Reds at Braves (NL Wild Card Series) 9/30-10/2

[Mustang]

Who in the hell is Bradley???

Where did he come from?

What happened to Nate Jones???

[Jack of all Trades]

5 minutes ago, Mustang said:

Who in the hell is Bradley???

Where did he come from?

What happened to Nate Jones???

Archie Bradley came from Arizona for Josh Vanmeter.  Jones was shown the door a week or so ago.  He was not he answer.

[Mustang]

One of my criticisms of the Reds is the revolving door roster.

It seems there are always newbies in the lineup, or showing up late in the season.

Sorry to see Nate Jones go.  I thought that overall he did a creditable job, albeit with control issues and the penchant for giving up a home run or two.  Being a local guy, I was hoping he would make good here in Cincinnati.

All summer I heard and read of a clamoring for Aquino.  Well, be careful what you wish for - This guy is a slug of the first water.  Slow, lazy and dumb (as in stupid).     

[Carl Spackler]

5 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Biggest managerial bust of the game...absolutely no reason to pitch to him...NONE!!!

Lefthanded hitters only had 1 hit in 23 at bats (.043 average)against Garrett this season with 12 strikeouts.   He was good against righthanders as well with a .231 batting average allowed.   However,  he only had 14 strikeouts in 39 at bats.   The Reds needed a strikeout there.   I guess they thought they had a better shot at it with Garrett vs Freeman than vs Ozuna.  

[Carl Spackler]

5 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Farmer or Barnhart DEFINITELY should’ve squeezed!!

The Reds had zero sacrifice bunts all season.  Can you imagine the uproar if they'd have tried it and gotten tagged out at home?  That probably would have had a similar outcome to the botched double steal.  

[8th Region Warrior]

Was there questionable moves by the manager? Yes!!  But lets face it, the weakness of this teams is they are a bunch of hackers, not hitters.  They did not score in 13 innings, to prove my point.  There was plenty of opportunity.  Baseball in the playoffs is pitching and timely hitting.  If you can not do one of those you will be out rather quickly.  The Reds have the advantage in the starting pitchers rest of they way if they pitch like they can, however can they score some runs?  Yesterday it reared its ugly head on them, it might not do it again and they can win the whole thing with this pitching.  In Archie Bradley's defense the old manager has not used him at all since acquiring him.  He is a good pitcher, but had not pitched in forever. I do not think I would of taken our Lorenzon, but that is me.  They have to take different approaches to winning than they did last night.  The team I hate the most in baseball, is dead last in the league in HR, they do not have the pitching staff we do, yet the smacked the Padres yesterday because they hit the baseball (CARDS).  The Tampa Rays are another team that just hit the ball, and If I  had to choose a World Series champion it would be them right now.  I do think whoever wins between the Reds and the Braves will face the Dodgers for a chance to go to the world series.

[nkypete]

I have to say that the bullpen as a whole did great yesterday.  We've picked on them a lot this year (for good reason).  Holding the Braves to one run (and very few hits) in 13 innings should be enough to win.  We saw the "good" Lorenzen yesterday.  Bradley has had some success in his career (so I will cut him some slack).

That said, I blame yesterday on Bell and bad situational hitting.  I'm sorry, but baseball data analytics are not always the answer.  Bunt the ball once in awhile!  Move the runner over to third by hitting to the right side of the infield.  Play for the team's success instead of the trying to be the guy responsible for the walk-off.

I don't know about you, but I enjoyed listening to commentary from A-Rod.  He brought a successful player's perspective into aspects of the game that I wouldn't normally think about.  He didn't make excuses for poor play as we sometimes hear on local broadcasts.  I enjoyed it.

[Voice of Reason]

Everyone has to recognize the roster Bell has to work with. These guys are not situational hitters. They are hackers.  To that point if you want to criticize Bell it should not be because they didn't bunt. It should be because he tried to force things on the base paths instead of being patient and letting his hackers hack until they finally got a key hit.  The double steal attempt was horrible strategy and Bell owned that after the game. 

Personally, I think when he put Jankowski in as a pinch runner was a bad decision. He puts Jankowski at 1st in a 1st and 3rd situation. What value does that add?  Then when we have Votto on 2nd base later in the game Jankowski is not available to pinch run in a situation that would have scored a run for the Reds. If am going to use a pinch runner, it is going to be in a situation where he can score a run - not be on 1st to steal a base with a runner on 3rd already.

[8th Region Warrior]

Would of been nice to have Stephenson on this roster instead of Janikowski in my opinion.  It is obvious that this team does not move runners or steal bases, so why not have a guy that can hammer it late?  He is right handed and would of faired better against those lefty's in my opinion.   That being said the catcher spot has to be upgraded considerably next year, and I am after Lindor from the Indians if I can get him somehow.  Keep this starting rotation, and you can have a good year. However if we keep Bell I do not know if I can watch a whole year of him.

[8th Region Warrior]

GO REDS!!!!   They are under dogs today according to Vegas, I think we get the WWWWWWW!!!!

[16thBBall Fan]

12 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

The Reds had zero sacrifice bunts all season.  Can you imagine the uproar if they'd have tried it and gotten tagged out at home?  That probably would have had a similar outcome to the botched double steal.  

I knew that would be the answer but here’s my thought, could it really be any worse than their hitting with men on base all year??  No way, THEY HAD to try it in that situation in my opinion!!

[16thBBall Fan]

I swear I believe when they bat with runners in scoring position these guys put both hands around their neck instead of the bat!!

[theguru]

Reds with the bases loaded, that was a missed opportunity! 

[Voice of Reason]

13 hours ago, Carl Spackler said:

The Reds had zero sacrifice bunts all season.  Can you imagine the uproar if they'd have tried it and gotten tagged out at home?  That probably would have had a similar outcome to the botched double steal.  

 

57 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I knew that would be the answer but here’s my thought, could it really be any worse than their hitting with men on base all year??  No way, THEY HAD to try it in that situation in my opinion!!

 Analytics has eliminated the bunt from most managers play books. Statistically it has been proven that it is better to take your chances on getting a hit to drive-in a run than bunting a man over and giving away an out.

[Voice of Reason]

On MLB. com, both of those last 2 called strikes were out of the strike zone so I can understand why Votto is upset.