After
beating the very good Orioles on the road in Baltimore 7-2 to take the series
2-1 the Mariners move on to take on National League Central Division dweller
the Cincinnati Reds. They are last place in probably the best division in the National
League if not the major leagues.
I
have to admit that I don’t know much about the Reds except that they are not a
very good team. I only have heard of a few of their players and I don’t know
much about them. This is especially true since I don’t watch much of the
National League baseball anyway.
I
am not sure about their starting pitching except I have never heard of any of
them. The Reds bullpen is the worst in the major leagues in every category so
all the Mariners have to do is get to their starters early. I see two familiar names
in the Reds bullpen J.C. Ramirez who spent a short time at the end of last
season with the Mariners and that tells it all right there. The other is Steve
Delabar who started his career with the Mariners before being traded to the
Toronto Blue Jays. He made the All-Star team for the Blue Jays in 2013 however
has been going downhill ever since.
Some
of the players I have heard about on the Reds begin with probably their best
player first baseman Joey Votto. He has
had a couple years where he drove in over a hundred runs for the Reds. Last season he hit twenty-nine home runs with
80 runs batted in along with a .314 batting average. This season he is off to a
slow start batting .215 with six home runs and twenty-four RBI’s.
Next
player would be second baseman Brandon Phillips who the Reds tried to trade
during the off-season. He has the same amount of home runs as Votto with a
better batting average .257. He is thirty-four years old so probably the
primary reason they tried to trade him along with his salary since the Reds are
a young team.
The
Reds shortstop Zack Cozart is off to a good start with a batting average of
.328. I don’t know much more than that about him though his first full season
with the Reds was 2012.
The
only other two players I have ever heard up of on the Reds are right fielder
Jay Bruce and center fielder Billy Hamilton. Bruce first season with the Reds was 2008 and
he was drafted by them in the first round. His career batting average has been
OK at .249 and he has hit over twenty home runs almost every year. His best
years were 2011 thru 2013 where he had over thirty home runs and around one
hundred runs batted in. This year he has started off with a better batting
average hitting .281 and has eight home runs along with twenty-seven runs batted
in. Hamilton is the youngest of the players I am somewhat familiar with at
twenty-five years old. He is mostly known for his speed since he has stolen
over fifty bases in his first two seasons with the Reds. He was drafted by the
Reds in 2009 second round. So far he hasn’t had a great batting average
currently hitting .230 this season however he is a very good defensive center
fielder I understand. Like most of the Reds we will know more about them at the
end of this weekend.
The
Mariners will be having Iwakuma starting on the mound tonight (Friday) followed
by Felix and Miley. Though Iwakuma has been struggling so far this could be a
good rebound weekend. Looking at the pitching the Mariners could sweep the
Reds. Two other names we are familiar with on the Reds are on their coaching
staff. The Reds manager is Bryan Price former Mariner pitching coach and bench
coach Jim Riggleman former Mariner Manager/bench coach. It looks like the
Mariners should come home with a very successful road trip. Go M’s.
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