We need help

[JohnU]

For additional supernatural help, rub the LEFT arm of your couch and utter the following:

Nooomba dooga remaul.

Repeat three times and throw a handful of rice into the Licking River.
If you don't live near the Licking River or have access to rice, just smile at a picture of Tony Perez.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I thought it was funny.

 

[JohnU]

I am dead serious. I am ready to talk to the Voodoo Hotline in Port au Prince!

 

[Redsfan1507]

I knew a coach that would sneek ( or have a player do it) into the visitors dugout before they arrived to urinate in the dugout. If that didn't work, I heard rumors, a dump might be next...might have had a disciple with the Cubs in Dusty's last year ?? Others took showers and slept with their bat. True.

 

[JohnU]

I think playing better works just as well ... and maybe trying to figure out that if you can score 4 runs in the first inning, there's no reason for the next 12 guys to make an out. That's called ... coaching to what you see on the field.

"Dusty," Hanigan said, "Pedro isn't getting anybody out."
"Well, we need to get him going," Dusty replied.
"It's not working," Hanigan said.
"Huh?" Dusty commented.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Not to disrupt any mojo that might have been gained through the Licking River voodoo doctor or a nice portrait of the "Doggie" smiling, but watching Votto hit in the Rockies' series it looked eerily similar to his at bats after the knee injury. Weak grounders to the right side and didn't look to be running real well.

He's coming off two knee surgeries after the 2012 All Star break. He's played every game this season on the same surgically repaired knee. Anyone else see a problem here?

The guy is owed over $200M for the next decade plus, you might not want to run him into the ground the first year. He's got to be hurting by now.

 

[Redsfan1507]

How much does 1 day off buy you ? Not much. Baseball is a game of constant bruises, minor contusions and soreness. Votto isn't old enough yet to he arthritic, and swelling is a good indicator of a problem. I doubt Votto's knee is a major issue, I think most slumps are timing fouled as the result of the combination of the pitches your getting vs the pitches your seeing.

"See the ball, and hit it" sounds simple, but it's true... When hitters aren't seeing the pitch until a millisecond later than when they're in a hot streak, it turns a double into a weak grounder. Tends to be related to the quality and location of pitches you get, too...and with Choo slumping and Cozart being Cozart, Joey gets a lot of borderline breaking balls in areas not condusive to bashing. You'll see Votto's bat come back as soon as pitchers have better reason to pitch to him, or as guys more prone to mistakes oppose him.

 

[JohnU]

I suspect slumps are more a product of mental fatigue and the idea that a guy needs a day off would make sense. Had Phillips not been out and Izturis so inept, it's likely Hannahan plays 1st base in Wednesday's game. So much for that.

Votto needs to play through it, I think. Bruce is doing pretty well in the 4 spot, in case Dusty didn't notice.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Why play Hanahan at 2b for the first time, when he plays better D than Frazier at 3b, and Frazier played 2b for 3 teams in the minors ?

 

[Redsfan1507]

Focus...mental fatigue...same condition ? A day off might help, but probably about as much as a good nights sleep and a 4 hour distraction (game length) would. It damned sure isn't going to heal a swollen knee or bruise. Baseball isn't easy... And they need a breather occasionally, but no one ever got better not playing.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I'll give Frazier credit through the first 60 games. He's played better than expected at 3b. Being around Rolen last season probably had a lot to do with his development to this point. His footwork is much better this year and you'd be hard pressed to find a 3b with better footwork than Rolen to learn from.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I'm pleasantly surprised at Fraziers good D so far. Not so surprised he's struggling with the BA though. I'm not optimistic enough to believe .260 high minor league hitters can hit that well or better in MLB for long sample sizes. I'd be happy if he hit .250 with 20 HR, playing good D.

 

[JohnU]

Frazier is going to whack a flat curve ball into the right field seats often enough that he can't be ignored. He seems to be a guy who has learned from his hitting flaws and it occurs to me that Cozart is, as well.

We may just be the sort of fans who has to endure crappy three days a week so we can enjoy fun the other four. That Rockies series should have been a sweep, sorry.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Kind of like my golf game... hit just enough good shots to keep me coming back.

 

[JohnU]

I honestly never much cared which pitch a guy hits. It's where the ball lands that interests me.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I has lots of coaches (like Dusty) that thought the best way to hit a curveball is to hit the fastball before it...but all the good ones would help you with Plan B, and tell you a tip or three on the breaking ball. Picking up the Rotation of seams ? C'mon, that's a myth that defies math unless you are Superman or Ted Williams. The breaker comes out on TOP of the hand NOT out of the middle like a fastball. You need to be wary of the count, you don't get a fastball 0-2 much. Last line of defense is to stay inside the ball in all breaking ball probabilities, take it up the middle or oppage, don't try to pull it. I doubt much of that conversation happens around Brook Jacoby.

 

[HammerDown]

I honestly never much cared which pitch a guy hits. It's where the ball lands that interests me.

A thousand times everyone in the world knew exactly what the pitcher was about to throw and I'm BEGGING the hitter not to swing at the slider/curve/cutter/breaking ball he just got setup for and he does it anyway. It amazes me sometimes.

And another thing: I've never understood a pitcher or catcher batting .100 going up there against a dominant, hard-throwing pitcher and swinging at the first pitch! Even if a strikeout is a foregone conclusion, at the very least make him throw three pitches!!!

 

[JohnU]

Izturis obviously thinks he can whack a first-pitch fastball.
He often does -- on two hops to the second baseman who promptly goes 4-6-3.
He is a classic example of when to bat somebody behind the pitcher.

 

[HammerDown]

There is definitely something to be said for scouting a pitcher and knowing when to hit that first-pitch fastball. And I really admire when a batter has done his homework and jumps all over one.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I was lucky ( didn't think so at the time) that even though I had one if those half scholarships, I was paranoid enough to think I might need those books one day too, so I never just winged the calculus exam. My grade wasn't great with the study, but was better than it would have been without it. I was also a catcher that was expected to know hitters, and that meant talking to pitchers, coaches and scouts who provided the equivilent ( pre-PC) of a GB of data on such. Also tought me about setup- high hands wanted the ball low, and flat bats liked to take the high fastball the other way...there is more data wasted now than was ever used in the past. It's indifference, because there is little accountability for bad preparation and similar results. They position defenses to tendencies, but Reds hitters are clueless guessers at the plate. It's negligence.