By the way, I guess John Fay is tired of all the peanut gallery taking potshots at the daily lineup so he wrote an article in today's Enquirer about what Dusty does and considers each day as he makes out the lineup. Here are the links to the stories:

 

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2011/08/29/dusty-bakers-thought-process-when-setting-lineups/

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110829/SPT04/308290101/

 

Interesting that Dusty spends 5 hours plus a day preparing a lineup with the best information available and it only takes 5 seconds of review for the naysayers to start throwing grenades.

By the way, I guess John Fay is tired of all the peanut gallery taking potshots at the daily lineup so he wrote an article in today's Enquirer about what Dusty does and considers each day as he makes out the lineup. Here are the links to the stories:

 

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2011/08/29/dusty-bakers-thought-process-when-setting-lineups/

 

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110829/SPT04/308290101/

 

Interesting that Dusty spends 5 hours plus a day preparing a lineup with the best information available and it only takes 5 seconds of review for the naysayers to start throwing grenades.

 

 

Simply play your best 8 players every night. It's really not that hard.

If he has a bad game, Dusty will use this as an excuse not to play him for the next week. Like the LF experiment. Setting him up to fail.

 

I posted this yesterday and it sure looks right. His first game was against the Phillies and lefty Hamels. Now tonight, boom, Alonso is back on the pine. They make the decision to try him at third and he plays one game and the experiment os over. Dusty is back to Lewis and Cairo. Dusty is probable saying "I told you so". Who cares where the Reds finish. We have to find out before the season is over if Yonder can play because someone has to go. I hope it is Dusty. I read an article that Walt is not happy with some of Dusty choices. One reason I am watching is what Yonder can do. I wish the new Fall season would get here fast.

Bruce is pitiful. Missed a fly ball in the first but helped his team out by swinging at ball four with two on and one out. Alonso can't play because of his defense yet Bruce plays when he can't anything with a wrinkle in it. The Reds won't score three runs in any of these games against the Phillies.

Simply play your best 8 players every night. It's really not that hard.

 

It is when you only have a best 3.

Anytime someone is paying their hard earned money to go to the ballpark, there is no such thing as a meaningless game.

Anytime someone is paying their hard earned money to go to the ballpark, there is no such thing as a meaningless game.

 

This time of year when your team is 13 games out of first place half the people in the park are on free tickets and going only because someone gave them the tickets.

I posted this yesterday and it sure looks right. His first game was against the Phillies and lefty Hamels. Now tonight, boom, Alonso is back on the pine. They make the decision to try him at third and he plays one game and the experiment os over. Dusty is back to Lewis and Cairo. Dusty is probable saying "I told you so". Who cares where the Reds finish. We have to find out before the season is over if Yonder can play because someone has to go. I hope it is Dusty. I read an article that Walt is not happy with some of Dusty choices. One reason I am watching is what Yonder can do. I wish the new Fall season would get here fast.

 

Dusty was very selective in when he played Alonso at 3B. He is trying to do what is best for the team and what is best for Alonso. After reading much about this in the paper the past couple of days as well as hearing comments about this during last night's game on the radio, it is clear Dusty chose the game he did because that was the best game to ease him in at 3B. As Dusty said in today's paper, he uses scatter charts of where hitters are expected to hit the ball off of various pitchers to figure out what to expect defensively. Considering Alonso didn't get a single ground ball hit to him, I would say Dusty's research was on the money and it was a great game to play Alonso at 3B. Last night there were numerous ground balls hit to 3B so it was good that Cairo was over there instead of Alonso. You and EZ and Lance McAlister on the radio all just want Alonso to play and apparently could care less if he makes an error or two every night. Well, we saw that show with the fiasco of a defense when Alonso played LF. Everyone would love to have Alonso's bat in there every day at this point but there is more to baseball than just swinging the bat.

Considering Alonso didn't get a single ground ball hit to him, I would say Dusty's research was on the money and it was a great game to play Alonso at 3B. Last night there were numerous ground balls hit to 3B so it was good that Cairo was over there instead of Alonso.

 

Maybe it was just me, but I saw Cairo make an error on a double play ball. Good thing he was in there, though!

Because the Reds expect to contend next season and they need to know if Alonso is an everyday player.

 

But they're not finding that out by giving him 4 starts is left and one at third. I agree with the sentiment who cares because they are so far out, but that's not at all what is happening and you know it. I agree with EZ if you're only going to spot start him why do it against Hamels. If you're going to play him almost every day who cares who it's against? Not that difficult.

Maybe it was just me, but I saw Cairo make an error on a double play ball. Good thing he was in there, though!

 

It was Cairo at 3B, not Jesus.

Dusty was very selective in when he played Alonso at 3B. He is trying to do what is best for the team and what is best for Alonso. After reading much about this in the paper the past couple of days as well as hearing comments about this during last night's game on the radio, it is clear Dusty chose the game he did because that was the best game to ease him in at 3B. As Dusty said in today's paper, he uses scatter charts of where hitters are expected to hit the ball off of various pitchers to figure out what to expect defensively. Considering Alonso didn't get a single ground ball hit to him, I would say Dusty's research was on the money and it was a great game to play Alonso at 3B. Last night there were numerous ground balls hit to 3B so it was good that Cairo was over there instead of Alonso. You and EZ and Lance McAlister on the radio all just want Alonso to play and apparently could care less if he makes an error or two every night. Well, we saw that show with the fiasco of a defense when Alonso played LF. Everyone would love to have Alonso's bat in there every day at this point but there is more to baseball than just swinging the bat.

 

So are they trying to see if he could possibly play 3B because his position is blocked or were they just trying to get him some AB's because they're trying to win games this year? None of your arguments make any sense to me. If theyr'e seeing if he can possible play 3B next year why give him one game against a great lefty where no balls wer hit to him and then sit him the next night? Here's what they learned that night about Alonso....Hamels is really good and Alonso looked good in the uni.

But they're not finding that out by giving him 4 starts is left and one at third. I agree with the sentiment who cares because they are so far out, but that's not at all what is happening and you know it. I agree with EZ if you're only going to spot start him why do it against Hamels. If you're going to play him alomost every day who cares who it's against? Not that difficult.

 

Please, please come on guys. It isn't that difficult. Let me be as clear as I can - the start against Hamels had NOTHING to do with who was pitching. NOTHING! Everyone knows Alonso can hit and he would be playing every day if it were only about that, regardless of who is pitching for the other team. It is about putting him in a position to succeed defensively and not cost the team games. Scatter charts, hitting tendencies, who is pitching for the Reds, matchups of opposing hitters versus the Reds pitchers - that all factors in to getting Alonso on the field.

 

As for the comments about just put him out there and who cares that he makes errors and costs the team the game, that is putting one player ahead of the team. If I am one of the other Reds players and I walk in to the clubhouse and see Alonso playing LF, I just shake my head. I want to win tonight. I want the best team on the field. I don't want to go out there and put my body on the line when management is interested in having tryouts and doesn't care about winning games. The fact is the Reds front office messed up big time on Alonso. It is so obvious in a few games that he can't play LF, why did they waste his time in LF at Louisville. He should have been playing 3B in Louisville for two months.

Please, please come on guys. It isn't that difficult. Let me be as clear as I can - the start against Hamels had NOTHING to do with who was pitching. NOTHING! Everyone knows Alonso can hit and he would be playing every day if it were only about that, regardless of who is pitching for the other team. It is about putting him in a position to succeed defensively and not cost the team games. Scatter charts, hitting tendencies, who is pitching for the Reds, matchups of opposing hitters versus the Reds pitchers - that all factors in to getting Alonso on the field.

 

As for the comments about just put him out there and who cares that he makes errors and costs the team the game, that is putting one player ahead of the team. If I am one of the other Reds players and I walk in to the clubhouse and see Alonso playing LF, I just shake my head. I want to win tonight. I want the best team on the field. I don't want to go out there and put my body on the line when management is interested in having tryouts and doesn't care about winning games. The fact is the Reds front office messed up big time on Alonso. It is so obvious in a few games that he can't play LF, why did they waste his time in LF at Louisville. He should have been playing 3B in Louisville for two months.

 

But its too late to play him at 3B in Louisville now so why not find out if he can play there here if there is even the smallest possibility he will play there next year? How many combined games do you think Lewis and Renteria will start for the Reds next year? If your answer is 0 which is the correct answer neither of them should start except for possibly once a week. Frazier and Alonso should start almost every game the rest of the year. If players on this team don't realize it's time to think about next year they aren't very intelligent. I really could care less if Cueto finishes the year with an ERA below 2.00. I really do care if Alonso can field any position besides first and if he can hit major league pitchig if he starts 27 games out of 30. Anyone who sees it differently doesn't understand small market teams. I'm of the opinion Dusty wants to finish at .500 or better because he thinks he could get an extension after next year if next year goes well and they have 3 years in a row above .500. Dusty isn't looking out for the future of this franchise. He's looking out for himself. I understand his position. I don't agree with it.

But its too late to play him at 3B in Louisville now so why not find out if he can play there here if there is even the smallest possibility he will play there next year? How many combined games do you think Lewis and Renteria will start for the Reds next year? If your answer is 0 which is the correct answer neither of them should start except for possibly once a week. Frazier and Alonso should start almost every game the rest of the year. If players on this team don't realize it's time to think about next year they aren't very intelligent. I really could care less if Cueto finishes the year with an ERA below 2.00. I really do care if Alonso can field any position besides first and if he can hit major league pitchig if he starts 27 games out of 30. Anyone who sees it differently doesn't understand small market teams. I'm of the opinion Dusty wants to finish at .500 or better because he thinks he could get an extension after next year if next year goes well and they have 3 years in a row above .500. Dusty isn't looking out for the future of this franchise. He's looking out for himself. I understand his position. I don't agree with it.

 

I agree that we need to get Alonso out there at 3B. Even better, he needs to go to the instructional league or winter ball and get experience at 3B. But the fact is you can't quit on this season now for a lot of reasons. It is important to finish the season strong and that has an impact on next year. It is important to all the players that big league quality line ups are on the field. Every pitcher on the staff wants a winning lineup behind him because that W or L is a permanent mark on your record. Players want to put up good numbers and who is hitting around them impacts that. There are other teams in baseball that want the reds to win and you can not disrespect the game at this level by putting a AAA team on the field. Wouldn't the Braves love it if the Reds could have taken 2 or 3 games from the Phillies? How would you feel in the Braves clubhouse if it was clear the Reds didn't care about winning and just wanted to experiment every night? There are a lot of reason why you don't bag the season and just goof around trying this and that. Finally, it is to Alonso's benefit that they handle this right. If they just throw him out there at 3B and he makes 3 errors in one night, what good does that do? That does more harm than good. Yes, we are all disappointed in the Reds this year. We all want Alonso hitting the ball every night at this point in time. But there is a whole lot more to it than just putting him out there and seeing what happens.