The Tigers gave up 16, 15 and 14 runs in games the last week. Then, can you imagine it, fired their pitching coach ,Bill Knapp?
That should fix things.
Not even the bullpen. They keep mentioning an elbow injury that he’s “pitching” through (though what he’s doing can only loosely be defined as pitching): stash him on the DL. This can’t go on. The offense came up with 7 runs today and it wasn’t enough to overcome his pervasive suckitude.
And Darnell McDonald needs to be DFA’ed. He had a nice fluky run last year but he’s being exposed and he’s way over his head. There’s no excuse for a 32-year-old career AAA player getting playing time over Josh Reddick, who actually has a future with the organization.
Lackey’s already been on the DL with the usual hangnail / bad haircut / bruised feelings BS reason. Didn’t help, any more than the elbow excuse they’re still offering him. Maybe he’s just allergic to pressure - some guys just are.
Darnell’s gone when Crawford comes back. I’m sure even he knows it. The only question is if they trade for Beltran or Francoeur or some righty RF, or stand pat, which is what I’d expect based on market prices.
The org apparently still thinks Kalish is the future in RF and Reddick is trade goods. Maybe so, but it sure would be nice to take the medical question mark off Kalish, or see Drew go through his annual (and increasingly brief) hot spell. Besides, they all bat lefty anyway, and the lineup is, so they keep saying, too lefthanded anyway.
No, it didn’t help his pitching, you’re right. But the idea is no longer that, but simply to get him the hell off the roster so someone else can pitch and maybe keep us in the game for more than an inning. Aceves, Kyle Weiland, anybody.
My problem is that Tito keeps playing him. Keep him around as insurance, yes. But don’t actually put him in a game unless you’re forced to, like last week when Crawford was down, Drew fouled a ball off his face, and Ellsbury got sick. Emergencies only. Pinch-hitting him for Reddick today? No. He has a .380 OPS. That’s putrid. I don’t care what Reddick’s platoon splits are, they’re not as bad as that. McDonald should never see the field unless someone is hurt.
I don’t think they’ve made up their minds yet, especially not with Kalish’s injury. Theo doesn’t box himself in like that. Meaning I’m baffled as to why they aren’t making it a priority to get as good of a look at Reddick at the major league level as they can. We know what Darnell McDonald can do: basically nothing. He’s 32 and going nowhere fast. We know what Drew can do, and he’s probably retiring at the end of the season anyway. We don’t know what Reddick can do, and I’m extremely frustrated at the ABs he’s losing to the likes of Darnell and the late Mike Cameron. I wish Theo would get rid of McDonald to take the choice out of Francona’s hands.
Lackey pitched pretty well in Philly last week, so thats something to hang your hat on. Isn’t his wife going through chemo or something? Maybe off the field concerns are affecting him.
Old friend Shaun Marcum cracked a grand slam for the Brewers today, although they still lost to the D-backs.
Yes. And according to the Boston Herald’s Inside Track column, he’s been cheating on her.
I loathe John Lackey (can you tell?). I hated him in Anaheim and I was dismayed when the Sox signed him.
Another mini July 4th rant, How the hell does USAA get to sponsor “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch?
I hate hate hate hate this stupid song being sung at the seventh inning stretch. It is even worse that a company get to sponsor it.
My son and I went to the Cardinals-Reds game today (Monday). He roots for the Cardinals, but I grew up a Reds fan.
Johnny Cueto allows 1 run in 8 innings pitched and gets the loss. The Reds are in the top 10 in baseball in almost every major offensive category, but they save all the runs up for like 1 game a week.
At least USAA is a good company.
Albert Pujols ends a projected 4-6 week stint on the DL after 2 weeks and will probably start tonight. The Cardinals roll over the Reds and will most likely be in first place at the break. All is right with the world.
Apparently the Pirates didn’t read the memo that they were supposed to suck again this year as they take second place from the Brewers. Good on them.
Ugh. I feel your pain. The Reds are lacking talent in many areas, I am sorry to say. Votto and Phillips aren’t enough. They need a new SS, LF, and some serious pitching tweaks.
Tonight, apparently.
Westbrook gives up 5 in the first before making an out, including two homeruns (including one on the first pitch of the game). He gave up another in a later inning, and the Cards’ reliever Trever Miller (who came in in the fifth) just gave up another one to former Cardinal Scott Rolen. 8-0 Reds.
I have a couple questions about the Giants based on the game I saw over the weekend.
- I noticed that they threw in a couple pinch runners during that game. The thing Idon’t understand is that both runners were starting pitchers Matt Cain and Ryan Vogelsong. Does anyone know why the Giants did this? They can’t be the fastest guys on the team and why put a horse like Cain out there risking his body by running bases?
- I have good enough seats to be very close to where the giants’ batters warm up on deck. One thing I noticed Panda doing is rubbing pine tar or some such on his helmet. I’ve always wondered why some batters have filthy looking helmets and now I know the reason. Can anyone tell me why batters do this to their helmets?
Running the bases isn’t all that big of a risk, especially if you give them specific instructions to not be aggressive.
It gives them access to pine tar during their at-bat. It’s completely unnecessary, but some batters like to be able to touch up their bat/gloves a bit between pitches.
Keep in mind that a typical NL team has only five position players on its bench. (An AL team has only four.) They are a valuable resource which must be deployed carefully in the late innings.
In Vogelsong’s case, he was running for Cody Ross, who was injured. (I’m going by the game story; I didn’t see it.) Yes, they could have run an outfielder, Andres Torres, who eventually replaced Ross in the field. But then Torres would have to bat in Ross’s spot in the lineup (the #5 spot), and they’d need a pinch-hitter for the pitcher when the #9 spot came up. By running Vogelsong, they could wait until the end of the inning, slide Torres into the #9 spot, and move the pitcher into #5. Speed is beside the point; it’s more a matter of batting order.
Cain was running for pinch-hitter Pat Burrell, who by news accounts is also a little gimpy. The only other position player on the bench at that point was backup catcher Eli Whiteside, who would have come in to catch if the game had gone to extra innings. I don’t follow the Giants, but if Whiteside is like most backup catchers he’s slow slow slow. Plus by holding him out you allow another double switch with the pitcher’s spot if the game does go to extras.
Yes, there’s risk of injury in pinch-running a starting pitcher. But sometimes, there’s greater risk of running out of players, and losing a game, if you don’t.
That’s a much better analysis, Freddy. Thanks.
Thanks to you both for the insights!
Thank God I adopted the Indians last season. Still, watching my Dodgers self-destruct night after night has gotten me wondering if there’s any way to speed up and get to 2012, already.
Currently, we’ve got the fourth-worst record in baseball, sitting 14 games under .500. And between the McCourt situation, the constant injuries, the holes in our pitching and an offense that almost always struggles to score, there’s little hope of anything getting better this season.
They’re currently on pace to lose more than 93 games this season – something they haven’t done since 1992 (and before that, not since 1912).
Sure, I will continue to go to the games like the die-hard that I am, and I’ll continue to watch on TV and listen on the radio when I can’t make it. But it sure is depressing.
(And yes, I say all of this knowing full well that there are many folks here who root for teams that have had a whole lot more than a single bad season to be upset about. Trust me – I’m not trying to compete with that.)
And there you have a great analysis of why the NL needs the DH, like everyone else.