Seriously?

[757690]

Yes but Sims, Antone, Doolittle had all pitched earlier this evening.

Not sure it was so unreasonable to let Garrett go to it. Three run lead, AG had a margin for error, though small.

There were plenty of other options. It was a three run lead against a team that had two hits all game. This wasn’t a tight save opportunity.

[westofyou]

AG needs to keep his mind on pitching rather than other issues.

Fart Noise

He needs to throw his breaking ball for strikes

[Kc61]

There were plenty of other options. It was a three run lead against a team that had two hits all game. This wasn’t a tight save opportunity.

I guess Bell could have used in the ninth the same guys who pitched the beautiful 5-run tenth.

There weren’t many good options unfortunately.

[757690]

I guess Bell could have used in the ninth the same guys who pitched the beautiful 5-run tenth.

There weren’t many good options unfortunately.

Fulmer relieved Garrett and pitched fine. He has a 0.90 ERA. C. Perez followed and pitched fine, he got a fly out, he gave up an intentional walk because he inherited a runner on second, then got a ground ball that Blandino blundered. He was then relieved by DeLeon who imploded. Romano was available too.

I am guessing any of those besides DeLeon would have been able to pitch a 9th inning without giving up 3 runs.

[Crumbley]

Dancing swag guys are very annoying when they suck

[Edskin]

I was OK with Bell going to AG tonight. If you make a decision to give a guy a job/role, you need to give him a reasonable chance with it. Even with his bad start I felt he should have gotten the ball— it’s as “easy” as a save situation gets. This was a lower stress situation while still mattering. I am fine giving AG the ball. Obviously, he blew the chance. Now it’s clear he’s all kinds of messed up and probably shouldn’t be thrown into any situations where the game is in doubt or Reds have the lead. In other words, starting now, if Bell goes to AG I think the results are on Bell. I think at this point you have to slip AG more into the Sal Romano role, even if it hurts AG’s feelings.

[Edskin]

Dancing swag guys are very annoying when they suck

This is the burden “dancing swag guys” carry. Not only do I not mind the bravado, I enjoy it. Personalities make the game more fun. I have no issue with AG’s antics, other than occasionally they come off a little contrived. But overall, no issue with it. But yes, if things go bad, those things do tend to come back to you and the bravado-guy has to tuck tail a bit when he’s getting shelled. As long as he’s able to stand up to it (which AG did in the post game) then so be it.

[GAC]

He needs to throw his breaking ball for strikes

This.

Right now most of the bullpen sucks. There's always something needin' fixin'

Weren't we also with out Nick and Moose the last couple of games?

[klw]

Remember that neither Garrett nor Sims had much work in Spring Training. Hopefully getting more innings under Garrett's belt will allow him to find his rhythm for the rest of the season.

[JFLegal]

congrats (by default) on becoming the reds' new closer, lucas sims!

[scotly50]

You guys are acting like Bell put Garrett in the game with the bases loaded. He came into the game with a THREE RUN lead and no baserunners. Not exactly a pressure situation. Garrett made it into one himself.

[MoneyInTheBank]

Damn that’s actually a very surprising stat to me

It is a little deceiving. Over 25% of his total innings came as a starter where he had an ERA of over 7.

[mth123]

I guess Bell could have used in the ninth the same guys who pitched the beautiful 5-run tenth.

There weren’t many good options unfortunately.

Exactly, This is a roster construction failure. They dumped the experienced relievers who close games and handed the job to a match up lefty. Talking like a tough guy doesn't equate to having what it takes to close out games. The off-season plan was to dump those guys with no established replacements and move the internal guys up a notch. The "Peter Principle" is alive and well in the Reds bullpen. Antone and Sims can't cover 4 innings every game.

Amir Garrett is responsible for both of these losses. In the suspended game, he even blew it matched up against lefty batters. I think his head is messed up by being made the "closer." Not sure how long it will take to get him back to being useful, but a razor thin bullpen just got thinner IMO. Time to try a different experiment IMO. Experimenting in the late innings of close games isn't really a good plan for contending.

[mth123]

I was OK with Bell going to AG tonight. If you make a decision to give a guy a job/role, you need to give him a reasonable chance with it. Even with his bad start I felt he should have gotten the ball— it’s as “easy” as a save situation gets. This was a lower stress situation while still mattering. I am fine giving AG the ball. Obviously, he blew the chance. Now it’s clear he’s all kinds of messed up and probably shouldn’t be thrown into any situations where the game is in doubt or Reds have the lead. In other words, starting now, if Bell goes to AG I think the results are on Bell. I think at this point you have to slip AG more into the Sal Romano role, even if it hurts AG’s feelings.

I agree. Bell giving the Ball to Garrett was the organizational plan when they stripped the pen of the guys with closing experience. It's too early in the season for teh Manager to veer from that plan. I've always thought it was a lousy plan, but that's the plan the team made when they constructed this razor thin bullpen. I don't blame Bell at all. This is a personnel problem, not a Manager strategy problem.

[Griffey012]

The only guy Garrett should be above on the bullpen depth chart is Romano right now.

Personally, I think he is too amped up in this "closer" role. DJ came out, Garrett got control of his body and threw 2 good pitches for strikes, then he went back to flailing while trying to throw 100.