Back from the game-- observations

[RedsManRick]

If Hatteberg is happy to take a walk, why do you want him *behind* Kearns? If he takes a walk, Kearns can knock him in. When the Reds signed Hatteberg, I thought his function was to play the Joe Randa role in the lineup. With all of the high OBP and high K guys in the 2-5 holes, he's supposed to be a guy who balances out the lineup by giving a professional at bat without striking out so much with runners in scoring position. If his function is to improve the balance and situational hitting, then he should stay where he is until Kearns forces a move. I don't think Kearns has done that yet. I think Kearns has looked "lost" in quite a few at bats. What's his K/BB ratio right now? I haven't seen him take more than one walk yet, and I know he's struck out once a game.

The gist of my comment wasn't that Hatteberg was willing to take a walk -- certainly I think that's a good thing. Rather it's that he was being over-selective. He watched a few good pitches to hit. It's like he knows he's better off trying to work the walk than trying to get a hit. I'll grant that this was a VERY limited sample and perhaps it was just a function of his approach in the 4 at bats I saw. However, I'd bat Kearns ahead of him for a few reasons:

1. Hatteberg is Casey-slow and probably wouldn't score from 1st on a double by Kearns in most cases. Kearns is no speed demon but definitely moves better.

2. Those guys batting low in the order should be driving in runs. Surely OBP matters and if he's 50 points better than Kearns, I'm happy to have him ahead. But if it's 15-20 points, I want the guy with the higher SLG% b/c he's more likely to turn baserunners in to runs even if he himself gets on base slighly less often. I'm not too worried about setting the table for the 8th hitter and the pitcher.

3. Protection. Yes, it's probably overrated, but I think Kearns would benefit more from having a "professional" hitter behind him. Perhaps he would feel more comfortable being more selective if he didn't feel like he was the last chance to get some runs driven in -- complete and utter speculation on my part.

#2 is really the big one for me. With two outs and a guy on first, I'd rather Kearns be there to drive him in than Hatteberg trying to work a walk and extend the inning. Unless Hatteberg is vastly superior at getting on base, I'll take Kearns.

[reds44]

Didnt Phillips after a decent spring have to sit out about 10 days, probably equal to going on the DL. He'll come around after another week of big league hitting. He wont lead the league in hitting, he'll contribute. I saw the pickoff and I dont think it was a cheapshot.

Good point. Hard for a guy to come back and light it up after being out for a long period of time.

[mound_patrol]

Regarding the pickoff to third. That was a set play called by either Baker or by the third baseman. We run the same play at my college. As we all saw Perez broke towards the bag as soon as Zambrano lifted his leg. I believe the Cubs were banking on the reds trying to squeeze and were just trying to catch Milton leaving early.

As for the other pickoff to first. Who knows. Maybe he wanted to see if Freel would show bunt or maybe he wanted to make Milton tired by having to slide back into the bag several times. Instead he made Milton's trip around the bags a leisurely one with the balk and then the HR.

I was watching Milton closely today and came away impressed with him. Even though he threw a lot of pitches he was pitching very aggressively. He was going after everyone except Lee all day. And when he missed he missed down and away or up out of the zone. The single to Murton that drove in a run was the only terrible pitch he threw and that's going to happen, just wish it would happen with no one on.