Reds vs. Nationals

[BengalszoneBilly]

Here comes Simon...

God help us !!!

It's now a battle of relievers, and both teams are using them up! Simon did well.

[Stripes]

I'm starting to hate small ball. The sabermetricians are right when they call most bunts a wasted out.

[Stripes]

Simon gets out of a jam; those were two strong innings from him after yesterday's disaster.

Going to the 13th.

[Stripes]

Nationals win.

Blame the offense.

[cincyhokie]

This is what we will see all season unfortunately. Yes the pitching seems to be improved but NOTHING was done to improve the hitting. Sure we scored the 2nd most runs last year behind the Cardinals. This team can beat up on bad pitching to pad their stats. When faced with decent pitching, the hitting is nowhere to be found.

Not sure what they can really do. Rolen is done. Stubbs is Stubbs. Besides Votto and a streaky Bruce, there is nothing there. Replace Baker and Jacoby? Sounds good but not sure it's going to make up the difference.

Sorry Reds fans, this is a 3rd place near .500 team at best this year. The 2010 team was a 2 month freak wonder, but definately not the norm. Decisions were made based on the abberation of 2010 and unfortunately this is what we are stuck with.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Nationals win.

Blame the offense.

I blame the coach, the middle infielders should have been playing at DP depth, while the corners were pulled in. In that situation you are still hoping for a DP to get out of the inning. Than a text book DP ground ball goes through the drawn in SS. Baker will lose at least a dozen games this year and he has 2 already.

[Stripes]

I definitely won't argue with much Dusty Baker criticism. He can probably be blamed in part for the bad offensive start too if he's been telling them to "be more aggressive" or something.

We can't be clogging the bases with those walks.

[derekshank]

I definitely won't argue with much Dusty Baker criticism. He can probably be blamed in part for the bad offensive start too if he's been telling them to "be more aggressive" or something.

We can't be clogging the bases with those walks.

I'm not really much of a baseball fan, so I don't follow this stuff very closely... but I thought I heard that the Reds in the bottom 5 last year in strikeouts.

If so, being more aggressive early in the count makes sense. A pitcher is interested in throwing early strikes to get ahead in the count. And given how often the Reds struck out last year, it seems like a good strategy would be to be more aggressive and swing the bat early in the count, when the pitcher is willing to give you something to hit.

But like I said - I'm not much of a baseball fan... so tell me why I'm wrong.

[Stripes]

The primary reason to avoid swinging more frequently is to make the starter pitch. Since the Reds don't really send many contact hitters to the plate, they are playing for extra base hits (which is a viable strategy despite the inconsistency it can breed). Earlier swings would likely amount to earlier outs, and not necessarily always by the strikeout. This is how we can get to the later innings with the opposing starter cruising through the lineup without racking up a noteworthy pitch count.

Also, since the Reds field numerous offensive players with a tendency to whiff (even Votto), swinging earlier is still likely to result in the same number of whiffs (if not more, since the players aren't being as selective about finding pitches to hit). Pitchers want to throw first pitch strikes, but they aren't going to lay them right down broadway for any aggressive hitter to attack. They might serve up a sinker and force a one-pitch groundout, or shove a fastball up and in. There are a million possible ways for a pitcher to approach an at-bat.

Baker has been notorious throughout his managing career for encouraging it. It's too early in this season to voice too many loud complaints I think, but if the offensive woes continue in this distinct manner, the time will come soon.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I definitely won't argue with much Dusty Baker criticism. He can probably be blamed in part for the bad offensive start too if he's been telling them to "be more aggressive" or something.

We can't be clogging the bases with those walks.

I'm not really much of a baseball fan, so I don't follow this stuff very closely... but I thought I heard that the Reds in the bottom 5 last year in strikeouts.

If so, being more aggressive early in the count makes sense. A pitcher is interested in throwing early strikes to get ahead in the count. And given how often the Reds struck out last year, it seems like a good strategy would be to be more aggressive and swing the bat early in the count, when the pitcher is willing to give you something to hit.

But like I said - I'm not much of a baseball fan... so tell me why I'm wrong.

If I'm not mistaken this is a rare post out of a football forum for you derek. What's next, Nascar?

[derekshank]

The primary reason to avoid swinging more frequently is to make the starter pitch. Since the Reds don't really send many contact hitters to the plate, they are playing for extra base hits (which is a viable strategy despite the inconsistency it can breed). Earlier swings would likely amount to earlier outs, and not necessarily always by the strikeout. This is how we can get to the later innings with the opposing starter cruising through the lineup without racking up a noteworthy pitch count.

This sounds pretty lame to me. Sure, making a pitcher throw a lot of pitchers will result in the starter pitching fewer innings... but what does that matter if you don't score?

I looked it up. The Reds had the 7th most strikeouts of any team in baseball last year (5th in the NL). The two teams with the fewest strikeouts? The Rangers and the Cardinals.

My opinion... swing the f**king bat. I may be wrong. I'm no baseball expert... but if the pitcher is giving you strikes early in the count - swing away. It might be an out... but at least you put the f**king ball in play.

[Stripes]

You do score if you get on base, which can happen as easily via the walk as via the base hit. When you're hacking at everything, you have the same probability of contact (and thus of a base hit), but nearly no opportunity to get walked. Votto is the only exception there because pitchers are terrified to throw the ball into any remotely hittable location.

Pitchers are more than happy to pitch right at the rest of the lineup because nobody else makes consistent contact regardless of when they swing.

[Stripes]

Now the Nationals are doing exactly that to Bailey. They're taking pitches, getting walked, and wearing him down. He's at about 60 pitches through three innings.

[derekshank]

You do score if you get on base, which can happen as easily via the walk as via the base hit.

Only if the pitcher isn't throwing strikes. If they are throwing strikes... it's hard to draw walks.

When you're hacking at everything, you have the same probability of contact (and thus of a base hit), but nearly no opportunity to get walked.

That would be a strong argument if that is what I said. I didn't say to hack at anything. I said swing away if the pitcher is giving you strikes early in the count. It's a lot harder to get a pitch worth hitting if you are quickly behind in the count by watching strikes go by early.

Pitchers are more than happy to pitch right at the rest of the lineup because nobody else makes consistent contact regardless of when they swing.

If that's the case... and the Reds are really that terrible at hitting, then it doesn't matter. Pitchers will throw strikes, the Reds will watch them go by and strike out without swinging. So... you might as well swing, right?

Now the Nationals are doing exactly that to Bailey. They're taking pitches, getting walked, and wearing him down. He's at about 60 pitches through three innings.

Bailey has control problems. No one should try to hit a ball out of the strike zone.

If the Reds are swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, I'll agree with you. But if they are swinging at strikes, it seems like a silly complaint.

[Stripes]

Pitchers won't necessarily throw strikes. You're talking about a pitcher with pretty abnormal command, something not really applicable to any random baseball game.

And yes, the Reds are definitely swinging at balls out of the strike zone. That's the inherent result of deliberately increased aggression, since the players only have a split second to judge the location of the pitch. They routinely make bad swings at breaking balls that look like strikes until they get there.

[derekshank]

Pitchers won't necessarily throw strikes. You're talking about a pitcher with pretty abnormal command, something not really applicable to any random baseball game.

No... I'm talking about what just about all pitchers are trying to do. Especially early in the count. Throw strikes.

Again, if the Reds are swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, I agree. But that's not what you're complaining about. You're complaining that they are swinging early in the count. I those pitches are strikes, it's silly to complain about it.

[Stripes]

I'm complaining about them swinging early in counts with inordinate frequency relative to the number of strikes they're being pitched early in counts. They're hacking and falling behind or making bad contact.

[cincyhokie]

Overheard on Extra Innings with Doc Rodgers:

Caller: "Hey Doc, I'm with you about not wanting to continually blame Dusty over and over again when we are only 9 games into the season. It's early."

Doc: "Absolutely. Dusty Baker hasn't managed 3,000 games because he's a bad manager."

Caller: "So Dusty doesn't worry me, or getting Chapman into the bullpen or anything like that. What bothers me is that so far it's like we're watching a replay of the 2011 season. Player's aren't able to execute the fundamentals and seem like they are not playing with a concerted team effort. There seems to be too much "I" in the team. Players swinging for the fences when advancing the runner into scoring position would help the team more."

Doc: "I agree, we've seen some of the same things so far and it is troublesome."

Gee, I'm glad that Dusty Baker the manager of this team isn't worrying you but the players who can't play with a team focus are. I'm no baseball expert or a great leader of men, but isn't it the manager's job to keep a team focused and hold them accountable? So if we're all seeing these guys play the same inconsistent baseball as last year with a lack of emphasis on fundamentals, hitting with more of a concern of personal stats, and geting themselves out of their slumps, isn't that the manager's job to correct?

[ArmyBengal]

Maybe they can avoid the sweep today.

They then head to St. Louis for another series with them.

Geesh, they better pull their heads out.

[Stripes]

Grand slam by Ludwick!

They've forced nearly 35 pitches from the Nats starter in the first inning too. More of that please.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Grand slam by Ludwick!

They've forced nearly 35 pitches from the Nats starter in the first inning too. More of that please.

About time the offense showed up!

[BengalszoneBilly]

Crap. Here comes the Nats. Leake just gave up three in the fourth.

[Stripes]

5-4 Reds. Leake's wearing down and he's been victimized by some defensive gaffes.

[Stripes]

Looks like Dusty will send Leake back out for the 7th inning, unless he's just sending him to the plate for his decent swing.

If so, I hope we don't pay for it. He's so greedy with those innings from his starters.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Looks like Dusty will send Leake back out for the 7th inning, unless he's just sending him to the plate for his decent swing.

If so, I hope we don't pay for it. He's so greedy with those innings from his starters.

Bunt the runner over!