6/5/2013 Reds v. Rockies (it just got Villareal in here)

[Tony Cloninger]

Joey should have walked, swung at an obvious ball four.

Votto doesn't get into too many slumps, but he's in one now.

Well he does not want to displease Marty (HOW you guys like him as announcer anymore is perplexing) Tom Verducci and Harold Reynolds.

[RedEye]

Nothing leads to offensive complacency like an unexpected Xavier Paul three-run tater.

[malcontent]

Votto looks like an imposter has entered his body this last week or so.

Take away the F-bombs, you take away the JoVo mojo.

[RedsBrick]

Votto and Bruce swung at a ball 4

[alloverjr]

I like where this offense is headed. Is there any timeline on when or if Ludwick is scheduled to return?

[RedEye]

Votto and Bruce swung at a ball 4

Votto, yes. To me, the Bruce one looked too close to call.

[reds700]

Not exactly an ideal time for Votto and Choo to be slumping with the Cardinals coming to town. This team also seems to have a habit of not hitting after grabbing early multiple run leads.

[Vottomatic]

Can you imagine the Reds lineup with CarGo and Tulo in it. Sheesh.

[RedsBrick]

Votto, yes. To me, the Bruce one looked too close to call.

Pitch track had about 5 pitches out of the zone

[RedEye]

Can you imagine the Reds lineup with CarGo and Tulo in it. Sheesh.

The Rockies with Votto, Bruce and BP would be decent as well. Their pitching staff would also look good with Cueto, Latos and Bailey.

[_Sir_Charles_]

So, in other words, the Reds didn't give a darn about tonight's game. They were willing to fall 3.5 behind the Cards going into the weekend series. That was not important to them.

Yeah, THAT'S what I said KC. Come on.

Rather, they were deeply concerned about how two extra days would affect Tony Cingrani. They prioritized the length of Tony's rest period. That was more important than their standing v. the Cards.

Seriously, how can this be true?

Exaggerate much? Did I say it was true? I said it was a possibility that they may not want to use Cingrani right away. I also said that MAYBE they'd rather not mess with their top pitching prospect on a maybe or a what if.

What happened is either one of two things. Either they gambled -- they took a chance that Cueto would be ready. Or, they ignored the problem -- they didn't worry about AAA availability soon enough.

Either way, the result was terrible. And letting Pedro V pitch to Cargo there was also terrible.

Or maybe they didn't think Cueto's back was very serious. Everything I've read leads me to believe that. Give him his usual rest and recovery and he's right back to normal. It didn't work out that way, so they made the call. Did they make the wrong call....maybe. But was it so bad to be worth this uproar? Heck no.

[Vottomatic]

Villanotreal's e.r.a. is a stellar 14.73 after tonight. I wonder if he can change his number at Louisville to that.

[RedEye]

Pitch track had about 5 pitches out of the zone

Cool. The last one didn't look like a ball though.

[50YrRedsFan]

Just amazing...1 hit since the first inning. Garland couldn't even make a roster last year.
Came into this game with around a 6.5 ERA. And we make him look like Koufax.
I've preached for the past 2+ years that this offense had too many holes. The responses were, "facing good pitching, or it's early yet". Despite where they are stat wise, this offense has major funks, and is carried by 3 or 4 players. When those players falter, we don't score.

[Tom Servo]

You know, Simon probably could have started this game...