Losing Another One-Run Game
By
Zeldink
Posted at 10:04 pm
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reds (41-40) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Devil Rays (45-35) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 0 |
Okay, this is getting old. The Cincinnati Reds lost to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tonight, dropping their record to 41-40.
That’s 81 games total: the halfway point. Feeling good about the prospects of this team for the rest of the season? Because Walt Jocketty has shown his complete lack of ideas on what to do to improve the .500 team. And manager Dusty Baker’s calm, toothpick-chewing ways aren’t exactly lighting a fire under the under-performing team’s ass.
Tonight, the Reds wasted another brilliant start by Johnny Cueto. Cueto went 7 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs–two of which were allowed to score thanks to a rare bad appearance from Bill Bray. And then Logan Ondrusek allowed a walk-off home run to lose it in the 9th.
The Reds continue to be a tough team to watch, and the lack of apparent caring by anyone in charge of the team doesn’t make it any easier. I’m not one to panic, but 81 games into the season is no longer early. That’s a long enough time to get a good idea about the team’s problem areas. And the 2011 Reds are weak on starting pitching and have gotten no offense and not good enough defense from shortstop. Waiting and seeing isn’t going to make things any better.
I agree mostly, but would like to point out that Arroyo almost always pitches better after the break. So between him, Cueto and Leake (since he’s come back from the Minors), that should be three pretty good starts. It’s the 4th and 5th slot they can’t get consistency from. If Volquez does not start to finally get it together soon, I would even look at starting Chapman. He has struggled with control out of the bullpen due to the lack of work/inconsistency IMO. With half the season over its not like they will wear out his young arm. The bullpen posts pretty good era’s, but they are killing us in close games (ALL OF THEM!). I don’t know what the answer there is (Shrink maybe?). There was a pretty good article on FOXSPORTS.COM about trading minor league prospects + Travis Wood for Jose Reyes and the Reds should. The lack of consistency out of every bat in the lineup save Votto makes it impossible to generate a consistent offensive lineup (I feel for you Dusty…). Reyes would help with that equation. Bottom, Line is the Reds need to trade for Rayes ASAP…
Jose Reyes’ bat would be nice, but I’m concerned with how much the team might lose in defense. Still, if the prospect-price for the trade isn’t too high and Castellini is willing to take on the ~$5.5 million for the Reyes rental, it would be a welcome change.
As for the pitching, I know the bullpen has given up some leads, but I feel it’s easier and better to focus on the starting pitching and improving the bullpen by moving starters down. A great example of that this year is Sam LeCure. I hope Arroyo rebounds in the second half. The team will need both him and Volquez to perform much better if they expect to compete without making any moves.
The two runs were a result of inept O F play, not Gray’s.