5/4/11 - Astros at Reds

[kaldaniels]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Well, the offense scored 3...but to be honest, that was some pretty pitiful offense today. That Rodriguez kid was throwing nothing but fastballs and we couldn't do anything against him. And they didn't even have substantial movement or velocity on them. Kinda sad. If not for Brandon Lyon, we'd be looking at a no-hitter. (no way that "triple" should've been a hit...horrible play by Underpants) But hey, I'll take the win.

But I don't know how anybody can say that the offense is not a concern. Against these pitchers...we should've put up double digit hits AND runs.

There is not a team in baseball with any starting pitcher that I would expect any club in baseball to put ten runs up against on one particular day.

Maybe you are exaggerating...I don't know.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by OesterPoster

Reds, Astros, and White Sox are tied for fewest saves this year so far with just 4 each. That could change in about 10 minutes.

There's a reason for that. Reds wins have been blowouts...very few opportunities for Coco. He's 4 for 4 btw. Sox have been horrible. Very few winning opportunities. Astros....well, Lyon has been horrible. 8 opportunities, 4 blown saves. The talk around here is when they're going to make the change in closers. It'll happen quite soon IMO.

[traderumor]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

There's a reason for that. Reds wins have been blowouts...very few opportunities for Coco. He's 4 for 4 btw. Sox have been horrible. Very few winning opportunities. Astros....well, Lyon has been horrible. 8 opportunities, 4 blown saves. The talk around here is when they're going to make the change in closers. It'll happen quite soon IMO.

Watch out waiver wire, the Astros are looking for help. It seems each time they bring in a pitcher, they got him off the waiver wire.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by kaldaniels

There is not a team in baseball with any starting pitcher that I would expect any club in baseball to put ten runs up against on one particular day.

Maybe you are exaggerating...I don't know.

Okay, I'm exaggerating on the runs. But I've seen this Astros staff pretty much day in and day out. They are THAT bad. Once I saw that we held them to 2 runs...the win was in the bag as soon as I saw the bullpen being called on. Especially Lyon. Melancon has been pretty solid and Fulchino's been fairly decent, but the rest of the pen is quite capable of putting up historically bad numbers this season. The starters...Figeroa, Happ, Wandy have all been batting tees. Myers has been decent but I don't see it continuing. Norris has been extremely lucky but has gotten good results.

IMO this is the worst pitching staff in the bigs by quite a large margin. To be shut out by them for 8 innings, in a hitters ballpark, and to a rookie who throws basically nothing but straight fastballs (90-92...so not really a flamethrower)...thats something that concerns me. Yes we won, but we looked horrible at the plate all day long (until Brandon Lyon stepped in to prove his worth).

The one aspect of the Astros that people have overlooked is their offense. Some of these young hitters are stepping up and clicking. But it'll take Phillies-type numbers to offset their staff.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by traderumor

Watch out waiver wire, the Astros are looking for help. It seems each time they bring in a pitcher, they got him off the waiver wire.

I'd put money on it being Fulchino as the new closer. But heck, when talking about scrap heap guys, we just got 1 hit by one today. Rule 5 pick from the Rays, .500 record and +4 era in AA & AAA. I don't know what it is about the Reds, but it seems like we always struggle mightily against guys making the MLB debuts or rookies getting their first look at us.

[traderumor]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

I'd put money on it being Fulchino as the new closer. But heck, when talking about scrap heap guys, we just got 1 hit by one today. Rule 5 pick from the Rays, .500 record and +4 era in AA & AAA. I don't know what it is about the Reds, but it seems like we always struggle mightily against guys making the MLB debuts or rookies getting their first look at us.

Yea, this is a crazy game. Very unpredictable game by game, but the long season usually sifts everything out.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by traderumor

Yea, this is a crazy game. Very unpredictable game by game, but the long season usually sifts everything out.

BINGO!

This team has played inconsistent ball the first month of the season, and had to do so with injuries to key players. We get Cueto and Bailey back. That is going to help, and I feel this staff will improve. In fact, I think this team will pay better as the season progresses. We're pretty much (record-wise) where we were at this time last season.

But IMO, no one is gonna walk away with this division. And it is gonna be one of the weaker divisions in baseball.

[cumberlandreds]

A good come from behind win. This is a good case of getting a good start that keeps you in the game until the offense figures it out. As long as you get good starts you will always be in the game. Lets hope Bailey can continue this and the Reds can gain some momentum from this win.

[traderumor]

Originally Posted by cumberlandreds

A good come from behind win. This is a good case of getting a good start that keeps you in the game until the offense figures it out. As long as you get good starts you will always be in the game. Lets hope Bailey can continue this and the Reds can gain some momentum from this win.

Yup, that was the recipe quite frequently in 2010. Hopefully getting two power pitching starters back will increase the frequency of these type of 2011 games.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Is it just me, or does it look like Phillips is about to do some wrestling move where he throws his elbow down on Bruce. (not that I'm that familiar with freaking wrestling). :O)

[cumberlandreds]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Is it just me, or does it look like Phillips is about to do some wrestling move where he throws his elbow down on Bruce. (not that I'm that familiar with freaking wrestling). :O)

Before I read your post I thought the same thing. I hope he didn't. I want everyone to be healthy.