Rus Livingood
April 16, 2013 – Phillies @ Reds – 7:10pm – Fox Sports Cincinnati
Reds Record (6 – 7)
Home Record (5 – 2)
Nationals Record (6 – 7)
Away Record (3 – 4)
Starters: Kendrick (1 – 1) vs. Bailey (1 – 1)
Storylines: The Reds were able to snap that horrid five game losing streak, and are hopefully getting back on track. They still have some glaring issues with their offense, and there may need to be some shakeups of some sort to fix the problem(s). Three regular starters are struggling mightily at the plate. Zack Cozart (SS) is batting .167 with an OBP of .180. Both of those numbers are higher after yesterday’s 1 – 4 effort. Chris Heisey (LF) is batting .152 with an OBP of .188. Ryan Hanigan (C) is batting .063 with an OBP of .184. It’s hard to manufacture runs with three players with those numbers. Throw in the pitcher’s spot, and you have a tough road to hoe. All are above average on defense—Hanigan also being one of the best game callers in the league—but that doesn’t nearly offset the offensive woes.
To compound the issue, Cozart and Heisey have routinely batted second in the lineup. This has lead to Joey Votto having fewer opportunities at the plate, and he is constantly pitched around even so. Would a lineup change help? I can think of two immediate fixes that would help the top of the lineup (in theory), though the three starters not producing would still be at the bottom of the lineup. First, you could move the current 3 – 6 hitters up one spot each, batting them 2 – 5. Another option would be to move Brandon Phillips back to the second spot, and Todd Frazier to the cleanup spot. Either would drastically improve the opportunities for runs. Check out the averages and OBP for the other five starters in the Reds lineup:
Shin-Soo Choo .353 .476
Joey Votto .317 .556
Brandon Phillips .340 .357
Jay Bruce .276 .311
Todd Frazier .298 .370
Will they make a lineup change? I doubt it.
The Setting: Home, sweet home.
The Game and Analysis:
•The start of the game is delayed by weather. We are first told it will be about five minutes late, but that estimate is extended several times and won’t get underway until about 8:30pm.
•Around the time of the game’s start, the deluge of rain made it to Huntington. I do mean deluge. The satellite picture kept freezing up on the high def channel, so I switched it over to the standard def version of the game. It is really hard for me to watch baseball in standard def after watching it in HD. It’s the same with golf, although I do not watch golf that much. My dog Punkin also decided she needed to go outside while it looked like we were going to be flooded. Great timing, that one.
•Homer Bailey and Kyle Kendrick were both on point this evening. Both allowed two hits and zero runs, but Homer was more efficient. This was the epitome of a pitchers’ duel, as both were locating all of their pitches and keeping hitters guessing all night. Final lines for each: Kendrick – 7.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 106 pitches; Bailey – 8.0 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 10 K, 89 pitches.
•The 10 strikeouts for Bailey matched his career high, which he has hit a few times. Had the situation not called for a pinch hitter when his spot came up in the 8th inning, he undoubtedly would have been left in the game to see if he could finish the game. Bailey’s two hits given up were both singles. One was an infield hit by Michael Young, and the other was a single by Chase Utley. Utley was promptly thrown out trying to steal on Ryan Hanigan, which is usually a foolish thing to try. No runner reached second for the Phillies.
•There were a couple of hard hit balls by the Phils that went to the track, but otherwise Bailey was straight dealing.
•The Reds’ bats continued their frustrating struggle. Their two hits came from two of the three spots I talked about earlier, Hanigan and Zach Cozart.
•Aroldis Chapman looked good in his one inning, despite umpire Wally Bell’s best efforts. The Cincy crowd loudly voiced their displeasure when two straight fastballs seemed to be right down the pike, only to be called balls by Bell. Chapman struck out the batter anyway.
•The Reds continued their great defense, as a few nice diving stops prevented the Phils from getting a few more hits off Bailey.
•Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the rain came back and was there for good, so the game was suspended until tomorrow at 5:35pm. The conclusion of this game will be before the regularly scheduled game, and hopefully it won’t be a long ordeal that tires out the bullpen. I’ll start tomorrow’s blog with the end of this game.
What Worked: The pitchers. Enough said.
What Didn’t Work: The Reds’ bats, again.
Where They Stand: The Reds remain at 6 – 7, which puts them two games behind St. Louis in the NL Central.
Overall Thoughts: Bailey continues to show that he has the makings of a top of the rotation starter, and if he can continue to improve like this, Cincinnati will have a nice set of arms for several years. I always hate rain delays, but I especially hated the one at the end of the game. I forced myself to stay up for the finish as the game got a late start, and then there is a long rain delay and eventually the game is suspended until the next day.
Up Next: The Reds will finish this game tomorrow and then host the Phillies for the third game of this four game series.
