So now what?
We’ve spent the better part of two months in High Cynicism re: the Cincinnati Reds. It’s not just the players and the manager who’ve lost our trust. Ownership has absorbed its share of body blows.
A beauty of the game is the serpentine nature of a season that spans three seasons. It’s being dead right one day and dead wrong the next. It’s always darkest just before a four-game sweep in St. Louis. Rather than celebrate that micro-success (foolish) better to aim a larger lens at the reasons for it. Why did The Club club the Cards? Are the mini-trends sustainable?
Good starting pitching, starting with Castillo. There’s only a little reason to believe he won’t continue to improve. Miley is Miley, the biggest question is his health. Mahle is getting better. Gutierrez? You tell me, my Ouija board went in the weekend yard sale. The key is Sonny Gray. He has been OK. The Reds need more from him than 5 innings, 2-3 runs allowed and a no decision.
Winker and Castellanos. Batman and Batman. Bat Men. Maybe one of youse can suggest a better dynamic duo in Ball right now. They’d have to be two guys who lead the league/world in batting average and/or home runs. Anybody fit that description? The question is, when do they cool off? We're witness a once-in-a-generation run. But with all due respect, each will regress some. It’s inevitable. Averages across MLB are down, even the great ones slump. Will the Reds have someone(s) to pick up the slack when the Bat Men cool?
That gets us to. . .
Eugenio Suarez. Ugly numbers, man:
.186 in May, .182 in June.
.167 in 30 games at SS. .160 in 25 games at 3B.
.146 batting 4th, .132 batting 5th, .211 leading off.
In other words, it hasn’t made any difference what position Suarez played or where he hit in the lineup. He has been very consistent. Suarez has struck out 74 times in 239 plate appearances. At 28-29, the Reds have played almost exactly one third of their games. Suarez is on pace for 222 Ks. That’s tied for 2nd all time with Adam Dunn, and one behind world record holder Mark Reynolds. Can Suarez fix things? Well, he does have 13 homers. He has always moved a lot of air. Maybe this is who he is. You willing to live with that?
The bullpen was not the star of the weekend. Why did the Reds even acquire Feliz? The guy was bad in Pittsburgh. When you have a manager with a quick hook and two of your starters are named Miley and Gray (plus for the moment, Gutierrez) you better have a ‘pen that goes more than two-deep.
Bell has gotten better at when to use Antone, but the guy can’t pitch five days a week. It took a great stroke of luck for Lucas Sims not to blow the lead Sunday. Thank goodness baseballs spin, walls are nearby and book rules exist. After those two guys. . .?
How much will Votto and Moustakas help? You have to believe they’ll be significant. Having India off the bench gives Bell some flexibility. Moustakas is a considerable clubhouse presence, Votto seemed to be organizing his swing when he went down. Both are better than who the club is throwing out there now every day.
Finally, it’s worth noting the Cards aren’t very good right now. TML Rule #1: It’s not whom you play. It’s when you play them. The Reds caught Looie coming off a West Coast roadie, then benefited from Molina getting hurt on Friday. St. Louis has lost almost its entire starting rotation, including Jack Flaherty, 8-1 when he went down.
Are the fundamentals in place for a relevant September? That looks more likely today than it did late last Wednesday night. Stay tuned. It’s baseball. In baseball, you don’t know nothin’.
Now, then. . .
JON RAHM was ahead by six strokes after three rounds at the Memorial when he was DQ’s for a positive COVID-19 test. There are a few ways to look at that.
(1) What a shame, for Rahm, his family and all the people paying to watch the tournament.
(2) What a thoughtless decision on Rahm’s part, to play without being vaccinated.
To be fair, it’s not clear if Rahm had been vaccinated, but he never indicated he was, and the PGA Tour no longer tests players who’ve had the shot(s). Rahm was tested all week.
Jack Nicklaus embodied Sentiment No. 1. In a tweet, the Eternal Jack wrote, “Our hearts go out to Jon and his family, as well as all the patrons who witnessed a spectacular round by Jon—only to be negated by this horrible pandemic our world continues to endure.’’
OK, Jack. Where’s the concern for those who might have come in close contact with Rahm last week? Where’s the reminder that Rahm knew the rules and played on, anyway?
“This horrible pandemic our world continues to endure’’ could be eased further if guys like Jon Rahm got the shot. That’s what Jack could have said, when listing his concerns.
I dislike writing stuff like this, so much that I considered letting it go. Sports writing scolds come off as sanctimonious at best. Knee-jerk opinions are too easy. People should be vaccinated. Well, no kidding. It’s not as if I didn’t urge mask-wearing a few million times in the dark of last winter. I was somewhat emphatic.
But we haven’t beaten the virus yet. It’s not enough to proclaim our freedom unless we contribute to maintaining it. The thing is, it’s so easy now to get vaccinated. They even offered free shots at the Memorial all week. Jon Rahm probably ignored the risk to himself and those around him. Sorry for his bad luck. But he knew better.
THE CICADAS WERE OUT IN DUBLIN AND IT WAS AWESOME. . . If you wanna know how old I am, well, this is the 4th cycle of Cicada Madness I’ve lived through. In Bethesda, MD, in 1970, I was a 12-year-old cleaning them out of our gutters. They were really bad that year. But very cool.
On Long Island, NY, in 1987, I was pulling them off my wife’s shirt as she screamed. In 2004, I was trying to make the bad Reds interesting. They finished 29 games out. The cicadas had a better year.
I hadn’t experienced them this year until my day trip to Memorial. They were massive there. This great wall of shrieking sound, and not one of them shrieked “Go, Brooksy!’’
WE’RE MOVING IN 11 DAYS so life sucks until further notice. I’m anti-clutter and anti-Stuff in general, so all the random boxes fouling the house drive me insane. I swear, I could live happily ever after with one bedroom, one bathroom, one place to watch TV and one set of golf clubs. The pursuit of Stuff gets more pointless every day.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . lot of driving time Saturday. Much worthy tune-age via Apple Music. Here’s one I love and hadn’t played in awhile. Lovely. “Where I wrote I Am You. . .’’
Source link
