5/23/06 YOUR Cincinnati Reds vs. Beers

[edabbs44]

Some good posting tonight...all around.

Guys came through in clutch situations...posted well after a slow start, and there was a nice mix of humor and baseball insight.

PISP was also a strength.

Pats on the back all around.

Not many PISP chances tonight though as everyone has fled to the ORG thread. Too bad too, as tonight was a great thread.

BTW, Torre just came out to give Farnsworth the heimlich. 7-4 Yanks, bottom 8th, 2 on, one out and Papi coming to the plate. ManRam on deck.

[redlegs2370]

Coffey is a gamer! Jim Day just asked him if he could go the next day after two innings and he said I'll be ready anytime they ask me!

[edabbs44]

Coffey is a gamer! Jim Day just asked him if he could go the next day after two innings and he said I'll be ready anytime they ask me!

Narron will only use Coffey tomorrow if he has to secure a 7 run lead.

[KronoRed]

Narron will only use Coffey tomorrow if he has to secure a 7 run lead.

With Burns out there, no lead is safe.

[Nugget]

With Burns out there, no lead is safe.

Krono - I believe Burns has been optioned to AAA so unless there is a hitter on the Brewers roster named Burns...

[KronoRed]

Krono - I believe Burns has been optioned to AAA so unless there is a hitter on the Brewers roster named Burns...

I missed that.



Rich White then

[Red Taylor]

4 Ribeye's from the Kid.

And 25 RBI's for the season. In only 20 games played.

[Big Klu]

Updated Reds HR list (players in italics are active):

Reds All-Time Home Run Leaders
1. Johnny Bench - 389
2. Frank Robinson - 324
3. Tony Perez - 287
4. Ted Kluszewski - 251
5. George Foster - 244
6. Eric Davis - 203
7. Barry Larkin - 198
8. Vada Pinson - 186
9. Adam Dunn - 174
10. Wally Post - 172
11. Gus Bell - 160
12. Joe Morgan - 152
12. Pete Rose - 152
14. Lee May - 147
15. Ken Griffey, Jr. - 144
16. Dan Driessen - 133
17. Reggie Sanders - 125
18. Ernie Lombardi - 120
19. Sean Casey - 118
20. Frank McCormick - 110
21. Dave Parker - 107
22. Chris Sabo - 104
23. Dave Concepcion - 101
24. Gordy Coleman - 98
25. Paul O'Neill - 96


Chris Hammond ERA-Meter: 5.87


One comment: If Elizardo Ramirez is going to take up switch-hitting, and he continues to have problems wearing the correct helmet, then the club is going to have to give him a double-flap helmet, a la Bronson Arroyo!

[TeamBoone]

Some nice comments in here from Griffey's teammates.

05/23/2006 9:56 PM ET

Griffey, Reds blow through Brewers
Top three spots in the lineup go 7-for-14 on the night
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com

CINCINNATI -- National League, watch out.
And since Interleague Play is returning again soon, American League -- you take notice too.

Center fielder Ken Griffey, Jr., appears to be feeling good and at full speed once again after the knee injury took a month away from his season. And that's beginning to make opposing pitchers, and opposing hitters, feel pretty bad.

In a 3-for-4, four-RBI night, Griffey's three-run home run provided the go-ahead runs needed in a 7-3 Reds win over the Brewers at Great American Ball Park. Cincinnati already locked up the three-game series with a pair of wins.

"Anybody that had any questions about Ken Griffey, Jr., I think they can be put to rest," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "He's played outstanding since he's been back."

Griffey declined to speak with reporters following the game.

Since returning from a strained tendon in his right knee, Griffey has hit four homers, including three in the last four games. All but one of the long balls were three-run blasts. The lone exception was Saturday's grand slam at Detroit. He has 18 RBIs since his May 11 activation from the disabled list, a night where he hit a huge walk-off homer in an extra-inning victory over Washington.

"He's still going to lead this team in RBIs even after missing a month," Narron said. "He's just an outstanding hitter, one of the best players in the game."

Clarification -- one of the best all-around players in the game. That was highlighted again in the top of the fifth inning when Griffey made a long run and leaping catch before crashing into the center field fence to rob Milwaukee's Geoff Jenkins of extra bases. Griffey also made two spectacular plays in Monday's victory, including a sliding back-handed catch from his knees.

"I've talked about that it's really going to take three weeks to a month to really be in outstanding playing shape," Narron said. "Just to see the way he's played the last couple of nights, he might make a little bit of a liar out of me because he's played outstanding defense."

Reds starter Elizardo Ramirez (2-3) gave up Prince Fielder's three-run double in the third inning and trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Felipe Lopez and Brandon Phillips began in the inning with singles off Brewers lefty Dana Eveland (0-1). That set up Griffey, who sent Eveland's 1-0 pitch 411 feet into the right-field seats for a three-run shot.

In the sixth, Lopez hit a leadoff double and went to third on Phillips' bunt single before Griffey added a sacrifice fly to left field. Phillips stole third base and came home on cleanup hitter Rich Aurilia's sacrifice fly.

"I'm just fortunate to be able to hit behind him," said Aurilia, who after Griffey's first-inning double, drove him in with an RBI single. "We're glad he's back. He's been playing some good defense for us, getting clutch home runs."

The Reds' top three spots in the lineup -- Lopez, Phillips and Griffey -- went 7-for-14 in the game.

"I just get on base, that my job. I know (Griffey) is going to do his job," Lopez said. "He's been doing it for what, 18 years? All I have to do is get on base for him."

Following Ramirez, Chris Hammond and Todd Coffey each posted two innings of scoreless relief.

Overall, Griffey is batting .268 with six homers and 25 RBIs this season. His 542 career home runs had him just six behind Mike Schmidt's 548 for 11th on the all-time list.

"His presence, you can't put a price on it in the batting order," Narron said of Griffey. "The big thing for us is if we can get guys on base in front of him where they have to pitch to him."

Then prepare yourself for something big to happen.

"It's sad but that's what people expect of him," Aurilia said. "It's probably not fair to expect that all the time but that's what people do ... of everyone that's ever played baseball, he's in the top one percent. When you do it for so long, so well, of course it's expected of you. It's not like you can expect every time up but when it happens, it's not a surprise to us."

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASAp...=.jsp&c_id=cin

[reds44]

Junior has been amazing the past few days. He is playing like he did when he first game here. Defnsively and offensively.

[redsmetz]

Nice comments about Griffey in the Milwaukee paper's story about the game.

Unattractive from any angle
Yost ejected in first inning in yet another loss on the road
By TOM HAUDRICOURT
thaudricourt@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 23, 2006

Cincinnati - Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost spent most of the evening watching his team's game against Cincinnati from the cozy confines of the visiting manager's office at Great American Ball Park.

Ned Yost argues with home plate umpire Bill Welke following a bizarre situation involving Brady Clark in the first inning.

The Reds' Ken Griffey Jr. makes a running catch on a fly ball hit by Geoff Jenkins in the fifth inning. Griffey finished 3 for 4 with four RBI.
Meet the Brewers

The view wasn't any better from there.

"It's no fun sitting in here and watching the game," said Yost, who watched Ken Griffey Jr. take apart his pitching staff.

The Brewers continued to show all the signs of a bad road team by blowing a two-run lead and showing little life Tuesday night in the late stages of a 7-3 loss to the Reds. The second consecutive loss here dropped the Brewers to 6-14 away from Miller Park with eight games left on this three-city journey.

Yost was ejected after the top of the first inning in a bizarre confrontation with home plate umpire Bill Welke. The heated argument stemmed from something Welke said to the Brewers' No. 2 hitter, Brady Clark, during his at-bat.

Replays showed that Clark briefly stuck out his left arm, in an apparent attempt to get hit by a pitch, when a breaking ball from Cincinnati starter Elizardo Ramirez came inside. Neither Clark nor Yost would reveal details of the exchange but Welke supposedly told Clark that maneuver was "bush league."

Yost came out of the dugout after the side was retired and could be heard screaming at Welke, "How dare you call my player bush league!"

Welke quickly ejected Yost, who became even more animated and would not leave until crew chief Tim McClelland stepped in to mediate.

"It was a difference of opinion," said Yost, leaving it at that.

Clark admitted that Yost was sticking up for him but also had kept mum for the most part.

"There was a conversation between me and the umpire," Clark said. "That was pretty much it. I really don't have much to say about it."

Left-hander Dana Eveland, making his third start in place of injured Ben Sheets, allowed a run in the bottom of that inning on a double by Griffey and Rich Aurilia's broken-bat single. The Brewers roared back in the third inning when Rickie Weeks hit a one-out double, Geoff Jenkins and Carlos Lee walked with two down and Prince Fielder cleared the bases with a double to left-center.

But that was the end of the Brewers' offense for the evening. Corey Koskie, who went 3 for 4, led off the fourth with a double but made the final out when he rounded third base too far on Weeks' infield hit and was tagged out.

The Brewers never put another runner in scoring position.

That left it to Cincinnati's offense, and in particular, Griffey. Felipe Lopez and Brandon Phillips punched opposite-field singles to right to open the bottom of the fifth and Griffey sent a 1-0 fastball from Eveland into the bleachers in right, a 411-foot drive that put the Reds ahead to stay.

Eveland never got the third out, being charged with eight hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings. He is 0-1 with an 8.22 earned run average in his three starts but certainly wasn't puzzled about his downfall.

"It seems to be a trend I'm starting, the big-inning thing," Eveland said. "I've got to try to stop that as soon as possible.

"In three starts, I've given up three three-run homers. That's been my biggest problem since I've been up here. I was trying to go with a fastball in but I got on the side of it and it caught too much of the plate. Those don't stay in the park with big hitters like Griffey."

In what has been an ongoing trend for a bullpen that is struggling, the Reds tacked on two more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh, all on sacrifice flies. Griffey contributed one of those and finished 3 for 4 with four RBI as well as a highlight-reel, wall-crashing catch of Jenkins' drive to deep center in the fifth.

A string of injuries often kept Griffey out of the lineup against the Brewers in recent years but they were rudely reminded he can still be a difference-maker.

"Griffey's still a great player," said Yost, whose team fell back to .500. "He has shown it the last few nights with big hits and tremendous defensive plays. When he's healthy, he's still one of the best."

As for his team's woeful play on the road, Yost added: "I don't see any difference. It's not in their heads or anything like that. The results are definitely different."