July 6, 2007
Reds Win!
By
Amanda
Posted at 10:29 pm
Great game tonight. Kyle Lohse was on, Ken Griffey, Jr. tied Frank Robinson with his 586th career homer, and the bullpen wasn't even a little bit misused.
You can tell it's going to be a good weekend.
In case you missed this tidbit RHM, I will re-print it here:
A few hours before game time, backup catcher Javier Valentin was seen practicing his throws to second base. Valentin is 0-for-14 this season at throwing out base stealers.
“He felt bad when we pitched out [Wednesday vs. the Giants] and didn’t get that guy [Dave Roberts],” Mackanin said. “He doesn’t want that to happen again.”
Earlier this week, Mackanin proclaimed it a priority to give Valentin more playing time.
“I’d like to be able to play him three days a week if I could,” Mackanin said Friday. “I think it’s better for the team, better for Valentin and better for [David] Ross if we can get that done. He works hard. He’s always out there trying to improve himself. He’s out there trying to stay sharp.”
Wait a minute they edited those notes! When I read it earlier it mentioned that Javy said his feelings were hurt by Narron when he said he didn’t want to play him at catcher… he said he lost his confidence in his defensive skills. Someone forced Sheldon to edit those notes. The lovefest for Narron continues…
[url=http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/2007/07/r-legs-d-backs-76.asp]Trent[/url] still has that part:
[quote]Mackanin said he’d like to try to get Valentin about three starts a week behind the plate. Javy said his defense and confidence was hurt when Jerry Narron said he wasn’t going to use him much as a catcher. He said now he feels like he’s back at spring training. He was out before the game working and has been doing extra workouts before the game since Monday.[/quote]
Thank you, BubbaFan! I was worried RHM was gonna think I was trying to make a bad joke. Yea, so that is an example of Narron mishandling the team. There are countless examples, but we all knew Javy needed more playing time… and you have to build a guy’s confidence UP. Again I see LaRussa get total nobody’s and jokers come out of nowhere and produce for him. I never saw that with Narron, never. And guy’s that could go either way always trended downward under his tutelage EXCEPT for Josh Hamilton who he had a personal vested interest in. Anyhow, Narron is gone so why am I ranting about it? Well because he should have been gone months ago and we could have salvaged something this season.
I am going to go to the game tonight to exploit those free Brandon Phillips mesh jerseys, one for me and one for the kid. Of course I have tried this sort of thing before and always they run out before I get there but this time I plan to leave hours ahead of time so I can also take a free tour of the Pete Rose museum (free all this month with a game day ticket). I am gonna check out Bailey and give you my opinion. My current opinion is that he got brought up too soon, probably to appease the angry fans, while Livingston who has belonged on this roster since day 1 wastes his major league talent in Louisville. Believe me Krivsky is on my list too, he has made a number of assinine roster moves. I am still totally baffled about Ricky Stone.
Hmmm…In 253-2/3 major league innings, Ricky Stone has never committed an error. Maybe he’s there to set an example during PFP.
:rolleyes:
Of course, now that I mentioned this, in his next appearance he’ll probably go out there, field somebody’s bunt, and throw it into right field or something. 🙁
I’m super-psyched to hear that Javy will be seeing the field more. I think Ross will realize some benefit to that, too. He’s been asked to catch a lot more this season than last, and except for some exceptional numbers that throwing out runners, the effect hasn’t been good.