One month down; five monthsto go. So how have the Cincinnati Reds down in the first month? In the review below, rankings are only to the 16-team NL.
Synopsis
- Pitching is carrying the team
- Starters and bullpen fine
- Offense poor (Votto great)
- RH hitters highly ineffective
- Fielders difficulty catching the ball
Team Record
- Record: 11-10, .524 (’08, -14, .457)
- Home: 7-3 (’08, +5)
- Road: 4-7 (’08, -19)
- East: 2-4 (’08, +2)
- Cent: 9-6 (’08, -16)
- West: 0-0 (’08, -3)
- Place: Div T3rd, NL T6th (’08, 5th, 11th)
Highlight: 7-3 road trip to Houston, Milwaukee, Chicago,
Lowlight: 2-4 home series following the successful road trip
Offense
- Runs: 15th (’08: 12th)
- AVE: .235; 15th (’08: .247, last)
- AB: 15th (’08: 16th)
- AVE w/RISP: .236, 11th (’08: .240, 16th)
- AVE w/RISP 2 outs .238, 13th (’08: 213, 14th)
No multi-player, multi-hit game didn’t until game 8
No double-digit hit game until game 12
Batting Star! Joey Votto (.346, .568 SLG, 3 HR, 20 RBI)
Improving: Jay Bruce
Thud! RH hitters: Willie Taveras (.268), Ramon Hernandez (.246), Alex Gonzalez (.190), Brandon Phillips (.188), Jerry Hairston (.179), Edwin Encarnacion (.127)
Pitching
- ERA: 4.11, 5th (’08: 4.55; 13th)
- WHIP: 1.39, 7th (’08; 1.46; 13th)
- AVE: .247, 4th (’08; .275; 14th)
Starters: Adequate; some great starts, Need more consistency from Volquez; Overall better than ‘08
Thumbs up bullpen Arthur Rhodes, Danny Herrera, David Weathers, Francisco Cordero (31 IP, 22 H, 5 ER, 9 BB) Note: 3 of the 5 runs in a blown save by Cordero
Thumbs down bullpen Mike Lincoln and Jared Burton: 18.2 IP, 27 H, 22 ER, 19 BB
Defense
- Errors 18 in 21 games; 14th (’08 14th)
- Fielding % 14th
- Many more games with errors than without
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A Frank Angle 
Lincoln and Burton have been exceedingly brutal… I’d give a thumbs down to Edwin going on the DL – but maybe that’s exactly what he needs since he’s clearly struggling big time.
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Chris,
You’re being nice with “brutal” with Burton and Lincoln, which is so surprising past on the past. But hey … it happens.
Edwin has probably been bothered for a bit, thus one possible reason of his slower than normal start. Although I wish him well, I sure hope Rosales serves to jump start the RH side.
Thanks for the comment.
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Phillips needs to start hitting badly. They’re at least holding their own.
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Carol,
Well said …. at least they are holding their own even with poor defense and minimal help from the RH bats.
You mentioned Phillips, I heard an interesting tidbit the other day. His batting average since the Dunn trade is quite low; but and to be honest, I haven’t crunched crunched or seen the numbers myself.
Thanks for visiting. Go Reds!
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Those are some telling hitting numbers you posted. But I really took note of the 9-6 division record in April which is so far a serious marked improvement from a year ago. Despite their problems on offense and in the field, at least they’re competitive.
Very nice breakdown and numbers!
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David,
Definitely a strange situation questionable numbers on one side, yet in the hunt on the other. Even going into the season pitching was looked upon as the strength, so IF the offense and defense can improve, they could be a factor … or at least competitive.
Thanks for visiting.
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