Friday, April 16, 2010

Off To See A Missile Launch

While on the road to see Aroldis Chapman throw in Louisville this evening, I figured it would be a good time to catch up on some Reds business.

First off, what to do with Chapman. With Harang and Bailey off to slow starts, the calls will be coming fast and furious to light the missile's major league fuse. I'm sure the Reds want to see him string together a couple of nice outings in the 7-8 inning range. But my concern for Harang is high, and about as high for Bailey. No team can complete without competent starting pitching, and the Reds aren't getting it.

Dusty, oh Dusty. Why did you sit Paul Janish one day after he homered and doubled against the Marlins? We all know Janish is not known for his bat, but when a player gets hot, stick with him for at least a couple of games. If Cabrera is tearing the cover off the ball, maybe, but Cabrera is hitting .205.

The Reds need two out of three in Pittsburgh. Hopefully for Mike Leake those control problems in his debut were just a glitch. The Reds need him to go deep into the game tonight. There's every reason to believe his control will be just fine.

1 comment:

  1. I think before the pitching becomes competent, the manager needs to become competent.

    Ok, my rant about tonight's game with the Pirates:

    Cordero is having control issues and in typical Baker style, he lets the game get away from the Reds. Baker waits until we are in the losing position before he ever makes a move. Case-in-point: The LA game last year where the Reds led off the first with 3 runs and the Dodgers answered in the bottom of the first with 4 runs. It wasn't until those 4 runs were scored did Baker stumble to action and get someone up in the bullpen. So tonight, Cordero was only out to prove he could pitch better than Mark Mallory by at least getting it to the plate. Baker, more concerned about pasing about and chewing on his toothpick, does nothing. We stuck with Edwin Encarnacion far too long and it appears we are going to do the same with Baker. Until we get a guy in here who knows how to lead, don't expect the Reds to do anything special.

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