Im done with the Tribe this year. After Perez gave up 5 runs in the 10th, he should now know why fans dont show up. I kept track all year until today. Glad its football season.

Reds are on a bit of skid now hopefully either 1) Latos comes out and pitches a gem and/or 2) Joey Votto comes back

Votto isn't supposed to be back until after the road trip (after aug.16th)

and, the Reds might be in a bit of a skid, but the Tribe is showing the league how to do a skid. 11 game losing streak including 4 games to the Twins and 3 to the Royals. Now that is a skid!

Best thing about being an Indian fan...not being an Astro fan

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1281243/astros.gif

Saw a hilarious did you know on the scoreboard of turner field last weekend.

You can't spell DisASTROus without the word Astro.

Ugh, Broxton let this one get away but in reality it was the 2nd day in a row we got a well pitched game and failed to score enough runs.

Hopefully the Cubs help us right the ship.

Just can't seem to put the Cubs away today.....

Broxton just didn't have his control today, Chapman in early and blows a 102 mph fastball by Rizzo to end the 8th.

Bruce got today off and is getting tomorrow off to get his mind right. It's been awhile since he put together one of those streaks.

Win #15 for Johnny Cueto, and save # 28 for Chapman.

Both would have to be considered cy young candidates at this point.

Pirates and Cards not only doing us the favor of beating up on each other this weekend.

They're also working each others bullpens to death in this 14 inning and still going affair.

Yeah, but we won this years 19 inning affair.

#jerrymealsisprotesting

Hell of a battle, and I was rooting for those Whiney Little Birds today.

I'm much more worried about the Pirates.

Magic # at 35

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Todd Frazier's wild rookie ride: His New Jersey roots (and power stroke) have been welcomed in Cincinnati.

Originally Published: August 29, 2012
By Jerry Crasnick | ESPN.com



Red-hot Rookie

Major league pitchers who have stood face-to-face with Todd Frazier this season will confirm that he's a handful at the plate.

Hungry diners in Ocean County, N.J., can attest that Frazier is a mouthful at the plate, too.

The Driftwood Deli & Sub Shop in the township of Toms River recently paid homage to Frazier, a local boy and standout rookie for the Cincinnati Reds, by adding a sandwich to the menu in his honor. "The Todd," the No. 30 entry in the subs section, is a belt-loosening combination of roast beef, turkey, yellow American cheese, bacon and yellow mustard.

Sandy Long, the shop's co-owner, remembers Frazier coming into the shop as a teenager and ordering that combination day after day. He was a friendly kid with a big appetite, an outsized personality and an aversion to veggies in any form.

"I thought, 'This is a horrible sandwich. Nobody's going to buy it,'" says Long, whose son played youth basketball with Frazier. "But people actually like it. I tell them, 'If you want the real 'Todd,' you have to get it with no lettuce, onions or tomatoes.'"

Frazier, eternally faithful to his roots, has signed a photograph that's on display in the shop. If he autographs another picture for the deli this winter, he might have to add an "ROY" beneath his name.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout, a Millville, N.J., native, has a clear path to the American League Rookie of the Year Award; and Frazier, who has 18 home runs, 22 doubles, a .909 OPS and a wins above replacement of 3.0 for the Reds, is tooling down the companion turnpike spur in hopes of pulling off a Garden State sweep. Arizona Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley, his main competition among National League rookies, is 14-9 with a 2.85 ERA, a strikeout-to-walk ratio of better than 4-to-1 and a WAR of 4.1.

The two rookies acquitted themselves quite nicely in a head-to-head matchup Tuesday night in Phoenix. Miley threw seven strong innings, and Frazier contributed a single and a two-run triple to lead Cincinnati to a 5-2 victory at Chase Field.

Both have been godsends at a time of need for their respective teams. Miley has helped the Diamondbacks weather a so-so season by Ian Kennedy and the loss of Daniel Hudson to Tommy John surgery. Frazier filled in at third base for five weeks when Scott Rolen went down with a shoulder injury in May, and he's handled first base since Joey Votto suffered a knee injury in mid-July.

Let's look ahead

There is little doubt that Mike Trout will be the American League Rookie of the Year in 2012. And, as Jerry Crasnick writes, the National League race appears to be between the Reds' Todd Frazier and the D-Backs' Wade Miley. But what about the 2013 season? Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus already has the skinny on next year's Rookies of the Year. Story

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Frazier entered Tuesday's game in Arizona with the ninth best slugging percentage by a right-handed batter against right-handed pitching (.538). The eight players ahead of him: Miguel Cabrera, Trout, Giancarlo Stanton, Adrian Beltre, Jose Bautista, Carlos Ruiz, Mark Trumbo and Paul Konerko.

That's not all. During a trip to Pittsburgh in late May, Frazier sprung into action and performed an emergency Heimlich maneuver to save a fellow diner from choking. All he needs to do now is carve an ice sculpture, learn to play piano from scratch and save a kid falling from a tree, and his season will approximate the Bill Murray-forged perfect ending in "Groundhog Day."

"Put him in the lineup, wind him up, and he's gone," Rolen says. "He's made a case for himself to stick and be a major league player, for sure. His bat is what keeps you tuned in. When you have a guy like that and you can get offense out of him wherever you plug him into the lineup, he's a huge value."

Votto is on a minor league rehab assignment and on track to return shortly -- a welcome development for the Reds, but one that will test manager Dusty Baker's ingenuity. If Frazier is going to play even five days a week, Baker is going to have to squeeze in some off days for Rolen, Votto and left fielder Ryan Ludwick, and maybe consider the possibility of playing right fielder Jay Bruce in center -- where he's made 35 career starts but none since 2008.

Boy for all seasons

Frazier is thriving in the majors through competitiveness, versatility and a knack for getting the bat head to the ball despite some unorthodox mechanics. He swings with a stiff left arm -- known as an "arm bar" -- that can make a hitter vulnerable to hard stuff inside. But he compensates sufficiently with his shoulders and his lower half, and pitchers haven't had much luck exploiting it.

"It may not work well visually when you see all those moving parts, but for him it's a coordinated athletic move," says an NL scout. "We want kids to hit like athletes, not robots. It may not work for Paul Molitor or Tony Gwynn, but it works for Todd Frazier."

Frazier produced a classic "Don't try this at home, kids" moment on May 27 when he released the bat in mid-swing against Colorado's Jamie Moyer and still managed to hit a home run. John Brenkus of ESPN "Sport Science" fame could have based an entire episode around it.

"People ask me about it all the time, and I tell them, 'I don't know how I did it,'" Frazier says. "It was a hot day and I was holding on with two fingers when I hit it. There's a rule of thumb, 'Throw the head to the ball,' and that's what I did. It's pretty weird. I can't explain it."

What Frazier might lack in style points, he makes up for in leadership and athletic instincts. It has become fashionable in recent years for aspiring big leaguers to focus strictly on baseball in their teen years, and spend much of their adolescence traveling to showcases and working with personal hitting coaches. Frazier took a different route. Like Trout, he chose to expand his athletic horizons with a wide range of pursuits.

As a star player for the Toms River "Beast of the East" team that beat Japan for the 1998 Little League World Series title, Frazier learned to keep his emotions in check while playing in front of 40,000 people in Williamsport, Pa. He also experienced the thrill of appearing on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show," meeting Vice President Al Gore, getting fan mail from foreign countries and riding around Toms River in the back of a fire truck during a parade.

When the youth baseball season ended every summer, though, Frazier put away the spikes and the Big League Chew. He played quarterback for a Pop Warner national championship team and won a national Punt, Pass and Kick title in 1997 at age 11. Frazier scored more than 1,000 points for the Toms River South High basketball team, but he was more interested in crashing the boards than filling the net. As a 6-foot-3 center, he was an avid Charles Barkley fan and routinely guarded players several inches taller.

"I was pretty aggressive on the basketball court," Frazier says. "If guys tried to dunk, I'd throw an elbow in their chest."

In the Frazier household, perseverance was synonymous with survival. Older brother Charlie, now a gym teacher and coach back home in Jersey, spent six years in the minors as an outfielder in the Florida Marlins organization. Jeff, the middle brother, is still playing Triple-A ball for the Cubs at age 30. Charlie always liked to say that he was the fastest Frazier brother, Jeff was the natural hitter and Todd was the elite defender. If you didn't play to win, you ran the risk of getting left behind.

"There were some holes in the wall," Charlie says. "We'd be wrestling and throwing the ball in the house and my dad would say, 'You're going outside and you're not allowed back in for a while.'

"Todd was always a competitor, whether it was pingpong or wiffle ball in the backyard or whatever. We wouldn't let him play because he was the little one. So he'd run home and tell our dad, and my dad would come back and take the ball and bat and say, 'You're not playing unless you let Todd play.' Todd got beat up sometimes, but he always came back."

He's no wallflower

Frazier showed enough potential at Rutgers University to earn an $875,000 bonus as the 34th pick in the 2007 draft, and Baseball America ranked him as the Reds' No. 1 prospect in 2010. The only question was where he would play. At 6-3, 215 pounds, he's a tad oversized for shortstop or second base. He's more a line-drive doubles hitter than the classic slugging first baseman, and his speed in the outfield is average at best. In addition, he has Votto and Brandon Phillips blocking his path on the right side of the infield. At the moment, Frazier's best long-term fit appears to be at third base.

His Cincinnati teammates kid him incessantly about his New Jersey roots. "They tell me, 'It's the armpit of America,' and I go right back at them," he says. But his fellow Reds have to admire the crowds he attracts during East Coast road trips. When the Reds visited Philadelphia last week, Charlie estimates that Todd had about 200 supporters in the stands every night.

"He personifies what that culture is all about," says Reds outfielder Drew Stubbs, a Texas native. "He's got that loud, brash, New York-Philadelphia mentality, where you're outspoken and opinionated but lovable at the same time. He's the same guy every day. You know he's here when he comes in. He's constantly talking and providing humor for everybody. Everybody kind of gets a kick out of him. He keeps everybody loose."

In the old days, rookies were taught to be quiet and inconspicuous and speak only when it was their turn, but that's not Frazier's style. He's chatty on the bus, in the hotel lobby or playing cards in the clubhouse, but he invariably backs it up on the field. "I think Frazier and Ludwick brought an edge to that team that it needed," says a National League scout.

The challenge, for Cincinnati's veterans, is teaching Frazier the importance of being humble in anticipation of the learning curve ahead, while making sure not to stifle his enthusiasm.

"We're working on him," Rolen says, smiling.

Don't expect Frazier to be wintering in Orlando or Scottsdale anytime soon. He's building a house in Toms River and getting married in December to Jackie Verdon, a former Rutgers gymnast who grew up in nearby Freehold. Even when he graduates from his rookie salary to a more lucrative payday, Frazier is likely to continue chowing down on "Todds," along with his other boyhood favorite -- Jersey pork roll (aka Taylor Ham) with egg and cheese on a bagel.

When Frazier reaches for his iPod, he's partial to the classics. His in-game walkup music is Hoboken, N.J., native Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me To The Moon," a personal favorite of his grandfather. At the Reds' Hall of Fame Gala in June, Frazier consented to a request and did a more-than-passable tribute to Old Blue Eyes.

As he closes in on his 500th career plate appearance, Frazier has yet to experience what life is like on Jupiter and Mars. But he's showin that a blue-collar Jersey Boy can make one entertaining transition to the banks of the Ohio River.

Cueto is first to 17 wins as Reds top D-backs

By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | 8/29/2012 2:00 AM ET


PHOENIX -- Go ahead and pick a number, any number. Whether they're individual or team-oriented, they all seem to be favoring the Reds as they round the corner for the stretch run of the season.

First there is 79-52. That's the best record in baseball, and it belongs to the Reds following Tuesday's 5-2 win over the D-backs.

Then there's seven. That's the National League Central lead the Reds now hold over the second-place Cardinals, who lost to the Pirates earlier in the day. There are only 31 games remaining.

"We're playing good baseball. We're winning series," said third baseman Scott Rolen, who earned a walk after a 15-pitch plate appearance in a three-run second inning that gave the Reds the lead for good. "The Cardinals played well against us back home but we just made it up. We'll keep doing what we've been doing, trying to win series by pitching well and playing good defense."

Try 17. That's Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto's wins total, giving him sole possession of the Major League lead. But Cueto says he's not done.

"All I can promise right now is I'm going to keep going because I want to win at least 20 games," Cueto said through an interpreter.

Why not 2.48? That's the best ERA in the NL and it belongs to Cueto.

With 33, you have Aroldis Chapman's save total. With 25, that's the club-record number of consecutive saves Chapman has converted after pitching the ninth inning Tuesday.

Finally, 62 and six. Todd Frazier leads all NL rookies with 62 RBIs is tied for the rookie lead in triples with six as he padded his numbers while being opposed by a fellow NL Rookie of the Year contender in D-backs southpaw Wade Miley.

Although Miley pitched a nice game for seven innings, he will remain stuck at 14 victories. Cueto turned in a sterling seven innings while allowing two runs and four hits with one walk and five strikeouts to move to 17-6.

As the season nears the end, Cueto is continually enhancing his credentials in a crowded NL Cy Young Award race. He is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA over his past four starts and 8-1 with a 2.69 ERA in his past 10. Out of his 27 starts, he's allowed two runs or fewer 19 times.

"Johnny is certainly in the running," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "To me, he is the top dog. He has some more starts left. When the smoke clears, if he's pitching like he's pitching now, in my opinion he should [win the Cy Young]. More importantly, when he's winning, we're winning."

Cueto threw a lot of pitches early, with 43 over his first two innings and 55 through three. But after he gave up Gerardo Parra's leadoff double and a Jason Kubel sacrifice fly in the first inning, the right-hander went on to retire 13 out of 14 batters.

That run ended with two outs in the fifth inning, when Parra's double to left field scored John McDonald and made it a 3-2 game. But Arizona scored no more against Cueto, who followed Parra's double by retiring his final seven in a row. The stretch included three strikeouts, all on tough offspeed pitches.

"He's good, man. You've got to give him credit," said D-backs catcher Miguel Montero. "He pretty much never gives in and he's a tough guy to face because when you go out there looking for something it's like he's reading your mind. It's like he never throws you what you're looking for and it kind of screws you up a little bit."

In his previous start vs. the Phillies, Cueto was spent after only five innings.

"The last outing, I was feeling really well. I couldn't go harder than that," Cueto said. "It was the other way around with this outing. I was really tired and really heavy today. But that's how things go in this game."

The Reds jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the top of the second inning against Miley. The rally started when Frazier hit a broken-bat leadoff single to center field. What followed was the plate appearance of the evening. Scott Rolen batted Miley for 15 pitches, which included 10 foul balls with two strikes before drawing a full-count walk. Chris Heisey's single to right field loaded the bases. A wild pitch to Ryan Hanigan brought in Frazier for the Reds' first run, and Hanigan sent a two-run single to center field before Miley worked his way out of the 33-pitch inning.

"It's huge, especially when you give Johnny a lead," Baker said. "When you give Johnny a lead like that, he knows how to keep it."

Miley went on to retire 14 out of 15 batters until the sixth. Following Miley's departure, Phillips and Ryan Ludwick started the eighth inning with back-to-back singles. Frazier followed with a two-run triple through the gap in left-center field off Matt Lindstrom. It gave Jonathan Broxton and Chapman some extra padding to work with, but they wouldn't need it.

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When the season began I knew Cincy had the potential to be a contender but I never expected this. Despite losing their highly touted closer in Ryan Madsen, not having Nick Massett all season and losing Joey Votto since the All Star Break; getting ready to head into September The Reds have 2 Cy Young contenders in Cueto and Chapman, a Rookie of The Year contender in Todd Frazier, a 7-game lead in the Division and the best record in all of baseball. With Votto about to return Dusty needs to figure out how to keep Frazier in the lineup. He can always give Rolen days off here and there but I would try putting him in Right Field and moving Bruce to Center for Stubbs (man hes been in a slump lately, got hot at the right time around the trade deadline but hes done very little since; still wished we could've got Pierre or Span at the deadline).

Hell of a comeback today, I thought we were going to waste another great outing from Arroyo.

37th comeback win, most in the National League

38th tonight, and Chapman takes over the league lead in saves after taking over the closing role on May 20th. Phenomenal.

is Dusty really going to bench Frazier? is he really that crazy?

move the guy to 3B, heck move him to LF and live with some bad defense. the dude is mashing!

The Reds essentially have a day off every week until the end of the season. If I'm Dusty I'm giving my guys breaks as much as I can to keep em fresh and using Frazier as the break man. Rolen needs at least 1-2 days off a week with that shoulder so play Frazier those days. Votto may need or two early after coming back, but I'm really hoping we can get Stubbs out of the lineup (or at least batting towards the bottom of the order). Man is he not doing worth a poo. Put Bruce in Center (he has 38 career starts there) for some games and have Frazier play right. Or start Heisey more often (you lose a little on D but he'd make up for it at the plate.

If we go into the post-season in need of a 4th starter my money is on Bailey right now, and thats for the mere fact that Leake has taken himself out of the running. Since the All-Star Break he's got a 5.89 ERA and batters are hitting over .320 off him

i worry about you guys in October. you have basically been pitching with Cueto and hope when you look at peripheral stats.

no other starter has a FIP below 4.0, only Latos misses bats but he walks too many, and they all give up too many HRs.

i'm rooting for the Reds out of the likely options in the NL, but they better be ready to mash.

ERA, WHIP and K to BB ratio generally tell me everything I need to know about a pitcher. I had to look up what FIP was and ugh..it's one of those stats where you add subtract multiply and divide 5 different categories to come up with a number... hate those stats. And the home runs I'm not worried about, that number will always be inflated in our band box.

But no doubt about it this is a good year for the Reds to do it. The Phillies unquestionably have the best staff in the NL but it looks like they wont make it. You have the Nats benching Strasburgh and Zimmerman appears lost or worn down in his last 4 starts. Lincecum, Bumgarner and Cain would be the toughest rotation they have to face in my opinion and I think Cueto, Latos and Arroyo can match up with that.

I think the Braves would give you the most trouble in a series.

(well, the Cardinals might because they seem to have a hex against you guys, but I cannot justify it with logic)

Yeah I have to agree about the Cards, hopefully they don't get in. I guess Carpenter does have an outside shot of making a start before the season is over, not good news.

I don't know why I'm not that worried about Atlanta, they have a good club but the Reds have fared well against them over the last few years. But yeah, the playoffs are an entirely different game.

they have Medlen and Hudson up top and enough offense to be dangerous (if they still had Beachy, they'd be crazy good though).

they have a similar issue at SP after those 2 though Minor and Maholm can both be very good at times (but so can Homer and even Leake for short stretches).

the NL playoffs should be fun with all of these similar but non-dominant teams

Reds fans on here should group up for a bow tie Tuesday. As in watching a Tuesday game at GABP.

Just sayin'.

Ahhhwhoooooooooooooooooo!

Reds fans howling away at a sweep love it.

Where did this howling come from?

It started late Monday night in extra innings, it was Bark In the Park night where everyone brings there dog to the game.

I'm guessing it played off that somehow.

Somebody said it was getting really loud at the park and some of the dogs started to howl, so the fans followed suit. Now they can't stop. LOL.

Thanks for the info, you two. Not sure about the howling, but okay, if it works.

Magic # is 3.

between that and their record in 1 run games, they are definitely doing something strange this season.

if it was in a different city, then i might feel good that their fans have something to cheer for this season in the tough AL East

I'm happy they'll be able to clinch at home. I'm also looking forward to hearing 40,000 people howling at the stadium this weekend.

Clinched a playoff wild card spot at least with today's win. 2 to clinch the division and only Percentage points behind Washington for best record in baseball

My buddy really wants the Reds to hold on clinching til Sunday when he's at the game lol.

We knew it would come, but....

Woohooo!!!!

Now that we locked up the division I want the best record in baseball. Only 1/2 a game back

Congratulations.

I told you that the Reds are winning it all this year. I have no doubt.

Detroit and Chicago actually both won a game today. Amazing to see them actually look like they want to win the division.

All that is left now is to see which team ends up choking like Tom Brady down the stretch.



(those SBs are a long time ago, no? since 18-0 he has lost 2 SBs at the end of the games and there are a bunch of games like Sunday vs. the Ravens where the Pats just couldn't close the deal as well. With LeBron winning his ring, he's the pre-eminent choker in sports right now, right?)

Anyone else find it completely moronic that the lower seed gets the first two games of the series at home in the first round?

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and AFC Championship games?

Homer Bailey with a no hitter, I admit I lost faith in this guy a couple years ago but I'm glad he's making me look foolish.

He's been on a great run lately, with him pitching like this playoff teams may want to start worrying about having to face us.

I'll admit I was ready to give up on him several years ago. Been a lot of fun watching him mature over the coarse of his career.

Hard to beleive he's only 26.

hey Big D, just wanted to say I was rooting for the Pirates to get to 81. they should be able to get there next year.

Isn't Houston moving to the AL next year? This year the other NL Central teams got 2 really bad teams in the Astros and Cubs. Next year they lose one of those "gimmes".

As far as the Reds, I think that they are probably my favorite to win it all this year. I don't really like them, but I do think that they have the best team overall. Their pitching has been incredible, and they have 4 starters who can go against anyone ......... and pitching generally carries a team in the post-season. Washington has also been spectacular, but I just have a gut feeling that some of my fellow Browns fans who are also Reds fans will get to celebrate a World Series win this year.

My "I can't believe that they didn't make the post-season" award goes to the Angels.

Down to the final game for best record. The schedule worked out nice to where the Reds will know if they have anything to play for tonight as the Nationals play a 1:05 game today.

The Nationals have to face Lee.
The Cardinals have nothing to play for tonight.
Here's to a meaningful Reds game this evening!

i could see any team that is making the post-season this year winning the whole thing. they all have strengths and just need their weaknesses to get on a hot streak.

cinci, washington, sf, atlanta, st.l - st.louis is probably the weakest of those teams, but you never know with them.

baltimore, nyy, detroit, texas, oakland - we might have the rangers v. yankees in the play-in game. how crazy is that (considering standings just a week ago). baltimore is probably the weakest team here but they seemingly get things done in 1run games this year (I think their luck will run out).


if I had to pick favorites, then I'd say: Washington over NYY
i'm rooting to see: Oakland over Cinci (reverse the 1990 WS )

1-0 Phillies.

Edit: 2-1 Nats

I guess Votto has to get hurt in order for the offense to get a jump start again, they're barely above the mendoza line this month.

They can't really afford to fall behind early in any of these games against the Giants.

Wow, great run by the A's.

No chance at a number 1 seed for the Reds tonight, but at least they get to rest some regulars. Maybe Bailey can pull an Johny Vander Meer tonight.


Starting on the road as the 2 seed is just dumb.

I'm surprised to see Phillips in the lineup, the groin must not be bothering that much after all.

reds are not allowed to have good pitching and good hitting at the same time. if they start hitting, then their pitchers have to start giving up a ton of runs again.

So excited for tonight, come on Reds!!

I'm going to do my Reds playoff posting in this thread, too much smack already in the MLB playoff thread. Hopefully, that'll keep the Tribe people busy over there.

Go Reds!!