Reds August 2023 thread

[cinci4life]

Wow Maile homer to the deep part of the park!

[cinci4life]

Guess the off day helped. Great game all around!

[CJD]

I like the new lineup arrangement.

[guyofthetiger]

Glad the Reds beat the Bucs tonight. We finally started hitting again. Abott pitched a great game too. Still think we are a .500 team though. Wish I could jump on the playoff bandwagon with this team.

[CJD]

(08-12-2023, 02:20 AM)guyofthetiger Wrote: Glad the Reds beat the Bucs tonight. We finally started hitting again. Abott pitched a great game too. Still think we are a .500 team though. Wish I could jump on the playoff bandwagon with this team.

I don't think there's any bandwagon, really. I think the vast majority of fans know this team has talent, but its streaky (because its young) and, at any time, our pitching may implode our chances of making the playoffs.

If things go well for us, we could stay in the playoff picture and maybe even make some noise once we're there.

If things go poorly, we fall down to 3rd place in the division and lose our playoff spot to the Brewers and, perhaps, the Cubs, Marlins or Dbacks (assuming Philly and SF maintain the first 2 WC spots).

We could go either way at this point.

They key will be winning the games we should win, such as these games against Pittsburgh today and tomorrow.

I just checked and Pitt is starting a reliever today, so odds are this will be a bullpen day for them. This has its pros and its cons for us. Relievers are generally worse pitchers than starting pitchers, overall. So we should be able to make our mark early. The downside is that, with a bullpen day, there is no real 2nd or 3rd time through the lineup where our batters can leverage familiarity to have an edge (you often see a starting pitcher's numbers skyrocket during their third time through the lineup because of this). 

Even still, Williamson is starting for us and he has been very good for the last month or two. If they can take this game and secure the series going into Sunday, that would be the next step towards reclaiming our playoff chances.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-12-2023, 01:03 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I like the new lineup arrangement.

Yeah, DLC just isn't a leadoff hitter. Putting him in a situation where he has more guys on base ahead of him who can steal bags should make them have to choose between throwing changeups to DLC or limit the running game. Putting guys in positions to succeed.

No Senzel batting 2nd. No Newman starting.

Fairchild only in there until Fraley can come back. 

Only real problem with it is there isn't a real problem with it, so Bell has to pinch-hit it up to feel like he's managing. Lol. Managed to dial up 0-4, 2 K from the bench.

[cinci4life]

Tonight's game PPD. Double header tomorrow with game 1 at 1:35 and game 2 6:05.

[guyofthetiger]

Looks like the sports shows are saying the division is a race between the Brewers and the Cubs. Both won today. The Reds aren't out of it yet, but it will be tough to catch them both. We need to take both games on Sunday against the Bucs.

[*bengalfan74*]

(08-13-2023, 02:07 AM)guyofthetiger Wrote: Looks like the sports shows are saying the division is a race between the Brewers and the Cubs. Both won today. The Reds aren't out of it yet, but it will be tough to catch them both. We need to take both games on Sunday against the Bucs.

Well, I won't go so far as to say point blank, they're out of it. But they're IMHO a long shot at this point. Offense is just too inconsistent and pitching just isn't quite good enough.

[cinci4life]

(08-13-2023, 10:59 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Well, I won't go so far as to say point blank, they're out of it. But they're IMHO a long shot at this point. Offense is just too inconsistent and pitching just isn't quite good enough.

Not even close to saying they're a long shot yet. Brewers are finishing a 13 game stretch today against sub .500 teams and are 7-5 being lucky to win that many. Only 2 of those 7 wins were blowouts while the rest were 1 or 2 run games that easily could have gone the other way. The rest of their schedule on paper looks really brutal. Cubs do have an easier schedule over the next 8 games after today before it gets tougher. We have a 10 game west coast trip coming up after next Sunday. That trip likely determines our chances of winning the division. Sounds like Greene could be back in time for that trip and Lodolo not far after. After that trip we come back home to a 4 game series vs the Cubs including a Friday double header. That stretch will tell the tale IMO.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Stephenson has been a huge letdown this year.

[*bengalfan74*]

(08-13-2023, 03:00 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Stephenson has been a huge letdown this year.

In July he batted .211 Thus far in August he's batting .143 and he just keeps fading, no power, no extra base hits.

[cinci4life]

Wish Williamson would get that strike call sometime. Geez it wasn't really close.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Find someone who loves you like David Bell loves pulling pitchers with 2 outs.

[cinci4life]

Way to blow it bullpen.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

This is so dumb. 22nd start of a 7era pitcher who will go 3-4 innings and kill the bullpen some more.

Does he have compromising photos of Krall and Bell?

[cinci4life]

(08-13-2023, 07:55 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: This is so dumb. 22nd start of a 7era pitcher who will go 3-4 innings and kill the bullpen some more.

Does he have compromising photos of Krall and Bell?

Problem is there really isn't any other option until Greene/Lodolo come back.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-13-2023, 08:38 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Problem is there really isn't any other option until Greene/Lodolo come back.

Literally anyone is another option when the first option is a guy who will go 4 innings of 7-ish era baseball.

Just grab any non-40 man pitcher out of another team's AAA. 

[cinci4life]

Wow 3 Pirates coaches ejected over a couple pitches that weren't close to being strikes.

[cinci4life]

Get 2 runs to tie it in the top of 8 only for Farmer about to give it right back in the bottom of 8. SMFH