Busy day yesterday on here. If you missed the Podcast check it out.
A new post in the Barajas Bombs series is up.
And of course, the recap from last night’s game.
Now, a few words about what happened last night.
I said in the Podcast that this series is about more than winning and losing, on both sides. This series is about sending a message. The Reds fired first last night when they decided a 3-0 victory against the Pirates wasn’t enough. When Aroldis Chapman decided to aim high at the Pirates MVP Andrew McCutchen he sent a very clear message, get to the back of the bus.
So what to do? There is really only one thing to do.
Some people would have you believe winning is the way to prove a point. Don’t step out of line, just show them by winning. As if it’s that easy. Poof we win, yaaaaaay.
Sadly that’s not how real life works. If you let people push you are around, they will. If you let someone treat you like you are their bitch once, they will continue to do it.
The Pirates have played nice with umpires all season, never showing them up, rarely arguing calls, and where has that gotten them?
It gets blown calls at the plate last night. It gets no strike zone respect for our pitchers, especially James McDonald.
The laid back, lovable winner shit isn’t working. It won’t work in this case. Do nothing and you show the Reds who the alpha dog is, even if you happen to win today’s game.
Besides, you can still hit guys and win the game. Believe it or not you don’t get automatically disqualified for hitting a batter, and in many cases you don’t even get ejected.
Again we go to Sean Connery.
First Pitch: 7:10 PM EST
Where to Watch: Root Sports, MLBN, MLB.TV, FS-O
Mike Leake, RHP (24)
Mike Leake basically sucks. Just a typical, below average fifth starter that everyone overrates because he never spent any time in the minors. Maybe if he did he would be a better pitcher.
| Tm | W | L | G | GS | CG | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIN | 8 | 4 | 4.23 | 24 | 22 | 0 | 138.1 | 158 | 77 | 65 | 19 | 49 | 91 | 96 | 1.496 | 10.3 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 5.9 | 1.86 |
| CIN | 12 | 9 | 3.86 | 29 | 26 | 0 | 167.2 | 159 | 74 | 72 | 23 | 38 | 118 | 102 | 1.175 | 8.5 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 6.3 | 3.11 |
| CIN | 4 | 7 | 4.44 | 20 | 20 | 1 | 119.2 | 133 | 65 | 59 | 15 | 28 | 79 | 95 | 1.345 | 10.0 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 5.9 | 2.82 |
| 3 Yrs | 24 | 20 | 4.14 | 73 | 68 | 1 | 425.2 | 450 | 216 | 196 | 57 | 115 | 288 | 98 | 1.327 | 9.5 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 6.1 | 2.50 |
He has been good against the Pirates this year despite the 0-1 record. In fact the Reds have lost both games he pitched despite him going seven innings in each.
| Date | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 10 | STL | L,1-3 | L(0-1) | 6.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4.50 | 99 | |
| Apr 15 | @ | WSN | W,8-5 | 6.1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5.84 | 95 | |
| Apr 21 | @ | CHC | L,1-6 | L(0-2) | 5.2 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6.50 | 82 |
| Apr 27 | HOU | L,4-6 | L(0-3) | 3.2 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.65 | 65 | |
| May | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
| May 5 | @ | PIT | L,2-3 | L(0-4) | 7.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5.97 | 94 |
| May 11 | WSN | L,3-7 | L(0-5) | 3.0 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7.11 | 72 | |
| May 16 | @ | NYM | W,6-3 | 6.0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 6.21 | 105 | |
| May 21 | ATL | W,4-1 | W(1-5) | 8.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5.32 | 98 | |
| May 26 | COL | W,10-3 | 3.2 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5.47 | 84 | ||
| June | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
| Jun 1 | @ | HOU | W,4-1 | W(2-5) | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 4.95 | 108 |
| Jun 7 | PIT | L,4-5 | 7.0 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4.97 | 80 | ||
| Jun 14 | CLE | W,12-5 | 4.1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5.05 | 84 | ||
| Jun 19 | @ | CLE | L,2-3 | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4.70 | 114 | |
| Jun 24 | MIN | L,3-4 | 8.0 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 4.46 | 86 | ||
| Jun 29 | @ | SFG | W,5-1 | W(3-5) | 9.0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4.12 | 111 |
| July | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
| Jul 4 | @ | LAD | L,1-4 | L(3-6) | 7.0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4.01 | 86 |
| Jul 14 | STL | W,3-2 | 6.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3.96 | 86 | ||
| Jul 19 | ARI | W,7-6 | 5.1 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4.25 | 93 | ||
| Jul 24 | @ | HOU | W,4-2 | W(4-6) | 8.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 4.12 | 112 |
| Jul 30 | SDP | L,5-11 | L(4-7) | 1.2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4.44 | 49 | |
| 119.2 | 133 | 65 | 59 | 28 | 79 | 15 | 4.44 |
Clearly he has the potential to dominate, but since those back to back eight and nine inning games he has struggled a bit, going just 1-2 with a 5.46 ERA over his last five with an .835 OPS against.
Leake has been a disaster at home this season.
| Split | W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 1 | 4 | 6.04 | 11 | 11 | 56.2 | 75 | 41 | 38 | 11 | 12 | 40 | 1.535 | 6.4 | 3.33 |
| Away | 3 | 3 | 3.00 | 9 | 9 | 63.0 | 58 | 24 | 21 | 4 | 16 | 39 | 1.175 | 5.6 | 2.44 |
Clearly it’s the homers, which the Pirates should be able to take advantage of. You’d think.
Leake has always had some tough luck against the Pirates, losing a bunch despite pitching pretty good.
| W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3.16 | 8 | 8 | 51.1 | 45 | 25 | 18 | 4 | 18 | 32 | 1.227 | 5.6 | 1.78 |
I expect Andrew McCutchen to add to homer totals today.
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew McCutchen | 24 | 21 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | .286 | .375 | .429 | .804 |
| Garrett Jones | 23 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 2 | .263 | .273 | .421 | .694 |
| Neil Walker | 22 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | .368 | .455 | .737 | 1.191 |
| Pedro Alvarez | 12 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | .222 | .417 | .222 | .639 |
| Clint Barmes | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .125 | .125 | .250 | .375 |
| James McDonald | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Alex Presley | 7 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .571 | 1.167 | 1.738 |
| Rod Barajas | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Michael McKenry | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Wandy Rodriguez | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Josh Harrison | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 |
| Gaby Sanchez | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .667 | .000 | .667 |
| Kevin Correia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 127 | 108 | 25 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 12 | 19 | .231 | .306 | .398 | .705 |
James McDonald, RHP (27)
Time to go head huntin’.
I remember when Zach Duke
(now of AA All Star Game Fame) failed to retaliate. It is why I will forever view Zach Duke as a complete bitch.
It was 2010, Andrew McCutchen just took Carlos Monasterios deep. Apparently Cutch made a hand gesture to celebrate while rounding second base. Whatever.
Anyway, Monasterios then hit Lastings Milledge AND Ronny Cedeno in the second inning. This clearly called for some retaliation, but the weak willed Duke had none of it. Then in the fifth Ramon Ortiz threw at Cutch’s head, twice. What did Zach Duke do? Nothing.
The worst part? He actually faced the reliever Ortiz in that game after the incident. Instead of standing up for his teammates, he did nothing. Like a complete punk. He did eventually call himself out in the media but the damage was done. He took the losers way out.
McDonald has to do two things today. He needs to retaliate early, and he needs to bounce back. The latter is obviously the most important.
McDonald has four straight games of 4+ earned runs. For all intents and purposes he probably should have been skipped this time through as he has been the worst pitcher in the rotation.
McDonald has a 6.02 ERA in the seven games since he threw 122 pitches in a game the Pirates had in hand. I’d like to think this has nothing to do with that game, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore. In those seven games guys have an OPS against of .878 and have hit nine homers. That’s very bad news in this ballpark.
I’ve always said he pitches best when he is mad, when he has that scowl. There is no reason he shouldn’t have that after last night’s pathetic performance.
On a good note he has dominated the Reds this season thus far.
| Date | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 8 | PHI | W,5-4 | 6.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3.00 | 82 | ||
| Apr 13 | @ | SFG | L,0-5 | L(0-1) | 5.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.86 | 88 |
| Apr 18 | @ | ARI | W,2-1 | 4.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.45 | 79 | |
| Apr 25(1) | COL | L,1-2 | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 2.78 | 101 | ||
| Apr 30 | @ | ATL | W,9-3 | W(1-1) | 7.2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 2.97 | 114 |
| May | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
| May 5 | CIN | W,3-2 | W(2-1) | 6.1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 2.70 | 99 | |
| May 11 | HOU | L,0-1 | L(2-2) | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2.42 | 107 | |
| May 17 | @ | WSN | W,5-3 | W(3-2) | 5.2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 2.68 | 86 |
| May 22 | NYM | L,2-3 | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2.51 | 104 | ||
| May 28 | CIN | W,4-1 | W(4-2) | 8.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2.20 | 103 | |
| June | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
| Jun 3 | @ | MIL | W,6-5 | W(5-2) | 6.0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2.14 | 100 |
| Jun 9 | KCR | W,5-3 | 4.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2.39 | 76 | ||
| Jun 15 | @ | CLE | L,0-2 | L(5-3) | 6.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.32 | 101 |
| Jun 21 | MIN | W,9-1 | W(6-3) | 9.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2.19 | 122 | |
| Jun 27 | @ | PHI | W,11-7 | W(7-3) | 5.2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2.44 | 100 |
| July | Opp | Rslt | Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | ||
| Jul 2 | HOU | W,11-2 | W(8-3) | 7.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2.45 | 110 | |
| Jul 7 | SFG | W,3-1 | W(9-3) | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2.37 | 106 | |
| Jul 13 | @ | MIL | L,7-10 | 4.2 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2.59 | 109 | |
| Jul 18 | @ | COL | W,9-6 | W(10-3) | 5.0 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2.93 | 108 |
| Jul 24 | CHC | L,1-5 | L(10-4) | 6.0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3.15 | 87 | |
| Jul 29 | @ | HOU | L,5-9 | L(10-5) | 5.0 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 3.38 | 110 |
| 130.2 | 104 | 52 | 49 | 50 | 115 | 13 | 3.38 |
The career numbers really play that out.
| W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1 | 2.31 | 10 | 7 | 46.2 | 43 | 17 | 12 | 4 | 15 | 38 | 1.243 | 7.3 | 2.53 |
A few more good games from him and he will be edging close to the “Reds-Killer” label.
For how good he has been against the Reds he has been pretty bad at their idiot, little league field.
| W | L | G | GS | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 4.85 | 4 | 2 | 13.0 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 1.615 | 6.2 | 3.00 |
| PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Phillips | 21 | 18 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | .333 | .429 | .389 | .817 |
| Jay Bruce | 18 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .375 | .444 | .750 | 1.194 |
| Drew Stubbs | 15 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | .143 | .200 | .214 | .414 |
| Miguel Cairo | 12 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .273 | .333 | .273 | .606 |
| Chris Heisey | 12 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .182 | .182 | .182 | .364 |
| Ryan Ludwick | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .273 | .273 | .364 | .636 |
| Ryan Hanigan | 9 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .375 | .444 | .625 | 1.069 |
| Mike Leake | 8 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .429 | .429 | .429 | .857 |
| Zack Cozart | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Wilson Valdez | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Scott Rolen | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .600 | .500 | 1.100 |
| Todd Frazier | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Bronson Arroyo | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Johnny Cueto | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Total | 129 | 117 | 30 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 26 | .256 | .315 | .350 | .665 |
