Archive for the '2004 Season' Category

I’m back to Des Moines in an hour to finish up my project. Be sure to check out Reds Daily for all your Reds needs.

Rich, the world famous blogger over at Rich’s Weekend Baseball BEAT, has been doing some outstanding reviews of Bill James’ old Baseball Abstracts. Very good stuff, and in my mind, required reading. Go there now!!!

Bill James, who needs no introduction, is simply the man. I can sit down with his Historical Baseball Abstract and lose a couple of hours of my life just flipping through the book. For someone who’s never owned or read one of his original Baseball Abstract’s, the work Rich is doing is welcome reading.

There’s quite a bit of Reds stuff happening. Even though they’re not playing, they’re not sitting still either.

Barry Larkin’s career as a Cincinnati Red is over. First he’s retiring, then he ain’t. Well it doesn’t matter, because the Red’s aren’t bringing him back. Larkin’s been hanging on the past four years. He bounced back a little this year, but not enough in my opinion to warrant hanging on to him. The Reds have some youngsters to develop, and next year’s the time to do it.

Not that I don’t appreciate what Barry’s done. Nineteen years, one World Series, and one MVP. He ends his career with 2,340 hits, and a career .295 average, both lofty numbers. Hall of Fame? Probably not. I know if I said he deserved it, Brian would immediately bring up Trammell, who’s pulling in less then 25% of the votes.

Also noteworthy was the Reds extending Dave Miley’s contract through 2006. This is a homegrown guy, who’s managed down on the farm for the Reds since 1996. I love it, and think he might pull in some votes for Manager of the Year this year.

So two moves, and in my opinion, two good moves.

I also read over on Reds Daily that the club is trying to move Austin Kearns to third base. Should be interesting, but after watching Eric Munson try to play the position here in Detroit, I’d be wary. Wary indeed.

Also Mike Matthews and Aaron Myette opted to become free agents. Whoopty freacking da. I loved Chris Farley.

So that’s the run down. Reds still rule, with or without Barry. And they still rule with Miley. They rule, period.

Alright, not only have I not called a series correctly, but I have to adopt a new team. I’ll reserve that until these last two NL ones are done.

The Reds sent six players to the Arizona Fall League this year. Three pitchers (Daylan Childress, Dustin Moseley, and Todd Coffey), first basemen Jesse Gutierrez, second basemen Kevin Howard, and catcher Brian Peterson. The official Cincinnati Reds website has a nice story here and hopefully all these guys learn a thing or two while playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions (what a cool name).

The Cards and the Dodgers are tied 1-1 in the second. The plate cam shot they keep showing is growing old, very quickly.

I have a queston to my millions and millions of fans. What is worse, having a season like the Reds had this year, or having a season like Boston had last year? So close, yet not quite good enough. I remember 1990, and it was very cool. But the the last time the Reds made it and didn’t win it was the year I turned one year old. Sure they won the division in 1995, but the Braves were the team in the NL back then, so it wasn’t a surpise the Reds got knocked down.

One of my favorite websites is Baseball Almanac.
I was sifting through the Reds page, checking out the little factoids. The Reds had six MVPs in the 1970s. That’s six out of the ten years, and you had four different players. No Cy Young winners though, and a pitcher’s number has never been retired. Here’s your chance Claussen!!!

The ALCS and NLCS both start up this week. if they’re anything like the Division Series have been, we’re in for some great baseball. I wonder if a study has been done on the percentage of playoff games going into extra innings compared to the percentage in the regular season. Maybe it’s just because they get so much attention, but it seems like there’s more in the playoffs, which makes for some HIGH DRAMA!!

Finally, I talked to Brian, and apparantly the amount of money we’ve raised since I announced my call to arms hasn’t quite gotten us to our goal. The amount of money that’s been raised is still measured in cents. But you still have a chance to make a difference. It’s easier then voting, because you don’t have to leave your house, and unlike November, we all win!!!!

Cards are now on top 2-1. Too bad all the Dodger’s pitchers couldn’t be like Jose Lima. We could all use a little more “Lima Time.”

Work takes me to Des Moines, IA this weekend. I usually work on the flight in, but always make a habit of reading on the flight home. And the book I’ll be taking with me is Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Lineups.

Chock full of interesting tid bits, the book won’t give you a detailed bio on Mordechai “Three Finger” Brown, but it will give you the fact that he won 148 games over a six year period. It’s a very fun book, the side stories are great reads, and you can pick it up every few months and learn something new or interesting. Brian salivates about the story where Randy Smith almost brought Bernie Williams to Detroit.

I always start with the Reds, scanning the lists, and then just flip throughout the book. I’m sure it will make my return flight pass like the blink of an eye. Thank you Rob Neyer.

I talked to Brian, and our campaigh to raise money has gotten off to a slow start. But I have confidence in each and every one of you. However, I will beg if I have to.

I’ll be back on Sunday, so hopefully by then the Twins will have dispatched the Yankees. I know you won’t miss me while I’m gone, but I’ll miss you. Really, I will.

Really.

Not even a good Monday Night Football game could fill the void of baseball being over. I wanted to stay at home today and watch 10 hours of consecutive baseball, but I couldn’t fit in the first two games. Fortunately, they were both blowouts. Tonight’s game is a hoot though. Santana is shutting out the Yankees, but he’s not quite at his best. He’s given up six hits in five innings, but he’s had the help of four double plays. Mussina has given up a run. And that’s the difference.

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about a duel of franchises. Brian and I will square off in a debate on which was Sparky’s best team, the 1975 Reds or the 1984 Tigers. We’ll look at each position individually to determine who had the better squad.

Then, I came up with a marvelous idea. What if we could actually recreate a series between the two teams. Or several series!!! Then I thought, “we can do that.” Diamond Mind Baseball!!!

I personally have never tried the simulation, but the website makes it sound sweet. So I asked Brian if he’d buy it.

And the cheap bastard said no. Something about formula and diapers. And yeah, his wife’s out of work, but the dude has gold in basement. He can afford the simulation.

Then he proposed that I buy the simulation. Being self employed, I live a spartan lifestyle. I don’t think I could fit it into my budget. It looks like we’d need to come up with $90 to buy the game, and the two season disks.

So, unless someone wants to buy it for us, I have a proposition. Brian said if he could pick half of the money from google over the next couple of months, he’d spring for the simulation. Then we’ll know the truth. And we can handle the truth. The 1975 Reds would mop the floor with the 1984 Tigers.

So if you want to help out, go over to Tigerblog. Just underneath the first entry, and just above some rotating banner ads, you’ll see the google ads. Click there like a mad man. Come back every day if you want.

It’s for a good cause :-). It will prove me right!!!

The Red’s season is over. And they went out with a whimper. One run in two games over the weekend, and a nice outing by Branden Claussen went to waste.

As a fan, I can’t complain too much. The Reds finished 10 games below .500, and they did it with what’s probably the worst park adjusted pitching staff in all of baseball. They also were without the service of Austin Kearns and Ken Griffey for an extended period of time.

It was also Barry Larkin’s last game, we think. I haven’t kept up with his situation, and I don’t get the local talk here in Detroit, so I don’t know if he’s coming back, retiring, or moving on. If it’s the later two, I have to thank Mr. Larkin for his years of service. I won’t go as far as saying “I love you” but I appreciate what you’ve done for the team, including helping us get that ring back in 1990.

So who’s going to do it this year?? Here are my predictions:

Twins and Yankees - Twins in 5. Santana wins two games, the pen wins a third.
Red Sox and Angels - Red Sox in 4

Cards and Dodgers - Cards in 4. Any team that has Jeff Weaver in their rotation doesn’t deserve to win a playoff series
Astros and Braves - Astros in 3.

Twins and Red Sox - Twins in 5. Red Sox aren’t allowed to win still. Go to google and type in “Curse of the Bambino” as a search to find out why.
Cards and Astros - Cards in 6

Twins and Cards - In a rematch of the 1987 World Series, the Twins come out on top again. Let’s say Twins in 7, because I like the drama.

These predictions are the fruits of some rather long and painful analysis, and I’ll stick by them throughout the playoffs.

Actually I came up with most of them on the fly. The Twins thing I had to stick with because I said I’d be rooting for them.

On a final note:

No more Reds = Blade is sad

Okay, not quite, but a record is going to be broken. Adam Dunn just tied Bobby Bonds with his 189th strikeout of the season. Mark Prior has been sharp, but the Reds will get to him the second time through the lineup. I just feel it.

***UPDATE***

Adam Dunn did it. He’s now struck out more times in a season then any other player ever.

Mark Prior is in rare form. Ten strikeouts through five innings. Harang is hanging with him though. It’s 0-0 in the bottom of the fifth.

***UPDATE***

It’s 9:00 pm here in Michigan, and I can still hear Cubs fans crying in Chicago. That’s what happens when you run into the BIG RED MACHINE, baby!!

He’s far more dangerous then a Paratwa assasin armed with a Cohe Wand.

His name is Adam Dunn.

And he just went yard. Number 45. Reds 1, Cubs 0. Maybe Austin Kearns can book a tee time and go play golf with Mark Prior next Tuesday.

***UPDATE***

Cubs fans have to be frothing at the mouth right now. Austin Kearns didn’t just come up big once, he came up big twice. A one run, two out double in the ninth, and then a two run shot in the twelth. And now my Reds have won 6 of 8.

Adam Dunn struck out twice, and is now one strikeout short of Bobby Bonds record. I think the record is about Dunn in for (har har).

And I hope Cubs fans don’t take this personal. If we were playing the Giants or Astros, I’d be saying the same things. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

Adam Dunn just hit a two run jack. That now gives him 100 RBIs on the season. He scored is 100th run last night. One more dinger, and he’s at 45. What a season for the big guy.

The Reds are taking it to the Cubs. I love it.

***UPDATE***

Alright, the Reds held on to win. Dunn went two for five, and he did get a strikeout. And Giants fans can give us Reds fans a pat on the back, since they won and are now tied with the Cubs for the Wildcard.

Afternoon game today. Rookie Luke Hudson, who’s been awesome this year, takes the mound for the Reds.

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