17 Seconds

Remember when Dusty told Votto before the season started that he needed to "be more aggressive"? Well I think it's worth noting that Votto now has 1 walk in 66 at-bats this season. Yes he's is raking, but this would still be a bit of a disturbing development if I was a Reds fan, considerig Votto took a ton of walks in his minor league career.

I was arguing with somebody over what catch was better: the Reed Johnson catch or the GMJ catch to rob Mike Lamb in 2006. Here is the play I'm talking about if you don't remember: http://houston.astros.mlb.com/news/wrap.jsp?ymd=20060701&content_id=1532714&vkey=wrapup2005&fext=.jsp&team=away Click top play and "Matthews amazing catch" should play. I personally think the Matthews catch blows Reed's away.

Small sample size, guy.

Man, now Theriot isn't even the grittiest player on his own team.

Theriot is so fundamentally sound.

Do you guys remember when Cubs fans thought Dusty was a good manager for the first year or so of his tenure here? I do. I don't know if it's more funny or sad to see Reds fans defend Dusty. They'll learn. Maybe not this year, but they'll learn.

Darron Sutton?

Were you watching on gameday or something? Only one was hit on the ground. The other was a line drive and both of them were smoked. What do you mean they were hit softly? They were hit hard. Huh? I said they were hit hard.

Man, the Cubs offense is going to struggle tomorrow when they have to face Odalis Perez. I mean, I know his WHIP is 1.54, but his ERA is 3.38! Dude is lights out!

Were you watching on gameday or something? Only one was hit on the ground. The other was a line drive and both of them were smoked. Edit: I quoted the wrong post.

If your command and mechanics are getting major-league hitters out to the tune of a sub-4.00 ERA, they don't need work. That's the problem, he's not "getting hitters out to the tune of a sub 4.00 era", he's getting hitters out to the tune of a 1.42 WHIP. Teams are just leaving a ton of guys on base against Hill, and that won't last forever. Like I said, I don't want him skipped and I think he'll be fine, but he needs to figure out where his command has gone or that ERA is going to start to rise. I mean, a 1.42 WHIP is Jason Marquis territory.

Why are people still acting like Hill is struggling? Oh come on. I'm not at all a Rich Hill hater, but it's obvious he's been struggling to at least a certain extent this season. Yeah his era is fine, but his 1.42 WHIP, his 14 walks in 19 IP, and his short outings (although he probably could have gone deeper in a couple) show that he certainly is having problems. If he keeps pitching like he is right now, that ERA isn't going to stay at 3.79 very long. Eventually people are going to start cashing in on all those baserunners. That being said, I certainly don't want him skipped and I absolutely wouldn't even consider taking him out of the rotation anytime soon. I still think he ends up being the second best starter on the staff this season, but don't act like he doesn't have some issues right now.

It's not like we've been getting great production from the leadoff spot lately anyways.

He's not really being skipped, so this is a good move I think. I was hoping they'd push somebody back so Zambrano could pitch in the Brewers anyways, and with the way the Brewers hit against lefties, it makes sense for it to be Hill. Hill's problems seem to mostly be mental, so it wouldn't be a good thing if he got knocked around by the Brewers. Edit: I just realized they are actually skipping him and giving him 9 days off. That is beyond [expletive].

I don't get it. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=felch CAUTION: VERY NOT SAFE FOR WORK. But it explains it. Definitely not as delicious as Coco Crisp.

Did you even read the original post? He even said it's hypothetical. Obviously Boston wouldn't do it, but that's not the point. He's trying to get an idea of what people would do.

My favorite is when somebody either a) picks up a player and then tries to include him in a trade the next day or b) tries to trade a crappy player and then ends up dropping him the next day after nobody falls for it

Still no mention of this by ESPN or the Phils.

Maddux's reaction was hilarious. He even pointed to Kouz and said nice play because he assumed he was out.

I don't get it.

Coco Crisp because it is delicious as well as bad at baseball.

He's got a ways to catch Cedeno's .957. doesn't matter... you don't bench a guy OPS'ing .893. But you bench a guy OPSing .957? Neat. bench players don't get benched, they get returned to the spot they were already occupying. That really makes no sense, but okay. Who has been the starter the past 2 games? Anyways, this won't be an issue until Soriano comes back, and at least one of Theriot/Cedeno will probably have cooled off by then. Until then, Derosa needs to be in left, Cedeno at short, and Theriot at second.

He's got a ways to catch Cedeno's .957. doesn't matter... you don't bench a guy OPS'ing .893. But you bench a guy OPSing .957? Neat.

I'd trade him straight up for Drew.

Sorry, can't do it. Can't put it on Gagne this time. If Weeks makes a play that T-Ball kids make then it's game over and it doesn't go 12 innings. Gagne let Cesar Izturis and Skip Schumaker on base. He wasn't without blame. No way you can put this on Gagne. Izturis should not of been on, the ump blew a strike 3 call after he froze Izturis. Shumaker was a hard hit ball, he is hitting .324 this year, but yeah that was hit bad. And then he got the best hitter in baseball to ground into a double play and Rickie Weeks decides to throw like a little girl to first. BS. When you hit a sub .200 hitter to start the inning and then allow a hard hit single to put runners at the corners with no outs in a 1 run game, it's your fault. I don't care what happens after that. Pujols' hard hit ground ball could have easily gotten past Hall anyways. He was lucky that the hard hit ball was hit drectly at Hall in the first place. The key of that inning was Izturis. I didn't see this alleged blown call by the ump, but it shouldn't have come to that anyways. How are you going to go to a full count on Cesar I Dropped The Soap! Izturis leading off the 9th in a one run game? You obviously didn't watch the game. It was a perfect pitch, Izturis watched it, and it Froze the Ump. Hard hit ball? Are you kidding? It was a regular double play ball to 3rd. A avg. 3rd baseman can field that. You're missing the point. It should have never come to that on a hitter as bad as Izturis. Anyways, I just watched the replay and it's not even close to as bad as you're making it out to be. It was a borderline pitch that could have gone either way. It wasn't close to "blown call" territory. Like I said though, it shouldn't have come to that. He fell behind 2-0 on 2 fastballs not even close to the zone, then we he got it to 2-2 he throws a changeup? A 2-2 changeup to Cesar Izturis? Come on. That ball you're talking about was one pitch out of 6. He went 3-2 on a crappy hitter and then hit him, period. He did that to himself. As for the Pujols play, you're right when you say it wasn't that hard hit. I just checked the replay and it wasn't what I thought. My point stands though, because that ball could have easily gotten by Hall. Gagne did a good job getting the ground ball, but it's not like Pujols hit it right at an infielder because of Gagne's awesome pitching skills or something. When you put runners at the corners with no outs in a 1 run game, tons of things can happen. You put a ton of pressure on your infielders, and even though he would have gotten out of it if Weeks makes that throw, it was his fault they were in that situation to begin with. By the way, I wouldn't call that Pujols ground ball a routine play. That was a great pick by Hall.