To expect anything better than 10-10 is absurdity IMO.
To expect anything better than 10-10 is absurdity IMO.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
Why? The Reds are only playing 3 projected playoff contenders during this stretch and two of them are playing sub.-500 baseball right now (Chicago, Phillies). Another wild card during that stretch is Brandon Claussen. If he's called up and pitches like we expect, that's another quality starter, and LHP. I'm saying that the Reds are going to send a message to the doubters (hopefully), and go 14-6 along the way.Originally Posted by Falls City Beer
Last edited by Rocket_Fuel; 04-13-2004 at 11:22 AM.
Preach it, brother!
"It's easier to give up. I'm not a very vocal player. I lead by example. I take the attitude that I've got to go out and do it. Because of who I am, I've got to give everything I've got to come back."
-Ken Griffey Jr.
Well, the first "W" was rained out, vs Philly, but right now, we're right on scheduleThis is my guess:
Mon. 12 at Philadelphia W
Wed. 14 at Philadelphia W
Thu. 15 at Philadelphia
Fri. 16 at Chicago Cubs 2 W's vs Cubbies
Sat. 17 at Chicago Cubs
Sun. 18 at Chicago Cubs
Mon. 19 at Chicago Cubs
Tue. 20 Atlanta
Wed. 21 Atlanta 2 W's vs Bravos
Thu. 22 Atlanta
Fri. 23 at Pittsburgh
Sat. 24 at Pittsburgh 3 W's vs Bucs
Sun. 25 at Pittsburgh
Mon. 26 at Pittsburgh
Tue. 27 at Milwaukee 1 W vs Beer Guys
Wed. 28 at Milwaukee
Fri. 30 at Houston
Sat. 1 at Houston 2 W's vs 'Stros
Sun. 2 at Houston
Mon. 3 at Houston
And this equals
:GAC:
Chipper Jones won't play in any of the games against the Reds this week, which makes the Braves lineup all that much weaker. I say the Reds pull off a three game sweep.
Agreed. I thought we'd split with the Cubs, though by beating Mitre and Maddux, not Wood. I thought we'd take 2 of 3 from the Phils. The damning part is that sans bullpen self-destruction, this 3-3 stretch *should* easily be 5-1. It's not a "what if" or "shoulda, woulda, coulda" scenario. It's a matter of stating that 4-0 leads with 2 outs in the bottom of the 7th can't turn into 6-4 losses, and 10-7 leads in the 8th can't turn into 11-10 losses. And, though we might not have rallied today, you can't stay within 2 runs into the 8th inning of a Jimmy Haynes start, and then lose 8-1.Well, the first "W" was rained out, vs Philly, but right now, we're right on schedule
Even with a few bad starts in the stretch (Wilson, Harang, Haynes(?)), this lineup, parts of the rotation, and even some of the bench did everything they had to do to put us in a winning position, only to have it repeatedly yanked out from under them by the bullpen. If that becomes norm, rather than exception, this team will play sub 500 during the span, rather than the 5+ games over they potentially were striving towards.
During that span of a mere 5 games, Graves (decisive 2HR inning versus Cubs), Wagner (drubbed by Phillies and Cubs in 2 separate huge, decisive innings), Norton (drubbed in each of his 3 appearances), Jones (2ER inning vs Cubs) each had 1, or more, decidedly horrid showings. Even when some scoreless innings were being placed on the board, it was often the case that the pitcher was getting slapped around but benefitting from at'em balls, or baserunning snafus. And it wasn't all Wrigley (some was, some wasn't), as the worst of the performances started in Philly, and the Cubs better relievers ala Hawkins, Farnsworth, Wellemeyer etc... weren't having many problems. Only Riedling (who should be our primary setup man), and Reith (maybe the closest we can come to filling some of Sullivan's middle relief role) pitched well during that span... We can't survive that kind of BP epidemic. We probably need to make re-assign some roles, and tinker with the design and/or bring up another LHP option.
Last edited by Stormy; 04-20-2004 at 01:22 AM.
I'm headed to the series. I expect 2 of 3 for the Reds. I think we'll trounce Thompson and Wright. Given our recent past history versus young LHP, I'm a little worried about Ramirez (especially facing Harang). I already have Acevedo and Lidle's starts in the bank.
I'd be happy as a clam to go .500 in this road series. I agree with Falls City that it is probably the most
reasonable.
Think about it, so far this season, some players are off to hot starts that will not be maintained.
Todd Jones is not a 2.57 ERA pitcher. All our non-Haynes starting pitchers have a 4.09 ERA or less.
Really, other than Norton/Haynes.. every pitcher has gotten off to a great start. (Wagner's stats are
skewed by that one horrible start).
I do expect the offense to get better as the year goes on. Naturally Dunn and Casey will cool
down a little bit, but I expect the other guys to do much better.
But I don't expect the offense to overcome the pitching coming back to earth.
[Phil ] Castellini celebrated the team's farm system and noted the team had promising prospects who would one day be great Reds -- and then joke then they'd be ex-Reds, saying "of course we're going to lose them". #SellTheTeamBob
Nov. 13, 2007: One of the greatest days in Reds history: John Allen gets the boot!
I have A. Jones, Furcal, and Giles on my fantasy team. And so far they sure haven't helped me one bit! Castro has a better OPS then a couple of these guys!
I can see us taking 2 of 3. They don't get to face Haynes!
When is Acevedo scheduled to pitch again? Did they just make him miss one start due to his hand?
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
I don't care who's pitching for the Braves; I never look past that team.
Until proven otherwise, they are the team to beat from the East.
I'm not saying the Braves WILL sweep us, but there's every chance they could.
The Reds offense disappeared after the first inning yesterday. I hope that isn't a trend starting.
I say the Reds squeak out one win in this series--probably tonight's game.
“And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith
Along the same lines as my theory yesterday, I think the goal right now is to lessen the importance of the impending 4 gamer in Houston by winning some before we arrive in Houston.
We play 9 games before facing the Astros. Three at home vs. the Braves and a total of 6 on the road with the Pirates and Brewers. Not a real tough stretch, although I take nothing for granted.
I say shoot for 6-3 over this 9 game stretch prior to the Houston series. 5-4 would be acceptable. Anything less might put us in a tougher position down in Texas. If we take care of business BEFORE the Houston series, then we could afford to lose 3 of 4 without it doing much damage.
If you remember-- in recent years we've actually been in position to make a move in the division at different times and we usually got NAILED in those series. Remember the 4 gamer in Houston last year? Ouch-- possibly the worst exhibition of baseball I've ever seen.
Two years ago, we went 0-6 on a homestand against the A's and Mariners and we never recovered.
Under Boone we always some sort of nightmare stretch of games that destoryed our hopes of competing down the stretch. I'm hoping to avoid one of those this year. By taking advantage of "softer" spots on the schedule, it will allow us to relax a bit more when the tough spots come up.
As I said, I view the season in increments. Right now, I see a 9 game increment that leads into what will be our toughest series so far this year (yes, tougher than the Cubs IMO). How we fare over these 9 games dictates the "feel" for the Houston series.
Yes, the Red's bullpen has struggled recently, but it's been the team's strength during the Hume era. The names of the Cincy pitchers have changed every year, but as a unit the relievers have achieved top-shelf results consistently. The Reds have a history of bringing in relatively unknown relievers (who was Jeff Shaw before Cincy, etc?) and getting career years out of 'em. (Remember last year at this time there were doubters re: Heredia and White, and now those pitchers are mainstays in the Skankee's bullpen.)
What I'm saying is...give it time. If the Reds have been good at anything in the last 7-8 years, it's been building a quality relief corps. I'm more than willing to give Hummer the benefit of the doubt (much more so than Gullett with the rotation, BTW)
Never overlook the obvious
Mon. 12 at Philadelphia Reds 4 Phils 1
Wed. 14 at Philadelphia PPD
Thu. 15 at Philadelphia Phils 6 Reds 4
Fri. 16 at Chicago Cubs Cubs 11 Reds 10
Sat. 17 at Chicago Cubs Reds 3 Cubs 2
Sun. 18 at Chicago Cubs Reds 11 Cubs 10
Mon. 19 at Chicago Cubs 8 Reds 1
Tue. 20 Atlanta Reds 3 Braves 2
1st seven games played 1 post poned
Reds 4-3 .570 win pct.
12 games remaining.
Wed. 21 Atlanta Braves 9 Reds 5
Thu. 22 Atlanta Reds 5 Braves 3
Fri. 23 at Pittsburgh Reds 6 Pirates 4
Reds 6-4 .600 win pct.
9 games remaining
Sat. 24 at Pittsburgh Reds 9 Pirates 7
Sun. 25 at Pittsburgh Pirates 6 Reds 0
Mon. 26 at Pittsburgh Reds 5 Pirates 2
Reds 8-5 w/6games remaining
.620 win pct.
Tue. 27 at Milwaukee
Wed. 28 at Milwaukee
Fri. 30 at Houston
Sat. 1 at Houston
Sun. 2 at Houston
Mon. 3 at Houston
The Reds got the job done against Atlanta and Pittsburgh.
Last edited by Spring~Fields; 04-26-2004 at 10:08 PM.
This is my guess:
Mon. 12 at Philadelphia W
Wed. 14 at Philadelphia W
Thu. 15 at Philadelphia
Fri. 16 at Chicago Cubs 2 W's vs Cubbies
Sat. 17 at Chicago Cubs
Sun. 18 at Chicago Cubs
Mon. 19 at Chicago Cubs
Tue. 20 Atlanta
Wed. 21 Atlanta 2 W's vs Bravos
Thu. 22 Atlanta
Fri. 23 at Pittsburgh
Sat. 24 at Pittsburgh 3 W's vs Bucs
Sun. 25 at Pittsburgh
Mon. 26 at Pittsburgh
Tue. 27 at Milwaukee 1 W vs Beer Guys
Wed. 28 at Milwaukee
Fri. 30 at Houston
Sat. 1 at Houston 2 W's vs 'Stros
Sun. 2 at Houston
Mon. 3 at Houston
And this equals
Well, the first "W" was rained out, vs Philly, but right now, we're right on schedule. If we go 6-4 over our next 10 (completely resonable), we have done it.
Looks like the optomist have a chance at being fairly close.
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