Hey is that David Copperfield

[joseph]

There is something in baseball that is referred to as framing the pitch. This is were catchers take a ball that is a little out of the strike zone and thru slight of hand slighlty move the pitch to make it look like it was on the fringes of the strike zone. Our boy Jason LaRue though is working on his own new tactic. Maybe he was watching one of those magic revealed shows or David Cooper field, but dude is taking this framing thing to the next level!!! OOOO Yeah!!! LaRue was like screw all this B.S. about framing the pitch! I'm just going to move that mother!! So instead of sticking with the same ol' nonsense of "framing" Larue has start a new revolution that I like to refer to as "moving the pitch". It really hasn't caught on too well as of yet though. I'm not sure if it's because he's hands aren't quick enough yet or maybe because Stevie Wonder isn't back there umpiring the game.... I've seen some pitches that were maybe about 3 inches low and Larue with his new tactic made it re-appear 3 inches above the knees. Now most catchers would be scared to move the ball HALF A FOOT but not our guy. With a little slight of hand and I though I saw him mouth the words "PRESTO CHANGOOO" he makes balls that are on the fringes of the strike zone magically (if you're blind, blink for an extended amount of time, suffer temporary blindness, look away for a couple of seconds or a multitude of othe reason that might cause you not to pay attention while he perform this magical feat) re-aapear as being a strike right down the middle of the plate. It really something, and I think he's really blazing a new trail for catchers.....

[bengalboomer7]

You always have great comments joseph, but I bet you slept through high school English Those paragraphs kill me. And I am officially (for today at least) done with the Reds

[joseph]

You would think anyone who is in the Reds orginization that watches the game might mention something to Larue about that one. I guess either no one is watching or no one knows any better

So I guess it's up to me Joe Schmoe to point it out. So while I'm at it. A couple other observations.....

Adam Dunn that's some solid progress you're making there with swinging at the border line pitches with 2 strike. I know it doesn't seem natural, and might be awkward for a little while, but if you keep at it by this time next year you'll be a much more dominant player. Plus you know what balls are close enough and which aren't. So don't get all hyped up and start swinging at anything close. And please stop mimicking Ken Griffey Jr in the outfield. His outfielding skills and you're outfielding skills are on two completely different planes. Ken Griffey can glide around out there catch a ball one handed and make it look easy, because he's Ken Griffey.... You're not, so why don't you stick to the fundamentals their chief.

Eric Milton- Sorry I missed you're last outing, but the one before that was a heck of performance. That's what we're talking about! Definately you were on your on top of your mental game and putting the ball where you wanted it when you wanted it. It was the best performance I've seen out of Reds pitcher that I can rember in a loooong time. Change up work a lot better when you don't tip it off huh. The only problem I saw was towards the end you seemed to lose confidence in you're fastball after what's his face tagged one. I don't know if you were tired or what, but it seemed like you started to get fancy and using offspeed stuff too much. You're going to get tagged every now and then. It's part of the game. You have to stay focused and making "your pitch" and if they belt it then they belt it, but you can't let that affect you're pitching. And keep the ball down

Mr. Lopez- I hate knit pickin on you seeing as you're havin a sweet azz season, and have a sweet azz career ahead of you, but I saw you do that weird little thing that you do when you pivot to steal a base. Now it's hard for me to understand how you're doing what you're doing. If you stand with your feet a little more shoulder feet apart and hold you're right arm parrallel to the ground with you palm face down then take you're opposite arm and throw an uppercut into you palm without moving that arm. See how you left foot pivots, that's the basic concept behind release and pivot. Somehow the last two times I've watced you try to steal a base, you're doing some funky stuff where it looks like you're pivoting on you lead foot, then picking up you're back foot, then redropping the back foot to puch off. I don't even know how you're doing it in all honesty, but it's weird. I don't know if it was just a fluke that I've seen the last couple time or what. It slows you release down though. And a couple hundred stolen bases would look real good on a Hall of Fame resume

Mr Wily Mo Pena- Can someone please take this kid out and hit him some fly balls. It's rare that you see someone in the major leagues that has about zero confidence in their ability to catch a fly ball. It's more than fixable though. You just need to get out there and have someone hit you some fly balls and get some practice at it. Due to you contract you lost a lot of time that minor league players get to develope and gain confidence in things they need to work on, so you're just going to have to put in some extra work to make up for that lost time. Please start with fly balls. It's ugly to watch at time. If I didn't know any better I'd almost say you almost shy away from fly balls at times when it seems like you should have got to the ball.

Sean Casey- You're swinging at every pitch like it was freagin breaking ball that you got fooled on. It doesn't even seem like you're trying to time you're swing anymore. You're just stepping and swinging with no power from you legs or body. You only swinging with you arms. It's tough to screw with you're swing when you're hitting 300 but it might help to delay you're step and trigger little longer.

I've already touched the Larue thing..... hmmmm is there anything else...

Mr Griffey- I know I ofter am at the forefront of the trade Griffey talks. I'll also be the first to admit I wasn't really a big fan of you always. In you're early days it always seems like you didn't appreaciate the game and that you took it for granted. I was wrong though. After watching you battle back from injuries the last couple of years I've really developed a new respect for you as a person and a player. I was going to write a post on you a couple of weeks ago when I realized some of the names that you were coming up on in the record books. I didn't have time though and Daugherty beat me to the punch (damn you doc! ). Anywho the basic jist of mine was going to based on one of my favorite lines in any movie anywhere. It's the line in the Natural when Roy is laid up in the hospital bed and his chick asks him "What do you want?" and Roy replies " I wanted them to say "There goes Roy Hobbs the best their ever was". In all honesty you were the only one that can ever lay rights to that line. At one time there was a time when you were destined to be the greatest their ever was. While I'm sure it's better in some ways that you're still not living that line, because it seems like the spotlight was starting to eat you up a little bit. Plus you just weren't having much fun plalying anymore. You've seem to found the enjoyment again though. Still though you're still one of the best their ever was and that's not too shabby. Plus you still have some time. It won't be as easy as it once seemed but it's not out of reach. The saddest part about you career is that you played in a time when all your "supposed peers" were juiced up freaks. It may never be realized how dominant and great a player you really were in your prime. I hope you can at least appreaciate it though.

In the end though, I still think the Reds should trade you, and I think you owe it to yourself to go somewhere with a better chance to win a World Series. As strange as it seems, where ever you go, I'll be cheering for ya to win a ring. It will at least be something good in an otherwise lost season. I'd like you go to the Evil Empire aaaa I mean the Yankees (I sure do think Phillip Hughes look good ) I'd say your best bet would be with the Angels though...Good Luck

[Kirkendall]

On Reds catchers from McAlister.

Do you realize what the Reds are getting from LaRue and Valentin?

Total Home Runs by Catchers:

1. Baltimore - 19 (Fasano, Lopez, Gil, Whiteside)

2. Boston - 17 (Varitek, Mirabelli, Shppach, Wooten)

3. White Sox - 14 (Pierzynski, Widger)

4. Philadelphia - 14 (Lieberthal, Pratt)

5 Cincinnati - 13 (LaRue, Valentin)

6. Angels - 13 (B.Molina, J.Molina, Paul)

Total RBI by Catchers:

1. San Diego - 59 (Hernandez, Fick, Ojeda)

2. Cincinnati - 56

3. Pittsburgh - 54 (Cota, Ross, Doumit, Santiago)

4. Boston - 53 Angels - 53