What happened is that the Reds saw that there was no Lance Berkman in the lineup and were energized immediately. Yeah, no Lance. If he’s not hitting in Cincy, something is wrong and he knows it, so he asked for the night off.
Not that he would have hit anyway, as Volquez was ON tonight.
Paulino wasn’t terrible, but tonight, as he did in his last start, he seemed to lose it after 4 innings, and by lose it, I mean he left pitches up, mid plate and he got hit. Coop yanked him much more quickly than he did last time and Chris Sampson shut it down, but the guys didn’t hit and there went the ballgame.
Brocail was lousy again, having incredible trouble finding the strike zone. 32 pitches, 17 strikes, 15 balls (and he didn’t get 2 borderline calls that would have helped) - an IF single, 2 walks, a sac-fly and a K (of Alex Gonzalez on a FB that was waaaaay outside.)
Don’t know if he isn’t really healthy or if he’s just lousy – he was all over the place with both the FB (I mean, ankles to shoulder to 8″ off the plate) and the slider, so it isn’t that he has one good working pitch. Maybe Paulino could replace Brocail/Geary as he seems to be able to pitch one effective inning.
Day off tomorrow, and I’ll check out the minors and see how guys are doing.
Tags: Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, MLB, Reds
Adam Rosales, who just came up from the minors where he was hitting over .400, sure reminded me of a Cincinnati version of Hunter Pence (at 3B) when he came up.
Paulino was actually pretty good once again, far better than well he wasn’t terrible; and he can pitch a lot better than just one inning as you say. Actually in 17and2/3 innings he has given up runs in only 3 innings and one of those innings the run was very, very, very unearned. His ERA is 2.54 second best of all our starters and he has shown that he is poised under adversity and keeps his emotions under control especially for a 25 year old. You can’t say that for wandy the first 4 years of his career, has he would almost always fall apart when things started getting rough. Wandy has now grown up and has gotten past that hurdle now,Thank God. Wandy might be on the verge of sharing top billing now with Roy O. Two Aces, thats great.
paulino wasn’t terrible. he was just fine the first time through the lineup.
what happens is that after 50-60 pitches, he starts throwing more pitches into the heart of the strike zone
the reason i said “1 inning” is because for some reason i don’t understand, relievers these days aren’t “supposed to” pitch more than 1 inning unless they are mopping up.
And what i am saying that even thou he his doing somewhat of what you are saying he has been able to pitch out of most the jams except the one 4 run inning in his second start. the inning that he gave his first run he really pitched out of a jam where the reds could have had a really big inning and the only other run he gave was an unearned run. So he gave only one ER away in 5 and 2/3 innings and definitely kept his team in the ball game. He has shown very good poise and coolness under pressure and adversity. I do not know how anyone can deny that, and he also has been a victim of no run support. He just dosen’t seem to get rattled.
lol…I love how you continue to manipulate stats in the most interesting ways to make them say what you want them to. He’s only given up runs in 3 of the 17+ innings he’s pitched? Seriously? I’m not denying that Paulino has been good, but arguing that he’s given up runs in only three innings isn’t the best argument you could make because those three innings are the ones that indicate, as Lisa has pointed out, that he might not last as a starter. I like what he’s doing for now, but that guys seem to be seeing his stuff really, really well after the first time or two through the lineup doesn’t bode well.
Chris Sampson, though, has been lights out. I’m STILLLLLLL waiting for them to give him the starts he has more than earned.
Austin do you have a mind of your own or are you truly a lisa clone? You definitely suffer from tunnel vision. I know you guys are absolutely tired of me not being a yes man are agreeing with you so i have decided to get out of here and stop posting as it is completely pointless to argue with ya’ll anymore. I have truly enjoyed myself thou and leave you guys to agree with each other on everything. LOL have fun being pessimasts and wallow in your negativety.
jimbo,
cmon i am NOT saying paulino is no good. i have said that he has been unbelieveably better than anything i could have expected based on his minor league stats and his previous appearances, both here and in the minors.
however
moehler IS going to come back and i would prefer to see paulino in the pen to get a chance.
and i am right about him leaving pitches in the fat part of the zone after about 4 innings. he HAS pitched out of trouble, but against a lousy team. i am not worried about the rattled stuff, i am worried that he is not just throwing the way he did in the first few innings, as he starts to nibble and then starts to throw in the zone.
this is WAAAAYYY different than what wandy used to do if he didn’t get calls from the ump. but really he pretty much got over that last year. he hasn’t been the 2005 version of kirk rueter for quite a while now with the nibbling/walk/GIDPstuff.
i saw the REAL wandy, the wandy we are seeing right NOW when he threw those 4 innings in the WS with almost no warmup after rojah got his hammies in a bunch after an inning.
Bourn sure had to do a lot of running last night, right from the get-go.
More on Rosales…
“Rosales went 1-for-2 with two RBI in his major league debut.
Spin:
He seemed to play with a certain energy. According to Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News, Rosales was out with the grounds crew making sure the field was ready for the game after a downpour hit Cincinnati. He should get plenty of playing time if he can turn that energy into offensive output.”
chris sampson start?
HAH
they would let alberto freaking arias have a start first
and rosales DID look good
Jimbo…Lisa and I have disagreed on a number of things and had very vocal discussions about them. And I give praise where it’s due. I said Paulino had been good and that Sampson had been lights out. But we’re dead last in the division at 9-13 and the offense is struggling even more than the pitching is. We’re not pessimists at this point…it’s reality. Sad to say. I love this team and want it to be better. I just won’t pretend they are when they are clearly not.
I’m also not tired of you not being a yes man. I think disagreement is good. It’s the only thing that keeps conversation going on these sites. I’m not trying to chase you away. I just like the lively discussion.
Jimbo you can’t quit posting. They only have tunnel vision because you haven’t posted ENOUGH.
Not only did Rosales look good and looks good in the future, but Volquez acutally threw strikes. If he makes this a pattern it’s going to be unpleasant.