Game 15: Cubs 12, Reds 3

The Reds lost their fifth straight Wednesday night, dropping a 12-3 decision to Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs.

The loss was the worst yet. The Reds were never in it. Josh Fogg couldn’t get an out in the third, and wound up with a simply abysmal line: 2+ innings, seven hits, nine runs (all earned), two walks, three Ks. He just tosses slop, plain and simple. His fastball moves but it’s 84 MPH and he doesn’t have Greg Maddux’s control. You just feel going into a game he’s starting that the only way you have a chance of getting even an OK pitching performance is if Fogg is on fire, or the other team just isn’t seeing the ball well. His maximum outcome in a start is like the game in Milwaukee he started: five innings, three runs, one earned, gives up some hits, strands some runners, and you’re so relieved when he’s finally lifted it’s ridiculous.

From a fan’s perspective, it’s hard to be really angry at Josh Fogg himself. It’s not like he has a million dollar arm with a ten-cent head. You can’t think to yourself, “he doesn’t know the gameplan” or “he isn’t doing his best.” He didn’t put himself in that situation, the Reds did. What can one reasonably expect out of a guy whose repertoire is so weak? Did Reds management really think they could throw him out there against opposing lineups and everything would be fine? Did they really think he could get through the Cubs order, or the Phillies order, or, hell, anybody’s order, and not get knocked all over the park more often than not?

When people brought up the subject of Kyle Lohse in the offseason, Marty Brennaman said things to the effect of, “there’s no way he’ll be back this year, and thank God for that,” with the implication being that he was a primadonna or a clubhouse cancer or something. Well, after seeing Fogg and remembering some of Lohse’s performances last year, all I can say is, Lohse must have raped puppies on his offdays, because this has just been brutal.

There’s an easy answer to the problem if I’m Wayne Krivsky: send Todd Coffey to Louisville, bring up Matt Belisle to take Fogg’s place in the rotation (at least, as long as he didn’t tear his rotator cuff or his elbow didn’t explode in his start for the Bats tonight) and put Fogg in the bullpen. These moves would rid Dusty of the inclination to use Coffey in something resembling a close game (such as last night), put someone who has a slightly better chance of not getting shelled in the rotation, and gives the bullpen an actual long man, instead of having to pitch Mike Lincoln, whose performance so far has warranted something better than entering games in the third inning down 7-1. Of course, he was awful tonight, so maybe he should go down to AAA, too.

POSITIVES…
Jeremy Affeldt looked good in two meaningless innings of work, including striking out the side in the fourth. Joey Votto had two hits and an RBI, although the RBI came on a windblown ball Mark DeRosa had no chance on in left. The Reds will take them any way they can get them at this point. Maybe this performance will finally get Fogg booted from the rotation. I guess that’s good. Reds couldn’t do much with Zambrano; they typically have issues with him and tonight was no exception. Dunn had a garbage-time homer. Not much else worth mentioning. I had the Red Sox-Yankees game on the picture-in-picture view and it was a good game, unlike this one. Yeah, we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.

The Reds (6-9) and Cubs (9-5) lock up tomorrow afternoon in the series finale. Edinson Volquez gets the start for Cincinnati against the Cubs’ Ted Lilly. He’s lefthanded, but hopefully Dusty will resist the urge to start Castro, Freel and Hopper in the same lineup, thereby negating whatever slim chance the Reds had of scoring any runs. Volquez has been very good so far this season; we’ll see if it continues against a pretty dangerous Cubs lineup. It would be nice if he could pitch deep into the game after the bullpen had to go six tonight. A road trip that began with so much promise threatens to send the Reds home with a 2-7 mark, definitely not what they were hoping for. The hope coming out of the sweep in Pittsburhgh was that their performance was an aberration, that the Bucs are a tough matchup for the Reds with all their lefthanded pitching, while the Reds normally play pretty well in Chicago. Instead, facing a club that’s expected to contend has only magnified the issues shown in the Pittsburgh series. Was the performance in the first ten a mirage, or are the Reds just in a funk?

Game time tomorrow is 2:20 PM Eastern, 11:20 AM here in paradise. Peace.