Nice, SF. Know exactly what you're feeling.

In honor of your daughter, I gotta give you a big Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarc!

One of the best Hemingways so far.

Excellent point about the Hamilton trade. No doubt that if Hamilton were here today, we probably wouldn't have signed Votto and Bruce to long term contracts.

And thanks for throwing a big ole hanger up into my wheelhouse. Yes, my favorite manager scares the bejeezus out of me when the subject turns to pitchers and their appendages. Forget Wood/Prior, and focus closer to home on the strange case of one Aaron Harang, who, in 2008, had a 3.50 ERA before Dusty had the brilliant idea to pitch him in relief between starts on May 25th with only 2 days rest, sending him out there in the dark of night for 63 pitches. Aaron then made his next start on short rest on May 29th.

Really, Dusty?

When Harang thereafter missed a start with a sore elbow, one might have thought caution was in order at that point, yeah? Instead, Baker chose to have him go out his very next start and throw 108 pitches. Next stop? An MRI and the disabled list. Harang’s ERA after that fateful night in relief: 7.31.

And, of course, we all remember the horror of watching relief pitcher Carlos Fisher throw 90 pitches in relief last year. Rumor has it that Baker sent a striped bass wrapped in newspaper to the family with a note that read: Carlos Fisher sleeps with the ... fishes.

That would be mean, SF.

I may have to do it.

Unfortunately, I can't post a critical thing about Baker without drawing a response from the lead counsel of the Dusty Defense League. Today was no exception. He tried BSing me about the relative worthlessness of the Walk, using a couple of outlier stats:

Rangers: 22nd in walks. Red Sox: 24th. Padres: 4th in Walks with worst offense in the game.

Of course, what the young man deliberately left out was that the Rangers and Sox are batting .284 and .273 as a team. And the Padres are batting .220. Perhaps walks don't help much when you can't hit a lick. And maybe if you're team is hitting .284, you can live without too many walks.

By comparison, the Reds are hitting .237 as a team. Only the Mariners, Padres, Pirates and As are worse. Which would suggest the Reds could use those walks.

A walk and a home run last night would have been okay by me.

Oh, Hi, uh … and your name again is …? Don’t tell me. Perry? No. Paul! Paul! That’s it. Sorry. Been awhile. You’re the Jay Bruce of sports writing, Doc. You needed a day off.

My WordPress never whiffs. Just sayin.

Let’s talk some Reds. Pitching and defense are beautiful things, are they not? That shovel pass thingy BP did might have saved the game, no? Maybe just as important as anything Todd Frazier did last night. They also mask problemos, muchacho. Which is why I don’t see the Reds putting much distance between themselves and the rest of the division. Last week, Yankee announcers mentioned that the Reds lead the majors in first pitch swinging at 31%. Reds are also near or at the bottom in driving in RISP. The recent HR binge can’t carry the offense indefinitely.

DUSTY BASHING ALERT: I’m thrilled the former great Dodger OFer can offer words of wisdom to help young hitters. All credit to him and Jacoby, who goes over lots of tape with players. I don’t blame him that Jay Bruce is profoundly slumpy. Not his fault. I don’t blame him that Stubby sometimes looks as if he’s swinging one of Dusty’s toothpicks.

But, he is the architect of the Swing Early and Swing Often School of Hitting. He abhors walks. You don't walk your way out of a slump, says the head honcho. The Reds under Baker don’t embrace OBP. That’s bad because it’s making a middling offensive team even worse. Unnecessarily so. Add to that his unwillingness to put his 5 best hitters at the top of the order and you’ve got an offense that will never develop any consistently. How many of those HRs in the past few days have been solo shots?

The Reds are near or at the bottom of the league in production from the leadoff spot. Which is why BP needs to be back there where he had so much success late last year. Hanigan’s OBP says he should be batting ahead of Joey, so Mr. Lotto has, you know, someone to drive in for a change. What a shame Dusty’s book says catchers can only bat 8th.

That’s plain dumb. As is having Mr. 106 close. Means fewer high leverage situations. Do we really need Aroldis pitching with a 3 run lead in the 9th with our bullpen? Nope. Also means he's going to be relying on his fastball more, to the detriment of refining his other pitches, which is only going to hinder his development as a starter down the road.

I was just sure today’s tune was going to be a certain Sammy Hagar song:

Go on & write me up for 125
Post my face, wanted dead or alive
Take my license n' all that jive
I can't drive 55

Tonight's Lineup:

Zack Cozart 6
Chris Heisey 8
Joey Votto 3
Brandon Phillips 4
Jay Bruce 9
Ryan Ludwick 7
Todd Frazier 5
Ryan Hanigan 2
Bronson Arroyo 1

Well, the Reds have beaten 3 pretty good pitchers: Santana, Sabathia & Beachy, who was only leading the majors in ERA until last night. The Braves are 2nd in the NL in runs, the Yankees 5th in the AL and the Reds rotation has pretty much shut them down with a combined 3.00 ERA.

So, yeah, I'm impressed. All three teams over .500, too.

Here's where you can find the Good Doctor today:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/pau...

Taking aim at the Red Sox.

Did anyone else catch Edinson Volquez's meltdown last night vs. the Cardinals? Lost his cool on the mound, showed up his catcher. San Diego announcers were not happy. Reminds me of the remarks he made last year after one of his starts about how the Reds' offense wasn't stepping up.

What a teammate he's turning out to be.

There have been a couple of days where it seemed like it was picking up steam. Tyler Grote (Bomber) can drive up the comments when he wants to go on a Dusty Rant. Then, Doc's boy Pogo gave in and opened a FB account a few days ago, which made Doc very happy.

But, still very erratic over there. Like you said, the comment section often feels disjointed.