Offensive Turnaround?

[mivers176]

Does anyone realistically see this team getting things turned around at the plate in time for this weekend? I mean the offense has been next to last or last in the league in month of September in nearly every major category.

Banking on the long ball isnt the best strategy in the cold October nights ... I just know our offense isnt this bad but we literally have no time before we're going up against the best SP in baseball whoever we play- I just cant stomach a reply of the 2010 series vs PHI but our offense has looked much like those 3 games for the last 30 so far at the end of the regular season ...

[PumpFak3First]

Not concerned, team earned a right to take a mental break with their play earlier in the season. Would you rather they be mashing the ball this last month and then go cold come playoff time? Team has been prepping for the playoffs the last few weeks tbh, and now that we actually have our manager back there in person everything is falling into place.

[Biff Pocoroba]

I'm definitely concerned but I'm not losing sleep over it right now.

I generally like the batting lineup as it's now constituted....and which really hasn't been intact throughout September. We're not going to be getting 10 plus hits a night and scoring bunches of runs...but if our pitching holds up, then it's just going to be a matter of timely hitting. I have faith in our veterans to be able to do that.

[texasdave]

Why would you hit Stubbs 8th? That takes away one of his better assets, his ability to steal bases. Why waste an out sacrificing him if he can steal on his own?

[Biff Pocoroba]

Why would you hit Stubbs 8th? That takes away one of his better assets, his ability to steal bases. Why waste an out sacrificing him if he can steal on his own?

Given that he's good for about one stolen base per four games, I think there are other factors more important than preserving his ability to swipe a bag. And keep in mind that at certain points, it will be a pinch hitter rather than a pitcher hitting behind him.

[texasdave]

Given that he's good for about one stolen base per four games, I think there are other factors more important than preserving his ability to swipe a bag. And keep in mind that at certain points, it will be a pinch hitter rather than a pitcher hitting behind him.

Don't be shy. Go ahead and name those other factors. You only get 27 outs a game. I think conserving them is pretty important.

[webbbj]

If the reds are gonna win the WS their gonna have to do it scoring 3-4 runs a game. And I think the pitching is good enough to win on that kind of run support.

[New York Red]

Outside of the month-or-so long stretch in June/July, the offense has been bad all season. This didn't just begin recently. I don't have a lot of faith in our bats, but that doesn't mean we can't make a run in the playoffs.

[50YrRedsFan]

Outside of the month-or-so long stretch in June/July, the offense has been bad all season. This didn't just begin recently. I don't have a lot of faith in our bats, but that doesn't mean we can't make a run in the playoffs.

Spot on. Add the fact we had several weak teams we beat up on during that month and a half 'hot' streak. If you look at the record, we are about break even against teams with a winning record, whereas we are nearly 30 games over .500 against teams with losing records. We definitely took advantage of the weak teams. We are in the bottom half in the league in nearly all offensive categories. We also lead the league in fly ball outs. This tells me we swing for the fences or try to pull everything. You can't produce runs that way. We depend to much on the HR. There isn't any indication our hitters are going to change their approaches at the plate. They are going to struggle in the playoffs especially when playing on the road.

[HometownHero]

The only way this takes off again is if Joey starts hitting for power and Ludwick and Bruce get hot behind him and BP gets on for them. Over the last month and a game we are scoring 2.96 RPG and just twice reaching 6 runs as a high point.

Votto has a .505 OBP over this period and we still aren't scoring, Ludwick has been down hurt for a chunk so hopefully he can stay healthy and get his swing back. Bruce is hitting .229 with a .288 OBP over the same period. Making matters worse is BP is at .200 with a .252 OBP and Frazier has forgot hot to hit posting a .181/.241/.264/.504 line during the no offense period.

Ludwick and Todd carried the team when Votto went down, Luddy hasn't been that hot since but still solid and Frazier is totally lost hitting under .200 with 1 HR and 6 RBI over his last 104 PA.

[texasdave]

Winning percentage in games in which the team did not hit a home run:

TEAM 	PCT. 
SFG	.500
CIN	.409
ATL	.385
WSN	.370
STL	.358

Runs per game in games in which the team did not hit a home run:

TEAM 	RPG
SFG	3.56
STL	3.30
CIN	2.73
WSN	2.67
ATL	2.40

Giants have the highest winning percentage and score the most runs per game without benefit of the long ball. Eek.

[Maker_84]

Outside of the month-or-so long stretch in June/July, the offense has been bad all season. This didn't just begin recently. I don't have a lot of faith in our bats, but that doesn't mean we can't make a run in the playoffs.

which is why not upgrading the offense at the deadline was a bad non move.

[HometownHero]

Giants have the highest winning percentage and score the most runs per game without benefit of the long ball. Eek.

They don't have any choice since they have just 31 HR at home all season long and played 58 games at home without a HR this year. While looking at the game logs it found it interesting the Giants are just 54-49 vs RHP this year.

[Maker_84]

pitching and defense is nice and gives u a chance at going far in the playoffs but you face teams that are gonna have equal pitching but also have much better offenses than yours then it puts alot of pressure on your pitching to deliver against a competent offense while the other pitcher is smooth sailing against a frail lineup

[BluegrassRedleg]

There aren't any "much better" offenses, except for the Cardinals, IMO.

Every playoff team is flawed, which is why this season has been so wide-open.