The Big Red Machine Thread (powered by Hudepohl and Big Red Smokies)

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

This is the thread to spout about the Cincinnatti Reds, who are definitely giving Joe Nuxhall a good retirement gift by the way they are playing this year. The old lefthander may not round third and head for home considering the way they are playing this year and it would be nice if they could give him another playoff series to call.

Nuxhall has been calling Reds games since 1966 and has worked with hall of fame broadcaster Marty Brenneman since 1974. I grew up listening to Reds games and they are the only two people I can ever remember doing games.

Growing up in Indiana and not having our own team, you listened to the Reds on the radio and watched the Cubs on WGN. The only time the Reds were on TV was when they went on a West Coast road trip to LA, Houston or SD, they never showed home games except a few around the time Rose was going after Ty Cobb's record. It has been a bit stickier since my two teams are in the same division, but until this year, usually one or the other or neither are any good, so it hasn't been too difficult. I've definitely seen more Cubs games on TV, but I have seen way more Reds games in person.

The Reds have been trying and failing to play down the 'Big Red Machine' angle for years, as even when they won a championship in 90, it was impossible to compare. They even got rid of the uniforms and the hats, but it is a long shadow on the club. I suppose playing on Pete Rose way and still having billboards of Johnny Bench all over town tends to obscure the current team. I can't think of another team that lives in the shadow of a series of past clubs like Cinci, it is somewhat unique.

This Reds team reminds me of the team two years ago. They got off to a hot start and held up until after the Allstar break and won an amazing amount of one run and come from behind games. Griffey got hurt and the makeshif pitching staff completely fell apart as the bullpen got wore out, but for about 100 games they were great fun. They got off to a similar start last year, but it started falling much earlier, then in the second half the management sent off half of the team. It was really ugly. This year has definitely been a suprise.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 02:23 (twenty years ago) link

I hope this means the curse of Marge has been lifted?

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 02:30 (twenty years ago) link

nah, as earl hints it ain't gonna last. my feelings about them are torn as w/ milwaukee - i hate to see bonheaded, cheap management be rewarded, but it's tough to root against such an underdog (even for a yankees fan). i don't hate them quite as much since they aren't owned by selig and their payroll is still kind of respectable (but did they do ANYTHING in the offseason?).

― John (jdahlem), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 02:41 (twenty years ago) link

I read somewhere (here?) that Don Gullet essentially told his lackluster pitching staff (or the starters, at least) to simply throw strikes, because if they're gonna get beat, it'll be in the strike zone. I think all of the Reds starters (Wilson, Acevedo, Van Poppel, Lidle and Harang) have respectable WHIPs as a result (don't look @ Harang), and super K/BB ratios. Wilson's clearly been their best pitcher (duh), but Acevedo seems to have nice peripherals that point to having success (or so the Monkey Robot Fun mgr hopes).

Moves made in the offseason (or late last year) that improved the club - moving crankyass Graves back to the bullpen, shitcanning Boone, temporarily breaking Murphy's Law as it applies to Griffey. Also, Dunn is hitting more like he should (or he was projected to) , Larkin is hitting like a 35-year old version of himself (sans power), and Sean Casey is tripping his balls off. And they FINALLY cut bait on Jimmy Haynes - setting up a tetherball pole every 5th day to take his place would've been an improvement.

I'm still waiting for D'Angelo to show some of his mini-Soriano potential, though.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 12:50 (twenty years ago) link

I'm still waiting for D'Angelo to follow up Voodoo, personally.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 13:27 (twenty years ago) link

Brings a whole new connotation to "mini-Soriano", don't it?

If the Reds had any brain power, and if they begin to falter, they should try shopping Casey around, because I doubt he'll have any more value (trade-wise) than he does right now.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 2 June 2004 13:34 (twenty years ago) link

Don Gullett has actually done a pretty good job the past few years, considering he hasn't had jack for talent in the starting staff. The bullpen has been solid for a few years, it is just when the starting staff completely falls apart and the bullpen gets overworked that the slide kills the Reds.

The last two years the Reds have had bunches of injuries across the board Griffey, Larkin, Dunn, Kearns and many other key players have spent time on the DL. This is another reason they have faltered so badly in the second half.

The Reds have had amazing depth of talent in the outfield the past few years, the dissapointment is that they have not seem to gotten much for Guillen, Encarnacion and some of the other players they delt out.

― earlnash, Wednesday, 2 June 2004 18:30 (twenty years ago) link

I may have mentioned that I have a bet with a friend whether A-Rod will bat over .300 or not this year, I am thinking of making a similar bet with Griffey and .250 ... what do you think?

He's about as hot as he's gonna get right now and he's at .258 ...

The gamble is what side he's gonna be on when he has his season ending injury.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 14 June 2004 22:06 (twenty years ago) link

there's a running bet (2-1, even) that Jeter won't hit .300.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 14 June 2004 22:45 (twenty years ago) link

I think Jeter will finish .280-.290, and that Griffey will get it up around there as well.

I'm interested in seeing if Big Hurt can finally go back to 40+ HR and .300+ BA at the same time!

― Gear! (Gear!), Monday, 14 June 2004 22:47 (twenty years ago) link

jeter would have to bat something like .350 from here on out, so that's extremely unlikely yeah.

i'd take gygax up on that bet. griffey's batted over .250 every year of his career but one (last year, .247) and he's hotter right now than at any point last year. interesting question though, does a longer season make it more or less likely for him to end up over the mark? i guess it'd be more, but there have to be questions about how well he can hold up over 162 games (if not fatigue, then hidden injuries w/ no DL time which would effect performance).

― John (jdahlem), Monday, 14 June 2004 23:00 (twenty years ago) link

Until he took tonight off, Griffey had played 37 games straight. It has probably been a few years since he did that. (The game is still going, so he might pinch hit.) I would like to see what his average would be taking out April, he got off to a bad start.

The Reds are still hitting, but their pitching is starting to wear down. They freakin' killed Cliff Lee yesterday, his ERA went from like 3.25 to 3.93 in one start. It was definitely a battle of shite pitching this weekend with Cleveland and Cinci.

― earlnash, Tuesday, 15 June 2004 01:57 (twenty years ago) link

.279 (.260 in May, .325 so far this month)

― Leeefuse 73 (Leee), Tuesday, 15 June 2004 02:08 (twenty years ago) link

eight months pass...

Taking a look at the Cinci 40 man roster at ESPN, one players birthplace I found kind of suprising.

32 Danny Graves RP R R 6-0 185 8/7/73 Saigon, Vietnam

Graves has to be the only major leaguer ever born in Vietnam.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Monday, 28 February 2005 16:53 (nineteen years ago) link

a couple of links:

foreign born debuts by country

all star counts by country (2004 and all-time)

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 28 February 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...

Reds' closer Danny Graves was rocked by the Cleveland Indians in the ninth inning of Sunday's meeting, allowing five runs on four hits and a walk. The closer, who notched just one out before departing to a chorus of boos, is 1-1 with a gaudy 7.36 ERA and 10 saves in 20 relief appearances this season. Over his last three games, Graves has surrendered nine runs in just 2.2 innings of work.

Graves yelled at a heckling fan and reportedly made a gesture with his hand as he left the field. If the act is found to be obscene, there is a chance he could face a fine and/or suspension.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 May 2005 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Key question: could DG's pitching performance this year be deemed equally obscene, and, if so, will fines and suspensions be levied as a result?

― HOMER NECK! (popshots75`), Monday, 23 May 2005 17:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Reds' brass seem to think so... Graves Cut

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 23 May 2005 20:22 (nineteen years ago) link

Danny Graves is probably the most loathed Reds closer since Tom "Boom Boom" Hume, who picked up his nickname because he blew a bunch of games with neck turning homers back in the early 80s.

I kind of hate to see Graves time in Cinci end so bad. He had a couple of nice seasons as a Red, but to be honest, Graves has always given up a bunch of runs as a closer. Someone will give him another chance, as he did have a nice stretch during part of last season.

Signing Eric Milton has also really panned out, at this pace he is going to give up 50 dingers before the season is done. Criminy this is before it has really gotten hot and the ball really jumps out of the park in Cinci.

The Reds are a mess and probably won't get straightened out until they get some new ownership and make the stadium dimensions a bit more realistic.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 00:37 (nineteen years ago) link

Who is the new broadcasting team?

― todd burns (toddburns), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 02:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Marty Brennaman is still doing the games on radio with some guy named Steve Stewart, who did some of the road swings last year in place of Joe Nuxhall.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:53 (nineteen years ago) link

The FSN Reds crew makes me feel like Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest post-lobotomy. They're just so blandly affable and dim.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 15:01 (nineteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

Something I find amazing. In conjunction with Brandon Webb's retirement, someone at High Heat Stats compiled a list of every pitcher after 1900 who had 80 wins before turning 30 and none after:

http://www.highheatstats.com/2013/02/cy-onara-brandon-say-it-aint-so-chris/#more-10008

Of the top 13 pitchers (ranked according to WAR/250 IP), four of them--four!--pitched for the 1970 Reds: Gary Nolan and Jim Merritt were their key starters, Don Gullett was just coming up, and Jim Maloney was barely hanging on. They also had Wayne Simpson, a phenom that year who soon burned out. From the comments: "Shortly thereafter, Sparky Anderson started earning the nickname, 'Captain Hook,' beginning the decline of the Complete Game."

― clemenza, Thursday, 7 February 2013 04:11 (eleven years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.