I heard only the very tail end of Reds manager Bryan Price's pre-game interview Monday night with Marty Brennaman, which ended with the skipper saying something to the effect of "It's getting to the point with our offense that I might have to do something creative."
How creative?
Is he thinking of having Devin Mesoraco play some left field when he isn't catching? Tucker Barnhart is already the Reds' best defensive catcher. Might there come a day when Barnhart is behind the plate, Brayan Pena at first base and Mesoraco in left field? I mean, how much worse could Mesoraco be in left field than Alex Johnson or Adam Dunn?
We recall that none other than Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra played left field and right field quite a bit in his career – 24 games in the outfield in year two, 50 in year three, and a career-high 87 in 1961, including Games 3 and 4 of the World Series at Crosley Field, no easy task with the hill ("the terrace") in front of the left-field wall…
Speaking of which, I know it's easy to spend other people's money and call for more from other people's bodies, but just sayin': Oh, to be 25 again.
I get that Mesoraco caught 9 innings Sunday night and, as did every other Red, flew on a charter overnight to the West Coast to play at 5 p.m. LA time in Chavez Ravine.
I'm not saying catching Mesoraco again Monday would have been a smart thing to do, but I do recall that in 1968 20-year-old Johnny Bench caught 54 games in a row – that's right, not a single day off, not even on the schedule, because those were the days before the rule of an MLB team not being allowed to play more than 20 days in a row. Bench caught 154 games in 1968, not including the four he didn't catch before Don Pavletich pulled a hamstring (and his Reds career) in Chicago.
I like it when the bats of both Mesoraco and Pena (first base) are in the lineup. And don't tell me that Mesoraco can't play first base. Everybody can play first base. The notoriously slow-footed Joe Oliver played 12 games at first base in 1993, and even played right field once that season. I like that Price thinks outside the box.
Nothing against Ramon Santiago at third base, but I believe that in a hitting-starved lineup, one has to get as many hitters into the order as possible. There've been four memorable Santiagos in history of whom I'm aware (and no doubt many more of whom I'm not), including the fisherman in The Old Man and the Sea, the Marine in A Few Good Men, the Reds catcher Benito in 1995 and 2000, and the neck-biter in Interview with the Vampire. Ramon is not the fifth.
Dodger Stadium, by the way, is where another erstwhile Reds third baseman received an ill-fated start, much to the chagrin soon thereafter of his manager and even himself.
On April 16, 1975, then Reds' manager Sparky Anderson, pre-saging his anxiety over not having enough hitting (leading to his decision two weeks later to move Pete Rose to third base), called on Dan Driessen to pinch hit with the bases loaded in the top of the second inning for light-hitting Reds third baseman John Vukovich. Anderson, already beside himself that the Reds had lost the previous two nights' game with the Dodgers because his middle-of-the-order Murderers' Row couldn't deliver with Rose on base late in the game, decided on the spot that he couldn't take it anymore.
Everybody has cited this ignominious removal, including in funnyman Vukovich's obituary (in March, 2007) at the too young 59, but nobody ever details the short-term outcome: Driessen popped out, the bases were left loaded and the Reds went on to lose, 7-6, and were swept. Moral of the story: Start the stronger bat to begin with, especially when lack of hitting is an issue.
By the way, if the Reds continue losing one-run games at this pace (8-13, .381), there's no way they'll make the postseason. That's because they don't bomb out the opposition often enough to make up for it.
They are on almost the exact same pace in one-run games as the 2003 Atlanta Braves, who were 17-25 (.405) in single-run differentials.
But Chipper Jones' (.305/.402/.517) 2003 Braves could rake (907 games runs scored, 740 runs allowed), and despite losing all those one-run games, still managed to win 101 games, five better than the 96 victories allotted by their run differential, also known as baseball's Pythagorean Winning Percentage.
The '03 Braves were unlucky and very, very good. The '14 Reds are unlucky, and not so good.
But that could change.
Don't forget that the 1976 Reds totally flipped their one-run finishes between the first half and second half of the season (9-13, .409, and 22-11, .667, respectively), the outcome of one-run games being largely a matter of luck.
We totally get that Joey Votto is injured and is finally where he belonged all along – on the disabled list – despite his and the team's best efforts to keep him off it.
For those, including Votto and his manager, who have noted that the 30-year-old Mountie may not regain his 2010-to-early-2012 form even when he does return (the implication being that he may never regain it), I would say only this:
Five seasons into his career, when 25-year-old Johnny Bench had lung surgery after the 1972 season for what turned out to be a benign tumor, he was never again the superstar he was from 1968 through 1972. But he was still very, very good.
That's the outlook and approach that should be taken by Votto, his handlers, and those observing him.
Even under the worst-case scenario, Votto could and should still be a very, very good player for the next three or four years, no matter the size of his contract.