Reds fall again, 10-2

By Tom Groeschen • tgroeschen@enquirer.com • April 25, 2009

It was a sunny, beautiful Saturday afternoon at Great American Ball Park. It also was a perfectly ugly day for the Reds.
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Bronson Arroyo got rocked, manager Dusty Baker and outfielder Jerry Hairston were ejected, and the Reds lost 10-2 to the Atlanta Braves.

Arroyo (3-1) allowed nine runs in 5 2/3 innings. Arroyo’s ERA soared from 4.19 to 6.48, as Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones each homered and had four RBI for Atlanta.

The Reds, after their 7-3 road trip, have returned home and lost two straight to Atlanta. Attendance was 33,015 – the second straight day over 30,000.

“It’s hard to swallow,” Baker said. “We don’t like it at all. We’ve got to come back and win this game (Sunday).”

Baker and Hairston both were ejected in the third inning.

After Hairston took a called third strike, he protested and quickly was tossed by plate umpire Mike Estabrook.

Baker came out of the dugout, and he too was quickly heaved. It was only Baker’s second ejection as Reds manager, the other coming in May 2008.


Reds manager Dusty Baker argues with home plate umpire Mike Estabrook after Estabrook ejected outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. in the third inning of Cincinnati's 10-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves Saturday at Great American Ball Park. Baker was also thrown out of the game.

Hairston told the umpire his calls were “terrible” on two called strikes, which Hairston thought were low and away.

“I’ve never cussed an umpire,” Hairston said. “I pride myself on having a good eye. He called two balls strikes.”

Baker, in turn, stood up for Hairston.

“I agreed with Jerry; those were terrible calls,” Baker said.

By then, the Reds already trailed 6-2 as Arroyo was hit hard early.

Arroyo said there was no relapse of his carpal tunnel problems, and no other issues.

“It’s actually the best I’ve felt all year,” Arroyo said. “The Braves traditionally give me trouble. I felt good coming out of the pen.”

Alex Gonzalez brought the Reds within 6-2 in the second inning with a two-run homer, his first since Aug. 9, 2007. Gonzalez missed all of 2008 with a compression fracture of his left knee.

Baker knows all major teams occasionally lose big. He was more disturbed by the Reds making two throwing errors and issuing four walks.

“The thing that’s disheartening is our improved defense hasn’t ... you’ve got to play better defense,” Baker said. “We’ve also got to cut down on the walks of the last two games.


Reds outfielder Chris Dickerson crashes into the outfield wall after trying to make a catch in the sixth inning.

“If you don’t play good defense and you walk, and you don’t have good timely hitting, that equals losing. We’ve got to go back to the board and work harder.”

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090.../304250018

Time for Rosales?
Posted by JohnFay at 4/25/2009 3:55 PM EDT on Cincinnati.com

Here's the gist of the my Sunday Insider for the paper:

It would seem like a fairly simple transaction. The hottest hitter in the Reds organization is Adam Rosales. The guy on the Reds roster struggling the most is Edwin Encarnacion.

Why not swap them out for a while? Rosales went into Saturday, hitting .441 over his last eight games. He was hitting .407 overall with four home runs and 11 RBI in the 14 games. He plays third base.

When Dusty Baker was asked about Rosales a few days ago, he said: "Where would he play?"

Third base would be the answer now.

I don't know that Rosales is the long-term answer at third. But he could be. He came up as a shortstop. He's athletic. He has some pop. He plays with so much energy that fans were calling him "Pete" Rosales during spring training. He's one of those guys without overwhelming tools, but a lot of times those kind of guys turn out to be good players, i.e, Pete Rose.

The other side of it is Encarnacion. He looks lost to me. Two weeks at Louisville may do him some good. The Braves did it with Jeff Francoeur last year. The Reds did it with Austin Kearns a couple of years ago.

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Reds notebook

By Tom Groeschen • tgroeschen@enquirer.com • April 25, 2009

Braves retaliate for HBP Friday

Tensions have run high in the Reds-Braves series this weekend.

There was a bench-clearing incident Friday, a beanball warning Saturday. There were also ejections Saturday of Reds outfielder Jerry Hairston Jr. and manager Dusty Baker, for arguing balls and strikes.

Friday, Atlanta's Yunel Escobar provoked the bench-clearer after being hit by an Edinson Volquez pitch. No punches were thrown.

"Esco's high-strung, and he overreacted," Atlanta's Chipper Jones told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "There was no intent there (to hit him) ... Apparently, he doesn't like getting hit."

Saturday, Atlanta starter Derek Lowe hit Joey Votto with a pitch in the first inning. Plate umpire Mike Estabrook immediately sprang from behind the plate, pulled off his mask and pointed warning fingers at both benches.

"Everybody in the ballpark knew it was intentional," Reds manager Dusty Baker said of Lowe's pitch. "If it's intentional, it's up to the umpire's discretion to eject the guy."

The Reds still don't understand why Escobar went off Friday night.

"Wasn't nobody trying to hit Escobar (Friday)," Baker said. "Even Chipper Jones said it. But today, that appeared intentional to me."

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo hit Escobar with a pitch in the fourth inning Saturday. Escobar went peacefully to first base.

BOOTED: Baker said the bang-bang ejections of himself and Hairston were a bit much, with Estabrook pulling a quick thumb to both in the third inning Saturday.

After being ejected, Baker headed to the dugout. There Baker got in a few more verbal licks on Estabrook, who gestured to Baker to vacate the dugout.

Finally, after another minute or two and a brief consultation with bench coach Chris Speier, Baker left.

"You want to get your money's worth," Baker said. "I don't like a player being ejected that quickly."

TAVERAS SITS: Willy Taveras was rested Saturday. The outfielder had started 14 consecutive games since being ill (flu) early in the year.

Baker said Taveras thanked him for the off-day, although Taveras did not request it.

Said Taveras: "I'm never going to ask for a day off. We're just trying to keep everybody fresh. I want to be healthy all season."

MORE REST: Baker said he also plans to give Votto, Brandon Phillips and Edwin Encarnacion a rest at some point. That trio has started every game this season.

Baker said Alex Gonzalez, who homered Saturday for the Reds' only two runs, probably will get today off.

TICKET ISSUE: The Reds issued a statement of apology to fans who were inconvenienced or delayed entry to Friday night's game because of a tickets.com system failure. The problem affected the walk-up kiosks at Great American Ball Park.

Reds spokesman Rob Butcher said Saturday that the problem has been fixed. Questions can be directed to 513-765-7000.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090...3/1062/SPT