Just double-checking, but I don't think any team has ever ended the regular season 162-0.
Here's a bunch of loosely linked statements that could be better formed in to a coherent argument if I were more lucid:
- The Reds have won 60% of their games, 2nd best in baseball.
- Teams that lose 40% of their games will have stretches where they lose more games than they win.
- The Reds have done this scoring the 8th most R/G and allowing the 2nd least R/G in the NL
- When teams lose, it's because either their offense doesn't' score enough runs or their pitchers & defense give up too many -- or both
- Streaks are things that happen in retrospect but which are not predictive
- Joey Votto has been out of the lineup for nearly 1/3 of the season and is now back
- JJ Hoover and Jonathan Broxton were not in the bullpen for most of the year and are both pitching very well
No team is perfect. The Reds offense could be better. But the team is very good. And of all the research that has been done regarding playoff success, there have been few if any findings that suggest a certain kind of very good team does particularly well. The most recent study that did, Nate Silver's Secret Sauce suggests that there are 3 characteristics: a high strikeout staff (Reds 2nd among playoff teams), a good closer (Chapman) and a good defense (Reds are middle of the pack this year).
In other words: Don't Worry. Be Happy.
Games are won on run differential -- scoring more than your opponent. Runs are runs, scored or prevented they all count the same. Worry about scoring more and allowing fewer, not which positions contribute to which side of the equation or how "consistent" you are at your current level of performance.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
Based on the lineups that Baker has been sending out since Votto came back, I would expect this lineup if the playoffs started today.
Phillips
Heisey
Votto
Ludwick
Bruce
Rolen/Frazier
Cozart
Hannigan
Pitcher
I'd be surpised if many here would spend much time scratching their heads over that lineup.
In 1990 it REALLY seemed like they were going on fumes down the stretch, much worse than this. I remember that the Dodgers got to within about three and a half games in September after coming in here and taking the first two games of a three game series. All it it took was one big hit from Bill Doran in the last game to win a tight ballgame, and that was basically the end of it... even though the Reds offense never really seemed to get going again until game three of the NLCS.
I am honestly not concerned about how they are playing right now one bit. I am concerned about the flaws that consistently plague this lineup, even when they are clicking... lack of production in front of and behind Votto, etc... But, this stretch of low run games is nothing out of the ordinary for any mlb franchise.
The steroid era is over.... Get used to these type of games/stretches...
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Me like this thread best
If the Reds are limping, then what the hell are the Cardinals doing?
Alright, alright.
You've all convinced me. I overreacted. I'll find the "I was wrong about....." thread and go post my sins.
This headline says it all:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...s_mlb&c_id=mlb
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
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