Cincinnati Reds Baseball Blog » Brandon Phillips

I can’t hardly believe it… 1st place??

redlegs1 — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:52:26 +0000

OK so I know we don’t have sole possession of first place in the NL Central, but even being in a three way tie for first is something I never thought was going to happen. Not even two weeks ago!

Since the last time I posted alot of stuff has went down. Is that Rosales guy fun to watch or what?? Of course, I don’t think he’ll continue with his .295 average the rest of the year but, at least he would be a good guy off the bench. 15.6 seconds around the bases for a home run.. HAHA! I sure hope, if he continues hitting the way he has, that he stays the starting 3b…I’ve never been a big EE fan.

Besides Rosales, I can’t pick out one particular player that has improved because EVERYONE has! It seems like everyone has started hitting better, which is always fun to watch!

BP has as many RBI as Votto- 26

Willy T is hitting .322

Ramon Hernandez is hititng .279

Votto is hitting .374- highest BA in the NL!

Hanigan is hitting .310

Look at our starting pitching- We could have four 15 game winners! Cueto 1.93 ERA

Even with all the good… there is still going to be somebody that is bad. Take in part, Mike Lincoln. God, I hate him. 13.1 IP 19 Hits and a 9.35 ERA… JESUS thats awful!

PLEASE, OH PLEASE Walt bring up Pedro Viola to replace him. We could add another lefty to the pen and look at his AAA stats… WOW. 14.2 IP 6 hits and a 0.61 ERA. Bring up Pedro!

I apoligize for not posting in awhile, however, I hope people check back more often because I will be posting more frequently.

Reds Play OK vs Mets/Pirates

redlegs1 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:52:15 +0000

Yesterday, the reds completed their fifth game of the season. Winning 1 out of 3 against the Mets isnt too bad and was what I expected. The mets have one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball, and competing very well in each game says alot about this ball club. Splitting the game with the Pirates was ok as well, considering we had to face Paul Maholhm. A lefty and a damn good one at that. Below I listed some positives and negatives from these two series:

Positives:

1. Aaron Harang- Good Lord! This guy looks nothing like last year. Pitching that complete game, 0er and only 3 hits was an AWESOME thing to see. His line of 14IP, 10 Hits, 3BB, 11SO, and a 0.64 ERA is impresive.

2. Joey Votto- Hard to put this guy second. He has been hitting the SHIT out of the ball. Hitting .400 with 7 RBI and 2 HR!

3. Brandon Phillips- Hitting .357 with 4RBI’s and 5 BB

4. Edwin Encarnacion- Although his average isn’t up to par, he does have 7 walks- the most on the team. Is this the year he has better plate discipline and turns into the player we have been wanting??

Negatives

1. Jay Bruce- hitting .200 with 5SO and only 1BB

2. Ramon Hernandez/Jerry Hairston/Alex Gonzalez- hitting a combined 2 for 29. They all look lost at the plate and swing and very bad pitches. Alex Gonzalez is still waiting to get his first hit of the year. It’s hard to watch these three.

3. Mike Lincoln- 34.71 ERA– IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?? 2.1 IP with 9 ER. That is NOT GOOD.

Spring Training Begins!

redlegs1 — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:58:39 +0000

Today, the reds will play their first ST game against the Rays. The reds will be in full force all the way until March 1st, when six players will go and play for their respective teams in the World Baseball Classic. First baseman Joey Votto will play for Team Canada, while starting pitchers Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto and center fielder Willy Taveras will play for the Dominican Republic. Utility player Jerry Hairston Jr. will play for Mexico, and catcher Ramon Hernandez will play for Venezuela. Joey Votto has already been told that he will be Cananda’s DH because Justin Morneau will be the starting 1B.

After seeing the dates for the World Baseball Classic, I was furious. I buy tickets to the Reds ST games RIGHT when most of the players I wanted to see are not going to play. Yes Jay Bruce and BP will be there but I was really excited about watching Willy T and Hernandez.

I’m excited to watch the WBC but I hope it doesn’t have a negative impact on our pitchers. Especially, Cueto being the youngest. I hope they don’t ask him to pitch more than he should. i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

What is Dusty Thinking?! BP at Cleanup?!

redlegs1 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:54:46 +0000

Dusty announced the other day that BP will bat cleanup for the reds this year. Dusty, honestly, what are you thinking? BP is the biggest free swinger on our team and you want to put him in a run producing situation?? BP needs to bat 3rd, a spot where the their is less pressure and he can put the ball into play more often. Then you put Votto at 4th because he is a smart hitter AND can hit from both sides of the plate. You also put BP’s speed in-front of Votto rather than behind him.

Giving BP the cleanup role before a ST game has started is flat out wrong. Not only does he not fit in the 4 hole, Dusty is completly forgetting that everyone on the team needs to “win their spot”. Giving BP the cleanup spot before ST starts isn’t making him work for anything!

Dusty strikes again.

Reds score three in the eighth to beat the Pirates

Larkin01 — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:37:05 +0000

The Cincinnati Reds scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning as they came from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-6. The Reds avoided a three game sweep by winning on Thursday afternoon. It was awesome to see the team come from behind and pick up the victory.

Jeff Keppinger and Joey Votto both had big days for the Reds at the plate as they both finished with two rbi. Votto had a solo home run to count for one of his rbi’s. Jay Bruce also had a solo home run in the game as he finished with one rbi. Edwin Encarnacion and Brandon Phillips both finished the game with one rbi as well. Votto and Encarnacion both had hugh hits in the bottom of the eighth inning to score two runs.

Nick Masset ended up with the victory after throwing two innings in relief. Reds starting pitcher Josh Fogg pitched the first three games of the game before leaving with a groin injury. Fogg had been roughed up for four hits and five runs as he put the Reds in a big hole. He was lucky not to be charged with the loss. Francisco Cordero picked up his 27th save of the season in the ninth inning.

Reds Baseball Blog

The Reds fall to the Astros 6-2

Larkin01 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:42:38 +0000

Bronson Arroyo gave up two home runs including a grand slam to Carlos Lee and the Cincinnati Reds were defeated by the Houston Astros on Tueday night. The grand slam by Lee blew the game wide open and the Red’s offense was not able to score enough runs to get back in the game.

Arroyo had the first rbi for the Reds when he doubled in the third inning and Joey Votto scored. The Reds did not score again until the ninth inning when Brandon Phillips grounded out and Jeff Keppinger scored.

The Reds have now lost five games in a row and will have to win on Wednesday to avoid the three game sweep. I don’t know if they have what it takes to get the job done to be honest.

Reds Baseball

Reds hit 7 home runs and club the Cubs 12-7

Larkin01 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:40:23 +0000

The wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field and the Cincinnati Reds took full advantage of it as they clubbed the Chicago Cubs 12-7 to avoid the three game sweep. The bats were swinging well which was a suprise to be honest the way that the players swung the bats that prior two games agains the Cubs.

David Ross had two home runs while five others all had one home run each. Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Brandon Phillips, Edwin Encarnacion, and Joey Votto all went deep. The offense hit atleast one home run off of every Cubs pitcher that they faced in the game. Eighteen hits scored 12 runs for the Reds as they had production up and down the lineup.

Bronson Arroyo only lasted five innings as he had some control issues but he pitched well enough to get the win and improve to 7-7. Arroyo gave up seven hits and five runs including one home run in the game. Bill Bray, Mike Lincoln, and Jared Burton, Francisco Cordero all pitched one inning each in relief. Bray gave up two runs but the rest of the guys did a great job.

The Reds will now head up north to Milwaukee and begin a weekend series with the Brewers on Friday.

Reds Blog

Reds once again struggle at the plate as they lose 5-1 to the Cubs

Larkin01 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:41:08 +0000

The Cincinnati Reds once again struggled at the plate as they were only able to come up with two hit against Carlos Zambrano and the Chicago Cubs. The Reds ended up losing to the Cubs by the score of 5-1 and have now lost the first two games of a three game series to the Cubs.

The one hit that matters was a solo home run by Adam Dunn in the second inning. The Reds did get another hit in the ninth inning when Jay Bruce reached on a infield single. The Reds then loaded the bases with two walks before Brandon Phillips popped out to Derrek Lee to end the game.

Johnny Cueto tossed 6 2/3 innings to take the loss. Cueto is now 7-9 on the season. He really struggled in the game because he could not throw his off speed pitches for strikes. The Cubs were sitting back and just hammering the fast ball all night long. David Weathers tossed the final 1 2/3 innigs of the game.

Reds will look to avoid the sweep on Thursday afternoon. I don’t like their chances one bit to be honest.

Reds Blog

Reds rally twice but fall to the Pirates 6-5

Larkin01 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:37:00 +0000

The Cinciannti Reds rallied twice in the game but they still fell to the Pittsburgh Pirates in an exciting game by the score of 6-5 on Tuesday evening. It took 11 innings before the game was finally over after the Pirates scored twice in the 11th while the Reds were only able to score once.

David Weathers was charged with two runs in the 11th inning to take the loss and fall to 2-4 on the season. Weathers was charged with a rbi when Jack Wilson tripled in a run and the Nate McLouth singled in another run. Jeff Burton also gave up one run in the tenth inning which the Reds were able to get back in the bottom of the inning.

Reds starting pitcher Edinson Volquez gave up seven hits and three runs over 5 1/3 innings of action to get the no decision. It was the usual Volquez that we have become accustomed to seeing out there. Volquez didn’t keep the Reds in the game however, the offense and bullpen just couldn’t quite get things done.

Brandon Phillips went 3-5 in the game with a two run home run as he finished with a game high four rbi. Jerry Hairston Jr. had the other rbi for the Reds when he singled in the 11th inning to score Jay Bruce. The Reds left 20 runners on base so they did have their chances to score more runs in the game.

The Reds can still win the series with a victory on Wednesday. Will they do it? Leave us a comment and let us know your opinion! Reds Blog

Reds Clinch Ohio Cup, 5-0

Bluzer — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:38:05 +0000

Johnny Cueto and the Reds bullpen (notably David Weathers, Jared Burton and Francisco Cordero) shut out the Cleveland Indians to win the vaunted “Ohio Cup”, for whatever that’s worth. Adam Dunn hit a solo shot in the top of the first, but the big blow was a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double by Paul Bako in the fourth. Brandon Phillips drove in the final run with a seventh-inning single.

Indians starter Paul Byrd absorbed his ninth loss of the season.

Bluzer runs RedlegStats.com, the home of Absolute Average, a better alternative to OPS.