Transaction, Gary Majewski was activated from the bereavement list after the birth of his daughter. Danny Herrera was sent to Class AAA Louisville.
"He’s going back, but I told him he’s impressed us and he’s impressed his teammates, which is equally or more important," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "It’s never been easy for him, sometimes it makes you hungrier because he knows what he can do. Right now with the numbers, his permanent time is not now, his temporary time is here now, it’s not his permanent time now."
Baker likes what he's seen from Herrera, the 5-foot-6 lefty.
"He works hard, he wants it, he’s not scared," Baker said. "A guy that stature, you know he’s had to fight all the odds to get here, to even sign in the first place. Especially in the day of the radar gun, they want the 6-5, 225 pound guy throwing 95 even if he’s not getting anybody out."
* Lineup change: Julio Lugo is out of the game with an "upset stomach." Joey Cora batting in his spot.
* Dusty Baker said Jolbert Cabrera will get a start at shortstop sometime soon, but he didn't want it to be today.
".A lot of it depends on who is pitching for us more than who is pitching against us," Baker said. "(Edinson) Volquez is throwing more ground balls and (Bronson) Arroyo throwing more fly balls."
The team is better defensively with Janish, and with him there and more ground balls, the team can be better.
Baker also said he didn't want to give him a day off after four strikeouts in Friday's game, because you need to get right back into action to try to get that off your mind. Baker told him the story of the time he struck out four times in a game and in his last at-bat he tried to bunt in his last at-bat just so he wouldn't strike out. He missed the bunt and ended up strking out. When he got back to his dugout, his teammates gave him a standing ovation.
And yes, closet Cub fans, he's heard the complaints about Janish batting second.
"A guy got on me about him batting second, I can’t have too many outs at the bottom either and give them an easy inning," Baker said. "I figured, with Junior behind him, they’ll give him something to hit or I can hit-and-run or bunt a guy over."
* Baker was asked about his team playing better against the better teams, including Friday's 3-1 win over the Red Sox.
"That is a tough one. You would hope the day would come soon that you play at your level versus at playing at their level. That’s what I’m working on," Baker said. "That’s something that sometiems takes time. If you’re going to be a winner, you’ve got to have other people play up to your level and not you up tio their’s.
"A lot of it depends on what kind of pitching performance you get that day. That’s what most of it depends on it. If we pitch well that day, we usually win. We’re trying to get to the point of consistency over a long period of time, which sometimes, al the time you want it, but it’s tough to expect when you have such a young staff."
"You want to build Rome today, but Rome wasn’t built overnight, even though you want it built."
Between starts at home, Reds ace Aaron Harang zips around downtown
Cincinnati on his mountain bike, going from Great American Ball Park,
to Paul Brown Stadium, through downtown, over the Purple People Bridge,
around Newport, Ky., and back to Great American Ball Park.
Along the way, he said he gets several looks where people around town
notice just a bit too late who the 6-foot-5 guy in size 15 bike shoes
that just sped by was.
That look was probably similar to the one Red Sox hitters gave to
Harang's pitches in Friday's 3-1 Reds victory over the defending World
Series champions. Harang allowed just four hits and a run in seven
innings, while striking out seven Red Sox and walking none, earning
just his third victory of the season.
"He wins one, he might win seven or eight in a row, that's Aaron
Harang," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "He's a whole lot better than
2-9. I didn't even know he was 2-9, I looked up on the board and I
thought it was a misprint. We needed to get him on the board with a
win. He's got work to do and we’ve got work to do."
Harang had lost his previous four decisions, including his worst outing
of the season on Sunday at Florida, when the Marlins roughed him up for
11 hits and eight runs in 5.1 innings, pushing his ERA above 4.00 for
the first time this season. Harang's three victories this season have
all come about a month apart -- April 10, May 12 and June 13. But more
than the lack of run support (the Reds' 2.80 runs per game during his
starts are the fewest for any Reds starter), Harang said he wasn't
performing.
"I was not being myself. You can look at it and say it's lack of run
support, I feel I was trying to do too much myself and not let the team
help me out," Harang said. "I was able to do that tonight. I was
aggressive and let them put the ball in play and my guys made plays. We
got to their starter and our bullpen closed them out."
Reds rookie outfielder Jay Bruce led off the game with a home run, Adam
Dunn added a solo shot in the fourth, followed by back-to-back doubles
by Edwin Encarnacion and Joey Votto for the Reds' third run -- which
was all Harang, Jared Burton and Francisco Cordero needed.
More than anything he did Friday, Harang credited his work between starts with his success against the Red Sox.
Harang said he worked hard in his bullpen session earlier in the week
and pitching coach Dick Pole also sat down with him to try to help him.
"He said, 'we have to find out where the old you went to and get you
back. You've got to go out there and pitch your game, no matter what,'"
Harang said. "I haven't been aggressive enough, nitpicking and not
attacking the zone. I think hitters were noticing it and capitalizing.
When we were talking, (Pole) and Dusty recognized I haven't been my
normal self. When they were with the Cubs, they said they knew they
were always in for a battle. They had to get me back to the point where
I was going to go out and grind it out no matter what."
That wasn't needed Friday.
Harang didn't allow a hit until the fourth, when he gave up three of
the four he'd surrender, including a leadoff double by Jacoby Ellsbury
and a two-out RBI single by Manny Ramirez.
Not only did Dunn, Encarnacion and Votto combine to give him back the
lead in the bottom of the inning, Harang retired the next eight batters
he faced following the fourth. In the seventh inning, his 113th pitch
was clocked at 94 miles per hour to get Ramirez swinging for the first
out of the inning and Ramirez would leave the game with a sore left
hamstring following the at-bat.
"I always have that reserved in the back tank when I need it. A lot of
guys said I was throwing harder than I usually do," Harang said.
"(During the week) I was trying to get my legs beneath me, I worked
really hard on my conditioning to get my strength back up."
That's where the bike rides came into play. On Tuesday, Harang not only
rode his half-hour circuit around the stadiums and Newport, but then
came in for batting practice and followed that with another half-hour
on the spinning bike in the team's workout room.
"Last year I didn't ride it as much as I wanted to and this year it's
been sitting back there (in the team's storage room), because I'd left
my shoes in San Diego, so I had to order new ones," Harang said. "It's
good exercise, people don’t realize how much exercise it is."
So, yes, next time you’re downtown in the afternoon and see a very
large man on a bike zoom past you, it very well may have been Harang,
but don't feel too bad, you won't be the first one unable to catch up
with him.
Talked to Youkilis and Sean Casey, will have some stuff later on.
UPDATE (5:28): Nevermind, tarp is back in.
* Sean Casey said he went to lunch with Adam Dunn, and is looking forward to seeing Ken Griffey Jr. on first base to congratulate him on hitting No. 600. He said he and Dunn may be all chatted out. Somehow, I doubt it.
* In other lunch news, Kevin Youkillis said he and Brian Cleary and others hit the Skyline on Vine. Cheese coneys, no onions, he reported. He's also looking forward to Montgomery Inn and hitting up the Penn Station on Fields-Ertle where he used to work.
* In the clubhouse today where several copies of Cincinnati Woman Magazine. Why? The coverboy -- Adam Dunn, along with his wife Rachel and his son Brady.
Dunn got several comments, Ken Griffey Jr. asked for the first signed copy. Several others made jokes about it as well.
Dunn, though, said he got the photo and will be using it for his Christmas cards. Also, after getting several comments about it, he had this particular insight: "I'd rather be on the cover of Cincinnati Woman Magazine than Sports Illustrated. Why? Becuase who reads Sports Illustrated? Men."
* Players also get the giveaways from the ballpark -- and the team already had this weekend's giveaways, including Sunday's "Father's Day Reds safari-style hat." From his corner locker, closer Francisco Cordero wore the hat proudly.
And while he looked good in it, Ken Griffey Jr. noted that he looked like Geoffery Holder in the old 7-Up commercials. And then he did a dead-on impression, including the laugh. I noted that there may not be too many of his teammates old enough to remember that.
UPDATE (6:11): The tarp is once again coming off and Rob Butcher has sent an email saying the game is scheduled to start on time.
* The Reds acquired minor league RHP Henry Arias to complete the March 19 Brad Salmon deal. Arias, 23, will be assigned to Class A Dayton. For Burlington this season, he went 2-3 with a 3.78 ERA and two saves in 18 relief appearances.
Originally a starter, Arias has made the transition to reliever this season. He was 2-3 with a 6.26 ERA for Burlington last season in nine starts and 13 games.
* Pete Mackanin is in the house. Pete said he'll be here all week scouting the Reds for the Yankees, and we'll get some time to catch up later in the homestand.
* Really nice ovation for Sean Casey when he was introduced.
* I think a lot of people were scared away by the rain. I imagine they'll be around soon enough.
* Looks like Johnny Bench will be throwing out the first pitch. Paul Bako catching. I'll ahve to ask Bako, but I'd think even know, it'd still be cool for a catcher to catch the greatest catcher ever.
Even some of the Red Sox were up applauding for Bench, notably Wakefield. It looked like Youkilis was having to tell Coco Crisp who Johnny Bench was. I don't know that fo ra fact, it's just the way it appeared. Bench then went over to the Red Sox dugout to say something to Sean Casey.
The conventional wisdom as the twin jewels made their way up the ranks
of the Reds' farm system was that Homer Bailey was the thrower and
Johnny Cueto the pitcher. In the last two games, neither has lived up
to their billing.
In Tuesday's loss to the Cardinals, Bailey struggled to break 90 mph
with his fastball and in Wednesday's 10-0 loss to St. Louis, Cueto hit
95 on the gun, but walked eight batters in five innings, giving up six
runs on five hits.
"We knew (Cueto) has a lot to learn, he's young. That's no excuse, but
young is young," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "Other than today and a
couple of other starts, he's thrown the ball pretty good for a guy with
his experience. He's going to learn from this and he's going to be a
very good Major League pitcher. There's a whole lot of pitchers who
have come up and pitched a whole lot worse than him that ended up
All-Stars or in the Hall of Fame. This kid's future is super bright.
We've just got to get back to the bullpen, get back to the drawing
board and get everything back in sync."
Cueto's eight walks were the most by a Reds pitcher since Steve Avery
allowed nine in 1999 against the Diamondbacks and the most by a Reds
right-hander since Bruce Berenyi had eight walks in 1982 -- nearly four
years before Cueto was even born.
"He started overthrowing, trying to force pitches instead of throwing
naturally," Baker said. "(Pitching coach Dick Pole) said in the bullpen
he was hitting every spot and he had shutout stuff when he left the
bullpen. Sometimes you leave the bullpen not knowing how you're going
to get 'em out and you throw a shutout and other times you come out
with shutout stuff and you can't get anybody out."
If Cueto had shutout stuff in the bullpen on Wednesday, he forgot to
take it out to the mound with him. After getting leadoff man Skip
Schumaker to fly out to start the game, he walked Aaron Miles and Ryan
Ludwick before giving up a 412-foot blast to Cardinals centerfielder
Rick Ankiel.
A walk and fly-out later, former Reds catcher Jason LaRue hit his first
home run as a Cardinal before St. Louis starter Braden Looper, hitting
in the eight spot of the lineup, struck out to end the inning.
"It was a rough night for Johnny. He didn't have his command and even
when he threw a couple of strikes, they weren't the type of strikes
you're looking for and LaRue and Ankiel made us pay for it. … It just
wasn't our night tonight," Reds catcher Paul Bako said. "It was 5-0
before we got to hit and from that point on, he never found his groove
and he limited his damage and gave us some innings, but the way Looper
was pitching, it was too late for us."
The Reds' offense struggled just as mightily as their starter --
collecting just three hits off of Looper, who improved to 8-5 on the
season. Looper threw a shutout on just 98 pitches. Looper's total was
three fewer than Cueto's, who finished with 101 total pitches in five
innings with one more ball than strikes thrown.
It was Looper's first career shutout. In four career starts against the
Reds, Looper is 3-0 with a 1.26 ERA. He also has eight saves against
Cincinnati.
Ken Griffey Jr. broke up the perfect game with a double in the fourth
inning and Jay Bruce and Paul Janish had back-to-back singles in the
sixth. All three hits were with two outs and nothing came of them.
The Reds certainly have young pitching talent in Cueto and Bailey, but
the key word there is young. Both are 22 and now taking their lumps at
the big league level.
Although Cueto had won his previous three starts, his ERA rose from 5.06 to 5.42 on Wednesday.
Cueto was able to get through five innings, helping the bullpen
somewhat. Rookie Danny Herrera gave up a homer to Ryan Ludwick in his
first two innings before allowing three consecutive hits to start the
eight and forcing Bill Bray to come in for two more innings.
With Francisco Cordero down with the flu and Bailey not making it
through four innings on Tuesday, the Reds bullpen was hurting some and
things don’t look much better with Boston coming in this weekend.
"It is one of the big dangers, but that's how things worked out," Baker
said of the rotation with the 22-year olds pitching back-to-back. "I've
got three young ones in there (along with the 24-year old Edinson
Volquez). Sooner or later you're going to have to have them
back-to-back. We tried to separate them, but we just couldn't in this
situation."
Bronson Arroyo, who hasn't made it through seven innings since May 14
starts Thursday, followed by the struggling Aaron Harang in the
series-opener against the Red Sox.
"We need some innings out of Arroyo tomorrow," Baker said. "We've got
guys going two innings and trying to go three because we need them to
do that. You just don't want to wreck your entire bullpen for the next
day and then you have Boston coming in after that. You don't want to go
in there with a taxed or tired bullpen and then they can make it worse."
