Blog Archives
The Forgotten Rivalry: The Reds and Dodgers Battle for Supremacy of the ’70s
Sometimes over the course of the schedule you manage to find that occasional game which encapsulates a club perfectly. One which showcases the superior firepower it’s truly armed with. The type of firepower that comes along once in a generation, if that. For Cincinnati, Saturday, May 19, 1973 was one of those games. As the Reds cruised to a 10-4 pasting of San Diego, Pete Rose banged out two doubles and a triple and scored three runs. Johnny Bench blasted his 10th home run of the year and drove in five runs. Joe Morgan actually got no hits at all – the box score shows him officially going 0-for-0.
That’s because in four trips to the plate, Morgan walked three times and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. He was in the middle of nearly every Cincinnati rally, helping to pad Bench’s RBI total. After walking in the first inning, he induced Padre pitcher Mike Corkins into an errant pick-off throw and wound up on third base, from where he’d score on a Bench groundout. Then in the fourth inning, the Padres decided to walk Morgan intentionally with runners on second and third, which set up Bench’s two-run single. In the sixth, he walked in front of Bench’s homer, though he didn’t score that time because Anderson decided to give him the rest of the afternoon off and pinch-run Chaney, who finished out the game at second base. READ MORE ON PLATE COVERAGE.COM
Joe Morgan Weekend In Cincinnati: From A Fans Perspective
This weekend at Great American Ball Park was Joe Morgan Weekend. Once this was announced earlier this season, I decided that I was going to make the trip to Cincinnati from my home in Louisville, Kentucky. A part of Joe Morgan Weekend was Morgan getting his “Sculpture” out in front of the stadium. As a huge Reds fan and a historian of the Reds this was a great moment for me and my dad. The best thing about the weekend, the entire Big Red Machine made the trip, including the hit king Pete Rose.
Ryan Ritchey (Featured Baseball Columnist): Follow @baseballaddicts
Follow @mlbreportsIt was finally here, Joe Morgan Weekend.
As a life long Reds fan and a huge fan of Reds history, this was a huge weekend for me. I had it circled on my calendar since the day they announced it.
Joe Morgan was to become the sixth player in Cincinnati Reds history to have a statue put out in front of Great American Ball Park.
The other five were very good players as well, Ted Kluszewski, Ernie Lombardi, Frank Robinson, Joe Nuxhall, and Johnny Bench. Morgan would be joining great company to say the least.
The festivities were on Friday and Saturday, but Morgan would remain for the third game on Sunday, which happened to be the Sunday Night Baseball game.
I was lucky enough to be there both Friday and Saturday for both sets of festivities and here is my perspective on each day.
Joe Morgan Speech, Unveiling of Sculpture:
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – September 8, 2013
Photo: Al Behrman
It is the SUNDAY REQUEST on The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
@sullybaseball your thoughts on the great 8 big red machine and pete rose #Reds since they introduced them after the Reds game last night.
— Richie Devotie (@mrbaseballman) September 8, 2013
The Reds had a great reunion of the Big Red Machine, honored Joe Morgan (it’s about time) and Pete Rose made the trip.
Lots of thoughts from your pal Sully.
(Why come up with a new nickname for them? The Great 8? What was better than The Big Red Machine?)
Adam Wainwright, Freddy Galvis, Dan Straily and Nick Swisher all owned baseball on September 7, 2013.
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Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – September 8, 2013
Will Jose Bautista Get Back To His Hank Aaron Award Winning Ways in 2013?
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Friday, February. 08/2013
Jose Bautista with fellow Hank Aaron Award winner Joey Votto in 2010. In 2010 Bautista became the 26th player to ever hit 50+ HRs in a single season, eclipsing the mark with 54.
By Ryan Dana (MLB Reports Intern): Follow @ryandana1
Who is Jose Bautista? He is a 32-Year Old, Dominican, Major League Baseball player. He is the starting Right Fielder and number 3 hitter in the Toronto Blue Jays lineup. He is a 3x All-Star (’10-’12), 2x Silver Slugger Award winner (’10-’11), and 2x Hank Aaron Award winner (’10-’11). Bautista is a former 20th round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirate s- who struggled to make any significant impact for a Major League team into his late 20’s. He arose from baseball obscurity and launched into the spotlight seemingly overnight. Bautista’s breakout campaign in 2010 was followed with an even better 2011, which was all foreshadowed by a promising September in ’09 – where he tapped into a power surge hitting 10 HRs in the month.
This was especially surprising since his career high for HRs in a season to that point was only 16 in ‘06. Modifications Bautista made in his swing were career changing. He completely reinvented the system he was using to time pitching, and it paid big dividends. Bautista’s success forced the Rogers Center to keep their roof open for all home games due to the amount of moonshots he was hitting. I’m only joking, but he did hit an MLB high 54 HRs in 2010 and 43 HRs in 2011.
Jose Bautista 2012 Highlights Mix:
Part 1 of a Series: All-Time All-Star Teams By Regionality
Friday November 23th, 2012
Note from Alex Mednick: I am going to be putting together a small project that accumulates all the best players of all time, and puts them together on teams according to their birthplace. For example, in this first edition I will be breaking down players from the United States of America into teams from the 1) Northeast, 2) Southeast, 3) Midwest, and 4) Southwest…(sorry, there really is not enough quality coming out of the northwest to compete with these teams…maybe I will put a Northwestern United States team in a later edition with less competitive teams). Later on I will bring you teams assembled from the all-time greats out Central and South American (Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Panama Canal Zone, etc.) and the All-Caribbean Team (Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Curacao, etc). Also look forward to teams from Japan, Canada and the EU. Should be fun to sort of assemble an “Olympics” of Baseball. I love watching the World Baseball Classic and seeing players fight for their nations pride…but by grouping the teams by region, it might make the teams more competitive. Of course, this is all for the sake of speculation; Babe Ruth was a great player, but I don’t think he will be taking any at-bat’s soon. (Also, please note that I do not lend consideration to relief pitchers in this analysis). Read the rest of this entry
Contact Hitters and Pitching Are Keys to Winning In the MLB Playoffs: Bravo Giants! Attn: Yankees!
Saturday, Nov.10/2012
The Giants GM Brian Sabean saw that his offense had significant holes from previous years and before 2012, dealt for Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan. Both are decent contact hitters, with decent power and speed. It also took for the emergence of Marco Scutaro and the renaissance play from Pablo Sandoval to show that teams that can make regular contact (and are armed with great pitching,) ultimately win in the playoffs.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer): Follow @chuckbooth3024
I can’t believe I am going to utter these next few words, “I am starting to shift on the idea of eliminating the DH in the AL and also I am beginning to find the National League Brand of Baseball a lot better these days.” I am not just saying this because the National League has registered 5 World Series Wins out of the last seven years (STL x 2, SF x 2 and PHI vs BOS AND NYY since 2006.) I just find that the American League Baseball is becoming boring. If you have read my articles in the past, I hate teams that strikeout non-stop and when you put two of these teams together for a Series like the AL routinely does, the games are filled with heavy pitch counts, four-hour games and not much contact. This years ALCS represented an all-time low for fan excitement. Put aside that I am a Yankees fan for a minute, it was absolutely brutal baseball. In fact, last years ALCS was no picnic either. If the games continue on like this, they might as well scrap the DH, start having the umpires call more strikes on the hitters and have all AL Teams convert to a National League style of game.
The National League has seen the Cardinals give us thrilling moments and comebacks to epic proportions over the last 2 years. I honestly think that Mark McGwire is not receiving enough credit for molding that team into a bunch of contact hitters. You watch the 2013 offense of the LA Dodgers, they will all have a different approach. We will save the DH debate for another day, but lets just say that 2012 was the worst year for DH’s in some time if not ever. There are only about 3-4 decent DH’s left in the game and if David Ortiz is not in the lineup for the Red Sox, there are no more marquee guys that just hit and not field! The National League Teams plan on more contact for runs created out of necessity and it is always reflective by the competitive games we see them play in the playoffs.
In 2012, the Giants made 4 key acquisitions before and during the season to change their offensive demeanor. If you ask me flat-out as a baseball observer, there is no way the Giants win the World Series without Marco Scutaro or Angel Pagan at the top of the lineup. I also am conceding credit to Melky Cabrera’s hitting contributions as a contact hitter before being busted. Before Melky Cabrera was shown the door for PED’s, he was the same hitter as Scutaro in the 2nd half and postseason, in just hitting every single pitch that was thrown at him. To be honest here, Angel Pagan does strike out a fair bit as a lead off hitter, however he also has speed that makes him dangerous whenever the ball is contacted. It is all about a mixture of power, speed and contact hitters. To illustrate this fact, Hunter Pence (also picked up near the Trade Deadline) did not hit well in the regular season or playoffs for average, yet he was able to drive in a pile of runs because guys ahead of him were always on base. All he needed to do was to make contact for his RBI. Read the rest of this entry
Joey Votto: The Best Cincinnati Reds Player Ever?
Friday June 15th, 2012 
Ryan Ritchey (Baseball Writer): Joey Votto is in his 6th season in the majors and he looks to become one of the best there is in the league. Votto back in 2010 won the National League Most Valuable Player Award with amazing numbers. Racking up 37 home runs, 113 RBIs, along with a .424 on base percentage. The on-base percentage says it all when it comes to Votto. He just isn’t the type of player that just hits homers. He also takes a lot of walks and hits well to the opposite field, which gives him many doubles along the way. He hits so well to the opposite field that the opposing team can’t play a shift making it even harder to defend Votto. Not only is he a great hitter, but he is undoubtedly one of the best first baseman in the National League. He is also starting to make the claim of best player in the entire game.
Votto has played in 61 games this season and already has 27 doubles. This leads the entire major leagues. Votto is an unbelievable hitter to the left side which makes him an even better player. 76 hits already should let him get over 200 for the first time in his career, as long as he doesn’t start getting intentionally walked every time at-bat. A good sign for Votto this season is he has more walks than strikeouts. This could be the season that Votto carries the Reds far into the postseason. Read the rest of this entry
