6/3/2015 Reds @ Phillies (the Brewers of the NL East)

[757690]

Just curious....is there never an argument to be made for letting a starter try to finish up his gem? Yes, his pitch count was right around where he normally gets pulled. But those aren't strict limits but rather guidelines. Not all 100 pitches are the same. He'd been cruising all night long and those were 107 fairly easy pitches. I agree he probably should've been pulled after 8...but "need" and "want" are different things to a ballplayer. It doesn't mean much to the fans, but starting pitchers LOVE to have the complete game shutout. And if Leake told Price that he felt fine and wanted to try to close it out...there's not a manager in baseball who doesn't let him try.

The only mistake I saw Price make was not pulling Leake after the leadoff hit by Revere.

I agree with most of this. This wasn't an egregious mistake by Price, but it wasn't the best way to manage the 9th, in my opinion.

Two points:

1. This is Leake's quote after the game about going back out for the 9th.:

As for going out for the ninth, Leake said he felt good.
"I felt good. Slightly stiffer, but, I mean, I still felt good," he said.
Leake said he didn't ask Price to go back out for the ninth.
"Probably if we had one more hitter come up for us, I probably would have pulled myself because it'd be a long sit," Leake said of the top of the ninth when the Reds sent five to the plate. "I felt like I was still good to go and they fought me well those first two at-bats. (Ben) Revere did a good job getting on base and (Jeff) Francoeur wouldn't get out."

Sounds like Leake wasn't positive himself about going out again. At 110+ pitches, and he says he feels "stiffer," I don't send him out again. A good manager is on top of this.

2. Chapman has been struggling for awhile. He has not been lights out for around a month. In May, he has a 3.09 ERA, and batters were hitting .292 with a .410 OBP against him. Clearly, use him in tight situations when you have to, but try to avoid it, if you can, until he shows signs of getting back on track.

[Stray]

I think it has to be something mechanical with Chapman because his misses have all been high. Then he has to dial it back to try and get a strike over and he's getting hit.

Either way, the talk about him not getting a clean inning is silly. He came in with 2 on and a 4 run lead. This is Aroldis Chapman...he is good enough to get that save almost every time. He doesn't need to be babied and only brought into clean innings.

[RedTeamGo!]

Clearly, use him in tight situations when you have to, but try to avoid it, if you can, until he shows signs of getting back on track.

No. He is Aroldis Freaking Chapman. He is on the team to pitch in the hardest situations in late inning games. He will just have to work through it.

[faffy42]

I believe this team should be performing better than they have. A lot has gone wrong, a lot of blame to pass around from pitching to hitting to managing to defense this season. It just seems like all the parts aren't working together. Its a shame, cuz I think they're better than record indicates. It seems there is no team consistency. One element works (hitting) at the same time as the pitching isn't working. Not much synergy this season. They all need to go to chucky cheese, or bbqs or more team mtgs to get a synergy of team. I'm kinda kidding. But really to me they don't seem unified.

[Maldez]

Price blew it again. No way leake should of pitched the 9th.

Price can't win with some of you guys. He got blasted for not bringing Chapman in in Philly game #1, but he gets blasted that he "blew it" in game #2 when Chapman has an off game.

[Maldez]

Should have used Jumbo Diaz.

Sarcasm, I hope.

[Maldez]

Grande is a moron.....

Thank you....about time I saw that in print.

[traderumor]

Watching the game last night, the reality that the Reds are basically the Phillies, maybe not quite as far down talent wise on the big club, but not far away either, with a few high priced vets in the twilight of their career yet comprising an inordinate amount of the budget, holes all over the 25 man roster due to poor drafting of position players, and lots of losses, with some scrub being the hero a few times a year to put a chippy little smile on everyone's face for a few days.