Do you ever wonder who made up rules we use in everyday life? Quickly ... Name a spelling rule! Waiting .... Waiting .... Waiting .... Did you answer I before E except after C? David Blaine told me that's what you would answer ... Magic!! So then how do you explain society, science, ancient, species, neighbor, height/weight, vein, weird or seize? Exceptions to the rule? Or maybe the I before E rule was made by someone who didn't possess all the facts? Or maybe YOU are Dusty Custer and YOU know there are baseball rules because they are baseball rules because that's how it's always been done in baseball (at least that is Dusty Custer's standard answer to anyone who dares question his managerial moves). Dusty is baseball's Phil Jackson without the rings but with all the enlightened, zen inspiring leadership (and cool hipster glasses, plus the wristbands - guess he sweats chewing those toothpicks? Or maybe he sweats trying to follow all those baseball rules he has learned or making his inane in-game moves or filling out the line-up card without including Free Chris Heisey). The Reds are sitting at .500 after 22 games, which IMHO is underachieving (wait ... is it achieve or acheive ... there's a C and an I and an E and the rule comes into play I think .. but maybe not). They are 5-8 against teams with winning records, including 2-4 against the Cardinals. Cause for concern? You tell me!
What follows would make Abbot and Costello proud!!!
IMHO the Reds are winning in spite of Dusty Custer, not because of him. And I've got plenty of examples!!! Let's start with Baseball's Sixth Commandment: Thou shall not bat two lefties in a row. The logic behind the Sixth Commandment is a team can bring in a left-handed relief pitcher in a crucial situation to face two left-handed hitters. Since left-handed hitters usually have a harder time hitting left-handed pitchers (because the pitch breaks away from the batter), it is a common move by managers in this era of specialized relief pitchers. Before I go any further, let's play a word association game. I say Reds' best hitter, you say ..... Joey Votto. I say Reds' most dangerous hitter, you say ... Joey Votto. Okay, maybe that doesn't work. But I would argue Jay Bruce is the Reds's most dangerous hitter and should put up better power numbers than Votto-matic. So why doesn't Jay Bruce hit behind Joey Votto and provide some protection against teams pitching around Votto? Because of Baseball's Sixth Commandment. And that's the bottom line because Dusty Custer said so. Only the statistics for both hitters don't back up Dusty or the Sixth Commandment. A quick look at the stats (BTW .. Dusty Custer does not believe in advanced baseball metrics or statistics to make decisions. He prefers what he sees through his hipster glasses or feels underneath his wristbands) shows the following. Joey Votto is a career .316 hitter against right-handed pitchers and .306 against left-handed pitchers. When you account for the difference in at-bats against right and left-handed pitchers, Votto's power numbers go down slightly (approximately seven more at-bats per homrun v. left-handers than right-handers), but his RBI numbers are consistent (5.5 at-bats per RBI against left-handers v. 5.6 at-bats per RBI against right-handers). So there isn't much difference if Votto-matic faces a right or left-handed pitcher. Jay Bruce is a slightly different as he doesn't hit left-handed pitchers as well (career .268 hitter against right-handers but only .236 against lefties), but his power numbers and RBIs are very consistent per at-bat against both. So the statistics support batting Bruce after Votto instead of splitting up the two lefties with Brandon Phillips or Scott Rolen - both right-handed batters without the homerun power of Jay Bruce. The Mayan long calendar will come to fruition before Dusty follows these stats. If he does bat Bruce behind Votto, you better get right with God!!
Next up .... Ryan Ludwick v. Free Chris Heisey. Ludwick is a veteran (Dusty loooovvvveesss him some veterans!) who is hitting .190. Last season Ludwick hit .237 and .251 the season before. He's 33 years old and all his statistics head down faster than Megan Draper's mom on last night's Mad Men (Tomorrow is going to be good!!). Free Chris Heisey (a.k.a. FCH) on the other hand is batting .214 ... stellar I know!!! But Heisey hit .254 last season and .254 the season before. Power numbers favor Heisey as well. FCH hit 18 homeruns in only 279 at-bats last season (more common HR rate than Votto-matic or Bruce), while Ludwick hit only 13 homeruns in 490 at-bats last season and 17 homeruns in 490 the previous season. Ludwick's only advantage over FCH is RBIs, with 25 more last season than FCH, but that is deceptive due to the difference in at-bats. When equalized per at-bat, FCH's RBI rate per at-bat is over a full at-bat ahead of Ludwick. So why Ludwick over FCH? For the same reason Corey Patterson, Willy Taveras, and Jerry Hairston, Jr. got at-bats ... they were dating Dusty Baker's daughter or they had compromising photos of Dusty with Morgana. I never could get the story straight. Either way it's a bad choice with no explanation coming from his Dustiness.
The 7th inning of yesterday's victory over the Lastros had more examples of Dustrating (thanks Celenza!) behavior than a thesaurus. Ryan Hanigan led off the inning with a single, then FCH ripped a pinch-hit single to left (for the record, yesterday FCH 1-1 & Ludwick 0-4). Dusty then sent Devin Mesoraco (a rookie catcher) in to pinch-run for Hanigan (catcher pinch running for another catcher? Has that ever happened before? Must be a 19th century baseball rule?). Now with runners on first and second and no outs, Dusty signaled in for Drew Stubbs to sacrifice bunt ... Oxymoron I know (Drew Stubbs runs like Usain Bolt and swings like DaveAdam DunnKingman. If he could bunt he would hit .300 and steal 50 bases a season. But he can't bunt!!!!!). My question to you is this: What benefit is gained by sacrificing runners to 2nd and 3rd base with Zack Cozart and Joey Votto-matic coming up to bat? Waiting ... Waiting ... Waiting ... Answer? Nothing. The Lastros would have attacked Cozart like the game depended on it (which it did and which they did and which ended in a Cozart strikeout) and intentionally walked Votto and pitched to Dat Dude BP (who was hitless yesterday .... interesting tweet from BP to follow!). Instead Stubbs stubbed the bunt and the 'fleet-footed' Mesoraco was luckily thrown out at third. Lucky indeed for the Reds since it eventually forced the Lastros to pitch to Votto, who promptly doubled to right field scoring Heisey and Stubbs to tie the game. Dat Dude then flied out to center to end the inning. If you're scoring at home, that's a good pinch-hitting decision (even though FCH should start!), a horrible pinch-running decision (Mesoraco not fast, Hanigan better behind the plate), and a horrible sacrifice bunt decision (Stubbs can't bunt!!!). Dusty on the inning, 2 bad decisions - 1 good decision - 1 bail out by Votto-matic. It's all about the Jimmies and Joeys boys and girls!!!
Okay ... Dustypalozza is over for now. Reds are off today .. loyal readers rejoice!!! Here is DatDudeBP's tweet I reference earlier. Hope you all are hip to Twitter!!
Brandon Phillips
The Reds in England (Manchester United in layman terms) plays a huge match against Manchester City today. Recap tomorrow.
Mad Men ... WTFJH face made an appearance on the show last night!!! Sally Draper had the honor!!! Recap tomorrow.
NFL Draft ... it's over. Recap tomorrow maybe.
Enough? Yeah I thought so. Talk tomorrow.
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