News, Notes and Numbers

What a night at GABP. Some of the hoopla that surrounded tonight’s (or last night if you’re reading this after midnight on Wednesday which you most likely are) game.

Gomes Gone; Alonso Advanced

Before the game even started came the news that Jonny Gomes had been traded to the Washington Nationals (huh?) for a couple of Double-A players, 1B/OF Bill Rhinehart and LHP Chris Manno. This deal was a little surprising as the Nats were not “leaked” as a team with interest in Gomes. That was cleared up by Reds GM Walt Jocketty (via Mark Sheldon).

"“We actually had a couple of clubs that inquired about Jonny’s services, but Washington was probably the most persistent,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “For us, it’s a tough move to make in some ways. Jonny was a big part of our club last year and he’s obviously a guy we all think highly of as a person and as a player. It gives us an opportunity now to bring up a player like Alonso and start looking at some of our younger guys that we feel we need to give an opportunity to.”"

Ah, calling up Yonder Alonso. A few speculated (including Chris Welsh) that this could be a “mini-showcase” for Alonso. Could be the case, but I’m not so sure or even convinced. Of course, I could be off on this, too.

But I must ask this then. How could teams get a grasp on his MLB ability with only 5 days until the trading deadline?

We all know he can hit which he showed as not soon after he arrived at the park, he delivered a pinch-hit double. The defense in LF is another. But Alonso has been given time as a LF in Louisville simply to find playing time at the MLB level. Have a bat, you force your parent team to find a place for you.

Defensive Disservice

Ugh. Three errors (Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Miguel Cairo) and another play that should have been a error (Jay Bruce). Starter Johnny Cueto deserved a far better fate. Sure, he “allowed” six runs and only went 5+ innings. Due to the errors, Cueto had to throw extra pitches in almost every inning. That led to his exit after tossing 110 pitches and facing 26 batters. That should have been the case after at least six innings, maybe even seven.

The good guys simply gave this game away. Plain and simple. This was one aspect of the Reds that we never thought would be one that would cost them a game. Tonight, it did.

Masset Mistakes?

If you are on Twitter during a Reds game and Nick Masset enters, you’re shocked there’s not an overload. The anti-Masset sentiment is pretty damn extreme. Here’s what everyone needs to see and read in regards to Masset and his 2011 season. Look at his monthly splits for 2011 (not including tonite where he did have an implosion).

Masset’s ERA for each month: 4.40, 2.93, 2.38, 3.38. His WHIP: 1.605, 1.370, 1.235, 1.125. SUre, all for July will increase after tonight.

We all witnessed his one-pitch appearance the other night against Atlanta. We all witnessed his implosion this evening. We all witnessed his woes at the start of the season. We aren’t all aware of what he has done since his woeful start of 2011…and it has been pretty darn good despite faring poorly in three of his last four appearances.

Take away all of April and his appearance in May, and Masset has been quite the shutdown guy. In 36 appearances, Masset has posted these numbers…

1-1 record, 1 save, 10 holds, 1.87 ERA in 33.2 IP, splits against: .218/.292/.290, .289 BAbip, 13 BB, 33 SO, 18 inherited runners with 6 scoring. All while facing a total of 139 batters.

Again, this doesn’t include his recent meltdown (got tired of using the other descriptive word), but also look at his SO rate. Masset has struck out almost 24% of the batters he has faced in this timeframe. And his SO/BB rate is 2.54, over .5 higher than his career average of 2.01.

Am I advocating Masset be the closer? No, I’m not, although there is speculation of such after this season ends(Cordero on a team option, Chapman as a starter). What I am saying is that we remember the bad outings way too much and do not give Masset enough credit when he does perform well.