reds july recap

[Wally Mo Pena]

July was really the first month that the reds have played at a level near what many of us expected, and the basis for that success has largely been starting pitching, which i'm sure is a huge surprise.

The thing is, the reds didn't get great starting pitching, but with the offense clicking, decent starts (and a very solid pen) was all it took for the reds to run out a 17-11 record, 7 games over .500 since the all-star break.

NOTEABLE PERFORMERS

Pitchers:

Harang was 3-3 with a 3.14 ERA, a complete game, and 43 IP in 6 starts

Milton was 2-2 with a 4.63 ERA (pretty poor, but about half of what we saw earlier)

Ortiz was 3-0 with a 4.36 ERA and 33 IP in 5 starts

weathers was 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA

standridge was dominant and went 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA

and shackelford was 1-0 with 1.04 ERA

Hitters:

Dunn lead the majors in RBI this month with 30 and had a 1.086 OPS

Griffey had 15 xbh and a 1.115 OPS

valentin and larue duked it out with 1.257 and 1.067 OPSs

Freel returned with a .409 OBP and 8 SB (1 CS)

Olmedo took every oportunity given to him and hit .400 in limited time (1.059 OPS)

and Louisville helped out by giving us Encarnacion and Kearns who both put up very respectable .859 OPSs, kearns more through slugging and encarnacion showing a talent for getting on base.

[Reds_fan_4_life]

now if only we could have april/may/june like this july lol we might actually have a shot but hey i wouldn't mind if the Red's played like this from now until the end of the season. maybe we are playing some catch up.. for Narron i think he is a keeper guys.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Everyone said the same thing when we looked good through the first half of the year last year under Miley.

I think Narron's OK, but he makes some pretty odd decisions at times.

[Wally Mo Pena]

as for narron, we'll have to see. The reds played alright under miley towareds the end of last year, and to be honest i haven't seen that much of a difference between miley and narron, though certainly some little things here and there. I think the biggest change has been the removal of gullet, who i think was having a pretty negative impact on a lot of the starters here.

if the reds had played like they did in july for the whole season, they'd be 24 games over .500, a few games back of the cards and well ahead in the wild card.

Now certainly every team has ups and downs, and you can't say that a team should play as consistantly as their best month, but i think it's clear that the reds were underperforming badly at the beginning of this season to the heartbreak of their fans. The sad thing is if the reds had managed to play .500 ball for the first half (instead of 18 under) we'd be in the think of the wild card after the run we just had (that's hopefully going to continue) but now all a 5 game winning streak got us is 10 games out of the WC.

[redsrbetter]

Thanks for the stats Wally. I did not realize Ortiz went 3-0 and Shakelford had a good ERA. This team really stepped it up in July. I am just happy to see our future forming. Perhaps the best young left side of the infield in baseball? We know about the outfield talent. We know how well Freel and Casey play. And with LaRue and Valentin mashing, where are the holes in the offense? Seems like there are none right now.

Hopefully Ruhle can continue to get these guys decent starts. Great month!

[AdamDunn#44]

We know how well Freel and Casey play

Casey plays good? not anymore.

[missionhockey21]

I just hope Casey can finish strong. If he can just start hitting doubles more like he use to in addition to greatly cutting down the GIDP's, I can at least tolerate him in the lineup. Then again, it's hard to do that when you have no speed and your G/F is 1.92 (although, believe it or not it has come down as of late, I think it was at over 2.)

[Wally Mo Pena]

what i'd like to see would be for casey to go on a bit of a tear, get some of that power back, hit a few HR's in a week something like that. Then have a team like the mets or the padres get on a bit of a run to get back in the race, and realize that they need a guy like casey, especially if they can get him cheap.

His value has never been lower, but i don't really care about what we get for him, i just want to clear the salary and the space so that Dunn can sign long term as our 1b. If we got a young prospect or two, not even close to the majors, that would be fine by me.

It's a lot of ifs, but Casey would certainly pass through waivers, and even if he didn't, i might let him be claimed anyway.

[BigRedMachine]

Casey plays good? not anymore.

I guess I am the only one that feels Casey is playing good. He leads the team with a .307 batting average. Above the league average with 42 RBIs, RISP - .304, RISP(2 outs) - .323, runners on w/2 out - .327. The last time I looked batting over .300 was considered a good hitter in the major leagues. His average is even higher with runners in scoring position and 2 outs, a time when you are really under the pressure of not getting the third out. Defensively he is sporting a .999 fielding percentage with only 1 error so far. And that is digging bad throws out of the dirt for putouts at first. For some reason everyone expects 1B to hit for power. The Reds have more than enough power in the outfield in Dunn/Pena/Griffey/Kearns to knock in runs. Also Aurilia (like him or not) has shown deep ball ability, along with LaRue/Valentin dual catcher tandem.

Casey is still a solid 1B and is playing very well for the team.

[AdamDunn#44]

Casey is still a solid 1B and is playing very well for the team.

you should know that i dont care about BA

nl 1B hitting .284 BA/.362 OBP/.483 SLG-.845 OPS

casey .307 BA/.366 OBP/.404 SLG-.770 OPS

way below average and case has bad range at 1B

[missionhockey21]

If Casey was making one million, this wouldn't be that much of an issue, he would be playing fine for his contract. But when you make near eight million, you have to do more than play solid D and hit a lot of singles. I would gladly take a Casey who has more doubles, 5-10 additional homers and less GIDP's if it meant him hitting at .275 clip and having a few errors. His high average is fine and I appreaciate it but take this into consideration, his RC27 is at 4.76 and that is with batting 3rd a majority of the season. He just isn't producing to the level that he should considering what he makes. It's like if Eric Milton somehow posts a 4.70 ERA, for a Reds starting pitcher, that would be pretty decent but it wouldn't be what we need him to do when you take into consideration how much his contract limits us.

[CincyRedsFan30]

If Casey were producing like he did last year and in a couple of other seasons, the outcry to dump him wouldn't be as great, although it'd still be there, since he still has a large contract and is taking PT away from one of our outfielders.

[AdamDunn#44]

if casey were producing like he was last year I would really have no problem with him spending the final year of his contract in cincy, but he just isnt the same hitter he was last year. damn shame too because he was awesome last year.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I feel the same way. Sean has been one of my favorite players on the team since he was first traded from the Indians. That said, it's time for him to move on now.

[missionhockey21]

I really wonder if there is something wrong with his shoulder or something. He just isn't driving/elevating the ball like he was last year (as indicated by his absent power, reduced doubles, and increased GIDP's.) Casey might not be a 20 homer hitter but he is usually a doubles machine. But it's just all the factors I mentioned that have me concerned. I know he is hitting .300 and last year might not be the norm we can expect from Casey, but I am still concerned if there is something up. If he is physically sound, than Chambliss really needs to work with him, he's a good deal better than what he is indicating now.