Arroyo can't locate; Reds split series with Cards

Well, I don't really have much to say about tonight's game. Watched it tonight, cringing several times per inning because Gary Thorne still can't pronounce Encarnacion's name. And that's extra fun with the Cards in town, 'cause that means there's two Encarnacion's in the game!

Arroyo didn't look sharp. Well, his breaking stuff looked great, but he couldn't locate to save his life. Reyes looked like he has great stuff, just not very good control. It sure is annoying to not take advantage of three hit-batsmen and two walks though.

Krivsky had an "interview" of sorts in the top of the 5th inning. Could have been interesting, but Steve Stone basically fell all over himself trying to talk Krivsky up the entire time. It's nice to see our GM getting props from the media, but the result was that there really wasn't anything that Krivsky said that was interesting. In the meantime, Arroyo gave up two homers and three runs.

Helluva play by Castro on Pujols grounder in the 7th. Nice to see at least some return for having him on the roster.

And that's about it. We'll get 'em next week.

No other games are on TiVO's radar in the coming weeks, so I'm back to watching on MLB Gameday and listening to Marty's call when the opportunity strikes. That means more time for blogging though, so I'll have a belated look at Franklin and Hollandsworth up sometime in the near future. Neither should be big impact players, but I like to take a look at everyone--if for no other reason than so I know something about the players on our team! :)

Ross Hits a Walkoff, Reds Beat Cards

Went to the Diamondbacks game tonight, and it was a good one. Insane number of stranded baserunners, but Luis Gonzalez hit a 2 run homer, Chad Tracy went 3 for 4, Stephen Drew hit a double and looked outstanding in the field (despite a momentary bobble), and Carlos Quentin made an amazing catch in right field. Not quite Ryan Freel amazing, but amazing. In the end, though, the biggest thrill of the night was when I looked up at the scoreboard and saw this:

STL 7
CIN 8 F

The AP released some wonderful photos of tonight's game, and I've decided to post a few of them. I'm not sure about the rules on this, and I'd prefer to remain ignorant, so please don't tell me unless you represent the AP or you are one of the photographers, who are Al Behrman or David Kohl. They're too good to pass up. Great job guys.

Edwin's Catch. How can you not be excited by this kid?
And Phillips? And Freel? These guys are so much fun to watch.
And, of course, Dave Ross's home run:


I love that last one.

Second happiest moment of the night? When I got home and realized that the Reds TV game that I thought I was missing tonight is actually on the air tomorrow morning. I probably won't be able to watch it until late tomorrow night, so please, no spoilers in the comments on Thursday's game!! Go Reds!

Update: Here's fangraphs.com's WPA graph from last night's game. Dave Ross gained 74.5 WPA with one swing of the bat!
I'm still not watching the game today until tonight (Thursday), so please, no spoilers!

Freel's Night

I'm going to try to get something up on the two new Reds' acquisitions (Franklin and Hollandsworth) soon, but it probably won't be tonight because I'm headed off to the D-backs/Giants game this evening. That's right, I'm skipping the opportunity to watch the Reds on TV in the biggest series since '99 in order to see the D-backs in person. I feel a bit guilty about it, but not that bad. Just like music, live baseball is better. I'll be watching the out-of-town scoreboard intensely though for updates, and may still have a chance to watch the game after the fact via TiVO. ... though I'll probably only do that if they win. :)

In the meantime, what a game by Ryan Freel last night. This is one of those times that watching
it on MLB Gameday is such a horrific limitation compared to actually seeing it in person. Fortunately, most of Ryan "human highlight reel" Freel's game can be see in the Top Plays video on MLB.com. All I can say is wow.

Here's the WPA graph from last night, courtesy of fangraphs.com. Savor the moment:

Who's to blame for Majewski? Bowden, or Krivsky?

"It is the nature of being the general manager of a baseball team that you have to remain on familiar terms with people you are continually trying to screw." - Michael Lewis, Moneyball

With one his of the two prized relievers acquired in The Trade now on the disabled list with soreness in the shoulder that might be traceable all the way back to the World Baseball Classic, the Reds' front office is fuming. Here are the facts that I'm aware of:

1. Majewski claims to have started to feel the tendonitis during the World Baseball Classic. From Will Carroll's Under the Knife:

Call it the WBC curse. Gary Majewski heads to the DL with shoulder soreness and blames pitching in the World Baseball Classic for his troubles. It's interesting that Majewski never noted this in the previous four months and certainly didn't indicate this problem to his new team, the Reds. The team was aware when they traded for him that he'd been dealing with "mild shoulder tendonitis," but one cortisone injection back in May cleared up the problem. If this has been bothering him since the trade, it does explain his poor performance. There's no clear indication when Majewski could return. Luckily, the Reds' bullpen is one loaded with quantity, if not quality.

2. While the Reds were aware of the cortisone injection in May, there apparently was a cortisone injection only a few days prior to the trade due to a resurgence of these problems. And the Reds were not told about that by the Nationals' trainer, or by Jim Bowden. Or by Majewski.

3. Wayne Krivsky is trying to be subtle, but the guy's furious...I love how this quote moves from saying "the right thing" to just outright bitching. From Marc's blog:

"This doesn't preclude doing future business," said Krivsky. "I don't like eliminating talent pools. I don't like eliminating teams. Hopefully, people feel like when they're dealing with us they're dealing straight-up. I want people to feel like they're being dealt with honestly. For me, Wayne Krivsky talking, your credibility is paramount -- not only with (the media) but with other teams and the fans and ownership. You lose your credibility, youre done in this business. You better treat people right and treat them the way you want to be treated, or youre not going to be as effective a general manager, farm director, scouting director, scout. To me, thats a pretty big thing right there."

My thoughts:

1. This is just the latest demonstration that Jim Bowden is a despicable human being. This is not a surprise, and is completely consistent with his track record. Someday it might be fun to try to list the rest of his history.

2. Krivsky feels wronged, and probably has a right to. But frankly, I think the major thing that's going on here is that he's finally realizing how bad that trade was for the Reds. Yes, we absolutely needed relief pitching. But there were quality guys available that could have been had for a lot less than the price of Austin Kearns or Felipe Lopez. Mike MacDougal, Bob Wickman, Scott Williamson, and of course Rheal Cormier and Kyle Lohse (who the Reds did get) all were acquired for minor league talent in July. Yes, those minor league players may turn out to have an impact in the major leagues in the future, but they might not. Minor league players are more risky--and less valuable--than established, successful, and still young guys like Kearns and Lopez.

So now, one of the moderately valuable acquisitions from this trade turns out to be hurt, perhaps for a good chunk of the rest of the season. Yes, the Nationals should have been more forthright in this transaction. But injuries happen. It's just that when they happen after you know you've already been ripped off, they hurt so much more than when you know you've done everything right and have just been unlucky.

3. Frankly, if the Reds file a grievance, I hope it does result in sanctions against Bowden. Not because Krivsky deserves the vindication, but because Bowden's a jerk. 'Course, what can they do? The trade would never be reversed, as much as I'd love for that to be a possibility, which it's not. Maybe the Nationals could get fined? My guess is that the best thing we could hope for is that the new owners of the Nationals might realize the sort of person they have running their baseball team and give Bowden his walking papers. Maybe not this year, but eventually they're bound to realize how someone like that can poison the moral your entire organization. They need only look at his previous employers.

Umm, yikes?

Elizardo sure picked a bad day to have the worst start of his major league career. Owww...

Happy to be watching the game today

Today's game against the Braves is the first time the Reds have been on TV here in Arizona since July 9th, when they played in Atlanta. So I'm thrilled to get a chance to see these guys. Very excited to see Encarnacion hitting today, especially given that there's a righthander on the mound.

Depending on whether I have anything to say, I may update this from time to time as the game moves on (I am watching this on about a 1 hour delay...).

• Lohse gave up a 2-run shot in the first. Didn't look like a very good pitch. Chip Carey claimed that Lohse was a sinkerball pitcher, which is a bit surprising given that he's induced between a 43% and 46% of all batted balls to be grounders over the past three years.
  
• Oh, wow. Griffey just got one. Just as the annoucer said he liked the ball down and away from him, he got one there and drove it way the hell back in centerfield.
  
• Smoltz was filthy in the second. Denorfia looked completely overmatched. Just as bad as Smoltz was vs. Lohse in the top of the third. I had hoped Denorfia would play better up here, but he hasn't been very impressive thus far.
• Nice to see Clayton hitting 8th tonight. Perfect place for him. Narron always said he liked someone with decent bat control there. It's also the spot in the batting order that influences run production the least. Less even than the 9th spot.
• So in his first two up, Encarnacion has hit very hard line drives to right and right-center field. The latter was a bases-clearing triple. I know I'm beating a dead horse, but how is he not playing every day? He's so exciting to watch. And I thought old-school guys loved young hitters who hit the ball to the opposite field...
• I think Denorfia just decided to take all the pitches he saw from Smoltz his second time up. Worked, as he managed a walk. Based on what he did the first time up, that might be the best possible outcome for Chris. I'll take it.
• Did I mention that I love Brandon Phillips? Amazing play in the 5th vs. LaRoche. He's just so much fun.
• The game's not over yet -- I'm writing this in the middle of the 5th inning -- but Lohse looks pretty good today. He misses his spots now and then, but he's generally been around the plate, is showing good movement on his pitches, and has been well in control, with the exception of the at-bat vs. Andruw Jones in the 1st. I remain convinced that he was a pretty good pickup for the Reds. Claussen looks destined for a bullpen slot unless someone gets hurt.
• So that's three opposite-field batted balls in three times up for EdE. Result: 2 H, 1 3B, 2 RBI's.
• This (in the 6th) is my first chance to see Bill Bray pitch. He does have a kind of herky-jerky motion, which could make him a bit of an injury risk (though probably less so as a starter than for a reliever). He was missing his spots a bit more than I'd like, but the results were good.
• For all my fanboydom of Edwin Encarnacion, my stomach still went into knots when Renteria hit that ground ball to him in the 7th. Thank goodness he made that play, or he'd be benched for a week!
• ...And Majewski gives it up. I see the sink on his pitches, but he keeps throwing them up there belt-high. I'd think he would need to be around the knees to be effective. Seriously, I don't think I saw any pitches around the knees in the 8th inning. The results speak for themselves. Bah.
• 
  

Phillips has a good game

Pretty interesting WPA graph from last night's game. Very nice to see Phillips hitting again. Hope he can keep it up.