Boxscore

The Reds continued to display a complete lack of leadership and motivation yesterday as they lost to the Astros.

There was one thing about the game that stuck out to me that I think best exemplify why the Reds suck and what the solution is.

The Dusty-ball approach to batting does not work. After the Astros took a 5-0 lead, the Reds proceeded to swing at any and every pitch Astros ace Roy Oswalt tossed up to the plate. Oswalt had 3 consecutive innings where he threw fewer than 10 pitches. (6 in the 3rd, 8 in the 4th, and 6 again in the 5th.) He just missed a fourth in the 6th when it took a whopping 12 pitches to retire the haplessly managed Reds.

It seems to me that the better approach to coming back from a deficit might, just might, be to be more selective with what pitches you swing at. Make the pitcher work: he’ll get tired sooner and the chances of a mistake pitch increase. Or you can follow Dusty Baker’s wisdom and become the the 2006 Chicago Cubs.

You can see the frustration in the players. Jay Bruce fluffed a fairly easy fly-out to right field. (A play that was hilarious because it ended with Corey Patterson, a player who wasn’t even involved, flat on his ass.)

Hopefully, the Reds wise up before Bruce and the Reds other young talent, as well as the fans and blogger, give up hope.