Tony LaRussa Makes Brandon Phillips’ Point (Part 2 of a running series)
A little late, but still. Read.
“We were told before the game that [there would be] no funny business because of the cheap shot that Morgan hit,” La Russa said. “And here’s a guy that hits a single and a double and they throw the ball behind him. There was going to be no ifs, ands or buts. But in their opinion, the pitch got away. … If somebody throws the ball behind you, you’re not happy. Especially up in that area. If you don’t have that kind of command, it wasn’t intentional, then you don’t belong in this league.”
I seem to remember LaRussa saying something similar about Aaron Harang a few years back. Is there a bigger Whiny Little Bitch in this game? I don’t think so.
P.S. August records:
- Cincinnati 19-8
- St. Louis 11-15
I think Colin Cowherd might have called the wrong team frauds.
Tony LaRussa Makes Brandon Phillips’ Point (Part 1 of what is sure to be a running series)
The good folks at Redleg Nation beat me to the punch with this, but I’ll point it out nonetheless.
“You can go ahead and fine me, I don’t care,” La Russa said. “There were several strikes, a guy as good as Brian Wilson, he doesn’t need. Who knows how that inning would have been?”
You know, the season could go completely downhill from here (and it probably will) but it has been more fun to watch the Reds this year than it’s been in a long time. Also it’s nice to have a team we can really root against with gusto at the same time, for reasons beyond just where we sit in the standings.
Fraud Update (UPDATED)
The fraudulent, suck-ass Reds are 4-0 since fraud expert Colin Cowherd called them frauds.
The lily-white, super awesome, and non-fraudulent Cardinals are 0-3 over that span.
Also, for the Reds to finish with the record I predicted before the season started, they’d have to go 17-23 over their final 40 games. Isn’t that incredible? At the time I made my prediction, I was more or less joking around because although I thought they’d be improved this year, I never thought they’d actually still be in the race in late August.
Of course, now they’ll lose their next 24 games just to make me look like an ass.
update – I just realized this – if the Reds go .500 over the next 40 games, which I think anyone would reasonably expect at this point, they’d finish 91-71. The same record the Reds finished with in 1990. Presented without comment.
Colin Cowherd: Expert On Fraud
Earlier this season when Joey Votto was jobbed out of being named to the All Star team, ESPN radio’s Colin Cowherd went on a diatribe for a good fifteen minutes making the case against having an MVP and Triple Crown candidate on the All Star team. His reasoning was that fans will vote for players they know who have an impressive body of work in their past, and that Votto’s stats weren’t all that impressive considering that he plays half his games in Great American Small Park. Sounds pretty rational on its face, right?
Of course, he failed to address the fact that people weren’t upset by the results of the fan voting. No one who follows baseball – not even the biggest Reds homer – would have expected a relatively unknown Canadian to get more votes than Albert Pooholes. The problem was that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel chose Philly Ryan Howard – a great player in his own right – over Votto when Votto was having the better season in every statistical category. You see, a major league manager chooses the reserves for the All Star team, and a major league manager should have heard of Votto, right? And as the manager for the National League team, is it not reasonable to expect him to choose the best players available, not just the ones who the fan base knows and have impressive bodies of work in past seasons? And while we’re at it, isn’t Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia – where the prestigious Ryan Howard plays half his games – a bit of a bandbox too? Sadly, Colin decided to leave the answers to those questions out of his “analysis” as well.
But I digress. The previous paragraph exists merely to set up this week’s manufactured drama. Cowherd, being a radio blowhard and probably just trying to stir the pot a little, called the Reds frauds. Cincinnati Enquirer and SI columnist Paul Daugherty took exception to this, worlds collided, etc. I’m not the biggest fan of Daugherty – although I don’t have the animus towards him that others seem to – but I have to side with him on this one.
How are the Reds frauds for getting swept by the Cardinals’ 1,2, and 3 pitchers, two Cy Young candidates and a Rookie of the Year candidate? Did their bracketing the St. Louis series by sweeping the Cubs (who just beat the mighty, non-fraudulent Cardinals 2 out of three this weekend) and Marlins make them frauds? Or was it when they got back their 2-game lead in the division within a week of the brawl that was supposed to have ended the Reds’ season?
I get it. Brandon Phillips shot his mouth off and went 0 for 70 in the Cards series. Then again, Brandon didn’t say “We’re going to whoop the Cardinals this week, and I’m going to bat .900 for the series.” He said, “I hate the Cardinals. They’re a bunch of whiny bitches. All they do is bitch and moan all the time.” Saying you hate a team and then failing to perform against said team is not fraud. In fact, it’s probably the opposite of fraud – his shoddy performance should be evidence of his truthfulness. He probably should have said after the series, “Yeah, I went 0 for 350. That’s why I hate them. That, and they’re all a bunch of whiny bitches.”
Guess what? I agree with him, and a lot of people who follow baseball but don’t root for St. Louis probably do too. Sure, the Cardinals have a great fan base – although I even think that’s overrated considering how much they’ve been winning since about 1997 – but that doesn’t make their team and their legendary micro-manager immune from seeming as though they should be fitted for tutus and given ponies at the first available opportunity.
I simply ask this: are the Cardinals not frauds despite the fact that the Cardinals (in particular Yadier Molina, their .200-batting All Star catcher) threw a hissy fit – remember, for being called whining bitches – that set off the brawl in Cincinnati on Tuesday and then whined and moaned when a couple of their players got owies after pushing a spike-wearing pitcher up against the screen behind home plate? Is it not a sign of fraudulence when a player talks about professionalism and decorum and then chews out his own teammate during a game? (That last link does a good job pointing out something that seems a lot like… how you say? frr-OW-d? … to me, by the way.)
I guess I don’t know what constitutes fraud in the sporting arena. Thank God for Colin Cowherd.
The Annual Reds Jinxing Post – UPDATED
Reds current record: 35-26, 1st place in NL Central
Reds end-of-season record, projected (if they somehow continue winning at their current rate) 93-69
Reds end-of-season record, my prediction: 88-74
Don’t look so crazy NOW, do I? Especially considering that Aaron Harang has, until recently, pitched like the fat kid who got picked last for his Little League team and that the bullpen has been disastrous outside of Arthur Rhodes.
Editor’s note – Yes, I know. Now that I’ve mentioned the Reds’ success, they’ll promptly go on a 20-game losing streak and finish the season 30 games out of first place. But still, we’re more than a quarter through the season and they are doing well. I have to acknowledge it at some point, right?
UPDATE – Sure enough, after I write this post the Reds lose 2 of 3 to the freaking ROYALS, and look terrible doing so. Well done, guys. Well done.
Thoughts from the Office Handi-crapper Basement Urinal
It amazes me that a department can lose 1/4 of their people in six months after only having lost a handful in the preceding four years and STILL not do anything to make their work environment better.
It’s like that old saying – if you’ve been divorced six times, maybe it’s you.
I’m good enough to be accepted into the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. I wonder if that’s like being good enough to play semi-pro football in Shreveport.
The Reds lost a game yesterday when they were leading 9-3 going into the bottom of the 9th inning.
The reason I didn’t expand on the previous item: what do you say about a choke job like that?
The only person to choke worse than Jay Bruce on Wednesday (0-5, 3 strikeouts, 77 people left on base) was Vince Carter on Tuesday against the Celtics. I don’t follow basketball closely, but it seems to me that someone making $15 million a year (and not named Shaquille O’Neal) should be able to make a couple free throws.
I could miss two free throws at a critical moment in a playoff game, and I’d do it for way less than $15 million a year. I’d do it for $5 million without hesitation.
At what point do increased unemployment claims stop being “unexpected?” My guess is either when no one else in the country has a job or when a Republican becomes president again.
Those two things might happen around the same time, a couple years from now. We’ll see.
I’m convinced that kids’ TV shows are written and starred in by people who are coked out of their gourds 24 hours a day.
Along those lines, is it just me or is Handy Manny the most racist show ever? I mean other than Hannity, of course.
My daughter saw Jack Bauer during 24 the other night and said “ninja!” She has no idea.
Speaking of 24, the people who do security clearances at CTU must be the same people handing PR at my former department. I refuse to believe that there are two separate groups of people who are that incompetent.
It has been nice to see Jack open up a little bit this season and start eviscerating people more. If there was one thing 24 was missing, it was evisceration.
Conspiracy Theory of the Day
Dusty Baker is a plant (plant? I thought men like you were usually called a fruit) sent by the Cubs to decimate the young arms of the Reds’ pitching staff in an attempt by the Cubs to hurt their competition in a futile effort to win a World Series for the first time in 102 years.
Fortunately Lou Piniella is a plant sent by the Reds to get Cubs fans’ hopes up every year only to dash them in heartbreaking fashion. Not for any benefit to the Reds, mind you. Just because a lot of Cubs fans are morons and deserve it.
Reds Challenge
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while but thanks to Wes for keeping the wheels turning at least a little in my absence. To that end, I’m proposing a challenge. We can hash out the stakes later but I want to get this part posted before the Reds season starts in a few hours.
I predict the Reds will do better this year than they have in any season since I was in high school. That’s right, I’m going with hope over experience. I’d wager that Wes thinks I’m smoking crack to predict that. So let’s see who is right.
Any of the eight people reading this site who want in on the action, leave a comment here by Friday at the latest. Include with it your prediction of the Reds final record, how far they will go in the playoffs – if they make the playoffs – and who their best hitter and pitcher will be.
So here’s my entry:
Final record: 88-74 (first place in NL Central)
Lose in NLCS
Offensive MVP: Jay Bruce
Pitching MVP: Johnny Cueto
Do I really think it’ll happen? Eh, maybe not. All I know is that every year I expect them to suck and they end up sucking. I’m breaking the mold this year, and I invite the rest of you to do so as well.
More on the Reds
with opening day fast approaching the Reds are showing that they are indeed in mid-season, melt down mode.
In the last 5 games the Cincinnati “Deads” as they shall be affectionately referred to until they post a winning record are
1-4.
Last week on the radio I predicted the Reds would have their annual meltdown in May, it’s looking like that was generous.
I know some of you may be saying, it’s only pre-season and it doesn’t count. Uh yeah; whatever. Opening day is less than a week away, do you honeslty think the Reds are going to magically turn things around? If you do, then you’ve been watching too many Disney movies.
Get ready “Deads” fans. It’s going to be a long, brutal summer.
Reds Pitching Staff 2010
So far the smartest thing Dusty Baker has said in spring training is not to think too highly of the $30 million dollar man, Aroldis Chapman. It’s been said that Chapman won’t make the 25 man roster if he isn’t ready, but judging from the past pitchers the Reds have drafted or stumbled across, none of them are ready yet either.
During his last outing against the Dodgers, which the Reds won 3-2, Chapman allowed two infield hits over two innings and struck out two. He threw 35 pitches, 20 for strikes, and demonstrated less command than he showed in Monday’s first outing against the Royals. In his post game interview, Chapman said “Personally, I felt good, I just missed a couple of pitches out of the zone. I was trying to put them in a place, but they went the other way.” Uhhh news flash slick, up where the big boys play, those pitches that “just missed” or “went the other way” usually end up as souvenirs for the fans in the outfield seats because MLB hitters rarely miss a mistake pitch. Just ask the so-called #1 starter Aaron Harang who went 6-14 last year with an ERA of 4.21 in 162.1 innings of work. Not to mention that he gave up 82 runs, 76 of them were EARNED . Or maybe you should ask the previous golden child Homer Bailey what happens when you just miss your spots. The word was he wouldn’t pitch in the bigs until was ready as well, but the front office in its infinite stupidity rushed him anyway and in three seasons Bailey is 12-13 with an ERA of 5.45.
As for the rest of the staff, there’s the wanna be rocker Bronson Arroyo who went 15-13 and an ERA of 3.84. Johnny Cueto 11-11 with a 4.41 ERA, Micha Owings 7-12 and a an ERA of 5.34. Homer Bailey went 8-5 with a 4.53 ERA and Justin Lehr who was 5-3 and ERA of 5.37. That kids come up to a mind numbing record of 52-58 by the starting pitchers with a staff ERA of 4.61. The NL ERA average for 2009 was 4.19. Want to guess why the Reds starters were 52-58?Forget about a World Series Championship this year, the Reds need to be concerned with trying to post a record above .500. But for that to happen the pitching staff needs to find mental toughness, physical toughness and heart. In those categories, the Reds staff is 0-3.
Remember the old belief that pitching wins championships and the Reds don’t have it and that’s the sad, cold, hard truth.