This summer I have found a way to pretty much see well over seventy-five percent of the Cincinnati Reds games up to now. Sounds like a really boring thing to do, but what can I say? It's the "Dog Days" of summer and I love me some Reds baseball. Having seen most of the Reds' play up to this point, I'd like to address a few topics concerning the team.
Now since I find myself to be a pessimist, let's talk about the "ugly". One of the things I enjoy along with everyone else is hitting, especially with runners on base and in scoring position. Now that I actually have time to drown myself in the Reds, it seems that the Reds are getting shutout twice a week against lowly pitchers with inflated ERAs. I recently just watched second year Milwaukee Brewers' pitcher Wily Peralta come in with a 5-9 record and a subpar 5.27 ERA. Wily Peralta is the prototypical pitcher that the Reds team loves to throw a rally on. Somehow we find a way for him to throw a complete game shutout over us. Inning to inning, I see adept left-handed Reds batters take ugly hacks at mediocre righty pitches. Up and down the lineup, we have major struggles. Let's begin with everybody's new favorite Red: Shin-Soo Choo. After jumping out to a extremely hot start in April and May, his batting average has tumbled over a hundred points down to the 0.270 range. Now a 0.270 batting average wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for his huge stat discrepancy: 0.165 versus lefties and 0.326 versus righties. That's a mine-boggling stat for a former All Star player and eight year MLB veteran. On a more positive note, I have admired Choo's adjustment to center field. Many doubted his ability to play such an athletic position, but so far he has proved many of his critics wrong.
Our next dilemma arises with our right handed hitters. Where have they gone? For a lineup that is often half lefty/ half righty, the statistical splits are astounding. The best right-handed hitter has been Brandon Phillips by a mile and then some. The sad thing is that Phillips is only batting 0.262. With every game I feel guys like Frazier, Paul, Cozart, and Heisey are getting dangerously close to the Mendoza line (0.200 BA). Production from the bottom of our order has to pick up. Currently, I feel the need to change the channel every time we reach the 5th or 6th slot of the order. I never imagined that the Reds would come to miss Ryan Ludwick so much, but let's face it, Xavier Paul, Derrick Robinson, and Chris Heisey are not gonna be the ones to replicate Ludwick's production.
Now Dusty Baker has done a decent job with our ball club, but this year he's left us scratching our heads multiple times. My first advice to send Dusty's way would be to SHAKE UP THE LINE UP. Let's move this lineup around. Move Phillips to Leadoff a game. Let Votto move up in the order. There never seems to be anyone on base when he comes up to bad. So often I see the game start with Choo leading off with a single and then Cozart erasing it by batting into a "twin-killing" (double-play). Every Home run this season is with no runners on. Votto has 40 Runs Batted In (RBI). It could easily be 60 RBI if he ever had runners on in front of him. Let's give our runners the green light! We have 26 Stolen Bases.... Let's bunt more runners to second! My last concern is with the use of Closer Aroldis Champman. I know Dusty has a history of ruining great young arms (Mark Prior and Kerry Wood), but let Chapman get some work in. I don't care if we're up 5 runs. Chapman at times goes a week or more without closing. Keep him a little loose so when it's time to notch down a Save he isn't as erratic as Carlos Marmol.
There's no question that the Reds still have an opportunity to win the National League Central. At this time last year, we had identical records (50-39) and we found ourselves making a major second half push for the division crown. We have great pitching so let's have it pay off. Get some runs up on the board. GO REDS!
