Quote:
Originally Posted by westofyou
Their plane landed at 3am that morning, that has to play in to the fact that they "looked" like they were going through the motions... but seriously most picked them to linger about where they are either 4 down from .500 or 4 up... looks like a .500 team without a MLB SS to me.
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I agree that coming off a long road trip and playing the next night may have had an impact.
Also consider that Hairston was out and Janish replaced him. Big offensive drop off. Hairston has been the key tablesetter the last few weeks. No Hairston, no Keppinger.
Phillips is in a slump. He is not an ideal cleanup hitter and is much more effective against lefties. Still, overall he had very good numbers last year. Maybe he's developed some bad habits, maybe he needs a game off, maybe he needs an adjustment. But I think he will start hitting again. He's a good player.
On top of all of this, the Reds threw Bailey tonight and he may just not be ready yet. He didn't do that well over this last several AAA outings. He's still working things out and, for whatever reason, his velocity appears off right now.
The team is definitely in transition and there will be rough spots. Still, you have to like the young talent and Jocketty hasn't really begun to make important changes.