1) The Reds continue to be good against bad teams. A sweep in New York....
The good: Pretty much all of it.
The bad: Pretty much none of it, save for the questions about Sean Marshall.
The quotable: "Chappy makes 'em happy," from George Grande on Monday night.
Much has been made of the records against above and sub-.500 teams. (23-5 v. above, 6-13 v. sub)
This is the kind of crap you worry in May about when there isn't much to worry about in May: What will the Reds' record against quality opposition mean in October?
Ask me in October. OK, maybe September.
In May, I just want wins regardless of whom they come against. I'll take, to put it in Thom Brennaman speak, "a big 'ol pile" of wins against the dregs of the league right now, because getting your licks in against those squads is what puts you in position to beat better squads come fall.
And I'll worry about the fall when fall gets here.
Right now, it's not even summer.
The schedule is set to get tougher. After the Cubs this weekend, it's 13 straight against winning opponents. Hopefully, they'll win their share of those games. Even if they win them all, which would be quite a feat, it'd tell me nothing about what these guys will do in four months.
It will however, help them get there.
2) Jerry Crasnick on Joey Votto. The "Votto takes the game pretty damn seriously" theme continues...
In terms of his approach, Votto is distinguished by his ability to judge himself by his own internal metrics rather than the commonly accepted measures of success. For decades, the RBI was the holy grail for the middle-of-the-order "run producer," and it was customary for sluggers to expand their zones and do everything in their power to get that runner home. Andre Dawson is one of only four players in history with at least 400 homers and 300 stolen bases, but he languished on the Hall of Fame ballot for nine years in large part because of a .323 on-base percentage. Like many sluggers of his era, Dawson justified his paucity of walks with the explanation that it wasn't part of his job description.
Just for fun, we did an Internet search, and George Bell, Pedro Guerrero, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Greg Vaughn, Matt Williams, Jose Canseco and Albert Pujols are among the hitters through the years who have uttered the phrase, "I get paid to drive in runs." Joe Morgan once told the story of how he stole home and was lying at home plate, and teammate Tony Perez admonished him: "Don't ever do that again. I get paid to drive in runs. Next time, I'll swing."
Now along comes Votto, who pays zero attention to conventional stats like runs scored and RBIs and focuses strictly on having the most productive at-bats possible in his quest to make life hell on pitchers. Votto doesn't step in the box looking to draw walks, but he does adhere to a standard that many new-school bloggers and statistical types hold dear. In an insightful ESPN the Magazine piece by Buster Olney in March, Votto explained his philosophy and talked about "reframing the challenge."
Votto's ability to execute so efficiently is what places him in a different realm from mere All-Stars. He practices his craft in a place where Cabrera, the St. Louis version of Pujols and a select few others dwell.
I hope the "VOTTO ISN'T PAID TO WALK" crowd reads this. He isn't paid to walk, he's paid to not make outs, and to give his team the best at-bats possible. Sometimes, as it did yesterday, said at-bat ends in a home run. Other times, it ends with him trotting down to first. Still others, it ends with him making an out, but you can see that those outs don't come because he's unprepared.
3) The Cardinal Way. Here's an SI cover photo that will make you lose your lunch. From SI....
When we think of the Cardinals, we think of a distinct organizational culture: anodyne, diligent, supportive, resolute. Midwestern, really. And that includes fiscal discipline; St. Louis's next truly onerous free-agent contract will be its first. We think of red-clad fans who turn up at Busch Stadium even for midweek day games against very bad opponents-more than 44,000 showed for last Thursday's 12:45 start against the Mets-where they perform the wave without irony.
Mostly, we think of consistency. Since 1960 the Cardinals have had consecutive losing seasons just once, in '94 and '95. Their 11 championships have been well distributed. No son or daughter of St. Louis born since 1902 has reached the age of 25 without having lived through at least one victory parade.
Baseball changes. The Cardinals stay the same.
There's more. On (yuck) Yadier Molina...
An organization committed to agility cannot be tied for a baseball generation to a single player, no matter who he is. It is no coincidence that two months after Pujols signed with Los Angeles, St. Louis announced a five-year, $75 million extension for catcher Yadier Molina. The Cardinals have long understood a catcher's defensive value. Their clubhouse is home to the winners of eight of the last 10 NL Gold Glove winners at the position, in Matheny (St. Louis's backstop from 2000 to '04) and Molina.
While you can replace what Pujols did to a degree (led by Allen Craig, Cardinals first basemen combined to hit .293 with 21 homers and 109 RBIs last year to Pujols's .285, 30 and 105), St. Louis views Molina as one of a kind. His physical skills-throwing out runners, blocking and framing pitches-and his game-calling, for which he relies on an elephantine memory, are unmatched. "We would sit down at meetings, and he would say, 'Well, you remember back two years ago, when we faced this guy?'" says Duncan. "He would remember stuff like Tom Seaver could remember stuff. I couldn't remember it, but he did."
It's difficult to statistically determine how much of the rotation's ERA is due to Molina, but Miller has an idea. "He is a game-changer for me," says Miller, who despite his stuff had a 4.74 ERA in Triple A last year. "I'm not even out there thinking what to throw. Whatever he calls, I'm going to go with."
"You want to get our pitchers mad," says Matheny, "start talking poorly about Yadi."
And I like this part too....
Any good fortune will be shared by the entire organization. In 2011, the Cardinals flew 170 people to Texas for Games 3 and 4 of the Series and doled out 400 diamond-encrusted rings when they won.
Rooting allegiances aside, it's a pretty good read. The piece goes into how the Cardinals continue to evolve philosophically, how they withstood the loss of Pujols, their organizational depth and how their players embrace the tradition of the organization.
So much will be made of The Cardinal Way, and while it might make you queasy just to admit it, their way is worth emulating, on and off the field.
What's "The Reds Way?"
If I asked you to give me two or three sentences to describe the Reds Way, what would it be?
Here's my stab...
"Invest in homegrown talent early, and use free agency when it's needed to fill temporary gaps. Make the centerpiece of the team a good, deep, starting rotation. Mine areas of the world previously ignored and make the backbone of the organization a rich minor league system. Draft power pitchers and develop them in a uniform manner philosophically. Don't make panic moves or decisions based purely on emotion."
Maybe that's not very deep, and maybe some of it might be a little idyllic, but it's what I'd go with. I'm going to ask this on the radio today, but email me your description of the Reds Way, or leave it in a comment below.
4) A great NBA Playoff game last night. We're only talking about the final 2.2 seconds of Heat/Pacers, but the first 52 minutes and 57.8 seconds was fantastic. From the tip, that game gave us everything, mainly a a 53-minute punch/counter-punch night that ended with the Heat looking both grateful to get a win and troubled by an Indiana team that isn't backing down.
Frank Vogel is getting hammered for his decision to not have Roy Hibbert in the game on the final play, and he should. Hibbert at the rim could've either prevented LeBron's layup, or caused the Heat to settle for a lower percentage jump shot.
But it should obscure the quality coaching done by both Head Men last night. These two teams adjusted so many times that I wonder if they haven't emptied the bag for the rest of the series.
And if we're still on the "LeBron isn't clutch" meme, go find me the list of players that have had both a triple-double and a buzzer beater in the same game.
Get back to me on that.
5) Some love for the UC Baseball team in USA Today. They rock the postgame interview....
We're on today at 3:04 on ESPN1530, a blog to preview said show will be forthcoming. When life gives you rain, make a water slide out of it.
