Red Reposter - 7/1/09

Bronson Arroyo cant explain why he's been so...not good lately
But he says the carpal tunnel was not a factor last night. “I’ve got to fight it on a daily basis,” he said. “But today was really good.” I dont know. I wouldnt be surprised if the Reds DL him anyway. With the way the offense is, the team really cannot afford Arroyo getting beat around like this. He leads the NL in home runs allowed.

Sheldon talked to Baker about who plays and who sits
Jonny Gomes, Chris Dickerson, and Ryan Hanigan were on the bench for the first game of the series against the Diamondbacks (and we lost. Coincidence? I think not!). "You can't play everybody," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "I have a plan on how to keep them sharp and productive for themselves and us at the same time. We knew that could potentially happen when we started. You don't have a good team unless you have too many good bodies."

You know, I can understand sitting Hanigan and Gomes. With a righty on the mound you should go with Nix over Gomes. And though Hanigan has been the better catcher so far and deserves more playing time, Hernandez has not been a slouch. Their playing time behind the dish should be more equal though. But playing Taveras right now over Dickerson is not cool. The problem is this team does not have "too many good bodies". The problem is the team has too many bad bodies getting all the ABs at the top of the order.

It looks like the mystery of what happened to Edwin Encarnacion in Louisville has been solved
Bats manager Rick Sweet was just giving him the day off after playing 9 straight. This is really unorthodox though, as usually when a player goes on a rehab assignment he plays every day unless something goes wrong. So I dont know. Either Sweet was just being a weirdo or the Reds arent telling us all there is to know. Stay tuned, I guess.

Also from this one, Hal tells us Edinson Volquez had an exam Monday and the inflammation in his right elbow is gone. He'll begin throwing on Friday. Volquez is frustrated but positive: "I’m starting over and that’s bad," said Volquez. "But at least the inflammation is gone and there is no pain, even when the doctor twisted and turned my elbow. It’s hard to watch games. All I can do is scream at the umpires."

Reds Asst. GM Bob Miller will have another chat
on Reds.com today at 11AM.

FanGraphs takes a look at the most improved defenses over last year
They took last year's team UZR ratings (is that redundant?) and compared them to the ratings teams have compiled through the first half of this year. The Reds rate as the 3rd most improved team, behind only the Tigers and Pirates. I gotta say, this really isnt something to be proud of. The defense was just that dreadful last year.

I didn't read the article
but this is the headline of the day.

Raise the Jolly Roger had a conversation with Doug Mientkiewicz via Twitter
about the two trades the Pirates made yesterday. The conversation isn't posted as Mientkiewicz asked to keep it private, but this is something that could only happen in a Twitter-world. It's not the best communication tool (140 characters really doesn't leave much room for quality thought), but Twitter removes some of the boundaries between players and fans. Having that access to a player's thoughts, albeit abbreviated, can really change the way we fans participate in sports. Pretty cool.

OMGreds has a Corky Miller bobblehead from his days with the Chattanooga Lookouts
Welcome home Corky. To some of us, you never left at all.

This blew me away
At the beginning of June Adrian Gonzalez drew 2 or more walks in 8 straight games. No one has done that since they began recording walks as a stat. Not even Barry Bonds, when everyone decided to never pitch to him ever, ever again and he had more intentional walks than anyone had regular walks, drew 2 walks in 8 straight.