July 25, 2007
Go Kepp!
By
Amanda
Posted at 8:10 pm
Yippee! Settle in in front of the Reds game after the kid's open house at the day care center and what am I treated to see but a line-up that seems to be a direct response to the podcast (Edwin Encarnación at third, Jeff Keppinger at short) and the same Keppinger bringing the Reds' lead to 4-0 in the third.
It would be a great evening if not for the fact that my kid is insisting on setting up his own open house games around the house and making us play. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to find the ball under the cup when a six-year old is the one mixing them up.
Heck, it's a great evening anyway.
I’m not pleased to see Ross hurting, but I’m super psyched to see Javy pinch running. Where’s my Crack Hard Facts Staff? I’d love to know how many times Javy has been a pinch runner.
Amazingly, it is actually an upgrade, speed-wise.
Yeah, buddy! Oh hell yeah!
I love it when Freel hits in Javy. I also love the socks-showing look. They *are* the Redlegs after all.
Mostly, I’m just in a great mood tonight. :)))
Um…does Pete Rose read RHM? He just ended his interview with Jim Day by sending his best to George Grande’s mom, commenting that she’s 101 and noting that she was alive before the Cubs started losing. [url=http://www.red-hot-mama.com/comments.php?id=1739_0_1_0_C]Sound familiar?[/url]
If you’re out there, Pete, drop me a line. We’d *love* to have you on the podcast.
Heh heh…Chris just said “yank it off and pull ’em all”
Woo! Mench is out at the plate! Thanks, Javy!!
OMG, Wise just hit Lopez in the freakin’ face. He’s bleeding out his mouth. This is horrifying to watch.
Wow, they’re doing the whole neck stabilizing thing and everything. I dunno, I think he might have just lost a tooth and maybe broken a cheek bone. No reason not to take all the precautions, though.
Javy’s up there and you just know he’s interpreting for Lopez. Why don’t the Reds have at least one Spanish-speaking member of the coaching and/or training staff??
So do you think Pete has any over/under action going on how many teeth Pedro Lopez just lost?
Yikes.
The Reds are short two hands now. They’d best not be going into extras again.
Well, at least Inclement Weathers got a long rest to prepare for the 9th.
Now Phillips is at short. There was something about doing that just recently on RLN.
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Reds win!!
They finish out the series tomorrow. I wonder who will be on the roster by then.
I would think that Lopez will have to be put on the DL. Ross will likely be thrown into the limbo/managerial-uncertainty that is “day-to-day.” Not that him missing a start or two would be a bad thing.
At least the team managed to hold on. And a six-out save from Weathers. C’mon! Someone has to want him!
They may have traded Weathers by then, too. Certainly *someone* must need him. He’s been unreal.
I think I’m going to go play my giant electric 6 steel stringed ukulele… :confused:
[quote]Where’s my Crack Hard Facts Staff? I’d love to know how many times Javy has been a pinch runner.[/quote]
<John Wayne Voice ON>
Mah pleasure, ma’am.
<John Wayne Voice OFF>
The Crack Hard Facts Staff has just finished examining the game logs of every Javy Valentin major-league appearance as documented on Baseball Reference. There has been only one other time when Javy Valentin has been used as a pinch-runner during his major league career. That was the time he ran for Ryan Freel.
Yes, I can see jaws dropping in amazed disbelief, but it’s true. On April 24, 2004, Javy pinch-ran for Freel in the top of the ninth inning of a home game against the Pirates after Freel, pinch-hitting for pitcher Todd Jones, reached based on being hit by a Jason Boyd pitch. Javy took second when D’Angelo Jimenez walked, went to third as Barry Larkin grounded into a DP, and was stranded there when Ken Griffey, Jr. struck out.
Danny Graves then replaced Valentin in the lineup and pitched the bottom of the ninth, earning his ninth save of the year as the Reds won the game, 9-7.
Freel missed the game the next day, but was back in action in the sixth inning on April 26, contributing an RBI triple in a 5-2 Reds win over the Pirates.
Oh, how’s this for karma: Freel entered that April 26 game in the second inning to replace Austin Kearns in right field after Kearns was [i]hit by a pitch[/i] by Ryan Vogelsong in the first inning.
Kearns didn’t fare as well as Freel did after the HBP. Austin suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left ulna (the longer of the two bones in the forearm), and was out until May 19.
Anyway, that’s two pinch-running appearances for Javy…and counting.
The Bats are beating up the Yankees tonight.
Chris Dickerson has hit for the cycle. Votto hit two homers.
And Dumatrait was abruptly pulled from the game. It was “at the request of the Reds.”
Marcus McBeth has been placed on the inactive list. His pregnant wife has been hospitalized. Not sure if it’s for a routine delivery or if there’s a problem.
Hope everything’s okay there with the McBeth family.
Your news about Dumatrait is extremely interesting to me. One of the guys in ASBCR posted two nights ago noting again (because we’ve said it in ASBCR several times already) that the Reds ought to be looking at the young players and determining what they have and what they don’t have. He specifically mentioned Keppinger this time but others have been cited in past posts of a similar nature.
Last night, I replied and noted that although they’ve been giving Keppinger playing time lately, I’d believe they were doing the right thing when I saw Dumatrait getting called up when somebody went on the DL, rather than Ricky Stone. And now here you are telling us the Reds had Dumatrait pulled from the Bats game?
Very interesting, considering the recent speculation about Belisle possibly getting yanked from the rotation.
HMZ
It could be Belisle to the pen, it could be Saarloos back to Louisville, or…it could be a trade in the works.
Dumatrait is on the 40-man roster, but not on the 25-man active roster, so if he comes up, somebody has to be removed from the 25-man to make room.
Just sayin’.
Well, given the recent health problems, there’s plenty of room to tinker with the roster.
Not as much room as I’d have thought 24 hours ago.
Lopez went on the 15-day DL, but Castro was activated from the 15-day DL as an emergency measure. If/when Gonzalez comes back, Castro figures to go back on the DL again, he needs Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm.
The injury to Ross was a dislocation of the first knuckle on his right pinky, which Doc Kreemcheese relocated (ouch). Since it’s his throwing hand, it’s not going to take a beating if he catches like it would if it was his left hand, and you don’t use your pinky much when you throw or bat. He might not be going on the DL at all..
That pretty much brings us back to the original numbers game, the rules of which dictate that if Dumatrait comes up, somebody has to come off the 25-man to make room for him.
At the moment, I don’t see them sending Hopper or Keppinger down to add a 13th pitcher to the active roster. If Dumatrait’s coming up, I think either Saarloos or Belisle or maybe Gosling is going down or Lohse is getting traded.
Or I suppose they could DFA Moeller again for, what would it be, the third time this year? But maybe that’s unlikely too, now that they’ve rediscovered Valentin’s value as a pinch-runner. :rolleyes:
HMZ
Oh, how silly of me to forget – it’s also possible that the Reds had Dumatrait yanked because he has been or is about to be traded.
And now I’ll shut up about all this until the Reds announce something.
Dumatrait may be about to be traded. Or it could be Lohse, Weathers, or one of the other big league pitchers. They would then need a replacement, and Dumatrait would be it.
It’s probably just Saarloos being sent down again, but hey, with the trade deadline looming, you never know.