JJ Hoover.....

[Redsfan1507]

I'd say that points to this not being a coincidence, bad luck, in climate weather or Bartmans fault. It's a plan... Obviously not the result the Reds THINK they are preparing for, but equally obvious the result they ARE preparing for. To do the same things and expect different results isn't rational.

 

[MHubbuch]

you know I am tired of people blaming Dusty for everything that happens.

1- against the Cardinals Sunday. We left a 6 on base with 4 being in scoring position.
2-our 2,6-9 hitters got 0 hits. NOTHING, NADA.

If you want to place blame. Look at Brook Jacoby. His approach is simply not working. We struck out 12 times. I am sorry but, we should be making PRODUCTIVE OUTS.

You want to look somewhere Start there. Dusty can only put a lineup on the card.

 

[eburg5000]

1. Who hired Brook Jacoby. 2. Jacoby is doing what Dusty wants him to do, Teaching everyone to swing for the fences. But to Dusty's defense. That is pretty much what MLB wants any more.

 

[JohnU]

I don't think there's any shortage of people here blaming Jacoby.
I never liked his hitting philosophy in 2008 and it's no better now. If Votto hadn't learned to hit on his own, this could be a cluster-fluck of major proportion.
Dusty fixed his batting order by dropping Cozart to the 8 hole. That lasted all of 2 days.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Dusty blows. He had ALWAYS been a high LOB, bad baserunning manager, and it's a product of his offensive "philosophy" and flawed lack of tactical fundamentals, not a coincidence he always gets inept, or stupid players. Much of his problem starts with the lineup card, but he makes a couple of obvious mistakes every few days. Worse, he never learns from mistakes. How many runs and losses has he contributed to by not walking the 8 hitter with runners in scoring position, 1 out and 1b open ? Twice in the last week, and once in game 5 NLDS last year. He thinks 1 out and 2 strikes on the hitter is a steal situation. He hits and runs with the pitcher at the plate and a slow runner at 1st. He just doesn't give his team many fundamental advantages, and often puts people in position to fail.

 

[JohnU]

Marty B pointed out that the reason the Reds don't steal this year is because of the high whiff rate. That is fairly obvious but how to fix it. Well, how important is the stolen base? Some don't think it's useful at all. If you are a small-ball team, it turns singles into doubles. That much is clear. After you get to first base.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Classic fubar- Dusty has a runner with speed get a leadoff hit. How many times does he make the hitter wait a pitch or two to give the runner a chance to steal 2b BEFORE the hitter had 2 strikes, so he can bunt him to 3b ? Almost never. He either doesn't steal or he bunts on the first pitch. He doesn't even bunt a leadoff double to 3b much. He can't say it's because they can't steal or bunt, when they don't try to. It's Dusty's job to give a signal, in the correct situation. He just doesn't do that often. Productive outs are effected by the manager, and Dusty's teams just don't get them often because they don't attempt them often.

Dusty "expects" hitters to inside out a swing to hit behind the runner, or get 2 out hits, or homers to advance runners too much, and takes pressure off them with a steal or bunt signal too little. if Dusty was better at getting runners IN scoring position with less than 2 outs, he wouldn't LOB so many people because the Reds "only" hit .250 with RISP, and more than 50% of total "opportunities " are with 2 outs.

When Dusty's teams succeed, they hit more homers and get more 2 out hits. In fact, when that is happening, the batboy could get similar results. When they fail, it's somehow always the players fault...for not making up for Dusty's weak use of his role. LOB isnt all the players, when advancing them has to exclude a managerial signal. I get the impression Dusty thinks he's the goodwill embassador on the cruise ship, not the captain.

Talent only limits a managers EXECUTION, not his ATTEMPT at execution. Dusty flat doesn't attempt to execute enough, other than what the players do without his input. He's hiding in a managerial role, not leading.

 

[JohnU]

Sort of unrelated, I listened to a basketball coach once yell at his players to "box out" on defense ... and after the game, I asked him about it. He explained. I asked him if he had ever taught his guys how to box out and he said he expected them to know how. Seems like they want guys to learn things by accident.