Cubs at Reds (7/27 - 7/30)

[MJAlltheWay24]

Just now, sumoroyal said:

If Bell is going to play Ervin, why did we spend the money on Shogo?  Got him to lead off and he has not lead off yet.  

Shogo not starting every game is a bit baffling.

[GrantNKY]

37 minutes ago, sumoroyal said:

Votto has had the game on his bat two games in a row and he has failed both times.  Just preaching the truth.

Here comes the Votto hate again haha. The most important player in the franchise since Barry Larkin and the dude gets nothing but hate. 

[nkypete]

46 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

That swing on the ball for by Ervin was brutal.

Votto has gotten unlucky quite a few times in this short season with well hit balls right at people.

Agreed.  Nothing wrong with the walks, but it is the walk that didn't happen (Ervin's swing on an obvious ball four) which hurt bad.

I'm not in favor of swinging at obvious bad pitches.  However, sometimes a good hitter has to swing a pitch that is close to the plate to try to break the game open.  They just can't always count on the next batter in the order to be "the guy".

[John Anthony]

1 hour ago, GrantNKY said:

Here comes the Votto hate again haha. The most important player in the franchise since Barry Larkin and the dude gets nothing but hate. 

Polar opposite personality from Barry, I think that’s a lot of the reason.  

[GrantNKY]

2 hours ago, John Anthony said:

Polar opposite personality from Barry, I think that’s a lot of the reason.  

Very true and this definitely plays a huge part in why the city hasn’t truly bonded with Votto the way it has with former players with less closed off personalities. 

[Mustang]

Comeback???  The Reds were benefited by a monumental Cubs meltdown.

That wouldn't have been a win.  It would have been a gift.

[MJAlltheWay24]

12 minutes ago, GrantNKY said:

Very true and this definitely plays a huge part in why the city hasn’t truly bonded with Votto the way it has with former players with less closed off personalities. 

It's strange because kids at the ball park seem to love Joey Votto, maybe it's just the name.  Middle age women love him as well.

[MJAlltheWay24]

2 minutes ago, Mustang said:

Comeback???  The Reds were benefited by a monumental Cubs meltdown.

That wouldn't have been a win.  It would have been a gift.

So not a gift when the starting pitcher implodes the first two innings, but is a gift if the closer and other relievers implode in the last two innings.

[mcpapa]

Two things happened in a Reds game for the first time in over half a century.  A Red hits a homer in his first major league at-bat. And Reds pitchers hit five batters in a game. 

[GrantNKY]

10 minutes ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

It's strange because kids at the ball park seem to love Joey Votto, maybe it's just the name.  Middle age women love him as well.

It is the name. He’s the best player on the team and has been in Cincy now for a long time. But going back a few years, despite Votto being indisputably the best player on the team Brandon Phillips was way more popular because of his personality. I’d argue Jay Bruce was more popular than Votto as well. I don’t know if there has been any athlete in one of the major sports that has dominated the way Votto has, and isn’t universally loved in the city where he played over a decade. 

[GrantNKY]

17 minutes ago, Mustang said:

Comeback???  The Reds were benefited by a monumental Cubs meltdown.

That wouldn't have been a win.  It would have been a gift.

Baseball is 9 innings for a reason. Bad pitching no matter what inning can cost you. It cost the Reds early and almost cost the Cubs late. It wouldn’t have been a gift. 

[John Anthony]

2 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

It's strange because kids at the ball park seem to love Joey Votto, maybe it's just the name.  Middle age women love him as well.

Larkin would talk to people at the Kenwood mall, great dude.  Votto has more of Griffey’s personality but who are we to judge.  Maybe he has his reasons.

[sumoroyal]

7 hours ago, GrantNKY said:

Here comes the Votto hate again haha. The most important player in the franchise since Barry Larkin and the dude gets nothing but hate. 

I am not going to pound on Votto these next two months but it should would be nice to see another poster admit that he has failed big time this last two games instead of calling me out for pointing it out.

[MJAlltheWay24]

11 minutes ago, sumoroyal said:

I am not going to pound on Votto these next two months but it should would be nice to see another poster admit that he has failed big time this last two games instead of calling me out for pointing it out.

I said I didnt disagree with ya. That's something, ain't it? lol

Be nice to see someone mention that he has an RBI in each game so far this season. First time a Reds player has done that in the first 5 games of a season since the late 80's.

[GrantNKY]

9 minutes ago, sumoroyal said:

I am not going to pound on Votto these next two months but it should would be nice to see another poster admit that he has failed big time this last two games instead of calling me out for pointing it out.

You can’t say he failed big time these last two games. Not coming up with a hit in baseball isn’t a big time failure. That’s the game. Coming off a bad season by his standards, yeah it would be nice to see Votto come up with some hits in clutch time these past 2 games, but it wasn’t in the cards. I have a hard time dogging on a guy who has given the city of Cincinnati as much as Votto has. Votto loves Cincinnati. I just think it would be nice for the city to show him the kind of love he deserves instead of criticizing him all the time in a sport where coming up short most of the time is to be expected. As a big fan of The Office, I use this Andy Bernard quote all the time: “I wish someone was around to tell us when we’re in the good old days.” Just enjoy Votto for the great baseball player he is.