helena 6 - Billings 5

Humberto Sosa went 2 for 4 with a 2B and a SB. Josh Garton went 2 for 4 with a 2B. Yen Kuo went 1 for 4 with a BB and a SB. Sean Conner doubled.

Leonardo Astorga gets no decision going 3 IP giving up 4 R on 8 H and 2 BB with 1 K. Mark Serrano and Jason Braun each add 2 scoreless innings of relief.

GCL Orioles 8 - GCL Reds 1

Jefry Sierra went 2 for 3.

Blair Carson takes the loss going 4 IP giving up 4 R, 3 ER, on 8 H and 1 BB with 3 K. Matteo Pizziconi adds a scoreless inning of relief.

As luck would have it…all of these things happened on July 1st…

July 1….1917, Fred Toney pitches two complete games (both three-hitters) as the Reds sweep the Pirates, 4-1 and 5-1. Toney finished 1917 with a 24-16 record and a 2.20 ERA in 340 innings.

July 1….1934, the Reds lose an 18-inning game against the Cardinals, 8-6. The Reds’ Tony Freitas battled Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean to a 5-5 tie through 17 innings before the Cardinals broke through in the 18th against Paul Derringer to win. Freitas finished the year 6-12 with a 4.01 ERA, completing 5 of his 18 starts. Dean went 30-7 with a 2.66 ERA. Trivia: according to baseball-reference.com, the most similar player to Freitas is current Reds’ announcer and former pitcher Chris Welsh.

July 1….1956, all-time Reds great Ted Kluszewski slugs three home runs in a 19-15 win over the Cardinals in St. Louis. The score was tied 13-13 after nine innings before the Reds scored six in the top of the tenth to break it open.

July 1…1963, the Reds officially made Pete Rose their permanent second baseman when they dealt popular teammate and incumbent second baseman Don Blasingame to the Washington Senators.

July 1….1970, Tommy Helms makes Riverfront Stadium history as he hits the first homer in stadium, a fly ball that hit the left field foul pole, clearing the wall by inches. It was Helms’s only homer of the year. Helms was the unlikely slugger to christen Riverfront as 1970 was the career year for Reds’ sluggers Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Bobby Tolan, and Bernie Carbo.

July 1…1973….back up catcher Hal King becomes one of the folk heroes in Reds’ history when he powers a ninth inning three-run homer to beat the Dodgers 4-3 at Riverfront. The Reds trailed the Dodgers by 11 games on this day, and this is the hit that is credited with lighting the Reds’ fire as they won first place by 3 ½ games over the Dodgers, before losing to the barely .500 Mets in the league championship series. King, a little used third string catcher, had been acquired in the off-season from the Texas Rangers for sore-armed pitcher Jim Merritt, who had won 20 games for the 1970 Reds. King played parts of two seasons for the Reds, gathering only 69 plate appearances during that time. He batted .186 with four homers in 1973. King had another huge homer eight days later when he hit a sixth inning pinch hit grand slam in an 11-6 Reds win over the Expos.

FINAL
Albert Pujols 5 (St. Louis 7)
Cincinnati 4
WP: Motte (3-2)
LP: Herrera (1-4)
S: Franklin (20)
BOX SCORE

I’m going to be honest with you guys and gals. I don’t have the heart to do a full recap tonight. I’m exhausted after watching our Redlegs blow yet another game to the hated Cardinals.

A few random thoughts….

–Homer Bailey was magnificent. Seven and a third innings, three hits, two runs (that shouldn’t have scored), 5 Ks. This looked like the Homer Bailey we all hoped for after his superb run at Louisville over the last few months. I couldn’t be more pleased with his performance this evening.

–Bailey absolutely made Albert Pujols look silly with a splitter in the first inning. Pujols then swore out revenge on Bailey’s teammates. He was just throwing rocks tonight (Big Lebowski reference). After the first two batters of the game reached, Bailey retired 13 in a row. Then another reached, and Bailey sat down 7 straight. Great stuff.

–When Homer walked off the mound to a standing ovation in the 8th inning, the Cardinals had not scored a single run yet. Then, the best bullpen in the National League proceeded to give the game away (with a big assist from Paul Janish’s crucial error).

–I’m not going to get into the particulars, you can read those here. Suffice to say that Albert Pujols hit a grand slam off my least favorite Red, and I don’t care if that guy never gives up another run as a Cincinnati pitcher, I’ll never write his name on this blog again. He’s dead to me.

–W******* was 9-18 with 2 HR allowed to Pujols before tonight. Great idea bringing him in there, huh?

–Some people are hammering Dusty for sending Homer back to the mound for the 8th inning. I actually agree with our manager here. Bailey was mowing them down, having allowed only 2 hits and no runs through 7. I would have left him in, too. Of course, that was the one correct decision Dusty made all night.

–Edwin Encarnacion returned in grand style, hitting a double in his only plate appearance. Welcome back, Edwin.

–The Reds scored four runs. Albert Pujols drove in five runs in the 8th and 9th innings alone. Sheesh, he’s great.

–This one is for loyal citizen of Redleg Nation “pinson343″: Jerry Hairston, Jr., was great tonight. He had three hits, one a double that he just crushed. For good measure, he also had one of the best defensive plays of the year. (I hope he isn’t starting at 3B tomorrow, though…what am I thinking? Janish made an error, so JHJ will be starting at SS until September.)

–Love the headline at RR. Sums it up.

–If the Reds had won, they would have been one game out of first place in the National League Central division. Instead, they are three games out, and in fourth place. As was mentioned in the game thread, this is why they are the Cardinals and we are the Reds. They don’t lose games like this.

–It just feels like a punch in the gut. The Reds had this game won. I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep tonight.

Well, we can’t welcome EE back to the lineup, because Jerry Hairston is starting at third. Of course. Full lineup below the fold. It is bizarre, as usual. Willy Taveras is actually not leading off, with the Cardinals throwing a right-hander tonight. Don’t get too excited. Taveras is batting second (!), rather than playing lefty-hitting Laynce Nix tonight. Things just keep getting curiouser and curiouser.

It’s a sellout crowd at Great American Ballpark. Let’s hope they’re loud and that they get to go home happy. Discuss the game here.

Dickerson LF
Taveras CF
Votto 1B
Phillips Bb
Bruce RF
Hernandez C
Hairston 3B
Janish SS
Bailey P

Congratulations Matt!!

Dusty Baker continuing to lead off Willy Taveras and building the lineups he does — is that the single worst thing any recent Reds manager has done to hurt the team’s chances of winning?

Usually lineup construction doesn’t have a big impact, but the Reds are close to being a good team, their offense is terrible, and they lose a lot of close games because they can’t score. In other words, having players ahead of Votto and Phillips could have a bigger impact on the Reds winning or losing than it might for, say, a really bad team like Washington.

It could be that small thing that pushes the team over the hump.

For example, I posted the numbers in last night’s game thread that Taveras had led off 16 games where he has failed to get on base even a single time.

The Reds are not only 3-13 in those games, but 5 of those 13 losses are by 2 runs or less. Sure, 3 of those 13 losses were blowouts, so it probably doesn’t matter if we had Bonds leading off, but the Reds could VERY reasonably be in 5-10 more games this year with one SIMPLE SIMPLE change. That’s a potentially HUGE impact.

Think about it, it’s a pretty crazy stat. All you need is 2-3 more runs over those games, which should be SUPER easy because we are talking about replacing 0 (or even NEGATIVE) production.

The Reds have been among the worst teams in baseball for a handful of years now. But a lot of the time, it has been because of a bad GM signing bad players — in particular pitchers — and the Reds manager not having much choice. In this case, Dusty has options…the fault falls squarely on him (not on Willy).

Is this the single worst thing a recent manager has done to hurt the Reds chances of winning?

AAA

Louisville 2 - Indianapolis 1 (DH Game 1 - 7 Innings)

Drew Stubbs went 2 for 3. Dan Dorn went 1 for 2 with a 2B and a BB. Kevin Barker doubled.

Ramon Ramirez gets the win going 6.1 IP allowing 1 R on 6 H and 0 BB with 4 Ks. Pedro Viola picks up his 5th save retiring the final two batters.

Louisville 3 - Indianapolis 2 (DH Game 2 - 7 Innings)

Edwin Encarnacion went 2 for 3. Adam Rosales went 2 for 3 with a 2B. Chris Valaika went 1 for 1 with a 2B and a BB. Darnell McDonald tripled. Chris Heisey doubled.

Adam Pettyjohn gets no decision going 4 IP allowing 2 R on 4 H and 1 BB with 3 Ks. Jeff Kennard gets the win with 2 IP of scoreless relief. Robert Manuel gets his 7th save with 1 IP of scoreless relief.

AA

Carolina 4 - Chattanooga 3

Redleg Nation Spotlight Player Logan Parker went 2 for 3 with 2 2B and a BB. Jose Castro went 2 for 5. Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart each homered. Sean Henry tripled.

Jordan Smith gets the win going 5 IP allowing 3 R on 5 H and 2 BB with 3 Ks. Phil Valiquette (2 IP), Sean Watson (1 IP), and Logan Ondrusek (1 IP) each add scoreless relief outings. Ondrusek picks up his 3rd save.

High A

Tampa 8 - Sarasota 3 (DH Game 1 - 7 Innings)

Neftali Soto went 2 for 3 with a 2B. Jason Louwsma doubled.

Scott Carroll takes the loss going 5.1 IP giving up 7 R, 5 ER, on 8 H and 2 BB with 2 K.

Tampa 5 - Sarasota 2 (DH Game 2 - 7 Innings)

Denis Phipps went 2 for 3. Jose Gualdron homered.

Luis Montano gets the loss going 4.2 IP giving up 5 R, 1 ER, on 6 H and 2 BB with 3 K. Justin Freeman (1.1 IP) and Enerio Del Rosario (1 IP) each add scoreless relief outings.

Low A

Fort Wayne 3 - Dayton 1

Kevin Coddington went 2 for 4. Andrew Means and Cody Puckett each went 1 for 3 with a BB. Kyle Day doubled.

Lance Janke takes the loss going 5.2 IP giving up 3 R on 6 H and 3 BB with 3 K. Steven Otterness (3 IP) and Mark James (0.1 IP) each add scoreless relief outings.

Rookie Ball

Helena 5 - Billings 4

Humberto Sosa went 2 for 4 with a 3B and a 2B. Yen Kuo went 3 for 4. Redleg Nation Spotlight Player Tyler Stovall went 1 for 3 with a BB. Frank Pfister doubled.

Justin Walker gets no decision going 5 IP giving up 2 R, 1 ER, on 3 H and 0 BB with 6 K. Daniel Corcino records 5 K in two scoreless innings of relief.

The GCL Rays at the GCL Reds game was postponed.

FINAL — 10 innings
Arizona 2
Cincinnati 3
WP: Cordero (1-2)
LP: Zavada (1-2)
BOX SCORE

POSITIVES
–Thom Brennaman: “Doesn’t it seem that it’s always up to Joey Votto?” Yes, it does.

–Fortunately, Votto continues to come through for this club. Today, he had four hits, including the game-winner in the bottom of the tenth. This guy is just beyond words.

–The good Aaron Harang showed up today, but the Reds gave him the same run support as usual, i.e., no offense. Harang pitched 7 good innings, giving up four hits and two runs. He struck out 8 and walked 3. I’ll take that out of Harang every day of the week.

–Ryan Hanigan really isn’t this good. But he is playing like a star catcher in 2009. Today, Hanigan batted four times. He reached base four times. Three hits and a walk. Hanigan just keeps doing everything that’s asked of him, even if Dusty Baker doesn’t let him get off the bench very often.

–Of course, let’s not forget Ramon Hernandez, who came off the bench to reach base twice in two ABs.

–Drew Sutton made his major league debut in the bottom of the ninth, in a very tense situation. He delivered, getting the RBI to tie the game. Welcome to Cincinnati, Drew!

–Jay Bruce gunned down the would-be go-ahead run in the top of the tenth inning, after Francisco Cordero walked the bases loaded with one out. Then, in the top of the inning, Bruce laid down a good bunt when asked. Nice to see him contributing in other ways.

–For some reason, Chris Dickerson is not permitted to lead off. Dusty doesn’t think he is as good as Corey Patterson-Lite. So he had to bat seventh today. Of course, he had two hits and a walk, plus an important RBI. I’m not a huge Dickerson fan, by any means, but this is getting ridiculous. He keeps playing very well.

–Paul Janish and Brandon Phillips looked pretty good defensively — again — up the middle, according to Marty and Thom.

–Good work by Nick Masset and Daniel Ray Herrera out of the bullpen. What an amazing job the bullpen has done this year.

NEGATIVES
–TOS*

–Marty Brennaman: “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a team that is as offensively-challenged as this team.” Indeed.

–The Reds left 16 runners on base. It’s just astounding to contemplate how bad that is.

–Terrible outing by Francisco Cordero. Of course, he got the win. Need any more proof of why “wins” is a terrible statistic with which to rate pitchers?

–Willy Taveras is a worse leadoff hitter than Corey Patterson. It’s a joke. Why isn’t he batting eighth?

ETC.
–Great comeback win by Cincinnati. Down by one going into the bottom of the ninth, they somehow figured out how to win this one. Good win.

–Hanigan is now batting .336, and his OBP is .423. His OPS is 826. Wow.

–When are people going to realize that you absolutely cannot run on Jay Bruce’s left arm?

–Another question: when is Dusty going to realize that Jerry Hairston, Jr., is not good?

–Don’t look now, but Brandon Phillips is really struggling lately. His OPS is under 800 for the first time in a while.

–The Reds just aren’t much better than Arizona. I know a lot of us don’t want to believe that, but it’s true.

–But who cares today? Reds win! And Joey wants to celebrate:

*This Offense Stinks.

Not only has the Reds’ offense been struggling mightily, but Aaron Harang is pitching for the Reds. The offense never scores for Harang, whether he’s pitching well or pitching poorly.

It’s an afternoon game, though, and those are always fun. Ignore your work and discuss the game here….

(The lineup, with Willy Taveras leading off again, is below the fold.)

Taveras CF
Hairston 3B
Votto 1B
Phillips 2B
Gomes LF
Hanigan C
Dickerson RF
Janish SS
Harang P

I wish defensive statistics could be truly valued at this point. When I watch the sports highlights, I always prefer the defensive moments, and when I was a child I dreamed of making a great defensive play to end the game rather than hitting the game winning home run.

So, personally speaking, I do find it odd for myself to constantly argue in favor of the offensive player and offensive stats, but those figures are much easier to quantify and justify rather than the statistical and observational value of defense.

There’s too much variation of interpretation of defensive statistics, and I mean analysis derived from the same information, for me to take the info seriously. The analysis of the same player using the same derivative information can vary wildly, and I still have to wonder about the impact of BABIP….because it sure seems to me that a screaming line drive would be much harder to reach than a can of corn flyball…but, they seem to be valued the same. (I still remember Marty Brennaman on the radio warning the listeners about his fear for the infielders and their families as Tom Browning was nearing the end of his career and line drives were screaming off the bats from opposing hitters…)

Anyway, here’s a link to the article comparing Dunn to Morgan:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/morgan-dunn

And, here’s a link to an article that questions the validity of UZR as a defensive metric, despite it being possibly the most accepted defensive analytical tool currently used:

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/suzr_v_buzr/

Both articles come from what I’ve found to be respected baseball writers…

AAA

The Louisville Bats had no game scheduled.

AA

Chattanooga 9 - Carolina 3

Todd Frazier went 2 for 3 with a 2B and a BB. Carson Kainer went 1 for 3 with a 2B and a BB. Jose Castro doubled.

Lee Tabor takes the loss going 3.1 IP allowing 6 R, 4 ER, on 6 H and 0 BB with 0 Ks. Jerry Gil adds 2.2 IP of scoreless relief.

High A

The Tampa at Sarasota DH was postponed.

Low A

Fort Wayne 8 - Dayton 6

Miguel Rojas went 3 for 5 with a 2B. Kevin Coddington went 2 for 5. Cody Puckett went 1 for 3 with 2 BB and a HR. Andrew Means, Carlos Mendez, and Kyle Day each went 1 for 3 with 2 BB.

Oscar Castro gets no decision going 3 IP giving up 4 R on 4 H and 4 BB with 1 K. Jordan Hotchkiss gives up 1 R over 4 IP of relief.

Rookie Ball

Helena 10 - Billings 0

Humberto Sosa went 2 for 3.

Tim Crabbe takes the loss going 3 IP giving up 1 R on 2 H and 2 BB with 5 K.

The GCL Reds had no game scheduled.

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FINAL
Arizona 0
Cincinnati 1
WP: Cueto (8-4)
LP: Garland (4-8)
S: Cordero (19)
BOX SCORE

POSITIVES
–Smilin’ side of the scoreboard!

–How about Johnny Cueto? Give him a big lead, like the Reds did each of his last two starts, and he’ll cough it up. Give him Harangesque run support, and he pitches a gem. Cueto walked four of the first eight batters of the game, but then began dominating a terrible Arizona lineup, as he should. He gave up just one hit over six innings, striking out 8.

–The bullpen was dominating once again, giving up just one hit (by Arthur Rhodes). Francisco Cordero and some other guy pitched scoreless, hitless innings. Good stuff.

–CoCo has been simply outstanding this season. I still wonder whether the Reds should have devoted so much of their limited budget to a closer, but I really, really like Cordero. He now has 19 saves, with a 1.91 ERA. I have to believe that he and Cueto are the Reds two most likely All-Star picks.

–Submitted without comment: Chris Dickerson had two hits from the leadoff spot, including a double, and scored the Reds only run.

–Joey Votto and Ramon Hernandez also had two hits. Votto had the lone RBI, and Hernandez also gunned down a runner at second. Very nice.

NEGATIVES
–TOS* The Reds continue making bad pitchers look like Cy Young.

–Jay Bruce had what appeared to be a pretty boneheaded baserunning move late in the game. Looks like he could have scored a second run for the good guys, but he hesitated on a ball hit to the outfield that really had no chance of being caught by the D’backs.

ETC.
–Boy, Arizona is just awful. It’s what made last night’s disgraceful performance more frustrating.

–I love the Cueto we saw tonight. Too bad it took that performance to win because the pathetic ofense.

–Of course, he had us a bit worried in the second inning, when he grabbed his lower back and Dusty Baker brought the trainer out to check on him. Cueto stayed in the game, though, and was even better after that. Let’s hope this is the last we hear of back problems for Cueto.

–It’s been mentioned in several comments, but I hadn’t actually put it in a post yet: Drew Sutton has been recalled from AAA, and Jared Burton has been sent to Louisville. I like Burton, he’s one of my favorite Reds, but I’m really glad to see the Reds cut bait on the ridiculous 13-pitcher roster construction.

–How about Joey tonight? (Send me photoshops of other Reds in a sombrero, and I’ll use them!)

*This Offense Stinks.

(Don’t answer that. Please.)

Anyway, discuss the game here!

Joey Votto played his first home game since returning from the DL and revealing his personal issues. What was the reception like for Votto when he batted in the bottom of the first? — a polite applause just like it was any other at-bat.

I really thought there would be more than that — especially with all of the interest about the reasons behind his absence during the 22 games he was away. Were people more interested in the intrigue, false rumors and inneuendo (sic) than the actual truth about why Votto was out? The truth, I thought, was pretty compelling and it was courageous for Votto to share.

Guess most fans just weren’t that impressed. Too bad.

Too bad, indeed.