Game Thread 9-3-06...GABP here we come

[EKURed]

Anything think Bochy was in disbelief when Narron brought Cormier in? Does Narron not know who is available on the bench?

Coffey vs. Sledge
Cormier vs. Piazza

Which would you rather have? Narron's decision cost the Reds the game. Oh, that and putting in our infamous sore armed pitcher.

[91OSUAlum]

Lawnboy, you still do not know anything about baseball. The trade was NOT and will not be the issue. Get a freaking clue! It is Narron and his inability to manage the team.

He stinks!

[UC_Ken]

Bullpen ERA before and after the trade shows that WK made a great improvement in the pen. He's not the one who told Jerry to put Majeski (sp?) out there with the game on the line.

[demas863]

Pathetic Trip......Narron Officially Has Gotten On My Bad Side......No Excuse To Bring In Majeweski In That Situation......Hell He Shouldn't Have Even Brought In Cormier To Put The Runners On.....I Have Yet To See Cormier Come Into A Game and Not Make The Inning Interesting....His Stats Really Don't Show For How ****ty He Really Is....Majewski Never Was Good Since He Came Over and Then To Bring Him In To Try To Get Them Out Of An Inning Is A Joke.....Narron Should Be Gone

Amen to that. If you sum up his moves to improve the bullpen he gets no better than a D-. Robinson despised Majesky for his flippant attitude and was glad to get rid of him. Bray has underperformed but does have some upside which unfortunately won't help in the wildcard race and I presume that's why they got him. Cormier has performed, as you say, way below his numbers and his guarantee for next year unwise as he prepares for an easy retirement. Must I talk about Franklin? We definitely got hosed by both the Phillies and Nats. Eddie is great because of his fire and willingness to pitch through pain. But were we interested in bringing over pitchers who pitch through pain? Loesh (sp?) a good pickup and earlier so was Castro who won games for us without picking up a bat. Perhaps Wayne should stick to dealing with the Twins who he knows well.

Of course you have to give him kudos for the earlier position player pickups but we're only talking about his inability to remedy our "Achilles heel." I enjoyed the ballgames, win or lose, with Kearns and Lopez playing because it afforded us two more position players who could get hot and carry the ball club. Right now both the offense and pitching are sad while each game now begins with a somewhat sinking feelihg in one's stomach. To top it all off the bench is now weak where before it was our strong suit with Freel bouncing around in a controlled manner to keep him reasonably fresh.

These moves have cost Castellini a considerable amount of money and player potential. I wonder if he thinks it was worth it since the ball club does not appear better off than before the trading mania started. In fact, it is arguably worse. Bad move to give contract extensions to both Jerry and Wayne. I don't think keeping them in limbo would have lessened their combined mediocre performance notwithstanding the good position player and Arroyo moves early on.

Finally, I think Castellini should shake things up a bit by reinstituting personnel appearance standards back to the good old days when the words "Cincinnati Reds" meant tradition, discipline, and teamwork. Bowden killed this when he acquiesced to Greg Vaughan's "my kids won't recognize me" argument. "No facial hair, get a man's haircut, and wear your uniform like it was designed to be worn."

[Always Red]

^Ah...so shave the beards and moustaches, cut the long hair, wear black shoes, and all will be well??

I know there was much more to the post, but that's how you ended it.

The bullpen is VASTLY improved over what it was before the All Star break; yes it cost a lot to upgrade it, but without a bullpen, this team would have been out of it far before now. Maybe it was just stalling the inevitable??

We were continuing to go nowhere with Kearns and Lopez; must we continue to grind that axe?

Player potential? whom did they trade away that was going to help us? Germano? Please!! I would say nearly all of the pitchers Krivsky has brought in have been better than what we had. All of them. Are they great? No way. Are they better than what we had? Absolutely!

Yep, the bullpen gave up 1 run today, and the game was lost.

When we lose 2-1, I blame the hitting, not the bullpen.

[91OSUAlum]

EXACTLY. Our issues are Freel hitting .220 in August and Dunn hitting under .200 for August. We are getting NO hitting at all from our dependable hitters. THAT is the number one reason for the failure of the team. It is too bad but I am hoping we might be able to get hot and run off 6 or 7 because our team's pitching is decent.