Dusty's Worst Nightmare

The Cincinnati Reds are currently clogging the bases with walks more than all but four teams in the National League. That must stop. Now.

How To Destroy Trade Value

MLB.com, Tuesday afternoon:

Ryan Freel and Bronson Arroyo are other Reds veterans who could have the value to bring significant young talent back into the Cincinnati organization.

Reds.com, hours later:

TORONTO -- With the way he pitched on Tuesday, Bronson Arroyo simply gave the Reds no chance to win. Arroyo was pounded for 10 earned runs and 11 hits, including three home runs, and wasn't able to record an out in the second inning, as the Reds were blown out by the Blue Jays, 14-1, at Rogers Centre.

Dusty Baker had this to say:

"Boy, that's a tough day at the yard right there," Baker said. "A lot of their guys got their averages healthy. I looked on the board and some of them had been up three times by the second inning."

That didn't even warrant a "man" or a "dude." Just "boy."

Congratulations To Junior

We have a few rules at Wrigleyville23, including: If you hit 600 home runs, we say something nice about you.

Therefore, we say Ken Griffey Jr. is good at baseball.

Dude...

The Reds make a roster move that could catapult them in the NL Central standings.

In a related story, two red wristbands were found on the ground next to a Reds' #23 jersey.

In a totally unrelated story, I hear this Jay Bruce is good at the baseball.

Dusty Baker, Enjoying The Holiday Weekend

Dusty Baker is going to have quiet start to the Memorial Day weekend, now that he's been suspended two games for erupting into a violent, Hulk-like rage and attempting to give poor Eric Cooper face cancer:

Baker made contact with umpire Eric Cooper during a dispute in the seventh inning of Thursday night's 8-2 loss at San Diego. The suspension was set to start Friday night as the Reds continued their series against the Padres.

"I didn't see that I made contact with him, but he told me (Thursday) night that I did," Baker said. "He told me that I sprayed him with tobacco and I grazed him with my left shoulder. I was not trying to make contact with him."

Baker went onto the field after Cincinnati's Edwin Encarnacion was ejected by Cooper. Encarnacion had been called out on strikes in the seventh inning. When the Reds took the field after the inning, Encarnacion was at third base waiting to warm up when Cooper ejected him. Baker wound up getting tossed by Cooper, too.

"Edwin said to me that he looked at him the whole time that he was going out to his position," Baker said. "Why was (Cooper) looking at him?"

Baker said that Encarnacion gestured to Cooper, holding up two fingers, indicating he had missed two strike calls. Baker said he was fined $1,500.

Perhaps if the owner of this 1973 Dusty Baker card sold that treasure for its current bid price, he could help Dusty offset the price. And then he would only need another $1,499.99.

Dusty Baker Insults Floridians, Maims Pitchers

This story is chock full of goodies from Dusty Baker, including his insistence that Edinson Volquez must "cut down on his pitches" without acknowledging that he may play some role in doing so.

And then there's this:

Volquez pitched winter ball and there are questions about him running out of gas. Baker couldn't disagree more.

"Bob Quinn (former Yankees, Reds and Giants GM) told me once that pitchers usually rust out before they wear out. Latins guys who I've seen play winter ball rarely have arm problems — Julian Tavarez, Luis Tiant played winter ball somewhere every year, Diego Segui. Japanese pitchers throw more.

"Almost all foreign pitchers throw more than American pitchers," he added. "Rarely do you hear anybody say some American pitcher has a rubber arm."

Bronson Arroyo was mentioned and Baker said with a sly grin, "He's Cuban." Actually, he was born in Key West.

"Close enough. Key West is as close as you can get to Cuba," he said.

In related news, Dusty thought Mark Prior was Mexican because he was from San Diego, which is "as close as you can get" to Mexico.

Found via Another Cubs Blog.

Revisiting Preseason WV23 Predictions

As we've just passed the quarter pole of the 2008 season, let's revisit the official Wrigleyville23 NL Central projections. Here is the predicted order of finish, with records:

1. Cubs, 89-73
2. Brewers, 85-77
3. Reds, 83-79
4. Cardinals, 76-86
5. Pirates, 75-87
6. Astros, 74-88

Here are the current standings:

1. Cubs
2. Astros
3. Cardinals
4. Brewers
5. Pirates
6. Reds

So ... two out of six correct. Which is pretty good, because I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Dusty Baker, "Hit Doctor"

The only prescription to cure Adam Dunn's problems is not more cowbell. It's more hits. So sayeth Dusty Baker.

"The cure to most ills is two hits a day for a week," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "You'll be in pretty good shape. That's my prescription as a doctor, a hit doctor. I just wish I could write that prescription and get it filled all the time."

I understand not writing a prescription for walks, given the clogging-associated side effects. But as a hit doctor, why in the world can't he write prescriptions for hits?

This is Too Easy (Update)

Corey Patterson can manage to get out without even making an at-bat. He's that terrible.

This is fascinating:

In the Reds/Mets game this Sunday, Reds catcher David Ross batted out of order. Corey Patterson was supposed to be at the plate. Rotoworld explains:

"Per MLB rules, Ross has to complete his at-bat to be ruled out, and the outcome of his at-bat is then discarded with no runners allowed to advance. The Mets allowed him to do so, and since he lined out to right there was little harm done. Ross was the batter listed in the order after Patterson, so he was forced to come back to the plate for his 'real' at-bat and Patterson was charged the out. Ross singled after returning to the batter's box."

I don't know what's funnier; that Corey Patterson can get out without even making it to the plate, or that Dusty Baker is so much of a moron that he can't keep track of his own senile lineups.

We'll go with "equally as funny." Dopes.

Update: This, of course, is not the first time Dusty has done this. And his explanation in 2004 was golden:

Baker said he tried to get Bucknor's attention, whistling and wiggling his fingers in a switching motion. But Bucknor never turned around. When Martinez led off the bottom of the inning with a double, Reds bench coach Jerry Narron asked Bucknor if there'd been a lineup switch. Bucknor said no, and Martinez was called out because the Cubs had batted out of order.

"We saw that Martinez was in the game, but the home plate umpire never motioned to us," Narron said.

Baker sprinted out to the mound with his lineup card and argued, but to no avail. When Baker was told the call stood, he got irate. Yelling and screaming, he tossed the lineup card on the ground, and Bucknor ejected him. Then Baker threw his hat on the ground.

He walked away from the umpires but then went back, tossing his hat again and gesturing wildly. A tennis ball came flying out of the stands, and the crowd chanted "Dus-ty! Dus-ty!"

Baker finally stomped back to the dugout, kicking a bat cloth and then a heavy warmup bat. When the bat didn't travel very far, Baker kicked it again before heading down the dugout steps.

"I haven't been that mad in, WHOO!" Baker said. "I'm not proud of it. I called my wife and asked if my son saw it. She said he was in the bath tub. I'm glad he didn't see it. I hope he doesn't see the replay."

WHOO! Managing is hard.

So Much For That

The second Jon Lieber as starter era ends swiftly in Chicago.

Around The Blogs: Cincinnati Reds

The Cubs celebrate Cinco de Mayo by visiting Dusty Baker, Corey Patterson, Jerry Hairston Jr., Paul Bako, Kent Mercker and the rest of the 2004-05 Cubs. Before we visit our friends in the Reds blog world, Buster Olney has this to say about the state of the Redleg franchise:

The Reds are 3-7 since changing general managers, and if you think that's a meaningless stat, than you would probably subscribe to the notion that changing GMs 21 games into the season made no sense.

They're 3-8 now, after after losing to the Braves 14-7 Sunday. Yikes. Anyway, after five straight losses, Red fingers are being pointed at our friend Corey Patterson:

The Church of Baseball says "!!?!This is beyond comprehension??!?" and "The Reds are not this bad. What the heck is going on? We need someone to blame. Well, I blame Corey Patterson. Get rid of him now and bring up Bruce." Seems right.

Redleg Nation makes a plea to Dusty Baker to move Corey to the 8th spot in the batting order, but notes that "at least Corey isn't clogging up the bases." Heh. The comments should be reassuringly familiar to any Cubs fan circa 2005-06.

Chris Sabo's Goggles don't like what they see, especially out of Bronson Arroyo and Josh Fogg.

And The Reds Rocket, well, you can see for yourself in all of its polka-dotted glory.

Wherein We Solicit Feedback

Wrigleyville23 has two official favorite blogs of other teams in the NL Central: Chuckie Hacks, which is quite entertaining even though I hate so much the things they choose to be, and Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke?, which is well-written and somehow makes the Pirates almost interesting.

That said, we do not have official favorite blogs from the Cardinals, the Astros or the Reds. Suggestions? Nominations? Please leave them in the comments.

If you can't come up with any from the Astros, I understand.

Welcome To Dustyland

The Cincinnati Enquirer discovers some hard truths about scoring runs in baseball:

For all the talk about the Reds not being able to hit with runners in scoring position (RISP), they are hitting higher in that situation than the Chicago Cubs, who led the Reds by 6 1/2 games going into Saturday night's games?

It's true: The Reds are hitting .257 with RISP, and the Cubs are hitting .244 in the same circumstances. (The Reds are hitting four points higher than the National League average with RISP - .253.)

So, why have the Cubs outscored the Reds by 42 runs? Because the Cubs have 82 more plate appearances with RISP than do the Reds (220 plate appearances with RISP - 14th in the 16-team league).

Conclusion: You've got to get runners on base in order to score them.

That is the downside of unclogged bases.

Meanwhile, In Cincinnati...

Corey Patterson is who we thought he was.

Since starting the season with four home runs in his first 11 games, Corey has managed a .143/.231/.257 line, with no home runs, two RBIs, one stolen base and three runs in the last 14 games.

Good signing, Dusty.

NL Central All-Time Records

For those wondering what the all-time records are for each of the NL Central teams, we are here to help:

St. Louis Cardinals: 9,856-9,203 .517
Chicago Cubs: 9,999-9,465 .514
Cincinnati Reds: 9,681-9,388 .508
Pittsburgh Pirates: 9,632-9,397 .506
Houston Astros: 3,661-3,684 .498
Milwaukee Brewers: 2,931-3,274 .472

For perspective sake:

The Cubs would have to finish 20 games below .500 for 27 consecutive years to fall to .500. The Cubs have to win their next 113 games to reach the Cardinals' level of .517. Seems doable.

The Brewers would have to finish 20 games above .500 for 17 consecutive years to (almost) reach .500. They have done this five times, though none since 1992.

The Astros merely need to finish the remainder of this season 23 games over .500 to reach .500 (unlikely).

Reds Fire GM

The Cincinnati Reds fired GM Wayne Krivsky today after a 9-12 start to the season. While some in this community might point to Krivsky's hiring of Dusty Baker as his undoing, this ESPN article says it was the unraveling of his trade of Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to the Washington Nationals that did him in.

While the players the Reds aquired in the deal did not pan out, this trade should hardly be a firing offense.

To review, Krivsky lost his job because he traded Felipe Lopez, a second baseman who lost his starting job in spring training to Rafael Belliard, and Austin Kearns -- a starting rightfielder who:

• has hit more than 20 home runs only once in his career.


• is batting .213 on the season.


• who makes $5 million a year.


• over the past three years has batted .247 against righties.


• is most famous for crippling his new team's starting first baseman and putting him on the DL for more than a year.

Hairston Called Up To Wrigley On The Ohio

Dusty Baker is determined to prove he got value in the Sammy Sosa trade.

An Update On the 2004 Chicago Cubs

Here's a look at how they are faring at Wrigley on the Ohio:

Corey Patterson, slugging leadoff hitter
2008: .186/.258/.475, 4 home runs, 9 RBIs, 2 SB.
2004: .266/.320/.452, 24 home runs, 72 RBIs, 32 SB.

Paul Bako, nondescript catcher
2008: .313/.389/.479, 1 home run, 4 RBIs.
2004: .203/.288/.283, 1 home run, 10 RBIs.

Kent Mercker, mediocre reliever and professional tattletale
2008: 0-0, 3.14 ERA in 5 2/3 innings, 3 Ks, 2 BBs.
2004: 3-1, 2.55 ERA in 53 innings, 51 Ks, 27 BBs.

Dusty Baker, nonsense spewing nice-guy manager
2008: 8-11, .421, 4th place and 4.5 games back (of the Cubs).
2004: 89-73, .549, 3rd place and 16 games back.

So there you have it: Corey, Dusty and Mercker worse. Bako better. Seems almost all of the personnel moves since 2004 have worked out, scientifically speaking.

Marty Brennaman Vs. Marty Brennaman

Further the Marty Brennaman-is-a-hypocrite storyline...

Marty Brennaman in 2008, describing Cubs fans (unnecessarily) throwing a few baseballs on the field after a home run by the Reds:

"(This) makes you want to see this Chicago Cubs team lose." He called the fans "far and away the most obnoxious fans in baseball. ... Throwing 15 or 18 balls onto the field, there's absolutely no excuse for that," he said. "It's unbelievable. You simply root against them. They won't win [the division] because they still are the Chicago Cubs. And they will figure out a way to screw this whole thing up."

Marty Brennaman in 1988, commenting on Reds fans throwing all matter of things on the field after Saint Pete Rose was ejected by Frank Pallone (via Sports Illustrated in 1988):

In the meantime, the crowd of 41,032 became incensed. Fans began throwing all manner of things on the field: baseballs, golf balls, coins and at least one transistor radio. When a roll of toilet paper landed near Pallone, Reds radio announcer Marty Brennaman remarked about the appropriateness of the missile. His partner, Joe Nuxhall, called Pallone a "scab" and a "liar" on the air. Blaming them for "inciting the unacceptable behavior of some of the fans," Giamatti summoned the two broadcasters to a meeting in New York City on Tuesday.

Well, those two responses seem proportionate.

Stupid Fan Tricks

The throwing of home run balls back on to the field long ago grew tiresome. Now this:

CHICAGO – Throwing an opponent’s home run ball back onto the field has long been a tradition for Chicago Cubs fans. But how about 15 balls flying back onto the grass at Wrigley Field?

That’s what happened Wednesday night after Cincinnati’s Adam Dunn homered in the eighth inning. Most of the souvenirs wound up in right field, although the ball shower came from all angles and briefly held up the game. The Cubs were leading 11-3 at the time.

“That’s something I hadn’t seen before. I don’t know what to say. It stopped, and a few more came in,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said before Thursday’s game against the Reds.

Update: That said, the reaction referenced in the comments is just ridiculous.