Narron gives refresher course

[missionhockey21]

Narron gives refresher course
Team meeting message simple
By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

CHICAGO - Reds manager Jerry Narron called a team meeting before Tuesday's game with the Chicago Cubs.

It might have seemed like an odd time for a team meeting. The Reds, after all, had won their previous three games.

Narron did not go into details about the meeting but he gave a clue to what it was about.

"What have I said from Day 1?" he asked.

"Play the game right and play it hard," he said was the reply.

"Anytime I have a meeting, that's what it's about," Narron said.

The meeting was very brief, maybe five minutes.

The Reds made only one glaring mistake in Monday's game. A pop fly dropped between shortstop Felipe Lopez and left fielder Adam Dunn.

Narron has spoken to Lopez before about going after balls aggressively.

The meeting was likely just to re-enforce the "play it right, play hard" mantra. The Reds do have five new players on the roster.

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[CincyRedsFan30]

And yet I see little execution of Narron's mantra and I don't see him playing the game the right way with his poor lineup construction.(Aurilia batting 3rd/4th!!??)

[Wally Mo Pena]

aurilia has had the 5th highest OPS since the all-star break (behind griffey, casey, kearns, and dunn) so i can see batting him a higher (though i don't like him and i'd rather see him on the bench in favor of one of our younger guys) but i don't know about 3rd or 4th.

[Geki Ace]

If Aurilia isn't batting 2nd, I don't wanna see him until the 7th spot. With Griffey out, I think the ideal line-up SHOULD look like this, but we know it's not gonna happen...

2B Freel
3B Aurilia
SS Lopez
LF Dunn
CF Pena
1B Casey
RF Kearns
C LaRue/Valentin

And really, if Aurilia isn't batting 2nd, he should either be 7, 8, or on the bench in favor of EdE. I wanna see Denorfia get more playing time, too. He's like Freel with how he plays, and he's shown that he's solid at the plate thus far.

[CincyRedsFan30]

My ideal lineup, considering player development, etc. with Griffey out:

Freel 2B
Lopez SS
Dunn LF
Kearns RF
Casey 1B
Pena CF
LaRue C
Encarnacion 3B


Kearns has been better since his return from the DL. His OPS in July was .860 and his OPS in August was .896. It is down to .766 in September, but over his last seven days it is at .851.