Wednesday May 18th, Pirates @ Reds - 7.10 first pitch

[Cedric]

1 ER in 18 innings contributes to those un-Charlie Morton like numbers.

Happy Birthday, Cedric.

Thanks! At least I got to watch Cy Morton tonight.

[The Operator]

Yep, except for LF and SS. Offensive production from those 2 spots is putrid. But, Morton is definitely on a roll this year.

Yep, counting the pitcher that's 3 near-automatic outs. When the other 6 aren't on fire, it's tough to get a threat going. And Janish hitting second? I do not get that.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

1/3 of Morton's IP this year have been vs. the Reds.

So, yeah, he's been on a roll alright. A roll vs. the Reds.

I want no more of Cy Morton.

Seriously though. He and the Pirates make me sleepy. Maybe that's the problem with the Reds too - drowsiness.

Nice guy, but please no more Jonny Gomes. Please, Dusty. End the madness. Please don't tell me your thinking about playing him everyday in Cleveland.

[The Operator]

Nice guy, but please no more Jonny Gomes. Please, Dusty. End the madness. Please don't tell me your thinking about playing him everyday in Cleveland.

Wouldn't be surprised at all to see him DH in the AL parks.

Logic says Lewis (or Rolen, to save his back) should DH and Heisey should play LF. But when it comes to Jonny Gomes, logic simply doesn't apply.

[CrackerJack]

Charlie Morton now has 3 complete games in his career.

2 of those have come in the last 5 weeks against the powerhouse Reds.

Yes, that makes sense.

It is these types of results that really bother me, if this team is ever going to beat anyone outside of the central in the post season, or even win the division.

Gotta show up against another team's ace and make him work, not get shut out or no-hit every time, and of course your most reliable SP has to pitch better against the Pirates of all teams.

Of course it would help if the OF didn't consist of at least 2 poor bats including an automatic out in Gomes.

Feel for BP/Rolen/Votto when they are expected to do everything offensively so often.

Wouldn't be so down about it if they eeked out at least 2-3 runs over 9 innings.

[reds44]

Time to get Janish out of the 2 hole and Gomes out of the city.

[Ron Madden]

Sometimes you just get beat, those other guys are getting paid too.

Reds need to gain a split in this series before heading into a very tough 10 game road trip.

[cumberlandreds]

The thing about Morton pitching this game was that he was supposed to pitch yesterday against the Nats in DC. The game was rained out but it didn't rain. I work in DC and at the time the game was to start at 1 pm it was sunny and clear and stayed that way most of the afternoon. It did rain in the early morning hours and was predicted throughout the day but as weather forecast goes they aren't right most of the time. There was no reason not to play that game. I suspect the Nats had very poor ticket sales for the game and didn't want to get embarrassed with 3 or 4,000 fans scattered around in the ballpark. Just really bad luck on that part for the Reds.
Give Morton credit. He has the Reds number and he's turned himself into a pretty good pitcher. Just one of those games you forget about and move on to the next one.

[oneupper]

It is these types of results that really bother me, if this team is ever going to beat anyone outside of the central in the post season, or even win the division.

Gotta show up against another team's ace and make him work, not get shut out or no-hit every time, and of course your most reliable SP has to pitch better against the Pirates of all teams.

Of course it would help if the OF didn't consist of at least 2 poor bats including an automatic out in Gomes.

Feel for BP/Rolen/Votto when they are expected to do everything offensively so often.

Wouldn't be so down about it if they eeked out at least 2-3 runs over 9 innings.

Good analysis. Add to this the poor lineup construction as stated by REDS44 (Janish 2nd) and you have the recipe for this shutout.

I'm a great worrier, and I worry about complacency on Dusty's behalf.
It's as if: "we have a great team and you can throw anything out there and win".

"I can bat the CF first and the SS second, as I like to do and it doesn't matter. "
"I can play for one run and take the bat out of my best hitter's hand repeatedly and it doesn't matter".

You can "overmanage", but you can "undermanage" too. Yeah, its one loss, but the Tuesday game was loss too (Cubs gave us that one) and the Monday game was almost a loss, too.

The team has played three bad games in a row. They're lucky to only have one loss.