Well, that sucked

I go away for a few days and the Reds go in the garbage... seriously. Sunday's win over the Indians giving the Reds a sweep of the homestand means very little after four straight losses out west, the first three to LA and last night's 8-2 loss to the Padres.

This team is so undisciplined and impatient at the plate it's ridiculous. After a good start last night with Griffey's homer they managed just one hit from the second through the sixth, and it was a Dunn broken-bat single. Brandon Phillips took like four straight breaking balls from Randy Wolf over two straight at-bats for called strikes, then complained to the umpire about it. Edwin Encarnacion struck out looking twice on the same pitch and managed to get himself run. It doesn't matter if a hitter agrees with a call or not, if it's a strike once it's going to be a strike again, so you'd better swing.

While Phillips and Encarnacion had issues with home plate umpire Mike Cooper's strike zone, others just weren't working the count. Randy Wolf didn't get to 100 pitches in seven innings despite striking out nine, which is ridiculous.

RANDY WOLF'S INNING-BY-INNING PITCH COUNT
1st - 19
2nd - 9
3rd - 9
4th - 18
5th - 14
6th - 11
7th - 13

Wolf had been awful this year but he's lefthanded and this team is just awful on the west coast in recent years (no wins in LA since 2005, now 2-5 at Petco over the last three years). They're just so easy to pitch to.

Freel - One of the few hitters who can be pesky in this lineup, but not really a threat to hurt you offensively. Save your good pickoff move if he gets on, because he gets crazy on the basepaths and falls for anything.

Janish - Looks overmatched so far at the plate. Can't catch up to gas. 2008 is the only year he's even sort-of hit in the minors and that was for an average in the .270 range. Dusty hitting him second is a joke. You can't just install Keppinger's replacement in Keppinger's spot in the lineup and expect similar production as if Keppinger was magically hitting because he was second in the batting order.

Griffey - Just go away, away, away and you're good. He'll only look for something he can pull. If you don't make a mistake on the inner half it's fine.

Phillips - Don't throw anything in the strike zone. Loves to chase breaking balls in the dirt. Very undisciplined and not in a good Vlad Guerrero way.

Dunn - See Griffey. Nibble, and he'll take anything that isn't obviously a strike. Umpires are very generous with the strike zone, don't have to be too fine, just don't make a mistake in.

Encarnacion - One of the more well-rounded hitters on the team and fairly disciplined, but tends to take close pitches in the zone, so be very fine.

Votto - Go away so he can't muscle it to a gap. Tough out. Hasn't shown much patience at the big league level, unfortunately.

Bako - Seems to be a pure guess hitter because he inexplicably takes fastballs right down broadway for strikes nearly every at-bat.

Watching this team every day just as a fan, I almost feel I could call the pitches for the opposition, so I shudder to think what a real scout would have to say about this team. Now that the bullpen is awful like expected, it's just a mess. Harang didn't pitch well here for the first time since, well, ever. The Padres have been a joke offensively and they made the Reds look like batting practice pitchers. I was at this game and normally it wouldn't have been fun, however, onto the positives...

GOOD SEATS FROM A GOOD DUDE
I was standing behind the plate in the standing room section in the lower level, like I had planned, wearing a Reds cap and keeping a scorecard, like I always do. A guy in a Giants cap and jersey was standing there and he comes over to me. "Hey man," he says, "are you standing here by yourself keeping that card?" I said, "yeah." He goes, "I'm going to eat this ticket anyway, so come with me, these are awesome seats." I think, "yeah right," then look down and they're eighth row, behind the plate. Pinch me, I'm dreaming. So we walk down, down, down and we're in the first row behind the $200 seats where people drink wine the whole game, maybe thirty feet from home plate. Just unreal. Whoever that guy was is like the best dude ever, because I've never had seats anywhere near that good for a big league game. It was really surreal, like did that really happen? Just too bad the Reds couldn't hang onto the early lead, but still it was amazing and I couldn't thank him enough.

The good seats gave me a really good vantage point for a bunch of Padre homers, but at least Dusty had a great meltdown when he was ejected, throwing his hat down then kicking it into the air. It was epic. Anyone who hasn't sat that close at a major league game before, do it at least once, just so you can see how tough even the "routine" plays look, how fast the ball gets to the plate, just how big league baseball looks up close. I wouldn't want to pay that kind of money every night, at least not til I'm more secure financially, but for one day it was great, especially for five bucks (which is how much I paid for my standing room ticket). Tonight I'll be standing again and let's hope my personal Reds jinx is lifted. They've now lost five straight with me in attendance. Game time is 7:05 here in Chargerland, 10:05 back in the Nasti. Edinson Volquez goes for the Reds against Shawn Estes for the Friars. Wish me luck.