Cincinnati won 5 series (including 4 sweeps), lost 1 (at the Dodgers) and split 1 (at home against the Diamondbacks).
**From July 6th through July 29th, their record was an astonishing 17-2.**
Home record: 9-3 (8-2 on the only completed home stand, 1-1 ongoing)
Road record: 10-4 (4-4 to finish their 5-6 West Coast trip, 6-0 on their second trip)
vs West: 10-7
vs Central: 9-0 (nice!)
Overall offensive trends: The offense stepped up admirably in Joey's absence (he missed 15 of the 26 games). The batting average dipped only 3 points from June to .262, and the OBP only 9 points to .323. Five players trended up significantly in OPS+, five trended down, and three stayed about the same. Ryan Ludwick was phenomenal, Rolen showed a surprising return to old form, and Xavier Paul provided some unexpected help as well.
Overall pitching trends: The staff was outstanding, and the main reason that the team was able to weather the Votto-less storm. The overall ERA was 3.03 (the best of the year). After an already-solid June, the rotation boasted even better stats, going 14-5 with a 3.29 ERA. In June, Aroldis was the only problem in the bullpen. The exact opposite was true in July, when he was virtually the only dominant force. Relievers not named Chapman posted a 1.68 WHIP. But thanks to his exceptional work, the relief corps still went 5-2 overall with a 2.43 ERA.
Individual hitting trends:
UP significantly from June (20 or more OPS+ points): Rolen +91, Heisey +87, Ludwick +48, Mesoraco +46, Frazier +24
DOWN significantly from June (20 or more OPS+ points): Votto -102, Valdez -43, Cozart -37, Stubbs -30, Bruce -24
No significant change: Phillips, Hanigan, Cairo
Individual pitching trends:
UP significantly from June: Chapman, Arroyo, Bailey (all of whom had down months in June)
DOWN significantly from June: Leake, Simon, Arredondo
No significant change: everyone else
And finally, my "Randy Awards" for the month of July...
RANDY HITTER: Ryan Ludwick. "Brother" led Reds regulars in batting average (.333), OPS (1.089), home runs (7) and RBI (19).
Honorable mention: Brandon Phillips, Todd Frazier
RANDY MOST IMPROVED HITTER: Scott Rolen. After looking like he was sinking toward retirement, he batted .321 in July with a .413 OBP (best among regulars).
RANDY STARTER: Homer Bailey. 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 1.23 WHIP that would've been even better without his implosion on the final day of the month.
Honorable mention: Bronson Arroyo (3-1), Johnny Cueto (4-1)
RANDY MOST IMPROVED STARTER: Also Bailey. He was coming off a losing record and 6 ERA in June.
RANDY RELIEVER: Aroldis Chapman. An insanely easy choice...14.1 sparkling innings of shutout ball. Only 6 hits allowed, 2 walks, and 31 strikeouts. A perfect 13 for 13 on saves.
RANDY MOST IMPROVED RELIEVER: Also Chapman. June was his disaster month, with an 0-4 record and an ERA approaching 7.
RANDY NOOB: Xavier Paul. 7 for his first 13 as a Red, including 2 doubles and 2 key RBIs...we'll take it!
RANDY SINGLE-GAME HITTING PERFORMANCE: Drew Stubbs. A guy who really needed a confidence builder provided a huge boost on July 24th at Houston, going 3 for 4 including a homer that brought the Reds from down 2-1 to up 3-2 in the top of the 9th. That was one of the biggest hits of the entire season so far. Altogether, he was on base 4 of 5 times, with a strikeout and CS the only two blemishes on an awesome day.
RANDY SINGLE-GAME PITCHING PERFORMANCE: Bronson Arroyo. He started the Reds' first win streak of the month when, on July 6th at San Diego, he pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout. Bronson struck out 8, walked 1, and needed only 110 pitches to post the best game score by any Reds pitcher this year - 88.
No comments:
Post a Comment