[The substitute teacher gazes out at the students' hostile stares. Arms cock back, ready to launch spitballs and other projectiles.] "Kids, today's magic number is 3!" [Mild applause.]
Fay - Cueto: "Bad night"
Alternatively, Twitter superstar Sam LeCure: "we got our ass kicked." That about sums it up. It happens. Hopefully the team enjoys a little R&R in San Diego and wins a few games on the way. Stay away from the wakeboards, fellas. And Mike Leake, stay away from yellow shirts.
Soup's on?
Brandon Phillips bought John Fay's bowl of soup yesterday. Doesn't sound like there was much of a conversation, but Fay acknowledges the nice gesture. They're going to work their way up to a chance meeting at a SaladWorks, then maybe a whole meal of food at a location TBD. Anyone know a good burger joint?
Edmonds: "It’s not over yet"
So Edmonds' Achilles tendon, which has been barking at him since May, isn't torn. Still, he's "very sore" and described it as "bad as it's been all year." Doesn't sound like he's coming back this year. There, there; dry your eyes. On the plus side, Votto should be back Friday.
Mark Sheldon - A crack at the postseason roster
A sensible list, though the I'd list Wood as a lock (especially if they face off against a lefty heavy team like Philly or Atlanta). I guess Nix is now healthy enough, which is good because we need another lefty. Not sure who I'd take over Valaika, Yonder, or END, but l'm leaning towards Valaika for his contact ability and versatility. He's probably a better pinch runner than the other two as well.
Stauffer, Tejada help lift Padres back into first
Looking ahead to October: With the Phillies surging, the Reds' first round opponent will likely be the NL West winner or Atlanta, should they take the wild card. San Diego took back the West lead yesterday thanks to a strong start from Tim Stauffer and others chipping in with personal milestones: Miguel Tejada hitting his 300th HR, Heath Bell recording a personal best 43rd Save, and most importantly Luke Gregerson setting the modern Hold record at 43 37 (when asked about the record, Hold Everything spokesman Blaine Harper replied "Luke who?"). Stauffer, if you didn't know, performed a self-diagnosis in May using his iPhone to detect what later became an emergency appendectomy. The iStick?
Baseballmusings - Massive Tie Scenario
The West/Wild Card outcome I'm rooting for is the Massive Tie, and not only for its improbability. I'm sure the Reds would benefit from starting a series not facing an ace like Hudson or Lincecum. David Pinto has been regularly updating what it will take for the Massive Tie to occur. More after the jump.
OMGreds - Postseason swag
So this is the NL Central Champion T-shirt? Meh. I'm a fan of the gray Twins shirt shown at the bottom.
Baseballminutia - Cincinnati Reds a winning season!
The Minutia Men take a look at the history of Reds' (and the rest of the league's) winning seasons, graph-style. As bad as our most recent streak was, it wasn't that long ago ('45-'55) that we saw a longer one.
Baseball Prospectus - Future Shock: Org Watch: Reds, Twins, Rangers
Before the paywall, Kevin Goldstein takes a look at the future of 2B for the Reds. We've already got a look at Chris Valaika, a solid contact hitter lacking significant patience or power. Billy Hamilton had an incredible year at Billings but is several years away from Cincinnati. The darkhorse is Venezuelan Henry Rodriguez, a free-swinger who put up a fine .307/.337/.473 at Dayton before a brief promotion to Lynchburg. He also stole 33 bases. Both Henry and Billy are only 20. Goldstein describes Henry as "compactly built," but baseball-reference lists him at 5'10" and 150. Anyone seen this kid?
FanGraphs - Arbitrary End Points
Arbitrary? Looks like they "selected" the end points rather carefully! FanGraphs takes a look at the seasons of Yonder Alonso, Todd Frazier and other high profile minor leaguers by said end points. We all know that Yonder went on a tear in the second half (.347/.421/.592), and that as the author says, trading him is the only option. Frazier finished strong with a .317/.431/.517 slash for the final two months, showing the contact, patience and power he'd displayed the prior year. Whether the first four months was a prolonged and flukish slump or a more telling indication about Frazier's talents remain to be seen. But the strikeout numbers were pretty bad for Todd this year. His K rate bounced back up above the 20% rate to 26.5% after seeing them decrease at AA. As a frame of reference, Drew Stubbs struck out 25.3% of the time in 2009 at Louisville.
Joe Posnanski - 32 Flukiest Home Run Seasons
Numbers 22-24 are Reds seasons. I won't spoil the surprises but pat yourself on the back if you guess all three. No. 25 is Rich Aurilia (in '01 with the Giants), and 21 is our current hitting coach. Poz doesn't mention that Jacoby's 32 HRs produced only 69 RBIs, which must be close to the record for fewest RBIs in a 30+ HR season. Not clutch!