5/27/06- Reds vs. D'Backs Game Thread (We're getting hammered)

[OnBaseMachine]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

In the last two days over 70,000 at the park for this

Yikes.

The Reds always lay an egg in front of a big crowd. The biggest crowds this year, IIRC, are: Opening Day, Dunn figurine night, Lopez bobblehead, and the last two nights.

Opening Day they scored seven runs but gave up 16. The other fours games they got good pitching, bad defense, and absolutely no offense.

[Falls City Beer]

Get Freel in the lineup. Now. Get Rich out. Now.

[reds44]

Reds need a spark, Ryan Freel is the definition of a spark plug.

Seems logical.

[KronoRed]

Freel at 3rd?

[reds44]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

Freel at 3rd?

No, EE didn't play today.

2nd maybe, or Center or Right.

[KronoRed]

Wish we knew when Phillips was going to heat up, we could split time with Freel

[GAC]

I'd take Phillips in the lineup and over Freel at 2B any day of the week.

The reason Freel is out of the lineup is because Ryan Freel fell back to earth - hard!

in 76 AB's/April, he walked 20 times.

in 54 AB's/May, he walked a grand total of 3 times.

a .434 OB% in April.... a .250 OB% in May

A whopping .476 OPS in May (.655 overall).

And a .287 SLG%

I'm simply enamored.

Where do you want to play Freel at again?

[membengal]

Originally Posted by reds44

It's always the umps fault.

Never the Reds' offense.

Maybe they just aren't as good as we all thought.

I don't understand blanket statements like this.

Not ALL thought the Reds had turned a corner. In fact, very few in here did. The consensus, in the spring training prediction threads was this was a 77 win team with bad breaks or up to about an 85 win team with some breaks.

The fast start doesn't change that. The bad May doesn't change that. I will keep rooting for them to be better than my own hunch of 81-81, but at this point have no illusions about this club, and have not had any illusions.

I know people are posting from frustration because they can't hit right now, but that too will change. Enjoy the ride folks, that's what a baseball season is.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by GAC

I'd take Phillips in the lineup and over Freel at 2B any day of the week.

The reason Freel is out of the lineup is because Ryan Freel fell back to earth - hard!

in 76 AB's/April, he walked 20 times.

in 54 AB's/May, he walked a grand total of 3 times.

a .434 OB% in April.... a .250 OB% in May

A whopping .476 OPS in May (.655 overall).

And a .287 SLG%

I'm simply enamored.

Where do you want to play Freel at again?

I agree that there is no easy place to put Freel in the lineup now that Jr. is back and he and Dunn shall not be moved. But it seems like everyone on this team gets a chance to play out of a slump except for Freel. The topic of Dunn slumping has been addressed ad nauseum. La Rue was down to below .200 before his big game in DET. Phillips started off hot as a firecracker but he too has fallen back to earth. Encarnacion was doing quite well and he has slumped too but is in the lineup most of the time. Freel slumps and sees nothing but pine for a couple of weeks. I know he has that stamp of a utility guy but that seems to be a pretty convenient excuse to keep him on the bench. It is a Catch 22 for him. He cannot ever slump or he runs the risk of being shunted back to Utility Guy status and then everyone says he never played over 120 games in a year so that proves he is a utility guy.

[KronoRed]

I like Freel back in the lineup today

[GAC]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

I like Freel back in the lineup today

he made some darn good throws... and botched some others.

So he broke even.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by Chip R

I agree that there is no easy place to put Freel in the lineup now that Jr. is back and he and Dunn shall not be moved. But it seems like everyone on this team gets a chance to play out of a slump except for Freel. The topic of Dunn slumping has been addressed ad nauseum. La Rue was down to below .200 before his big game in DET. Phillips started off hot as a firecracker but he too has fallen back to earth. Encarnacion was doing quite well and he has slumped too but is in the lineup most of the time. Freel slumps and sees nothing but pine for a couple of weeks. I know he has that stamp of a utility guy but that seems to be a pretty convenient excuse to keep him on the bench. It is a Catch 22 for him. He cannot ever slump or he runs the risk of being shunted back to Utility Guy status and then everyone says he never played over 120 games in a year so that proves he is a utility guy.

I agree Chip. Ryan is between a rock and a hard place.

And I wonder if his age has a factor in it, since we are playing younger players that have a greater upside/potential?

You're just not gonna see/get much improvement in a 30 yr old.

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by GAC

he made some darn good throws... and botched some others.

So he broke even.

No love for the solo HR?