Mr. Redlegs is watching you. Always.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Cincinnati Reds: June 2012 Summary

The Reds went 15-12 in June to remain in first place in the NL Central with an overall record of 43-34.  When the month began, they led St. Louis by 1.5 games.  That lead has expanded to 3.5, but Pittsburgh has remained a worthy challenger, trailing by only 1 game entering play on July 1st.


Cincinnati won 4 series (including consecutive sweeps of the Indians and Mets), lost 4 (including a subsequent sweep at the hands of those same Indians), and lead 2-1 in the incomplete San Francisco series.


Home record: 8-7 (5-4 on the first home stand, 3-3 on the second...overall a bit disappointing)
Road record: 7-5
vs Central: 5-4
vs East: 3-0
vs West: 2-1
vs AL: 5-7 (what else is new...they always find a way to screw up interleague play)


Overall offensive trends: The hitting side made a very respectable showing in June, with a .265 average (23 points higher than May), a .332 OBP (26 points higher) and 112 OPS+ (14 points higher).  Seven players trended up significantly in OPS+, only two went down, and four stayed about the same.  Scoring 4.7 runs a game is definitely sufficient for a playoff contender. Hopefully they can keep this production up.


Overall pitching trends: The staff had mixed but still solid results.  Its ERA was 3.62 (the worst of the year so far) but the WHIP was 1.16 - the best of the year.  The main theme of the month was that the starting pitching fared very well.  The rotation was 11-6 with a 3.74 ERA, with Cueto, Leake and Latos all in top form.  The relief pitching was due for a shaky month, and it had one...but really, the only problem was Aroldis Chapman.  His 0-4 record and 6.97 ERA for June tells the story.   Everyone else did fine, especially Marshall.  Heading forward, the rotation looks good enough to keep us in the mix (barring injury).  The closer situation is an obvious concern.


Individual hitting trends: 

UP significantly from May (20 or more OPS+ points): Valdez +132, Ludwick +49, Rolen +44, Stubbs +38, Cozart +35, Bruce +25, Phillips +24


Note that Cozart, Rolen and Valdez (especially the latter two) improved from pretty dismal previous numbers.  Improvement is still improvement though.


DOWN significantly from May (20 or more OPS+ points): Heisey -54, Hanigan -50


No significant change: Votto +5, Frazier -14, Mesoraco +1, Cairo -12


Individual pitching trends:


UP significantly from May: Marshall, Cueto, Leake, Arredondo, LeCure, Ondrusek, Latos

DOWN significantly from May: Arroyo, Bailey, Chapman, Hoover

No significant change: Simon


And finally, my "Randy Awards" for the month of June.


RANDY HITTER: Joey Votto.  Batted .392 with 6 HR, 18 RBI.  An insane 221 OPS+
Honorable mention: Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce

RANDY MOST IMPROVED HITTER: Ryan Ludwick.  Raised his OPS significantly, contributed 6 HR and 13 RBI.

RANDY STARTER: Johnny Cueto.  Went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA, had a complete game. 
Honorable mention: Mike Leake, Mat Latos

RANDY MOST IMPROVED STARTER: Mike Leake.  Had a 2.55 ERA (1.8 runs lower) and deserved a better result than only a 2-0 record in 6 starts.

RANDY RELIEVER: Sean Marshall.  0.77 ERA and 0.60 WHIP with 9.3 K/9.  

RANDY MOST IMPROVED RELIEVER: Also Marshall (lowered his ERA another 2+ runs), for the second straight month.

RANDY NOOB: Because no significant call-ups or acquisitions were made, I'm leaving this blank.

RANDY SINGLE-GAME HITTING PERFORMANCE: Jay Bruce, 6/29 at San Francisco.  Went 4 for 4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI, backing up Leake's gem in an important 5-1 win.

RANDY SINGLE-GAME PITCHING PERFORMANCE: Mat Latos, 6/25 vs Milwaukee.  Threw a dominating, 13 strikeout complete game, giving up only 1 run and 4 hits.



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