Merged: Not really digging Majewski right now / "Magic" Run Machine: Gary Majewski

[redlegs7089]

i am not really digging him right now!! hes been horrible thus far with us, hopefully hes just going through a bad stretch but its not his fault we lost today. ITS JERRY NARRON'S FOR MAKING THE DUMBEST I DECISION HAVE EVER SEEN. TAKING EDWIN OUT WHO WAS 2-2 WITH THE BASES LOADED. GOD. HE JUST PISSES ME OFF AT TIMES.

[Joseph]

Not his fault today, Phillips should have had the first double. Remain calm.

[zombie-a-go-go]

I was waiting for this thread.

Where's Mercker's? ;)

[Caveat Emperor]

I was waiting for this thread.

Where's Mercker's? ;)

For the record: If we ever get down to a thread complaining about one of the bullpen catachers, I'm logging out and never coming back. :)

[dabvu2498]

For the record: If we ever get down to a thread complaining about one of the bullpen catachers, I'm logging out and never coming back. :)
After reading the ORG game thread, I'm at least looking forward to some Edwin Encarnacion jokes along the lines of the Denorfia, Chuck Norris, etc.

[Tom Servo]

Narron thought it was the right move to hit Hatt, and Keith Hernandez said right or wrong it was a good move to make. I tend to believe in the decisions/observations of two guys with quite a few decades of actualy MLB experience over my fellow Redzone posters.


It's not Jerry's fault no one on the offense could bring in a runner.

[Ltlabner]

After reading the ORG game thread, I'm looking forward to some Edwin Encarnacion jokes along the lines of the Denorfia, Chuck Norris, etc.

I guess you missed mine....maybe they weren't that good.....crickets...

[dabvu2498]

I guess you missed mine....maybe they weren't that good.....crickets...
Nahhh... I gave up after a few pages of it... too much for me.

And to think, my only neg point was for being too negative. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[markymark69]

Not his fault today, Phillips should have had the first double. Remain calm.

My thoughts exactly.

Frankly, he should have never been in the ballgame, too many missed opportunites, five consecutive innings with the lead-off man on base and twice there were two runners on in scoring the Reds didn't get it done.

[smith288]

After reading the ORG game thread, I'm at least looking forward to some Edwin Encarnacion jokes along the lines of the Denorfia, Chuck Norris, etc.
When Edwin speaks, its not just a conversation, its a lesson in humanity and bravery.

[Rob Dicken]

Can't blame Majewski. He gave up a run in the 10th inning, and inning that shouldn't have had to take place to the begin with.

Blame the hitting for this game, not the pitching.

[Ltlabner]

When Edwin speaks, its not just a conversation, its a lesson in humanity and bravery.

And when he breaks wind, sheets of satin laced with gold are released instead of the usual foul smelling odor of us mortals.

[dabvu2498]

And when he breaks wind, sheets of satin laced with gold are released instead of the usual foul smelling odor of us mortals.
Now you're gonna get crickets.

[Danny Serafini]

For the record: If we ever get down to a thread complaining about one of the bullpen catachers, I'm logging out and never coming back. :)

Mike Stefanski is garbage! They never should've moved Mark Berry! The Reds season is going in the toilet because of this! AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! !!!!!

[KittyDuran]

http://www.dispatch.com/reds/reds.php?jrl=584676&story=dispatch%2f2006%2f07%2f21%2f20060721-E1-01.html&rfr=nwsl&clk=38529

COMMENTARY
Unlucky Majewski stays calm in storm
Friday, July 21, 2006
BOB HUNTER



CINCINNATI — Gary Majewski was a Houston Astros fan when he was a kid, and he knows what he would be thinking about a trade that gave up one of his team’s most popular players and another starting position player for a couple of relief pitchers.

"I know how much everybody loved Austin (Kearns) here," he said. "I would be thinking ‘What’s going on?’ "

You couldn’t blame him if he were thinking the same thing now. While he hasn’t exactly been lights out in his three appearances with his new team — his 22.50 ERA looked like a midnight bonfire stoked with rocket fuel — he hadn’t had much luck. And in two of his three chances to show everybody in Cincinnati that the Reds did the right thing by acquiring him and fellow reliever Bill Bray from the Washington Nationals, his outings have been sabotaged by bad plays.

In his first appearance, he got in trouble with a double and jam-job single but was about to get out of the inning when shortstop Royce Clayton, another Cincinnati newbie, booted a ground ball. Yesterday in the 10 th inning, he got Xavier Nady to hit a blooper to shallow right that second baseman Brandon Phillips had in his sights before rookie right fielder Chris Denorfia called him off.

Unfortunately, the hard-charging Denofia didn’t catch the ball and it fell for a $#!@*@#! double. After Majewski struck out Jose Reyes, lefty-swinging Endy Chavez slashed one just inside the line at third – everybody seems to place it just inside the foul line against Majewksi lately — for a double that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead and finished the reliever’s day again. When Kent Mercker entered and gave up a double to Carlos Beltran, the Mets had their final 4-2 margin and Majewski’s aching pitching line and had another run.

Majewski pulled his shirt over his head in anger when he reached the dugout but seemed unfazed by it all afterward.

"The first two outings ... everything started with the bloop hit and then the double down the line," he said. "It’s one of those things where you beat the guy and he’s late and he just gets it down the line. I was more frustrated at that than anything else."

Denorfia’s mistake didn’t bother him?

"It happens," Majewski said. "You can’t get mad. It would be like a position player getting (mad) when the pitcher throws a fastball down the middle and a guy hits the ball out."

Majewski’s calm acceptance of his misfortunes might be as good a sign of his value to the Reds as all the nice things they said about him in Washington; he reputedly had the best stuff of any of the relievers in the Nationals’ bullpen.

Reds manager Jerry Narron insists that he isn’t concerned about Majewski’s first three outings, and although he almost has to say that, his explanation seemed sincere.

"He’s going to do a good job for us," Narron said. "Shoot, he was out of that inning. It seems like every outing he’s been out there there’s been some kind of freaky little play. He’ll be fine. He’s going to get a lot of chances to pitch and I’m sure he’ll do fine."

Majewski has the mentality for it, anyway. He was wearing a T-shirt in the clubhouse afterward that can’t be quoted in a family newspaper, or even in a respectable strip club. It strung together three raw expletives in a five-word sentence, which he thinks of as a nice challenge for opposing batters.

But after the storm of protest over the trade, he knows that Cincinnati fans would rather see some results than hear about some silly prop he wears under his uniform. He also seems to be enjoying the attention — negative as some of it is — that most middle relievers never accumulate in their entire careers.

"I love it," he said. "I’m relaxed and I’m going out there throwing strikes and trying to do the best I can. It’s just one of those things. I just can’t let stuff like this affect me."

Could this just be a lot of false bravado? Maybe. But he steadfastly claims he isn’t frustrated.

"I just want to put up a zero."


Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for The Dispatch .



bhunter@dispatch.com

[dabvu2498]

Here's the Dayton version of that story:


Archdeacon: Majewski beating himself up over defeat
By Tom Archdeacon

Staff Writer

CINCINNATI | He looked like he was trying to pull his hair out by the roots.

Gary Majewski — one of the new Cincinnati Reds pitchers, but with the team's same old bullpen problem — stomped off the mound during the 10th inning at Great American Ball Park on Thursday after being sabotaged by a teammate's fielding miscue and then a freakish, pinpoint hit by the New York Mets' Endy Chavez.

The 2-2 game Majewski had inherited was now 3-2 in New York's favor and would quickly be 4-2 — the final — after his Reds' replacement, Kent Mercker, gave up a double.

Sent to the dugout, the visibly frustrated Majewski slammed himself onto the bench and grabbed his long, damp locks with both hands and pulled until he looked like a wild-haired Albert Einstein.

But this wasn't mad genius. Majewski was just mad — at the baseball gods and especially himself.

After all, this is the guy who walked around the clubhouse Thursday with a black T-shirt bearing a profanely disparaging message to opposing hitters and yet ended up victimized by rival bats for the third straight time since he arrived here in a blockbuster trade one week ago.

For all that posturing, there he was, slumped on the bench, taking the loss. After yanking his hair, he pulled his jersey over his head.

Not that he could disappear.

When you're one of — if not the — key acquisition in the eight-player trade that sent Austin Kearns, the Reds' best all-around outfielder, and home-run hitting shortstop Felipe Lopez, to the Washington Nationals, you're going to be scrutinized.

Especially when you've given up runs in each of your three Reds outings, have blown a save, lost a game and have a 22.50 ERA here.

Sure Thursday Majewski was done in by Chris Denorfia's misguided attempt on a shallow pop fly by the Mets' Xavier Nady.

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips was ready to make the catch, but the young outfielder called him off, lunged ... and missed.

Reds manager Jerry Narron applauded Denorfia's aggression, but said he'd rather see him be "aggressively intelligent. ... Brandon had it."

With that out and the one he'd previously gotten, Majewski would've escaped the 10th inning when he froze Jose Reyes with a perfect third-strike pitch.

Instead Chavez came up and drilled a double down the third-base line to score Nady.

"That stuff (Denorfia's misplay) happens," Majewski said. "I didn't make the pitches I should have. I didn't finish the job. I had the guy (Chavez) beat and then gave up the hit."

Narron said he felt badly for Majewski, whom he said has been done in by freaky little things in all three outings. Narron believes the 26-year-old right-hander is going to show his rookie form of a year ago when he led the Nationals with 79 appearances and a 2.93 ERA.

This year there was some early shoulder tendinitis, and though he's 3-3 with a 4.24 ERA in 49 total outings, he's struggled here.

"I know everyone here loved Austin," Majewski said. "If I was a fan here, I'd be thinking, 'What's going on?' "

He said he just has to remember each time out is a chance to redeem myself: "I can't focus on (what went wrong) and put more pressure on myself. If you start thinking about all that, you'd drive yourself nuts."

Next thing you know, you'd be trying to yank out your hair by the roots.




Find this article at:
http://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/reds/daily/072106arch.html

[reds1869]

Tom Archdeacon is a terrible sports writer. FWIW, he's one of the writers for the Hamilton Journal-News. The DDN owns them and sometimes picks up their columns. He's one of teh main reasons I switched back to the Enquirer.

[ThornWithin81]

What is going on with this guy? I was under the impression that Maj was a good bullpen option when we made this trade, and he has been nothing short of dreadful since he first put on the Reds cap.

Since becoming a Red, he's pitched 11 outings as a Red.

Despite only one of those outings lasting more than one inning, he's allowed at least 1 run in seven of eleven appearances.

In four of those seven run-allowing performances, Majewski has allowed two runs or more.

He's pitched exactly 9 innings as a Red, in those 11 outings. He's allowed 13 runs. A 13.00 ERA, considering what we gave up in that trade...absolutely positively, dreadful.

So what gives? Is he just having a rough transition? Is it Great American Ballpark? Or is he just not good outside of the very pitcher friendly confines of RFK? I wanted to think that it had something to do with Great American being a hitter's park, however all four of his shutout pitching appearances have come at home.

Does anyone have the first clue what this guy's problem is? At this point, every time I see his curly, unkempt mop trot out to the mound, I reach for my helmet and brace for impact. I'm hoping against hope that this is a temporary slump, and not something worse.

- Eric

[Brutus]

I was just getting ready to post that someone better put Majewski on witness protection if the Reds don't come back in the 9th to win this game.

[Redsfan08]

I dont even know how he is gonna dothat what was Narron thinking does he not look at the players ERA or something:bang:

[ThornWithin81]

I was just getting ready to post that someone better put Majewski on witness protection if the Reds don't come back in the 9th to win this game.

If it weren't for Bill Bray, I'd consider this one of the least popular trades in Reds history. Clayton is public enemy number one around here, and Majewski is giving him a run for his money.

I'd be more upset if I liked Austin Kearns, which I never did. Maj just needs to step up, in a big way.

[Brutus]

At least Bray may end up being one heck of a pitcher in some capacity or another - making the trade easier to swallow.

[redbuck]

Majewski is beyond awful. What a disaster.

[cincrazy]

At least Clayton will be gone after this season. Unfortunately, fans in the outfield seats will continue to have to fear for their safety, as Majewski will be a Red for a while.

[fielder's choice]

Majewski is the Joe Mays of the bullpen. Absolutely no stuff. Whatever scout said we should get him needs fired yesterday. Pathetic.

[fearofpopvol1]

Marty said he has options left.

I think it'd be smart when Mercker comes back to give him some time in the minors. Standridge is inconsistent, but has at least shown that he doesn't give up a walk/hit/run every appearence like Majewski has.

[cincrazy]

I haven't seen one decent breaking pitch from Maj since we got him. I have a slight feeling that RFK had something to do with his success. But, I think the biggest problem stems from just pure overload. Frank Robinson ran his right arm into the ground.

[redbuck]

Slow fastball, can't locate, bad breaking stuff. Other than that Gary Majewski is a heck of a pitcher.

And always seems to have a bad hair day.

[Blue]

The guy has to be injured. He had WHIPs of 1.36 last year and 1.34 with the Nationals this year. His OPS against was .665 in 2005 and was .680 this season with the Nats.

Also, this stuff about RFK being responsible for his numbers is rubbish:

His ERA was much worse when pitching at RFK (4.56) than on the road (2.73).

The last game he pitched with the Nationals was also a disaster, 1/3 of an inning and 3 ER. I have to wonder if he has been injured the entire time he's been with the Reds.

ERAs of 3.86 in 2004, 2.96 in 2005, and 3.58 in 2006 before coming to the Reds. He's not a bad pitcher. Something is wrong with him. Hopefully he can be put on the DL and brought back when the rosters expand in September. We need a way to keep all of these relievers under Reds control until the offseason, anyway.

[oregonred]

The guy has to be injured. He had WHIPs of 1.36 last year and 1.34 with the Nationals this year. His OPS against was .665 in 2005 and was .680 this season with the Nats.

Also, this stuff about RFK being responsible for his numbers is rubbish:

His ERA was much worse when pitching at RFK (4.56) than on the road (2.73).

The last game he pitched with the Nationals was also a disaster, 1/3 of an inning and 3 ER. I have to wonder if he has been injured the entire time he's been with the Reds.

ERAs of 3.86 in 2004, 2.96 in 2005, and 3.58 in 2006 before coming to the Reds. He's not a bad pitcher. Something is wrong with him. Hopefully he can be put on the DL and brought back when the rosters expand in September. We need a way to keep all of these relievers under Reds control until the offseason, anyway.

Interesting. After patching together my DVR remote from watching the game (and a missed chance to finally put the hated Braves out of their misery) something doesn't seem right. Mind you he isn't headed to Cooperstown with his stuff, but something is amiss here...

2H 2005, 48.2IP/40H/11ER/2HR/33K 1.5 GO/FO (2.05 ERA)

By Month;

April: 7.2 IP/3ER/4H/5K/0HR (3.42 ERA)
May: 16IP/0ER/11H/6K/0HR (0.00 ERA)
June: 12.2IP/10ER/22H/6K/0HR (7.11 ERA)
July: 14.2IP/5ER/14H/7K/1HR (3.07 ERA)
Aug: 15IP/3ER/12H/12K/0HR (1.80 ERA)
Sept: 19IP/3ER/14H/14K/1HR (1.42 ERA)

2005 total: 86.2IP/80H/28ER/50K/2HR (2.93 ERA)

By month he was very, very solid in 5/6 last year. His current stretch looks like his June '05 run. I can't see how someone with pedestrian talent could make 80 appearances across 86IP and luck their way into a .665OPS, a .93H/IP and simply great HR/9 numbers. Then post another 3.5 months/46appearances in 2006 with another sub .680OPS and .93H/IP. Conclusion: Either he is hurt, fatigued or needs more work...

[Handofdeath]

What he needs is a little patience. 152 career games pitched and a 3.77 ERA even with the horrible start with the Reds. How many other Reds relievers have a career ERA that low?

[jmac]

majic's era was good and many scouts or publications spoke highly of him.he must be hurt or is presing too hard or something.
it's easy for people to set back now and say "bad trade" based on maj.
fact is clayton was a throw in , bray may be something special, and maj is struggling and needs to be dl'd or something.
thing is, before yesterday...everyone was on loshe's case for bad trade.now most say another start.
as far as kearns....i liked him but when he becomes an all-star let me know !

[fielder's choice]

I don't think he's hurt. His velocity isn't down is it? I think he just has Danny Graves syndrome.

[Chip R]

I don't think he's hurt. His velocity isn't down is it? I think he just has Danny Graves syndrome.

He feels small?

[fielder's choice]

He feels small?

Exactly, especially after the booing he got yesterday.