Schedule

[JohnU]

As much as the Cardinals were whining a month ago about the schedule, they also have the Fish for three at home and the AAAstros at home, also for three.

 

[Redsfan1507]

There are a lot of bad teams right now. Dunno exactly what to make of it, but seems like the Brewers, Cubs, Marlins, etc. are trying to make up those annual 100 Lastros NL losses. Some teams out West like Dodgers and Giants are off the expected pace, and I still doubt the Padre offense and the Rockies pitching will hold up for the second half. I think the Mets and Phillies look like also-rans, and the Nats aren't quite where I figured they would be at this time. The Diamondbacks have more holes than their W-L would suggest. After 20 years of cellar dwelling, it's hard for me to accept the Pirates as a real contender.

Our Reds are living up to their every other year underperform. The Braves and Cardinals look like the real deal though. Is this parity ?

 

[JohnU]

If you can only score 1 run against the Marinades on a Sunday afternoon at home, you are a pretender.
Sorry but this team is equipped to finish third and that's the fault of preparation.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Because the Reds often struggle against mediocre stat pitchers, it's easy to think its just a matchup issue or lack of executing to a scouting report. Unfamiliarity is definately a pitchers advantage. The overwhelmingly worse Reds record against plus .500 teams, even ones the Reds regularly play, tend to point to a deeper issue, I think.

The lack of offense is obvious, but if you watch this team every game, you'll notice other mistakes that are much more previlent against better teams-mostly mental mistakes- baserunning, situational play both on defense and offense. In the big run game against Seattle, or most any time the Reds score a lot, there were an inordinate amount of 2 out hits, and/or homers without RISP. Often, the opposition gave some charity- errors and/or walks also. This is true for most teams, but the Reds just don't score much without those relatively rare ( and even more rare the better team they are playing) occurances.

I'm real biased, but I believe it's largely a product of Dusty Bakers offensive philosophy that relies on the longer odds things, as opposed to advancing runners more frequently with sound situational fundamental play. It starts as the hitter enters the box- usually looking to pull and guessing by the count what pitch they'll get, and translates downstream from there. It may be total coincidence, but it seems like every one of Dustys non contract years, the Reds just don't split runners hitting to RF, or make productive outs hitting behind the runner. They don't bunt the leadoff double over as much. They attempt few steals or hit and runs, and when they do, it's in bad timing situations. They bunt capable runners to 2b without attempting a steal that could have bunted their way to 3b. They steal with 1 out and 2 strikes. They don't pitch around the opposition to give themselves more defensive flexibility. They are flat, low energy, and lose many games early in games, and turn many of their wasted opportunities into extra inning games that strain the pitching staff.

It's like the intensity to play well every day, just isn't there. I'd NEVER give Dusty a 2 year deal.

 

[JohnU]

My friend was confused yesterday when I tried to explain the difference between the peculiar strike zone that's killing baseball this year and the Reds impotency. I'd gone off on Dusty before discussing the strike zone and she asked me if I blamed Dusty for that, joking naturally. I found it difficult to explain to her other than ... the Reds are a team built to win with a manager that isn't. The Reds will not crawl up the next step with this approach. It has nothing to do with the strike zone, which affects all teams the same way. It's about what to do with a 1-1 count.