Blame Adam Dunn

I am shocked-SHOCKED-that there haven’t been any “I told you so” articles written or comments made by the Cincinnati Media when the Arizona Diamondbacks failed to make the post-season, losing the NL West to the L.A. Dodgers.

Unless I haven’t been paying attention, there haven’t been any of these types of comments being made….yet.

It will be interesting when the season officially ends and the free agent signing period beings this winter to see how much interest Adam generates and if there will be any outrage from the CM on a future deal for the former Reds slugger.

MLB.com Should Learn From ESPN

Looking for updates on today’s action as we come down to the end of the season, I clicked on MLB.com for scores.  Come to find out MLB.com has added on their main page MLB.TV studio anchors relaying information and providing instant updates to the games.

I really enjoy some of the content that MLB.TV provides. Their anchors such as Peter McCarthy and Seth Davis provide a lot of solid information and quick analysis of baseball goings-on during the day.  All this without seeming like a propaganda arm for MLB (which it is).

My big beef with this is that it automatically loads the video without the user having to give permission.  Earlier, when ESPN.com lauched an embedded media player with SportsCenter highlights, I couldn’t stand the shock of the video being played at such a high volume (since I have my speakers on at all times).

MLB.com should give visitors to its site the option to view the streaming video updates when visiting the webpage and not fall into the same trap that ESPN.com did which has ultimately created a backlash against ESPN.com and the visitors.

Tenative 2009 Schedule

Here is a link to the 2009 schedule for your Reds next season.  Highlights include:

Opening Day

New York Mets April 6, 8, 9

Interleague Games

Cleveland (May 23-24 in Cincy, June 26-28 at Cleveland)

Chicago White Sox (June 19-21)

At Kansas City (June 12-14)

At Toronto June (23-25)

Those are some crappy interleague games compared to this year.  Not only do they go on the road again for the second straight year to Toronto, but Kansas City?  It would have been nice to have a reason to visit U.S. Celluar Field and see the Reds play the White Sox on the road.

There it is! There it is! Get Down!

23 years ago …..

Chris Welsh Ripping Dusty, Reds

Is it just me or has the Mustashioed One found his cajones and started ripping the team more and more?

Just about every broadcast that he has done for the past two months, Chris Welsh has been harping on this team almost nightly with no player or even Dusty Baker being immune.

On Friday night, Welsh ripped Dusty for a late inning substitution sending Patterson into center and Dickerson into left.  It was a NINE RUN GAME!  Welsh said,

It is does not make a nickel’s worth of difference if you make the change now.  Why not put Dickerson in center and see how he can play?  It is a nine run game and the lead is not in danger

Perfect logic.  Of course George “I’m always a nice guy and sugar coat everything no matter how much this team sucks” Grande replied,

Well, I guess you put your nine best defenisive players out there

Where was this earlier in the season?  His contract is a four year deal that runs through the 2010 season so it can’t be because he knows he’s done after this year. Hopefully Bob C doesn’t want to silence the press about this crappy team and have him canned.

I say keep going, Chris.  Management needs to hear it.

Durham vs. Bats Game 1 (David Price!)

Yeah. That David Price.  The #1 overall draft pick in the 2007 draft for the Tampa Rays will take the mound at Louisville Slugger Field tonight for the  Durham Bulls against Matt Maloney (11-5, 4.68) for the Bats.

This is game one of a five game series in the International League Playoffs.  The other series features the Pawtucket Red Sox versus the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees.  That series will start tonight in Pawtucket.

David Price is the most highly regarded prospect in the minors right now. Overall this year, Price has posted a 12-1 record with a 2.30 ERA at multiple levels of the minor league.

The Bats have not fared well this season versus the Bulls, winners of the IL South Division, going 3-5 during the regular season, but 2-2 at home.  What is odd about the Bats season, while winning a franchise high 88 wins against 56 losses, is that they have the exact same home and road record this season.  Manager Rick Sweet, named International League Manager of the Year, was on local radio earlier this morning saying that he has been telling his players not to press and try to stay relaxed even if they were to drop one of the first two games while at home.

I am super excited to not only be in attendance for this play-off game, but also to see what David Price has to offer.  Most scouting reports say that he doesn’t go deep into ballgames, but the Bats could have trouble with his blazing heat.  Hopefully I can get a seat behind the scout section behind home plate tonight.  This should be a very interesting and thrilling night for Louisville baseball.

Couier-Journal Game Preview

Things I Learned On Friday

On Friday night, I had the opportunity to attend another Reds game, my second of the season, by getting a free ticket, free ride, and some free food to boot.  This was the only way I would go to another game after the abomination this season has been.

Edinson Volquez is tired.  He didn’t look right from the first pitch to the very last he threw.  Maybe it is different seeing a pitcher for the first time in person rather than on TV but he didn’t look right.  He still had incredible velocity but seemed to almost immediately wear down after throwing a lot of pitches early.  What he needs to learn now is how to be more efficient.  He still has a huge upside and could easily replace Harang in the future as the number one starter.

Adam Dunn has been essentially erased by the Reds.  By that I mean he has had his picture replaced on the official scorecard sold on the GABP concourses.  I don’t know if this is normal, but I do remember Brandon Phillips being on all the scorecard covers that I bought last year.  Perhaps they just cycle the covers for different games or series.  I didn’t see if they changed the banner on the front facade honoring Griffey’s 600 home runs since I entered from the outfield side, but inside the stadium the mark on the outfield wall is still there and the home run counter in center has been replaced by “Good Luck Griffey”.

Corey Patterson is not upsetting any of the Reds fan base.  At least at Friday night’s game.  Perhaps fans are too beaten down to realize how horrible he is or something.  I don’t know.   But only hearing one or three people boo him (including myself) scares me a bit.  Dusty Baker insists on Corey getting to play in every game.  The bumper sticker “If you’re not outraged, you haven’t been paying attention” applies to this situation.

Barry Zito is a joke.  The worst contract that I can think of outside of the Reds organization.  No velocity, no movement.  Perhaps the Pirates would be interested in taking on Zito much like they did for Matt Morris.

Cincinnati residents really love their fireworks.  I haven’t a clue as to why.