9/7/2012 Astros at Reds

[cincrazy]

I agree no tests needed now...

But I just went threw and watched the pitch sequence again. He was throwing 96-98 pre-home run.

But after it was (off speed included) 95, 94, 84, 94, 93, 94, 84, 83

May have been just mental?

Possibly mental. Could've been any number of things. Baseball is a funny sport sometimes. One of the top two dominant closers in the game against the bottom of the lineup of the most inept offense in the game. And they score three runs. This game would be eating at me a lot more if we weren't up 8.5 .

[Red in Chicago]

Chris Welsh doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. I think he's a big part of the reason so many people are panicking. Chapman was just throwing 100 this week, so I don't know what games Welsh has been watching.

Chris - former MLB pitcher
You - anonymous poster on the Internet

No offense, but I think he knows just a bit more.

[Tom Servo]

I remember a few years ago when Tampa still sucked, and they had the Yanks number. That's hardly the case here. We're 9-4 against Houston. Pretty solid lol. Chances are we win the next two games. You guys really just need to take a deep breath. You can't just assume we're going to sweep any team, no matter how bad they are.

Let's call a spade a spade though. They are the New York Yankees. They've missed the playoffs once in the last 17 seasons. We've been to the playoffs exactly twice in that span. I'm not saying my negative feelings tonight are 100% justified, it is just one game, but I don't think the Reds exactly deserve the benefit of the doubt in regards to "oh they'll be perfectly fine", especially given their swift exit from the 2010 playoffs.

[Brutus]

Chris - former MLB pitcher
You - anonymous poster on the Internet

No offense, but I think he knows just a bit more.

It doesn't matter who knows more. Chris was wrong about Chapman not hitting 100. He just did on Tuesday (99.7 to be exact).

[dman]

Don't panic over the velocity... As many have stated, he's not pitched much as of lately, so there probably is some rustiness, plus there's a ton of moisture in the air, and I'm sure the temps have already started to change pretty dramatically at GABP from the start of game temps.

[oregonred]

I think the lackluster crowds, the September callups, the Votto return and the big division lead have thrown the club off the last week for some reason. Fortunately the starting staff (minus Leake's turd on Wed) has been fine.

I think we'll see a wake up call for the offense. Somebody is gonna pay the next few days when this lineup gets it going again.

ONly concern is if something is wrong with Chappy

[cincrazy]

Chris - former MLB pitcher
You - anonymous poster on the Internet

No offense, but I think he knows just a bit more.

Of course he knows more. But in this instance, he's dead wrong. He's a professional. He shouldn't make mistakes like that. Reds fans need to get over this "Woe is me" complex. It's not the lost decade anymore. Leave the past scars behind. Move on. Take a minute to rejoice in THE BIGGEST DIVISIONAL LEAD IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL instead of worrying about when we'll inevitably collapse.

[757690]

For the record, Chapman's velocity has been down a bit over his last five outings, including this one, going back to Aug 22.

He was averaging over 99 on his fastball for most of the season, then had these outings

96.5
97.4
97.6
98
and whatever tonight's average was.

Definitely something that shouldn't be ignored.

[oregonred]

That trend isn't bad actually, but something was off tonight.

[Tony Cloninger]

Let's call a spade a spade though. They are the New York Yankees. They've missed the playoffs once in the last 17 seasons. We've been to the playoffs exactly twice in that span. I'm not saying my negative feelings tonight are 100% justified, it is just one game, but I don't think the Reds exactly deserve the benefit of the doubt in regards to "oh they'll be perfectly fine", especially given their swift exit from the 2010 playoffs.

I was just about to post something like this. They are starting to act like they are have it wrapped up. They can barely score runs anymore...... they did this in most of Sept 2010 as well.

[Brutus]

For the record, Chapman's velocity has been down a bit over his last five outings, including this one, going back to Aug 22.

He was averaging over 99 on his fastball for most of the season, then had these outings

96.5
97.4
97.6
98
and whatever tonight's average was.

Definitely something that shouldn't be ignored.

Do you realize his average for the entire season is 97.8?

So basically prior to tonight, he was within .4, .2 and +.2 of his season average in the past three games.

I'd say that absolutely should be ignored.

[cincrazy]

I just can't understand why we can't enjoy the ride instead of freaking out about when it's going to all fall apart. So maybe this team won't win the World Series. Has it made this season a failure? Has it not been fun? Haven't we received so many wonderful memories and surprises already? Enjoy the ride guys. Stop living and dying on every game, every pitch.

[cincrazy]

do you realize his average for the entire season is 97.8?

So basically prior to tonight, he was within .4, .2 and +.2 of his season average in the past three games.

I'd say that absolutely should be ignored.

but he hasn't thrown 105 since last year! Something is horribly wrong!!!!

[oregonred]

I just can't understand why we can't enjoy the ride instead of freaking out about when it's going to all fall apart. So maybe this team won't win the World Series. Has it made this season a failure? Has it not been fun? Haven't we received so many wonderful memories and surprises already? Enjoy the ride guys. Stop living and dying on every game, every pitch.

Quit trying to bring logic into the situation...

[cincrazy]

Quit trying to bring logic into the situation...

Believe me, if you look logic up in the dictionary you won't see my picture, so not sure where this is coming from .