March 2, Reds vs Blue Jays

[OnBaseMachine]

DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Lineup, we gots lineup

Bruce cf
Hopper lf
Keppinger ss
Phillips 2b
Encarnacion 3b
Hatteberg 1b
Freel DH
Dickerson rf
Bako c

Arroyo p

other pitchers on the travel roster
Cordero
Cueto
Lehr
Lincoln
McBeth
Mercker
Pettyjohn
Ramirez
Stanton
Weathers

http://www.1530homer.com/pages/ctrent.html?page=1

[Joseph]

SS isn't hitting second today. Scary.

[OnBaseMachine]

Nice to see Bruce playing CF and hitting leadoff. I hope to see that on Opening Day.

[Matt700wlw]

:lol:

Freel - DH

:lol:

Yet Votto sits. Can we please give the young guys EVERY OPPORTUNITY to make this team?



(Is it too early to be a cynical turd? :D)

[Falls City Beer]

(Is it too early to be a cynical turd? :D)

About ST lineups? Yeah.

[OnBaseMachine]

The Jays are playing most of their starters, except Rios.

And here are the Jays...
David Eckstein ss
Reed Johnson lf
Vernon Wells cf
Frank Thomas dh
Scott Rolen 3b
Matt Stairs rf
Lyle Overbay 1b
Aaron Hill 2b
Gregg Zaun c

A.J. Burnett p

[reds44]

Jay Bruce leading off.....

That's real interesting.

[OnBaseMachine]

Dusty was asked about Bruce at the lineup.

"Trying stuff, that's what spring training is all about," Baker said. "He's been getting some hits. We're giving everyone an opportunity to see what they can do. You take their past, what they do in the present and what they have to work on in the future into consideration."

An injury update ... Dusty said he hopes to "get Gil back shortly" and David Ross "in a couple of days."

Baker also hopes to get Juan Castro back to where he can play back-to-back days. Yesterday Castro said he was getting better, but was still having some trouble. Castro made some nice plays in Saturday's game: "He looks good, but I've told him to save his bulllets during drills."

Also catching Baker's eye is reliever Mike Lincoln, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery (like Castro, Gil and Kent Mercker). Lincoln last pitched in 2004 and has had two Tommy John surgeries.

"I've talked to Walt Jocketty and he said he's throwing better than he was. I've seen that before. Lincoln has more life (on his pitches) than I remember."

"With so many teams in need of quality arms, guys are able to come back more than before. They're giving their body a natural chance to recover, in addition to rehab."

"In the old days, there were some guys I knew who were in better shape and were better players in the beer league after they got hurt. They just couldn't get a chance. But they got all the beer."

Johnny Cueto had been suffering with the flu and was sent home yesterday. Today Baker saw him before the bus left and asked him if he was OK. Baker said Cueto said, "I want to pitch, I want to pitch."

"I like that," Baker said. "I know he's not going to be 100 percent."

Baker said Cueto's time on the mound will be seen.

Hatteberg had the flu earlier in the week. "You pray it doesn't make it's way across the clubhouse," Baker said. "You send them home and hope to quarantine them. Maybe make them wear a mask."

With all the Canadian scribes here, Joey Votto was a star today. Before we went in to talk to Dusty Baker, a small scrum surrounded him. Kent Mercker looked over and said, "Hey Joey, are you from Dunedin? Are you giving them your high school stats?"

Votto laughed and continued his press conference.

"IF he makes the club, we play up there this year," Baker said, as the Reds go to Toronto in Interleague play from June 24-26. "I'll start negotiating my tickets to him now."

Baker was also asked about Edwin Encarnacion giving up the No. 12 to him. Baker said he was going to call Edwin, but never got him.

"He gave it to me, I was willing to negotiated it," Baker said. "He just gave it to me."

Baker said he was given the number by the Braves when he came up, but never asked for it. Still, he thinks someone did their homework, because his hero growing up was Tommy Davis, who wore No. 12 for the Dodgers.

When Baker was traded to the Dodgers, he was involved in the trade with another player who wore No. 12, Tom Paciorek, so he got to wear No. 12 with the Dodgers as well.

Baker said he was lucky enough to become friends with Davis after he made the big leagues.

"He's one of those people I've held in equal or higher esteem after I met him than before," Baker said of his childhood hero.

http://www.1530homer.com/pages/ctrent.html

[reds44]

Does that mean Cueto isn't pitching today?

[reds44]

Oh these announcers have Canadian accents, eh?

[reds44]

Bruce weakly grounds out 4-3.

[reds44]

Hopper nubs one to 3rd and Rolen throws him out.

2 out
0 on

[reds44]

Keppinger slaps one to first that Overbay makes a great diving play on, but Burnett drops the feed to the bag.

Kep's on first.

[reds44]

Phillips first pitching swinging, hits on thru the hole between first and 2nd. Keppinger to 2B.

2 out, 2 on

[OnBaseMachine]

For those interested - Baseball Tonight is on today at 4:00 EST on ESPN.

[reds44]

Edwin rolls one to SS and is thrown out by everyone's favorite SS David Eckstein.

0-0 mid 1

[reds44]

1,2,3 first for Arroyo.

[reds44]

Hatteberg grounds out to first.

[Chip R]

With these ex-Cards on TOR's roster, I wonder if George Grande will be making any illicit visits across the border.

[11larkin11]

Hatteberg grounds out to first.

How are you watching this?

[reds44]

Freel ground out 6-3.

Reds are not exactly pounding Burnett.

[reds44]

How are you watching this?
MLB.tv

[reds44]

Dickerson rips one into the LCF gap, and flies around the bases all the way to 3rd for a two out triple.

[reds44]

Bako walks.

1st and 3rd two outs for Bruce.

[cincrazy]

Jay Bruce with a 2 run double off the wall in left center, 2-0 Reds

[reds44]

Bruce just hammers a pitch that was shoulder high off of the wall in left field. Two runs score. That was just pure strength.

2-0 Reds

[reds44]

Hopper hits one into CF that Wells runs down.

2-0 Reds thru 1.5

[Matt700wlw]

Bruce out of the lineup now

[OnBaseMachine]

Opposite field double off the wall against a good pitcher like AJ Burnett? Impressive. Speaking of impressive, Chris Dickerson has been just that so far this spring. He's now 4-for-10 with a double, triple, and homer.

[OnBaseMachine]

Damn. Trent says Bruce limped off the field. Damnit. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

[reds44]

6 up, 6 down for Bronson.

[11larkin11]

Not good. Hopefully he only cramped or slightly twisted something and its just precautionary.

[OnBaseMachine]

And now Fay says he wasn't limping.

[reds44]

Keppinger flies out to Wells.

[reds44]

Phillips now 2-2 with two singles.

[reds44]

Phillips thrown out trying to steal 2nd.

[Matt700wlw]

About ST lineups? Yeah.

Cool. Just checking :D

[reds44]

Edwin with a 2 out walk.

[reds44]

Hatteberg with a single to right.

1st and 2nd two outs.

[reds44]

Freel grounds into the 6-4 to end the inning.

2-0 end of 2.5

[OnBaseMachine]

Trent says Cueto is warming up. I guess he is going to pitch despite having the flu. Tough kid.

[Matt700wlw]

Cueto in now

[reds44]

Cueto's in, and breaking bats.

[reds44]

Solid single by Aaron Hill.

[Matt700wlw]

Bruce: Mild left quad strain, he's day to day.....nothing serious.

[reds44]

Nasty, nasty breaking ball by Cueto to get Zaun.

[OnBaseMachine]

Bruce: Mild left quad strain, he's day to day.....nothing serious.

Whew. Glad it's nothing serious.

[Tommyjohn25]

Cueto throws absolute filth. Wow.

[reds44]

Eckstein flies to right to end the inning. Toronto's broadcast missed the first batter of the inning.

[Tommyjohn25]

Bruce: Mild left quad strain, he's day to day.....nothing serious.

:scared::pray:

[OnBaseMachine]

How many K's did Cueto get?

I hope Trent got some video of Cueto pitching.

[reds44]

Dickerson grounds out to first.

[reds44]

How many K's did Cueto get?

I hope Trent got some video of Cueto pitching.
1.

1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

[reds44]

Thanks to the Toronto broadcast by missing the final two batters of the inning and showing a special on how slow Frank Thomas is.

Quality.

[Tommyjohn25]

So they just cut away from the game completely to show this God awful interview with Frank Thomas. Awesome.

[edabbs44]

Bruce: Mild left quad strain, he's day to day.....nothing serious.

We hope.

[Matt700wlw]

Bruce's breaking pitches are working today...it would seem

[reds44]

Cueto still in.

[reds44]

Bruce's breaking pitches are working today...
He pitches too?

;)

[reds44]

Assuming that was the first batter of the inning, a leadoff single for Reed Johnson.

[reds44]

Just a NASTY slider to Wells, and Cueto K's him on three pitches.

[Matt700wlw]

He pitches too?

;)

Sure, why not :D - it's something even Chris Denorfia couldn't do :D

I meant Cueto :cool:

[reds44]

Fastball Thomas fouls back (0-1)
Fastball Cueto throws right by him (0-2)
Fastball just alittle inside (1-2)
Slider low and away (2-2)
Slider nubbed foul (2-2)
Pickoff attempt at first
Fastball high (3-2)
Slider popped back to Bako. Thomas was way out in front.

2 outs

[reds44]

Back to back singles and it's 2-1 now.

Pole out to see Cueto.

[reds44]

HGH is warming up in the pen.

[Matt700wlw]

His breaking ball, by what I'm hearing, is filthy

[reds44]

Overbay loops one into CF that Dickerson nabs.

Cueto: 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K

His day is done.

[Tommyjohn25]

His breaking ball, by what I'm hearing, is filthy

No it's not filthy. It's FILTHY!!! Maybe even disgusting! :p:

[OnBaseMachine]

Not bad. Not bad at all for a guy with the flu facing a quality lineup.

[reds44]

Not bad. Not bad at all for a guy with the flu facing a quality lineup.
It was all singles too. They weren't exactly mashing the ball off of him.

[reds44]

The Blue Jays broadcast cut off Norris Hopper mid swing to go to another special.

[reds44]

OBM, Trent got Cueto video.


Got Cueto video. He got Vernon Wells to strike out, not too bad on your resume. Gave up a run, but still looked pretty good. Most of the hits were in front of outfielders. You didn't exactly see outfielder's numbers, which is good.

[Tommyjohn25]

The Blue Jays broadcast cut off Norris Hopper mid swing to go to another special.


Yeah this is really getting on my nerves.

[top6]

Bruce: Mild left quad strain, he's day to day.....nothing serious.
I remember a lot of Griffey injuries that were day to day and nothing serious. Just saying...

[OnBaseMachine]

Sweet. Gotta love Trent.

[Matt700wlw]

Stanton in...OH BOY!!!

[Matt700wlw]

Votto now playing at 1st, BTW

[Chip R]

Buck Coates is hitting! And he just took Stanton deep.

[Tom Servo]

Buck Coates is hitting!
He's no Jeff Fiorentino.

[Matt700wlw]

Stanton gives up a HR to Buck Coats

:lol:

[Hap]

deja vu all over again

[Chip R]

He's no Jeff Fiorentino.


Well, who is?

[reds44]

Pedro Lopez sighting at SS for the Jays.

[reds44]

Buck Coates is hitting! And he just took Stanton deep.
Part of me enjoyed that.

Votto flies out to deep center field. Nice play by Wells.

[Heath]

If giving up ST homers to Buck Coats doesn't give you a one way ticket home, I'm not sure what will.

[reds44]

Freel grounds out 6-3.

Rosales (running for Edwin) to 2nd.

[reds44]

Rosales looks like a big boy standing on 2nd base, especially standing next to PeLo.

[reds44]

Dickerson with a nice AB and works a walk. He's had a great first week of spring.

[reds44]

Hanigan eats up Pedro Lopez on a grounder to SS, might be an error. Rosales scores the tieing run.

[reds44]

Anderson chops one to first at the 3rd baseman boots it. Left side of the Jays infield having a rough inning.

Bases loaded, 2 outs

[Matt700wlw]

David Weathers doing stellar...

[Chip R]

Matt Stairs goes deep off of Weathers. Jays up 6-5.

[Tommyjohn25]

These announcers are about as awful as it gets. Good lord.

[edabbs44]

It's obviously way early, but it isn't too early to feel like this bullpen is going to suck yet again.

Just sayin'.

[OnBaseMachine]

It's obviously way early, but it isn't too early to feel like this bullpen is going to suck yet again.

Just sayin'.

If the right guys make the team this bullpen could be pretty good IMO.

Francisco Cordero, Jared Burton, Josh Roenicke, Bill Bray, Marcus McBeth/Todd Coffey, Jeremy Affeldt/Jon Coutlangus, and David Weathers.

[Matt700wlw]

The Reds have 2 Drew Andersons...

[OnBaseMachine]

Votto doubled.

[edabbs44]

If the right guys make the team this bullpen could be pretty good IMO.

Francisco Cordero, Jared Burton, Josh Roenicke, Bill Bray, Marcus McBeth/Todd Coffey, Jeremy Affeldt/Jon Coutlangus, and David Weathers.

Could be. Could also be horrific, as many of those guys have zero to very little track record.

[OnBaseMachine]

Talked to Bruce: "It's no big deal. I felt rounding first. There's no use taking any chances this early in spring. It's not serious at all."

[Matt700wlw]

Mercker isn't going to make the club if he keeps this up...

[OnBaseMachine]

Johnny Cueto also had the flu. He's looked pretty good until he gave up back-to-back, two-out singles in the fourth. The second one scored a run. His line: 2 IP, 4 hits, 1 runs, no walks, 2 strikeouts.

"His stuff was electric," Dusty Baker said. "And he wasn't even feeling good. He'll get better."

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/redsinsider/2008/03/reds-2-jays-0-bruce-out.asp

[OnBaseMachine]

The Reds are severely lacking in the LH reliever department... Stanton, Mercker, and Saurbeck are stinking up the joint and taking away innings from some of the younger guys who can do better IMO. I say get rid of those three guys and see what Coutlangus/Pelland/Viola can do. Move Affeldt back to the bullpen and go with him and Bill Bray as the two lefties out of the pen. If Bray isn't ready then go with one of the three younger guys that I mentioned.

[mth123]

The Reds are severely lacking in the LH reliever department... Stanton, Mercker, and Saurbeck are stinking up the joint and taking away innings from some of the younger guys who can do better IMO. I say get rid of those three guys and see what Coutlangus/Pelland/Viola can do. Move Affeldt back to the bullpen and go with him and Bill Bray as the two lefties out of the pen. If Bray isn't ready then go with one of the three younger guys that I mentioned.

Agree. The one journeyman LH I might look at is Adam Pettyjohn simply because he could go multi-innings and turn line-ups around in long relief. I'm not saying Pettyjohn is all that promising, but if the team insists on 3 LH in the pen, then a muiti-inning guy who only pitches when the starter is blown out is probably the best idea since there probably aren't three good ones. I would prefer Ramon Ramirez get a long look in the multi-inning role or ditch it all together and stretch out Salmon or Coffey a bit.

I'd like to see Bray step-up, but I think Affeldt is the best bet as a late situation lefty and Coutlangus is probably the best idea for a loogy. If Bray is healthy, he isn't automatically assured of a job IMO. I'd like to see the team make a spring deal for a LH reliever who is wasted on a bad team. Damaso Marte would be a good target.

[WVRedsFan]

Could be. Could also be horrific, as many of those guys have zero to very little track record.
Exactly. Roenicke and McBeth have little experience and McBeth looked pretty bad last year.

Also, what makes anyone think Coffey will be better than last year? Same goes for Coutlangus. Bray's ML record is horrible. To tell you the truth, that group of five will not be much better than Stanton and others.

We've just got to score a lot of runs early.

Reds bullpen today:

IP - 6, H - 12, R - 8, ER- 8, BB - 1, SO - 3, ERA - 12.00

Like I said, we need to score lots of runs.

[Gainesville Red]

Just got done watching.

Gotta say, that was on of the worst announcing jobs and broadcasts in general that I've seen.

I assume they produce like this just becasue it's spring training, and it's the away team, but twice they missed AB's coming back from commercial and missed a couple of AB's with a feature on how slow Frank Thomas is. I guess it's forgivable because they're in the A.L. East and never see the N.L. Central, but they knew NOTHING about the Reds. Hard to watch. I never watch the Blue Jays, but I really think I know more about the Blue Jays than these professional announcers know about the Reds.

By the way, watching Eckstein's cro hop from across the diamond is still adorable this year as it was in prior season.

[Reds Nd2]

Just got done watching.

Gotta say, that was on of the worst announcing jobs and broadcasts in general that I've seen.

I assume they produce like this just becasue it's spring training, and it's the away team, but twice they missed AB's coming back from commercial and missed a couple of AB's with a feature on how slow Frank Thomas is. I guess it's forgivable because they're in the A.L. East and never see the N.L. Central, but they knew NOTHING about the Reds. Hard to watch. I never watch the Blue Jays, but I really think I know more about the Blue Jays than these professional announcers know about the Reds.

By the way, watching Eckstein's cro hop from across the diamond is still adorable this year as it was in prior season.

Just got done watching myself, and yea', it was pretty rough.

I'm not quiet sure what Citytv is, but that production was in no way typical of what you usually see during spring training! You get much better from even the MLB webcasts. Trust me on this Gainsville, those were not the pro announcers for the Blue Jays and this was the absolute worst broadcast of a game I've ever seen during spring training. If you've just bought the spring training package, don't let this game influence you.

The thing is, I realized this pretty early in the game. So while I can see where others might have gotten a bit peeved, I was able to enjoy the Frank Thomas and Alex Rios bits.

My favorite though was really toward the end. Yes, I stayed for it all.


"Blondie": Now, if you wanna' be a major league baseball manager and your not too worried about getting a prom date, then this is the game for you. It's Stratomatic Baseball. It's sort of the Dungeon and Dragons of baseball, and it's the game that manager (?) J.P. Ricciardi used to play when he was a kid.


"J.P." says, "These kinda' guys would be hanging around with like the Stars Wars guys. The Stratomatic Guys and the Star Wars aren't too far apart.