*

*
Reds Insider
From news of the day to news of the weird, John Fay provides a glimpse of what it’s like to cover the Cincinnati Reds

John Fay
John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

Powered by Blogger

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Reds 8, Braves 7

It was another good bullpen night.

Gary Majewski got a big out in the fifth. Bill Bray went 1 1/3 ininngs, Jared Burton went 1 2/3 innings, and David Weathers finished up for a 26th save. Bray three eight pitches -- all strikes. Burton threw 16 -- 11 strikes.

Their work let the offense come back from 3-0 and 7-5.

Makes you wonder what would have happened if Bray was healthy all year and Jerry Narron got out of Burton what Pete Mackanin has.

Interesting stat: Burton's ERA before the All-Star Break was 5.19. It's 1.96 since. But hitters hit .200 off him both before and after.


11 Comments:

at 10:54 PM Blogger Grizzlyfox said...

Any word on whose pitching for the 'Ville tomorrow night?

 
at 11:01 PM Blogger jbench5 said...

Any idea what Burton's WHIP before and after was/is?

 
at 11:06 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Livingston, Belisle, Dumatrait, Mays, Lohse, the Lizard, ... thanks Wayne. You rule!!!!

 
at 12:09 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll yell this from the tallest building until I'm blue in the face, but I firmly believe attitude is everything. After the debacle last night, the Reds could have folded up shop and let the Braves sweep them. Instead, they battled back twice and won against a difficult road team to beat.
Every team has good and bad games and players that slump and should be in the minor leagues. I think a nice transplant of some additional minor league talent would actually help the team's attitude as you'll have some first-timers who want to impress and will play hard.
At least Coffey didn't make the trip back up I-71.
I think catching the Cubs and Brewers is a pipe dream this season, but a second or third-place finish should be considered acceptable given the collapse of the bullpen, poor morale, and a lack of solid starting pitching from pitchers 3 to 5. (I can't lump Bronson into that yet since he did go through that stretch with little support and then his tear after the All Star break.) We have an interm manager who seems to know how to use the bullpen, although his use of Stanton will stun and surprise baseball fans well into the future.
I'm not going to start with the trade this guy and dump that guy argument. Instead, even when a season seems lost, and it looks like it will get better next season, I'm all for playing the role of spoiler for teams like the Cubs, Brewers, Braves, and so on.
Also, doesn't the chance of next season's outfield with Hamilton, Dunn/Griffey (or both), and a top minor leaguer look good? Wouldn't most teams kill for this power and experience?

 
at 1:33 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

John, The observation concerning Burton's ERA before and after the All-Star Break is very interesting. When things were at their worse earlier in the year it seemed like there were a lot of little things defensively that were going wrong to help extend the opposition's inning. Things that don't necessarily show up in the error column. I don't know how many times it would appear that the Reds would get that ground ball double play but wouldn't quite be able to turn it for 2, or we would miss a cut off man and allow the runners to advance another base. Little things that would extend the opponent's rally and allow them to score additional runs. I'm sure this must have been the case with Burton as well as Walks issued by the bullpen. Another factor I believe is what I always felt was Narron's undoing and that was never knowing when to pull a guy. Seems like he left too many pitchers in the game one or two batters too long.

I also believe that a healthy Bray would have made a very big difference in our bullpen and although the trade that brought him over has been criticized (and rightfully so) Bray is without question the best part of the deal for the Reds. I think he has a bright future and would like to see him stay with the team.

All in all it's much more pleasant to watch this team play again and I'm very thankful of that.

 
at 9:10 AM Blogger ConMan said...

Burton numbers show his control problems. If Narron would have given him more chance...like when games were out of control (there were enough of them) then he could have worked through his wildness earlier.

On another note...why do you guys not hold Wayne and Pete accountable? It would be nice to ask why use Belhorn in that situation last night and not Javy? It would be nice to know why Belhorn is even here (BA .100)! It would be nice to know why Sarloos is again recalled even though he cannot get an out at any level. Because he can go long? So can any starter they have down there. And why wait to bring back McBeth like we waited to bring up Bray? And why is Eddie G. still here...he obviously did poorly at AAA and now he is getting blasted. Why not bring Couter back up?

Let's face it...these guys make bad decision after bad decision...just because we win does not mean those decisions should go unchallenged! Thanks!

 
at 11:17 AM Blogger Cheviot Sports Authority said...

About time to come up with a phantom injury for Burton and put him on the DL again. One of my favorite Krivsky moves. By the way, my money says that Homer Bailey is finished as a Cincinnati Red for this season. No Sept call-up. They will shut him down. No chance to see Cueto before spring training either. We will go into next season with Arroyo, Harang and bang, bang bang as a starting staff (not that Arroyo is a real gem either).

 
at 11:17 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Maybe Narron could have gotten that out of Burton but he had no faith in anyone not named Stanton or Coffey. Those guys cost him his job. Narron's bullpen management was horrible.

 
at 11:57 AM Blogger John said...

If Bray, Majewski, and Burton continue to pitch well, Krivsky has to get some credit -- esp. for Burton. The guy looks like the real deal, but time will tell if he can keep it up after the league sees him a few times and figures out how to hit that cutter.

 
at 12:57 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Burton WHIP since All Star break = 1.25

Not Mariano Rivera like, but gets the job done for sure Burton's ERA in August <1.

 
at 1:30 PM Blogger Osogato said...

Hi everybody! I'm going to the game tonight (Wednesday). Anyone else should come down and watch Jake Speed & the Freddies play a set before the game (5:30 - 7) at the stage in the fanzone (I think). They're a great band with lots of Cincinnat and Reds-related songs.

 
Post a Comment*

* Our online blogs currently are hosted and operated by a third party, namely, Blogger.com. You are now leaving the Cincinnati.Com website and will be linked to Blogger.com's registration page. The Blogger.com site and its associated services are not controlled by Cincinnati.Com and different terms of use and privacy policy will apply to your use of the Blogger.com site and services.

By proceeding and/or registering with Blogger.com you agree and understand that Cincinnati.Com is not responsible for the Blogger.com site you are about to access or for any service you may use while on the Blogger.com site. << Home


Blogs


Jim Borgman
Today at the Forum
Paul Daugherty
Politics Extra
N. Ky. Politics
Pop culture review
Cincytainment
Who's News
Television
Roller Derby Diva
Art
CinStages Buzz....
The Foodie Report
cincyMOMS
Classical music
John Fay's Reds Insider
Bengals
High school sports
NCAA
UC Sports
CiN Weekly staff
Soundcheck

Advertisement