Reds June 2023 thread

[*bengalfan74*]

Well all good things must come to an end. They wheeled off 5 in a row and went 7-3 in the series after the Yankees meltdown so it's all good. But now they have a 7 game homestand against the good Brewers and really good Dodgers. I'm hoping they can win at least four and five would be awesome. Since they're home.

Go Reds

[cinci4life]

Reds let one get away lose 5-4 in 11 innings.

[cinci4life]

Reds bring up TJ Hopkins and place TJ Friedl on 10 day IL as well as moving Lodolo to the 60 day IL.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/06/reds-select-t-j-hopkins.html

[*bengalfan74*]

Ashcraft not looking good at all.

[cinci4life]

And Ashcraft getting lit up big time.

[cinci4life]

Well they're trying to come back. They were down 9-1 at one point and it's now 10-6 in the 7th. Got to give Salazar credit for pitching 3 scoreless innings after the debacle in Boston.

[cinci4life]

Damn near pulled the miracle but lost 10-8. Left bases loaded in the 9th.

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-03-2023, 08:15 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Damn near pulled the miracle but lost 10-8. Left bases loaded in the 9th.

There;s no quit in this team

But I'm wondering what's up with Ashcraft? Started off this season showing much promise. But he's hit the wall hard! He didn't look good at all today. Full counts on like the first 6 batters or something, to many balls way out of strike zone. Didn't look comfortable, at all.

Does he have an injury?

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(06-03-2023, 07:26 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Well they're trying to come back. They were down 9-1 at one point and it's now 10-6 in the 7th. Got to give Salazar credit for pitching 3 scoreless innings after the debacle in Boston.

I was going to reply to your comment in the last thread but got busy and never got around to it. 

Quote:Salazar needs to go. Comes in with a 9-3 lead in the 9th and now it's 9-6 and forced to bring Diaz in to clean up the mess.

Maybe. I went back and re-watched it. He had a lot going against him that night and a lot to learn from afterwards.
Third game in the bigs.
Ninth inning.
Fenway Park.
Four of the six hitters were left handed.

2-1 low strike fastball - routine fly out to RF - Right handed hitter - #7 hitter Kiki Hernandez
3-2 outside backdoor slider - walk - eight pitch at bat with 2 two strike fouls - Left handed hitter
0-2 backdoor slider - 2B on a deep fly opposite field down the line - bad read by Benson. He slid short of the ball but was perfectly lined up for it - LH hitter
1-1 grooved fastball - seeing eye bouncing grounder by leadoff hitter Tapia - India looked pretty slow on the play - LH hitter
2-1 outside corner fastball - hardest hit ball - line drive up the middle on the 2B side that landed in the dirt infield by Devers - LH hitter
1-1 fastball on the outside part of the plate - opposite field line drive single against the stupid shift by Turner - RH hitter

Two well hit balls for singles out of six batters faced and if Benson doesn't misjudge that ball, it's two outs and a runner on first instead of one out and runners on 2nd and third. If he's three feet deeper/closer to the Green Monster, he catches that ball. Perhaps India is positioned differently if there were two outs and a runner on first. Then Tapia's ground ball ends the game with no runs scored.

HOWEVER . . . Salazar clearly lacks an out pitch. 6 and 1/3 innings after yesterday and he has a total of two strikeouts. He's a good candidate for long relief early in the game, which is what he just did so very well. Three of his four appearances were scoreless and he never really looked overmatched against Boston, just unfortunate. Diaz was hit a lot harder than Salazar as Yoshida drilled an opposite field gapper for a double and Duran hit a shot but it was a grounder right at McClain for the second out. The big difference is that Diaz has an out pitch and he ended the game with a strikeout.

And Salazar did make some mistakes vs Boston . . . 
The 0-2 2B at bat had two fouls at 0-2. Always make him chase on 0-2. He threw three straight 0-2 strikes. Not wise when you don't have an out pitch.
The hard single by Devers was an exact repeat of the previous pitch, which Devers fouled back.

I'm sure they told him "This is the big leagues now, son. You can't be making those mistakes". So far, it looks like he learned from that bad outing.

[*bengalfan74*]

The Reds had more stolen bases yesterday than in any game since 1976! So hope they keep it up. The smallball game is mostly a lost art.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(06-03-2023, 08:44 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: There;s no quit in this team

But I'm wondering what's up with Ashcraft? Started off this season showing much promise. But he's hit the wall hard! He didn't look good at all today. Full counts on like the first 6 batters or something, to many balls way out of strike zone. Didn't look comfortable, at all.

Does he have an injury?

I'm not saying this is the issue but he pitched awesome directly after his Grandma passed and he has sucked ever since.

Abbott starting tomorrow and I'm excited about that one. Hopefully Greene's setback is just precautionary because if he comes back fine and Ashcraft struggles, I'd send him down to A ball for a couple of starts just so he can focus on pitching. Then either give him a AAA start before bringing him back or a AA start and a AAA start before the recall. They probably won't do that but I think that it's 75% mental right now. The other 25% is physical with the walks and the occasional grooved fastball or belt high cutter or hanging slider.

[cinci4life]

Come home to start a 4 game series against a division rival you're just 3 back of and now are one step away from being swept. SMFH.

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-04-2023, 05:02 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Come home to start a 4 game series against a division rival you're just 3 back of and now are one step away from being swept. SMFH.

They had their chances in the first game. Then Ashcraft got pounded early yesterday or perhaps that would have been a win as well ? Today the offense never got off the bus.

I don't know ? I'm starting to lose heart again. As I've said a dozen times already this season. I have no illusions this is a true contender. But I would like to see some competitive baseball. And what really sucks the Dodgers are next.

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-04-2023, 03:24 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: I'm not saying this is the issue but he pitched awesome directly after his Grandma passed and he has sucked ever since.

Abbott starting tomorrow and I'm excited about that one. Hopefully Greene's setback is just precautionary because if he comes back fine and Ashcraft struggles, I'd send him down to A ball for a couple of starts just so he can focus on pitching. Then either give him a AAA start before bringing him back or a AA start and a AAA start before the recall. They probably won't do that but I think that it's 75% mental right now. The other 25% is physical with the walks and the occasional grooved fastball or belt high cutter or hanging slider.

I agree it seems he's somewhere else mentally. Perhaps a few games in the minors is his best option at this point? Get his focus back on point.

[cinci4life]

Reds salvage the final game winning 2-0. Abbott gets his first MLB W!!!

[*bengalfan74*]

A 6 inning 1 hitter your first time out, nice.

[kevin]

and now, The LA Dodgers. Always one of the toughest teams to beat in the National League.

Isn't this in Cincinnati. If so, Fan attendance should be up with LA Dodgers in town. Reds vs Dodgers was great in the 1970's all through the decade. Some games over 50 thousand in Riverfront when Reds and Dodgers went at it.

If Reds can get some wins off very tough Dodgers pitching and hitting, that would be something. Hey, Reds beat Red Sox in Boston, so get after Dodgers.

Yes, I hope this series fills seats and brings in money if in Cincinnati. One person on here said Reds Owner wouldn't know what to do with fan attendance money after sold out Yankees in Cincy. So let's put it this way, Whatever Reds owners would do, it's better than having No Fan Attendance money as Reds Owners have had to deal with last 3 off seasons in major cutbacks. I say it would be nice to have some Home Game Money for Reds Owners this off season, so I hope Dodgers pack in the fans like Yankees did in Cincy.

[*bengalfan74*]

(06-06-2023, 01:03 PM)kevin Wrote: and now, The LA Dodgers. Always one of the toughest teams to beat in the National League.

Isn't this in Cincinnati.  If so, Fan attendance should be up with LA Dodgers in town.  Reds vs Dodgers was great in the 1970's all through the decade. Some games over 50 thousand in Riverfront when Reds and Dodgers went at it.

If Reds can get some wins off very tough Dodgers pitching and hitting, that would be something. Hey, Reds beat Red Sox in Boston, so get after Dodgers.

We're still only 6 games down in the loss column. Be great to sneak in a couple wins here at home. Dodgers are one of the better teams in baseball. 

[cinci4life]

Bell got tossed and apparently Young did too. Knew Bell would before it happened. Torres was bad especially on the outside part of the plate. Gonsolin was getting strike calls on pitches that were going over the chalk of the opposite batter box meanwhile Reds pitchers couldn't buy that call.

[cinci4life]

Down 8-3 and walk off 9-8!!! What a win!!!!!! Fraley took a 96mph pitch off the wrist to tie it. Hopefully it's nothing serious. They just said Dodgers were 34-0 when leading in the 9th or later.