That without Mark McGwire, and then Albert Pujols, no one would think he was all that? Dave Duncan is the real managing might on this team. I’d like to see what he could do with the Reds pitching staff.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds finished their sweep of the Astros last night, behind a solid effort from Bronson Arroyo.

Arroyo pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs, both earned. He picked up his first win of the year, joining fellow starters Mike Leake and Aaron Harang with victories. At this rate, the entire starting rotation will have victories in a week’s time!

The scoring came from home runs from Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. Bruce has been on a nice little tear lately, and Joey Votto is Joey Votto. Vottomatic, I believe, is the term we’re looking for.

This win gets the Reds to .500. Plus, it marks the second time in history that the Reds have tagged Roy Oswalt with a loss. The only other Reds pitcher to do that? How could you forget the Pickle, Brandon Claussen?

The team is 3-0 since manager Dusty Baker reorganized the lineup into a form much closer to the ideal. It’s probably not just the lineup changes, though, as much as I may want moving shortstop Orlando Cabrera out of the 2-hole to be the sole reason for their success. No, this streak coincided with finally getting good starting pitching and playing the terrible, terrible Houston Astros.

Still, this should give the team confidence as they head to Missouri to face the St. Louis Cardinals. A sweep of them, and the Reds would not only be over .500, but 1 game behind the Cardinals in the standings!

I love how just talking about the qualities I’d look for in Dusty Bakers’ hypothetical replacement has coincided so nicely with the Reds actually showing up. No doubt improving the line-up so that Orlando Cabrera isn’t seeing most of the ABs and Brandon Phillips can actually get an opportunity to steal now and then has had a positive effect (psychological, if nothing else…my personal psychology in particular), but that can’t explain the pitching suddenly getting better or the concentration problems that were plaguing the team there for a while.

It’s almost like the team actually did something to improve their conditioning, which segues nicely into my third quality of a successful manager.

These requirements are generic and are not intended to endorse or condemn any particular candidate. Any resemblance to the opposite of any past idiotic comments by a particular manager is purely coincidental.

Requirement #3: Having a Conditioning Plan
Even professionals who have put in the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours at their craft have to keep their skills–on an off the field–sharp. But when you are that professional and are so close to the situation, it can be easy to lose perspective on what needs work. That why I think that a good manager has to recognize his role as the objective set of eyes to see when Johnny Cueto needs to put in a little PFP.

And frankly, it doesn’t all have to be all work all the time. Speaking from my own experience, I know I’m not made particularly better at my job after working an 80 hour week, and I imagine that an extra three hours of training every day wouldn’t really improve the team either. What I’m saying is whether it’s baserunning practice or a ropes course to get them gellin’, it’s got to be the manager’s responsibility to bring a plan of specific actions to keep the team well-honed.

Interview questions to ask to check for Having a Conditioning Plan:

Question: It’s the end of June and the team is dragging. What would you do to get them going again?

Good answer: We might take an off-day trip to King’s Island and have everyone report to the park two hours early the next day to do some light fundamentals.

Another good answer: My guys never drag because I keep the conditioning constantly fresh and we’re always working on new skills.

Bad answer: If the guys aren’t doing something about it on their own, I don’t know what I could do.

Next time, we’ll look at the importance of the manager’s philosophy being compatible with the GM’s philosophy. No one wants the clashes between a pre-Socratic and a Neoplatonic dragging down the team.

According to LikeMe.net, when Bronson Arroyo is not busy perfecting his sweet grunge guitar licks, he’s hanging out at the Lodge Bar or the Waffle House (”When my boys come to visit me, we get up on four hours of sleep and I force them to go to Waffle House,” he says. Presumably this happens around 11:30 a.m.)

Check out his recommendations for yourself here:
http://www.likeme.net/users/BronsonArroyo/recommendations

And definitely let me know if you run into him at Shanghai Mama’s.

Someone sent me a link last August to a site called LikeMe.net, who have recommendations on Cincinnati-area restaurants and attractions supposed to be personally recommended by Brandon Phillips.

You can check out his recommendations here:
http://www.likeme.net/users/BrandonPhillips/recommendations

No way for me to really tell whether these are Phillips’ actual haunts, other than to actually stake out the Super Bowl in Erlanger, KY, but I don’t have any reason *not* to believe it either. I mean, would you really be that surprised to find yourself sitting next to BP at the bar at BW3?

Before I get into my second requirement for team manager, I’d like to give some props to Dusty Baker for switching up the line-up today. I’m sure that was really hard for him, and I’m so happy that the universe has rewarded his risk so kindly.

Now on to the second in my series of five qualities of a good manager.

These requirements are generic and are not intended to endorse or condemn any particular candidate. Any resemblance to the opposite of any current special adviser is purely coincidental.

Requirement #2: Understanding How the Game is Played Nowadays
I think that a good manager has to have an in-depth understanding not only of the game of baseball, but of how it’s played in these modern times. Tough to find in an organization such as MLB that wants to pretend the digital age has never happened.

For my day job, I manage a group of technical writers at a software company, a job I got after 10 years as a technical writer for software companies. Wo when my people come to me with problems getting information out of SMEs or questions about information structure, I am in a better place to speak from my own experience than if their manager were, say, a fighter pilot.

Along those same lines, I think that a baseball manager who was a player or otherwise worked closely to the game is in a good position to identify with the players and help them excel.

That being said, I don’t think that just any ex-player can take over a team and lead it to greatness. This a may be the opportunity for the formerly crappy player to shine, since a hotshot, superstar player wouldn’t have necessarily acquired the “hard work” and “grit” type skills that he’ll need to counsel some of the 25 to apply. Especially a superstar from an earlier era may have a particularly hard time relating to players today.

Which leads to an important point. As Slyde over at Red Reporter said, some managers today “manage like it is still the 1980s. One run isn’t as valuable as it was back then because teams score a lot more runs now. If the game changes in a decade, the management strategy should change with it.” If the Reds want to turn over a new leaf, they’ll need to find that special someone who understands how the game has changed since the good ol’ days and leverage those changes to their advantage.

Which leads to yet another important point. The Reds used to be the team of innovation. They brought beer sales and night games to the sport. But they haven’t been that team in a long time. They’ll need to rediscover that innovation to find the guy who knows how to capitalize on the team and help them perform to their potential.

Interview questions to ask to check for Understanding How the Game Is Played Nowadays:

Question: What would you tell a young guy who lost his stroke and can’t seem to find it again?

Good answer: I’d let him know that everyone goes through slumps, drop him in the order, and maybe suggest he break up his routine to get a fresh perspective.

Bad answer: I’d tell him to have more talent.

Question: You’re down by four in the bottom of the eighth. What do you do?

Good answer: Send the guys up to work the count and be ready to jump on a mistake. We need baserunners.

Bad answer: Hope the lead-off hitter gets on base, then lay down two sacrifices to move him over to third. Small ball will win the day!

For part 3, I’ll explore the importance of having a plan. You’ll love it when it comes together.

In the Tweet that shook the world, the Reds lineup for their opening game against the Astros was posted.

1. Drew Stubbs 8
2. Brandon Phillips 4
3. Joey Votto 3
4. Scott Rolen 5
5. Jay Bruce 9
6. Orlando Cabrera 6
7. Jonny Gomes 7
8. Ryan Hanigan 2
9. Aaron Harang RHP

Your eyes do not deceive you. That is the second baseman batting second tonight. You can tell manager Dusty Baker is getting really desperate!