Harang pitches a beautiful game against the Cards. 9 innings, 6 hits, 0 runs, 4 K's, 111 pitches. Gives me hope for next season. He and Arroyo have turned things around.
Reds are 9-5 in September against nearly all .500+ teams (Cubs, Brewers, D-Backs, Cards), except the Pirates. Funny thing is, they went 1-2 against the Pirates and have taken all the other series.
In 8 of those 14 games, the pitching has given up 3 or less runs.
In analyzing all 14 games, the starting pitching has been very good.
Sept 2: Reds lose 3-2 to the Pirates. Harang goes 6 innings, gives up 3 runs. Reds offense can't muster enough to win. Bullpen holds them.
Sept 3: Reds lose 6-5 to the Pirates. Volquez goes 7 innings, gives up 4 runs while striking out 13. Affeldt gives up 2 more runs. Lincoln and Cordero hold them.
Sept 4: Reds win 8-6 over the Pirates. Josh Fogg gives up 5 runs in 3 innings. Masset gives up a HR, but the bullpen pitches 6 solid innings in relief. Bruce and Votto both homer.
Sept 5: Reds win 10-2 over the Cubs. Arroyo pitches 6.1 innings, gives up 1 run, 4 hits, 6 K's. Bullpen finishes games allowing 1 unearned run. Votto and Bruce both homer and double knocking in 7 between them. Keppinger and Hanigan go 2 for 5.
Sept 6: Reds lose 14-9 to the Cubs. Cueto gives up 8 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings. Burton, Majewski, and Lincoln get shelled for 9 earned runs in relief. Reds offense comes alive in the 8th, scoring 8 runs combined in the 8th and 9th innings, showing they aren't going down without a fight, but they still lose.
Sept 7: Reds win 4-3 over the Cubs, coming from behind in the 9th, scoring 3 runs to win it! Harang pitches 7 innings, gives up 6 hits, 3 runs in a solid effort. Weathers and Cordero shut them down for the win.
Sept 8: Reds win 5-4 over the Brewers. Again, Reds score 3 runs in the top of the 9th, 2 runs on a Keppinger double. Volquez goes 5.2 innings, gives up 5 hits, 4 runs, and strikes out 10. Votto hits his 19th Home run. Lincoln, Masset, Burton, Cordero combine to shut down in relief.
Sept 9: Reds win 5-4 over Brewers again. Triple A's Ramon Ramirez goes 6 innings, giving up only 1 run on 1 hit. Burton blows it, giving up 3 runs and losing the win for Ramirez. Bray, Weathers, Lincoln, Affeldt, Adkins, Cordero combine to shut them down the rest of the way. Brandon Phillips breaks his hand, and is out for the remainder of the season, but still manages to hit a game winning rbi single in the top of the 11th inning. EE and Bruce both homer.
Sept 10: Reds lose 4-3 to Brewers. Weathers blows lead in 8th inning giving up 2 runs. Arroyo goes 7 innings, giving up 2 runs - both unearned on 5 hits (deserved the win).
Sept 12: Reds lose 3-2 at Arizona. Harang pitches 7 innings, no earned runs (1 run on an error). Burton once again coughs up the game allowing 2 earned runs in less than an inning. Bray and Lincoln combine to shut them down. Brandon Webb wins his 20th game of the season, pitching 8 innings of shutout ball. Reds muster 2 runs in the 9th, but it's not enough. Dunn goes 0-3 with a walk and an rbi for the D-Backs.
Sept 13: Reds win 3-2 at Arizona. Volquez pitches 6 innings, giving up 2 runs, while striking out 8. Affeldt, Roenicke, Herrera, Weathers, and Cordero combine to shut them down in relief. New acquisition and starting pitcher, but good hitter, Micah Owings comes off the bench to pinch hit in the 9th, and knocks in Dickerson with a game winning double. Cordero shuts them down in the 9th for the win. Dunn goes 1-3 with a walk, rbi and strikeout for the D-Backs.
Sept 14: Reds win 2-1 at Arizona. Cueto pitches 5 innings, giving up 1 run. Pettyjohn, Lincoln, Burton, Bray, Weathers and Cordero shut them down the rest of the way. Corey Patterson homers in the top of the 10th for the win. Dunn goes 0-3 with 2 walks, 1 K, and 5 men left on base.
Sept 16: Reds win 7-2 over Cards. Arroyo pitches 7 innings, 5 hits, and 2 earned runs both on homers. Weathers and Cordero shut them down in relief. EE knocks in 3 runs with a double and Patterson goes 2-4 knocking in 2 runs.
Sept 17: Reds win 3-0 over Cards. Harang pitches a complete game shutout, allowing 6 hits on 111 pitches. 3 solo home runs by Andy Phillips, Jay Bruce and Paul Janish make up the scoring for the Reds.
Harang has given up only 6 earned runs while pitching 29 innings for a 1.86 e.r.a. in September against good competition. Harang came off the DL on August 10th and gave up 8 runs in each of his first 2 starts. In his next 6 starts, he allowed 3 runs in each of 3 games, and zero runs in the other 3 games, pitching 42 innings for an e.r.a. of 1.92 in that 6 game stretch. Even more interesting is that in that 6 game stretch, he only got 2 wins, and suffered 3 losses and 1 no decision. Very well could have won all 6 decisions and changed his record from 5-16 to 8-13, which looks much better. Wins and losses can be overrated sometimes and don't always paint a true picture.
Volquez allows 4 runs in each of 2 games, and only 2 runs in his other start, while striking out 31 in 18.2 innings.
Arroyo allows 3 earned runs while pitching 20.1 innings for a September e.r.a. of 1.34. In fact, Arroyo has allowed 2 or less runs in 8 of his last 10 outings, lowering his e.r.a. from 5.55 to 4.57 in that run. He has gotten 6 winning decisions, 3 losses and one no-decision in those 10 outings. He pitched well enough, giving up 2 earned runs in one game and zero earned runs in another, that he easily could have won 2 more.
Cueto has suffered either from a lack of run support during his innings pitched or blown leads by the bullpen. He has given up 3 or less runs in 20 of his starts. In those 20 quality starts, he has gotten 8 wins, 5 losses, and 7 no-decisions. He has given up 4 to 6 runs in 9 other starts. Having said that, in August and September, Johnny Cueto has an e.r.a. of 3.49 in 36.1 innings pitched, with 6 quality starts (3 or less runs allowed) in 7 actual starts.
Reds team e.r.a. in September is 3.74 overall. Nice. By comparison, their August team e.r.a. was 5.03.
The oft maligned, and rightfully so, Corey Patterson is hitting .289 in September in 38 at-bats. Coming around? LOL. Still hitting .208 overall with an overall OBP of .240, which is pathetic.
In 8 September outings, Cordero has pitched 8 innings, giving up 0 runs, 4 hits, 5 walks, and 10 K's. In fact, in the months of August and September, in 19 outings, Cordero has only been scored upon in 2 games, for an e.r.a. of 2.84, with 10 saves, 1 win and 1 loss.
By comparison, in August and September, in 20 outings, David Weathers has been scored upon in 5 of those outings, going 21 innings, giving up 7 earned runs, 23 hits, walking 9, striking out 13 for an e.r.a. in those 2 months of exactly 3.00. Still pretty good. Shouldn't we keep this guy?
All that rookie Ramon Ramirez has done is pitched 17 innings, given up 16 hits, 4 earned runs, struck out 12, with an e.r.a of 2.25 and a WHIP of 0.75. Opponents are batting .113 against him. I know it's early and opponents haven't scouted him enough, but compare what he did to what Bailey or Daryl Thompson did.
Coming over in the Griffey trade, Masset has put up an e.r.a. of 2.08, with a WHIP of 1.21 and opponents are batting .254 against him.
Wilkin Castillo, A CATCHER, who came over in the Adam Dunn trade, has started 3 games in LF and 1 at 2B. Go figure. Funny stuff. Micah Owings soon to be seen playing CF? LOL.
Looking for power for next season? In 106 at-bats since traded to the ChiSox, Griffey has hit only 1 HR, for a season total of 16. In fact, he has hit exactly .245 for them which is his same average he had here this season. His slugging and OPS are at career lows overall this season. On the flip-side, EE has hit 25 HR's, Bruce has 19 HR's in 99 games, Votto has 19 HR's in 138 games, and Phillips hit 21 in 141 games. All 4 of those guys have 20-30 HR type power as they mature and continue to gain experience. Dickerson has 20+ HR power too.
In 35 games and 227 innings, Chris Dickerson has yet to commit an error.
Hopefully the end of the season success carries over to next season. Right now, if Harang, Arroyo, Volquez, and Cueto could continue to pitch like they have in September, and for some of them, even August............the starting staff would be one of the better ones in baseball. The bullpen is pitching well and looks like one of the better ones too.
Originally Posted by Kingspoint
