Random Reds Rumblings

[CincyRedsFan30]

Mission, so sorry to hear about your grandpa. I know how tough that is, as I lost a grandpa we were all very close to a few years ago and we still all miss him a lot. Prayers with you and I hope the funeral brings you closure.

Good luck on the finals. I am technically done with all classes now, though I have to do a couple other fairly small papers and e-mail them by Monday.

And right on about the game. He was rolling (retired nine or 10 in a row I think) and had 100 pitches, yet Narron pulled him just to hit Freel in a situation where he had to KNOW LaRussa was going to pull his "in and out" pitching carousel. Ugh.

[missionhockey21]

Thanks buddy, it means a lot.

As for the game, I don't know what to say. Just like you mentioned, Narron gives Arroyo the hook when he doesn't need to and let's him suffer when he should get the hook. The only thing nastier than that is David Ross and his swing. I know he had a couple of hits the night before, but his AB's truly are cringe worthy anymore. His swing just looks so disjointed at times and he'll just lunge for the ball. Does it take a genius on the staff to go up to him and tell him to take pitches as much as he can, wait for his high fastball and have at it like last year? Putting the homerun swing on a curveball that he is simply not reading is doing no one any favors other than the opposing team.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yeah, you have to wonder about a lot of the coaching staff and the team's advance scouts when you see the same, continued mistakes. A team like the Cards seems to be on the other end of the spectrum. I sometimes feel I pick up on things (particularly when I go to the games) that the team simply doesn't see or sees a month or two later, after that issue has already caused a lot of harm. I do like Ross' ability to throw out runners and I personally think he calls better games than Valentin by far, but his hitting is ridiclous right now and no one seems to try to help him out as far as I can tell. Maybe they do, but you would think you would at least see him try some different things, yet he keeps making the same mistakes over and over. He is late on almost every swing and either misses entirely or fouls the ball back.

I wonder what Bronson really thinks deep down about Narron's managerial moves? The team is now (0-5) in games he has started so far, when they easily could be (5-0), as he has kept them in every game. The team's margin for error is too small to lose almost every game he starts. I really think Narron's managing has cost us at least two or three games already this year. Imagine how we would be feeling right now if we were (12-9) or (13-8) right now instead of (10-11)?

[Slyder]

Guys, unfortunately my Grandpa finally passed away last night so with that and finals next week, my level of posting is going to continue to be low I am sad to say.

Take your time, theres more important things in life than an internet message board. We wont wreck it in your absence... to badly . LoL j/k.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family right now. Take care of that right now.

But I did watch the last half of the game tonight and I was shocked to see Arroyo pulled. What compounds this managerial mistake (or suicide) is the fact that he does this with Arroyo often and he never learns. Kirk Saarloos is an ok pitcher, good insuarance for starter depth, but he's not a go to guy... why go to him in a 1-1 game just leaves me dumbfounded.

Does Narron have much of a choice at this point? When Bray and Majewski come back I expect them to help some. I still wonder if there is someone out there that could come in like Eddie G did last year before getting hurt and letting Narron use Weathers, Mercker, etc in the 5-8th innings without having to worry about the 9th.

Oh ya, BTW Josh Hamilton= REAL DEAL. Got to see him play on TV tonight and the kid has it all. Shakespere and Webster's Dictionary couldnt do justice to Hamilton with the way he's been playing.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Look at this brilliant lineup our favorite manager decided to grace us with today:

Freel CF
Phillips 2B
Conine 1B
Griffey RF
Gonzalez SS
Castro 3B
Ross C
Hopper LF
Lohse P

[Slyder]

Look at this brilliant lineup our favorite manager decided to grace us with today:

Freel cf
Phillips 2b
Conine 1b
Griffey rf
Gonzales ss
Castro 3b
Ross c
Hopper lf
Lohse p

Wow Sunday Special at its worst month past expiration. Dunn and Hamilton needs a day off but Griffey dont? I hope Lohse is on his game cause we will be lucky to get more than 2 runs for him today with this lineup.

[redsrbetter]

Griffey was scratched late and the lineup looked like this:

Freel CF
Gonzalez SS
Phillips 2B
Conine 1B
Hamilton RF
Castro 3B
Ross C
Hopper LF
Lohse P

Somehow, they have produced with this lineup extremely well when compared to the lack of scoring we have seen this team have lately.

In the 6th, they have 6 hits and 4 runs.

[CincyRedsFan30]

They certainly didn't produce because that lineup. The "regulars" produced against Randy Keisler, which isn't saying much. They pretty much went to sleep after that.

Narron made some jaw-droppingly poor moves, such as leaving Lohse in to get battered when he started to fall apart and plugging Edwin in the nine-spot late instead of letting him PH for Castro (who made the final out of the game).

We lose 2 of 3 to the Cards and now head into Pittsburgh behind the Cards and Pirates too (by 1/2 game). And that especially sucks since one of my friends at UK is from near St. Louis and a big Cards fan and now we won't hear the end of it until the next time we play them.

Plus, George Grande must be in a great mood. And that sucks.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I'll say what I said before:

Belisle= Good in three starts started by Ross this year.

Belisle= Awful in two starts started by Valentin this year.

Just sayin'.

[ghettochild]

freel
phillips
hamilton
conine
gonzolez
dunn
edwin
ross
harang

are you ****ing serious.

i'm ****ing done with narron. he needs to be fired. now.

and they wonder why dunn slumps all the time.

because he doesn't know where hes' ****ing hitting half the time. sometimes its 2nd. maybe 4th. 7th? maybe sixth? who knows, even fifth.

theres a certain way you ahve to apporach each spot in the batting order. if dunn keeps changing his approach, he's never going to get situational hitting down. and then his avg will drop.

can we seriously email WK or BC and tell them how much of an idiot narron is?

[redsrbetter]

new article is in fellas!

browntown has written a good piece on Buehrle's no-no.

Go show him support and refer to my sig to help recruit! We need all the help we can get.

[missionhockey21]

Did the sun rise this morning? Yep, and Roy Oswalt dominated the Reds yet again, this time for eight innings.

On the brightside, Dunn seems to be going on the otherside of his slump (the side we all like to see) so let's hope the offense didn't get their confidence shattered by Oswalt and can keep it going. Also, you got to hand it to Lohse for last night. I caught a bit of the game at the start and he got hit pretty hard, he somehow manages to settle down and put in a quality game when he didn't have the best feel for his stuff. Dick Pole seems to be doing wonders with him.

Oh, and finals week sucks.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Dick Pole seems to be doing a great job. The pitchers make better pitches when they don't have their best stuff so far.

Meanwhile, I have not been impressed with Jacoby's offensive tactics. He seems to try to make the team swing at the first pitch constantly and do ANYTHING possible to make contact; even take poor swings. I hope things improve, but I haven't liked the general approach.

Currently we are looking awful (swinging at everything) against Rodriguez, who has lost his last 16 decisions. Of course we know how much wins and losses mean for pitchers, but he he has done a lot wrong lately. Dunn, Edwin and Ross all flailed at some AWFUL pitches there in the 5th. Sickening.

Milton is doing all he can, but as we all know; he just isn't that good.

4-1 Astros, Mid. 5th.

Looking like two under .500 and possibly 6 games out of 1st. With the Brewers hot right now (I expect them to cool down some soon), they can't be losing so many games.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Freel is struggling right now.

I'd sit him for several games and let Hamilton play. He has had a mini-slump lately, but still can provide that pop, etc.

Phillips should NOT bat second or third. I don't know why he continues to do so. His OBP of around .315 is not good enough. He should bat 5th or 6th.

[CincyRedsFan30]

4-2 Astros...top of the 7th...runner on 2B with 2 outs. Narron PH with CASTRO just because he's a RH with Hamilton, Hatteberg and Valentin ALL on the bench.

Incredible.

He flies out to RF on a 3-1 count to end the inning and send us closer to losing this series.