Disappointing

Good starting pitching or woeful SF offense? Either way it's a sweep for the Reds.

The Giants had 25 hits in the series, but I don't think any of them left the yard. Without looking, I'm going to assume the Reds pitching staff hasn't had many series without giving up at least 1 long ball this season. At times this pitching staff gives out home run souvenirs like candy on Halloween.

They still lead MLB in homers allowed. If nothing changes it'll be the 3rd year in a row leading the league.

One area they have improved is walks. They allowed the most in 2016, 2nd in 2017, but are currently 12th this season.

If they keep running Robert Stephenson out there they may well make a run at walking the most again. If it were up to me he wouldn't be getting another start. Hasn't done anything to earn it.

Tucker Barnhart was charged with an error when the ball went through the webbing of the first baseman's mitt he borrowed from Dixon. Sounds like a story you'd hear at a little league game.

We better enjoy the sweep now, because the Reds play 3 at the Brewers and 4 with the Cubs, then come home to play the Brewers 3, And I don't know if the Reds have a day off in all this.

One thing I have noticed about this team is, they are much more competitive now than the team was under Price. Even with all the injuries. They can still put together some wins.. I guess it's because of pitching, but they can still score some runs as well.

Schebler should be back with the Reds sometimes soon. He starts rehab today in Louisville.

You would think the team would buy a few extra gloves in case of emergencies. not much but maybe an extra firstbase and catchers mitt.

The Reds got off to a good start. A couple homers and a Homer putting up zeroes. Didn't last long as they only had 1 hit the rest of the way and Homer registered his 11th loss.

A quality start for Homer, but when your team only gets 3 hits and you give up 3 runs it spells defeat.

Always found the quality start stat a bit misleading. They make it sound as though the pitcher did a great job. The reality is it's a 4.50 ERA. Not bad for a back of the rotation pitcher, but it's not a winning formula against teams with good pitching.

To your point about the team being more competitive since Price was fired.

I think under Price the players weren't held accountable and as a result didn't perform well in terms of basic fundamentals. There's still too much poor fundamental play overall, but some of that is related to the players themselves. You can lead a horse to water, but can't make him drink applies there.

Last nights game was opposite gf the before No pitching and a lot of offense. of course only 4 were earned. but I will take it. I think the Brewers are pressing they are fighting for there playoff lives, and they are not playing well. But they are probably playing well enough to beat Stephenson today

They fell into 3rd place last night 3 games back. I'm a little shocked to see the Cardinals playing this well. A few weeks ago I thought they were toast

Tuesday night it was the Reds and Brewers defense against Guerra. He didn't help himself by falling behind early in the count, but there were also some pretty weak contact that went for hits mixed in.

Sal Romano sure does have a hard time getting out of the 1st inning. Four of the seven hits and both walks came in the 1st inning.

Not too much worth mentioning in the series finale, but I thought it might be one of those games when I saw the lineup. The score of that game could have been a lot more lopsided if the Brewers had a couple more timely hits.

The Cardinals have pretty good pitching, but the offense has hurt them most of the season. They fire Matheny and they look like a different team.

3 hits yesterday says it all. They didn't get many more than that Monday night

I wonder if Stephenson will get another start. Surely there has to be someone else, somewhere that deserves a start

Entering the season the plan would have been for the rotation to solidify itself. I can't see how the Reds baseball operations personnel can be satisfied with what they've seen overall.

Neither Stephenson or Romano have shown improvement since ST. Stephenson is still the same guy we saw a couple years ago. Romano had to improve a lot in the minors to get here, he may not have much more of an improvement left in him. Both of them may already be as good as they're ever going to be.

Homer is going to be the Homer we're seeing this year. I don't see things getting any better for him.

Harvey is a free agent. The Reds will probably sign a pitcher this winter. Could it be Harvey? There's always a chance they could sign him. That's more dependent on the market than anything else.

Disco has been the best pitcher when healthy, but he seldom has been. Too risky to extend him now. If he has a strong finish this year and a solid follow up season he'll test the market as everyone before him has.

Castillo has been as big of a disappointment as anyone. After last year he looked like a potential #1, but an uneven season gives good reason to pause. He's the most naturally talented guy in the mix, but so was Homer 10 years ago.

Tyler Mahle was cruising along until the wheels fell off. Was pretty good his last time out in AAA after two less than stellar starts. I assume he'll get back in the rotation sooner or later.

Fast forward to next ST and it may be Disco, Castillo, and Mahle as the front runners.

I hope Bailey isn't a lock without earning it and I think they need to sign a pitcher or two.

They could bring Cole Hamels out in a wheel chair, and he could still beat the Reds. There have been a lot of pitchers that have owned the Reds. The Braves Tom Glavine is one, but The Reds even beat him toward the end of his career. Hamels seems to pitch his best against the Reds all the time.

For the most part the Reds weren't a very good team during Glavine or Cole Hamel's careers. So you'd somewhat expect there numbers to be better than average against a below average team. There are plenty of exceptions to that line of thinking though.

The Reds are the only team that had a .500+ winning % against Sandy Koufax. Overall the Reds weren't a bad team during his career, but they were sub .500 about half of those years.

Harvey and Hamilton were both claimed off waivers, but both were pulled back when a trade wasn't made.

It really makes me wonder how teams are going to view Matt Harvey as a FA. He has pitched better since coming to the Reds, but not great. It really wouldn't surprise me to see him end up back with the Reds.

Schebler is due back today and one can assume Aristides Aquino is going to be optioned out.

Votto is due to come back Sunday. That's not as automatic of a roster move as to who is leaving.

If I had to make a prediction I'd say Preston Tucker is the odd man out.

Brandon Dixon hasn't hit much, but he offers defensive flexibilty that Tucker doesn't. So for that reason I think Tucker will be sent out.

Ervin continues to hit. He's making a strong case for playing time beyond this season. His stock has risen a lot by taking advantage of his opportunity. I don't know if it'll continue, but sometimes that is all a player needs to prove everyone wrong.

Reds might trade Hamilton in the off season. I have a lot of mixed feelings about that. If he isn't here I wouldn't mind seeing a Erwin and Williams platoon in center.

In the last 6 Reds losses the Reds have scored a total of 9 runs. Hopefully with Schebeler and Votto back that will change

Another bad road trip (1-6) and an overall 8-16 record for the month. Saying things have taking a turn for the worse since the All Star break would be a Captain Obvious kind of statement.

Nothing I can add to that. The Reds in the last month are making a lot pitchers look good; yesterday 3 hits and 1 walk.

At least we had a month and a half where the Reds looked pretty good, But weak starting pitching and a weak bench. Will eventually and catch up with them, and it did

Peraza defense is getting worse as the season goes on, I hope he can cut those errors down next season

I haven't seen anything from Jose Peraza at SS that suggest he's ever going to be above average defensively. I think when the Reds feel they have a better option he'll play elsewhere on the diamond.

I'd hate to be in charge of selling this team as a contender next season. Tanking the second half is the worst thing that could have happened in terms of marketing this team moving forward. Good luck selling season tickets this winter.

Defensive prowess for me is passing the eye test. Metrics are less than perfect in my opinion. You take a guy like Billy Hamilton. He committed enough errors at SS that the Reds moved him to CF where his skill set plays much better. It's a good example of getting a player into a position where his skill set is at maximum effect. Without a better defensive SS in the mix I think Peraza is the man, but he might be best suited for another position.

A good portion of Peraza's errors are throwing. Fielding and throwing are both enhanced by good footwork, but throwing is even more enhanced by the guy on the receiving end of the throw.

Do the Reds even have another SS, That might come up if Peraza would get hurt. Right now Suarez is number 2 when Peraza needs a rest