Some Days, You Hate Your Team Not Just Because They Lose to the Pirates, but for the Stupid Shit They Say Afterwards

I made the mistake of reading up on last night's Reds-Pirates game on mlb.com. Almost always a mistake; the quality of writing over there is abysmal. Here's what some guy named Mark Sheldon reports about last night's 4-3 Pirates win:

Through three starts, Arroyo is 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA. He has yet to pitch more than 5 2/3 innings.

"I wasn't particularly happy. It's pretty average," Arroyo said of his season thus far. "Nothing is clicking yet. You feel like you're running uphill a bit. I'm happy I kept us in the game, pretty much. I kept us close all three times, even though I don't feel like I've had the greatest stuff."

No, it's not average. Your WHIP is over 1.5 and your ERA+ is a miserable 81. You are throwing near 100 pitches in the first five innings of your starts.

Arroyo was finished after he threw 102 pitches. High pitch counts have been a running theme so far, but the right-hander wasn't worried.

"Sometimes, when you're facing the same guys year in and year out, they tend to start swinging at your stuff early, knowing you're going to be around the plate," Arroyo said. "I don't want to fall victim to guys by me throwing too many strikes. I tried to pull things out of the zone early in the game and get them off some pitches, which gets the pitch count up sometimes."

Is this a new philosophy of pitching? Don't throw too many strikes because you're facing the same guys year in and year out?

I think that's been the key to Greg Maddux's success. Since he's faced the same guys year in and year out for two decades in the NL, they know he's going to be around the plate. He must be avoiding strikes. No, actually, he's gone six and seven innings in his two starts and thrown fewer pitches in both outings.

Or maybe he just changes speeds. Bronson is probably too busy styling his hair or playing his guitar to figure that out.

I think it's safe to say that Bronson's revolutionary "Don't Throw Strikes" theory isn't going to have a profound effect on the game.

In the seventh, the Reds loaded the bases with three one-out singles and did not score. For the third time in two nights, normally clutch hitter Edwin Encarnacion made the third out with the bases loaded.

He did hit a game-ending home run after failing to get a bunt down.That was one at-bat. Considering the entirety of his career, none of his "clutch stats" show that he is at all more likely to get a hit when his team needs it.

"It seems like the hit keeps eluding us and they keep getting it," Baker said. "That's the name of the game. He who gets the most two-out hits usually wins."

I'm glad you are managing, Dusty. Why don't you spend less time spouting useless crap like this and more time yelling at your #2 starter, who has apparently decided that his best pitching approach is to avoid throwing strikes?

Ugh. It could be a long season.

How Long Until Dusty Baker Benches Adam Dunn For You-Know-Whatting Up The You-Know-Whatpaths

I promise this post is not being made just to antagonize local Reds fan Dan-Bob. But after hearing what I just heard, I couldn't not write about it. Rob Dibble (always known to be a real Ivy Leaguer, of course) on XM's "The Show", hyping up the alleged depth of the NL Central by listing a reason every team in it has a chance to be good:

Dusty Baker is now in Cincinnati- and we all know what he can do.

Ummmm... what can he do? Not understand how teams in baseball maximize their chances of scoring runs? Ruin young pitching staffs? Put his son in harm's way? Don't get me wrong, as shitty as that division is, the Reds could easily make a run at its crown. But let's just be clear that if that happens Dusty had little or nothing to do with it.

Fun fact of the day- as much as he loves unclogging the basepaths as a manager, Dusty only had 27 sacrifice bunts and 137 steals in his 19 year playing career. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Cub Writers Are Ignorant, Just Like Their Fans

Well, ol' Dusty Baker comes down from the booth to manage the Reds. This could be interesting. I don't think Dusty's a good manager, but I think he's probably the best the Reds have had since Davey Johnson or Jack McKeon, and certainly a better candidate than most of the ones out there at this point in time.

But witness this, by Chris Deluca of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Baker Back in Game

BOSTON -- Dusty Baker's biggest fear was becoming the next Cito Gaston or Davey Johnson -- a superstar manager who got canned, never to return.

Let's play "one of these things is not like the other":

Which one has no World Series titles?

Which one has the most fourth-or-lower finishes?

Which one is only a "superstar manager" in the minds of inane Cub fans?

But after a year away from the dugout -- after he was dismissed by the Cubs -- Baker made his return Saturday night, agreeing to a three-year deal to manage the Cincinnati Reds, a deal expected to be formally announced today.

It's a hire that promises to spice things up in the National League Central, where the Cubs are the reigning champions.

Not unless the Reds get two more starters, re-sign Adam Dunn, and have a bullpen that can get batters out, it sure won't.

The manager with a West Coast tilt has landed right back in the Midwest. And Baker is tentatively scheduled to make his Wrigley Field return to start the Cubs' second homestand of 2008, on April 15.

Yay! You're setting up a column to write next April. For you non-media people, this is called a "teaser".

When Baker signed on last October to become an analyst for ESPN, he made a point of stressing to the Sun-Times that this was a ''nice, temporary gig.''

I caught up with Baker at the 2006 World Series in Detroit, and he was already thinking ahead to his next managerial job -- wherever that might be. He lobbied hard last offseason for the Washington Nationals spot that eventually went to Manny Acta.

Then he spent a year honing his studio skills with ESPN.

I wonder how much skill he actually honed. My guess is that he sat around and offered "seasoned baseball opinions" about important things like "clogging the bases" and didn't hone anything. Maybe he whitened his teeth or something.

Though he was shocked by the amount of money the Cubs spent immediately after he was sent packing, Baker was anything but bitter. Instead, he firmly believed his four years on the North Side were a great education.

I hope, if I am ever fired from a job, I can say the same. Dusty actually seems like a pretty level-headed guy, and I think that's a positive asset.

Baker inherits a Reds team that hasn't reached the playoffs since winning the Central with an 85-59 record in the strike-shortened 1995 season and hasn't had a winning record since going 85-77 to finish second in 2000.

Well, the Reds did tie for the wild-card in 1999, and were leading the NL in 1994, but I do buy the overall point of this sentence, which is that the Reds haven't had a lot of success recently.

The Reds have plenty of work to do to make some noise in an NL Central that is expected to feature a strong Cubs team, an even stronger Milwaukee Brewers club and a rebuilt St. Louis Cardinals.

Three totally unsupported allegations. I guess the Cubs could be as strong next year, if Ted Lilly can continue to pitch much higher than his career numbers would indicate. I don't know why the Brewers might be stronger, except that their core young players have another year. And I don't have any idea why he suggests the Cards will be better or rebuilt, seeing as they FIRED THEIR GENERAL MANAGER last week.

Baker will encounter a young team -- an area in which he has struggled. The rotation is spotty beyond veterans Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, though top prospect Homer Bailey is expected to nail down a spot. The Reds had the worst bullpen in the NL and the lineup -- as always -- depends on the health of future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.

1. The rotation sucks. Obvious point, Chris.

2.Bullpen sucks. Obvious point, Chris.

3. This is why we have the label WRONG. The Reds' lineup success depends as much on Adam Dunn's 136 OPS+ returning to the lineup and Brandon Phillips having another 30-30 season. It could depend on the emergence of Edwin Encarnacion, Joey Votto, or Josh Hamilton. Ken Griffey Jr., while a good player capable of carrying a team for a time, is NOT the sole dependent factor in the Reds' offensive success next year. WRONG!

Baker -- a three-time NL Manager of the Year -- takes a 1,162-1,041 career record to Cincinnati after stints with the San Francisco Giants (1993-2002) and Cubs (2003-06). He took the Giants to the 2002 World Series, then took the Cubs to the NL Championship Series the next season.

In my opinion, Barry Bonds having possibly the greatest offensive season in all of baseball history was what took the Giants to the Series in 2002, not Dusty Baker. In my opinion, the starting staff of the 2003 Cubs (the top 4, while throwing over 200 innings, posted ERAs of 2.43, 3.11, 3.20, and 4.11) took them to the NLCS.

In Chris Deluca's opinion, Dusty Baker took them there. Well, maybe Dusty made the plane reservations or something.

[boring stuff omitted]

''Hey, man, I'll be back,'' Baker promised a year ago, ''and I'll be back even better than I was.''

Reds fans hope so!

it's all relative, i guess

dusty baker has been an invaluable addition to the baseball tonight team this year. in fact, i think i like him even better in this role than when he's employed as a manager and says stupid stuff like "i don't care about on base percentage if you can't run."

anyways, last night, dusty commented on hulking home run machine prince fielder:

"you look at him during highlights and the first thing you think is, 'he's athletic.'"

huh. i look at him during highlights and think, "man, what joke can i make involving him and all-you-can-eat buffets that isn't hacky or overdone?" then i realize there isn't one and go back to listening for dusty or krukie or steve phillips to say stupid stuff. fielder is listed at 6'0, 262. i'm pretty skeptical; the guy isn't exactly dmitri young but id say he's gotta be pushing three bills at this point. sure, he's athletic relative to 95% of the fat guys in the world. but he's most definitely unathletic relative to 95% of all professional baseball players. the point is- dusty baker has a tiny brain.