Post Season

[Redsfan1507]

Reds are technically still alive. Urgency surrounds Tuesday though.

The Dodgers are without Kemp, the Cardinals are without Craig. The Braves are trying to hang on, the Pirates trying to extend.

The AL is interesting, with the Rays and Rangers playing a play in to get to a play in...where Cleveland waits for an opportunity for a Francona matchup with Boston, and the A's seem to always be an underdog, that just keeps winning. Detroit is loaded.

The Yankees are at home watching, while preparing for diametrically opposed contract wars with A-Rod and Cano.

Gotta love October.

 

[JohnU]

Best of one's are a bitch. Best of 5's are even worse.
Would like to evaluate best of 7's but haven't seen the Reds develop enough urgency yet to get to that point.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I hate the one game format.

I'm ok with 5 games in early series- lots of them have been like that...not into the best team starting on the road like last year though. I think 2-2-1 is a more fitting format with the best team getting the first 2 and last 1 at home. If an extra travel day is a concern, the play in sure doesnt make sense.

I'll be rooting for Cleveland to win their play in- if for no other reason than Francona gets a chance to show Boston up...not likely, but not impossible either. The A's pose problems in their park. Detroit looks damned tough on paper. I guess the Rangers are going counter to the Giants strategy last year when they snubbed adding Melky after his PED parole, i heard Nelson Cruz is on the Rangers roster.

There are supposed to be no bad teams in post season, so anything could happen...history is filled with unlikely heros in single game urgency however...although best remembered ones were in last games...Bobby Thompson, Bucky Fn Dent...but I do remember a few first games that set the tone- Kirk Gibson's limpoff Dodger homer in the WS.

 

[JohnU]

The old saw about winning games after you put yourself in position to win them is hardly an upset ... almost as insightful as saying that if it's a must-win game, then you have to find a way to win it.

So far, I haven't seen the Reds come to the conclusion that they are facing a must-win game.
Obviously, Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS wasn't urgent either for the Toothpick.

 

[Redsfan1507]

There are really only 3 things that I don't like about Dusty Baker.

I don't think he values fundamentals enough to demand them from everyone on the roster, including himself and his coaches.

He manages the way he wanted to be managed as a player, instead of managing the way winning managers manage.

He wants it both ways- he talks up being a players manager, but doesn't accept accountability for their mistakes, and never admits his own.

I think this all boils down to Dusty limiting his ability to win solely on the backs of fundamentally sound, veteran players in a set lineup, that rarely need a manager to give a signal. If there are young players to develop, skill sets that differ from his philosophy, or a GM with a different plan than Dusty in regard to player roles, Dusty is miscast. If he and Ron Washington traded teams, they'd both be better acclimated.

Dusty is a see the ball, hit the ball kind of manager. He's pretty good at some things- keeping his bench involved, keeping the peace in the clubhouse, and not hassling established players. He is inconsistent in his administration though- he feigns not wanting to pressure players, but he puts them in lineup roles over their head, and flat lets them drown there. I think he's become overly paranoid about criticism of overuse if young arms, and that's why he refused twice to make Chapman a SP. He refuses to hit the most classically inclined 3-4 hitters, Votto and Bruce back to back because he fears a lefty reliever pitching to them late in games, but he places under skilled righty hitters between them that hit worse against lefties than Votto and Bruce...and sends in his own lefty relievers to pitch to r

 

[Redsfan1507]

That said, I hope the Reds win the pennant this year, and Dusty gets all the credit...but if it doesn't happen, id like to see the Reds take a long view at what Dusty has truly done here, good and bad, and in particular, what has transpired in September this year, and ask a couple of pointed questions about what they expect from the team, and what they need in a manager to accomplish that.

It's a two way street- the GM signs players and the manager is supposed to be responsible for getting the most from them. I'll be interested to see how it all works out. It will say a lot about the Reds perspective. This hasn't been a team in transition for 4 years. It's been a team expected to win since 2010. They have no post season series wins to show for it, but the payroll has increased to a level that fans expect more. Eventually, you gotta figure it's not going to be good enough and there will be changes, or they are accepting this is as good as they believe it can be, and we'll continue down the status quo as long as the talent hold out.

 

[JohnU]

I suppose if anything, I never did understand the no-lefties-in-a-row until he actually was forced to use Votto and Bruce in a row and ... strangely, the team did not go up in smoke.

I cannot even grasp the idea of having Choo and Votto separated by somebody we HOPE is about to come out of a slump, is being asked to bunt away a precious out -- and can't get the bunt down anyhow.

You'd need to be a pipefitter in Hell to come up with that.

 

[WvuDieHard]

No matter how you slice it, dice it, or cube it--DUSTBUCKET has fucked up immensely in this season. Watching Leake get shelled the other day in a must win game while the toothpicker watched cluelessly was just painful. Why the fuck do we have an expanded roster and then let a guy get shelled and get down 4-0? Use the goddamn expanded roster, that is what it is there for. I would use 10 pitchers in a must game late in the season and PH and double switch like no tomorrow. That is what a good manager does in a situation like the Reds were just in. It makes absolutely no sense. The only sense I can see out of the last 10 days is a manager betting against his team. If that is too far fetched for ya, then DustMop really is that fucking stupid.

 

[JohnU]

I think Dusty is looking for that special moment that allows him to be called a "genius" for the move.
Kinda like when Piniella used Bill Bates to run ... it was luck that made it work but it was unforgettable.
Anybody remember Mo Drabowsky in the 1966 World Series for the Orioles? Luck that was unforgettable.
If Nefi Soto gets a hit -- AGAINST ALL ODDS -- Dusty looks like an incidental genius. The Billy Hamilton steals have gone to his pointed head. He thinks all weird moves are genius moves.

Result: Reds finish the season like the AAAstros did.

 

[Ryanballa]

Got Cueto going tonight. I'm counting down the hours to this game, cannot wait! Our boys will get it done tonight. The postseason roster should be announced any minute now. BHam should be on it. But to clerify something whatever roster we have going tonight we can change after the game. So im thinking Latos will be left off the roster, then put back on for Cardinals series.

I'm very nervous just because anything can happen, But I got confidence that our Reds will come out with some urgency and win this game.BELIEVE! GO REDS!

 

[bengaldoug]

Actually I believe the one game scenario is best for the Reds right now. With Cueto's ability to pitch a gem, it's our best shot imo. I wouldn't want to have to beat the Pirates four times, or even three, right now. Maybe they can come up with one tonight and it will give them confidence to take on the dirty birds.

 

[steelparrot]

Ya this is going to be sucky for one team, its a st8 up coinflip.

We only have 2 starters on our roster, Liriano and Cole, bet you guys do the same thing, if you win just add your starters back after the game.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Can't look back now. It's all in front of the Reds. Must win TODAY- probably the only time this year the Reds have believed that...and you don't really know how that affects people. They say it's just another game after the first pitch, but that's not really true. Focus is key, mistakes are magnified. Can't save anyone for tomorrow...except Latos, I suppose.

The Pirates are a good team, and have confidence, energy, momentum and the home crowd on their side. They've also got a fine LHSP on the mound, a sound manager in the dugout, and an axe to grind with the Reds. All those cards are stacked against our Reds, who've been adrift for some time. I hope the Reds find what they've been missing tonight.

 

[Ryanballa]

Here is the Reds Wild Card Roster. GO REDS!

 

[JohnU]

I'm less interested in the roster than I am the lineup.
Ludwick is going to kill us if he hits 2nd again.

 

[packerzrule]

Reds and Pirates going in different directions down the stretch

not looking too good for your boys John - but that is why they play the game I am told


best of luck

 

[Ryanballa]

GO REDS!!! Time to keep the jolly rancher down for good.

 

[packerzrule]

GO REDS!!! Time to keep the jolly rancher down for good.

Who the hell is the jolly rancher??

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I think he meant "Jolly Roger", the skull and cross bones flag......I guess.

 

[JohnU]

Never let a good Rancher get in the way of a meme!