Luke Weaver has his first decision since May and it was actually a win. What a pleasant surprise.

I'm beginning to get concerned about EDLC. He is watching a TON of pitches that are right down the middle. Makes me fear he can't even identify the off speed pitch, let alone hit it. Hopefully, this is just a case where he's pressing and needs a night off to reset but, for the time being, he is striking out way too much and it's beginning to disrupt this offense.

This is a lot of fun.

(07-03-2023, 10:45 PM)StoneTheCrow Wrote: This is a lot of fun.

Is this winning sustainable?  I'm pretty unplugged from the Reds.

It's nice to win the first game. I'm looking ahead to Reds at Milwaukee this weekend. I hope Diaz and Sims can get some games off against Washington so they can pitch 2 of the 3 games against Brewers tied with Reds for First Place. Diaz and Sims can not pitch every game all week. I didn't see todays game, and maybe they weren't used tonight, I do not know.

Reds game is early 4th of July starting in morning before noon. They have The Capitol 4th of July shown on PBS every year, so right, they want the game early and over.

The Reds game Sunday was so exciting, the Fan energy so high in GABP, I just couldn't get into the Washington DC crowd game. I'm glad Reds WON.

(07-03-2023, 11:03 PM)kevin Wrote: It's nice to win the first game.  I'm looking ahead to Reds at Milwaukee this weekend.  I hope Diaz and Sims can get some games off against Washington so they can pitch 2 of the 3 games against Brewers tied with Reds for First Place.   Diaz and Sims can not pitch every game all week.  I didn't see todays game, and maybe they weren't used tonight, I do not know.  

Reds game is early 4th of July starting in morning before noon.  They have The Capitol 4th of July shown on PBS every year, so right, they want the game early and over.

The Reds game Sunday was so exciting, the Fan energy so high in GABP,  I just couldn't get into the Washington DC crowd game.  I'm glad Reds WON.

Sims didn't pitch but Diaz pitched the 9th.

Early game versus the Nats on the 4th. Hope the Reds can win again. Morning baseball with coffee.

(07-03-2023, 10:48 PM)basballguy Wrote: Is this winning sustainable?  I'm pretty unplugged from the Reds.

Buddy I hope so. I unplugged myself as well about ten years ago when I moved out of a daily viewing market. I bought the $20/month package from MLB TV for the first time this year and I’m having a good damn time watching these guys.

The rook’s seem to be consistent and there seems to be GREAT team chemistry, not unlike what we’ve seen with the other major pro team we’ve enjoyed as of late.

Also, shout out to FC Cincy. Fun as well. Don’t let that city get hot!

(07-03-2023, 10:30 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Luke Weaver has his first decision since May and it was actually a win. What a pleasant surprise.

I'm beginning to get concerned about EDLC. He is watching a TON of pitches that are right down the middle. Makes me fear he can't even identify the off speed pitch, let alone hit it. Hopefully, this is just a case where he's pressing and needs a night off to reset but, for the time being, he is striking out way too much and it's beginning to disrupt this offense.

Agree on Elly. He's watched several pitches including 2 or 3 first pitch strikes that are perfect thigh high right down the middle and it's like he's just mesmerized by them. Then swings at the next pitch that's like damn near in the dirt.

The encouraging thing today was on his one hit it was a good level swing and he didn't swing out of his shoes. I believe he needs a day off to reset as well. 

(07-03-2023, 10:48 PM)basballguy Wrote: Is this winning sustainable?  I'm pretty unplugged from the Reds.

If they can somehow get/fix/keep/have the pitching?

DLC turns down HR derby and I'm glad

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/elly-de-la-cruz-addresses-reason-for-declining-home-run-derby-invite/ar-AA1do7wk?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=578d74c52a2d458a9990c9b7867522d9&ei=21

It appears they are calling up Brett Kennedy to be the starter for today's 11am game.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/07/reds-likely-to-select-brett-kennedy.html

(07-04-2023, 01:46 AM)cinci4life Wrote: It appears they are calling up Brett Kennedy to be the starter for today's 11am game.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/07/reds-likely-to-select-brett-kennedy.html

This ought to be fun   hasn't been in a ML game in years if my understanding is right?

What is DLC wearing on his left hand? I can't help but think he might have been safe on that SB attempt if he had been able to get a grip on the base. Probably not, but it may have had an impact.

Cruz trying his best to give up the lead but got out of it.

(07-04-2023, 01:47 PM)Earendil Wrote: What is DLC wearing on his left hand? I can't help but think he might have been safe on that SB attempt if he had been able to get a grip on the base. Probably not, but it may have had an impact.

It's a mitt that a lot of players now use to protect their fingers from being inadvertently stepped on by the fielders during a SB attempt. It also protects against jammed fingers if you slide into the bag too hard. It's all in the interest of keeping them off the IL.

http://dearsportsfan.com/2018/10/16/why-do-base-runners-in-baseball-wear-an-oven-mitt/

Quote:Baseball is, on the whole, a very safe sport. The story from the late 1800s when both sports began in earnest in America is that baseball was played by the working class, who couldn’t afford to injure themselves, while football was played by the upper class whose lifestyle could sustain frequent broken bones. Perhaps the most common danger in baseball is sliding into a base. The speed with which players slide, combined with the great need to touch the base and keep touching it before the fielder gets the ball and steps on the base or tags them, leads to jammed or broken fingers and wrists and even torn wrist cartilage. More rare but still possible is a fielding player coming down on a runner’s hand with their baseball cleats. Ouch!

Baseball players have long had strategies to deal with these risks. Before the sliding mitt, players were taught to hold their batting gloves in their hands or even a fistful of dirt as a reminder to keep their hands in the air for as much of the sliding process as possible. For players who favor protective equipment, a slider’s wrist guard is and has been readily available for years. Like something you would have worn in the late 1990s when you learned how to roller blade, the wrist guard keeps the arm from bending back when it hits the base. The other element that the sliding mitt incorporates is rigid, often fiberglass, protection for the fingers. This evolved from a cast that Kansas City Royals player Scott Podsednik started wearing in 2008.

A decent side effect is it artifically increases the length of your hand by an inch or maybe two and those inches matter a lot when it comes to stolen bases, since they're so often bang bang plays.

It may cost them some grip on stolen bases, but I think the trade off is worth it, since a finger injury could keep a player out for weeks since hands are so important in baseball ( as opposed to football, where you can play with various hand injuries at nearly every position except maybe QB. Even Tyler Boyd was able to just tape his bad finger and continue playing as a WR).

(07-02-2023, 01:55 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I think Bell is coaching to protect egos at the moment. Moving India down would be a knock on his confidence after he apparently already felt a little weird when he heard fans discussing trading him because of unproven rookies coming up.

I think from a gameplay standpoint, moving India down is the objectively correct thing to do, but from a team management and locker room standpoint, Bell may fear damaging India's ego.

Also, it's worth mentioning that India had a similar issue last season where he was pretty cold in the month of June.
9 for 54, .167/.250/.296/.546
But he rebounded in July, .290/.365/.527/.892.
And, as a rookie, India batted .319/.470/.527/.998 in July. It was basically the month that caused him to win the rookie of the year.

So who knows. Maybe India bounces back in a big way in July. 

He started the month off well with a grand slam after all

As for Votto, I don't know what's going on with him. I feel bad because he's the face of our franchise, but he may be done. I still think they should give him a few weeks to acclimate, but it is discouraging, for sure. His OBP is still .300 though so...it's not like he's a dead spot in the line up. 5 BBs and 2 HBPs will help bolster a subpar batting average through 10 games.

India is making good on my prediction thus far.

I don't know why he is so bad in June and so good in July...but 4 days in, he already has 3 home runs haha...He was 0-4 yesterday, but I saw a stat that 3 of his outs were "hard hit balls" (95 mph+), they were just straight at fielders. 

Looking it up on statcast (which is an incredible source of information, by the way), yea he had 95 mph grounder up the middle, a 97.7 mph fly out that went 388 ft and a 98.1 mph line out/ground out (it's a LA of 9 degrees, which is technically a ground out, as the guideline is 0 to 10 grounder, 10 to 25 line out, 25 to 50 fly out, but my memory of it was a line out).

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/jonathan-india-663697?stats=gamelogs-r-hitting-statcast&season=2023

I think he's starting to get right and today has been a realization of that progress.

Here's hoping he keeps it going!

(07-04-2023, 02:09 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: It's a mitt that a lot of players now use to protect their fingers from being inadvertently stepped on by the fielders during a SB attempt. It also protects against jammed fingers if you slide into the bag too hard. It's all in the interest of keeping them off the IL.

http://dearsportsfan.com/2018/10/16/why-do-base-runners-in-baseball-wear-an-oven-mitt/



A decent side effect is it artifically increases the length of your hand by an inch or maybe two and those inches matter a lot when it comes to stolen bases, since they're so often bang bang plays.

It may cost them some grip on stolen bases, but I think the trade off is worth it, since a finger injury could keep a player out for weeks since hands are so important in baseball ( as opposed to football, where you can play with various hand injuries at nearly every position except maybe QB. Even Tyler Boyd was able to just tape his bad finger and continue playing as a WR).

Learn something new every day. Thanks!

They've scored 8 runs and are winning, so I can't complain too much but I still don't understand Bell's over-obsession with splits.

Why take a guy who is...
1st in AVG
2nd in OBP
1st in SB
... on the team and take him out of leadoff and move him to 8th in order to put Kevin Newman at leadoff? Looking purely at the side a guy bats from and ignoring the real question of if he's a good batter or not. Heck, Friedl was hitting .406 this year against LHP, so it's not even like he's struggling. I know Newman has good splits, but not enough that I want to give him more PAs at the cost of giving Friedl less.

Reds win again!!!

Reds are ahead in 9th by 8 to 4. Problem is the other reliever put 2 on and no outs. So Sims has to come in. Can't these other stiffs in the bullpen get Sims and Diaz some games off. Look, Sims and Diaz can not pitch every game, and they could use some games off.

With Reds playing at Milwaukee this weekend, it would benefit The Reds to have Sims and Diaz rested for that battle for FIRST PLACE at All-Star Break.

Sims got 3 outs to end it, but come on. An 8 to 4 lead and these other stiffs can't get 3 outs to nail it down.

The down side to this win is both Diaz and Sims should have had a day off, but NO, the other reliever stunk and Sims had to come in.

Reds WIN and in FIRST PLACE 4th of July, but I wish that reliever would have did his job with a 4 run lead and Sims could have got a day off.