Well the main way to shorten those games is to become more like soccer -- minimal commercial breaks.  The TV timeouts in the NFL are the worst.  When you're at the game the enthusiasm can't help but dim. 

 

Sean Casey's at-bat routine was pretty influential on me.  I learned from that ridiculous routine that shifting affairs to your personal tempo give you an advantage.  If you really slow things down, people think you're dumb, which is what you want. 

The one thing I loved about Wrigley was that it was only about the baseball on the field in regards to the noise.  Great America is so damn loud and obnoxious, it breaks my ear drums

The one thing I loved about Wrigley was that it was only about the baseball on the field in regards to the noise.  Great America is so damn loud and obnoxious, it breaks my ear drums

 

Exactly.  I didn't get to any games this year but the amount of commotion coming out of the speakers is insufferable.  Tiny fragments of pop songs and commercials and peppy announcements between innings. 

 

At Riverfront, the scoreboard rarely did anything to instruct the crowd.  Something pretty major had to be going on for those clapping hands to appear.  Like at least 2 guys on base.  Now there's stuff going on constantly. 

 

The Sunday games at Riverfront had the organ player -- no pop music.  It was great.  I believe they still have the organist on Sundays at the new stadium, but they can't cut it out with the non-stop claptrap. 

 

 

Yeah, honestly there is nothing better than a baseball game with just people talking and cheering and clapping and the organ playing, not every single inning blasting the speakers and you can't even hear the person next to you.

 

I guess this is to keep kids engaged, and probably how a lot of stadiums are now.  I did notice in St. Louis, it wasn't as close to as loud as GABP, though I would guess a place like Minnesota and Milwaukee, etc. would be similar to GABP.

I often bicycle at night on a route that includes Mehring Way.  When I roll past the stadium, I get a nice dose of the brash music and announcements. 

 

The favorite baseball game I ever watched was a Frontier League game at a college stadium.  They played one song pretty much all the way through between innings at a subdued volume.  Everyone was taking it easy. 

^Going to lower level minor league games is fun too.  I'm from Cedar Rapids, IA and they have the small Veteran's Memorial Stadium.  Quiet and intimate setting and was always fun, though of course, the level of play isn't even close to as good as MLB.  I always wanted to check out a Dayton Dragons game and see the atmosphere there.

Reds launch first-of-its-kind automated concession pickup stations

 

Imagine you’re at the ballpark, you want a hot dog and a beer, and you don’t want to wait in line.

 

That’s no longer a dream. It’s reality with the Cincinnati Reds’ launch of Ballpark Express, a first-of-its-kind automated concession pickup station at Great American Ball Park.

 

More below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/13/reds-launch-first-of-its-kind-automated-concession.html

^ oh geez i hate this nonsense. two googlers are even trying to do the same with bodegas in nyc if you can believe that. crazy amazonization of everything:

 

https://www.fastcompany.com/40466047/two-ex-googlers-want-to-make-bodegas-and-mom-and-pop-corner-stores-obsolete

^Actually I am a technology curmudgeon (I wish for Amazon's demise regularly) and for some strange reason I kinda like this.

To be honest, I'd use it. In the one game I went to this year, where the announced attendance was 18,191 (43% of capacity), I waited in line for 1.5 innings just to get some nachos.

the first green hotdog or one with a bug on it will put an end to it fast!

^ oh geez i hate this nonsense. two googlers are even trying to do the same with bodegas in nyc if you can believe that. crazy amazonization of everything:

 

https://www.fastcompany.com/40466047/two-ex-googlers-want-to-make-bodegas-and-mom-and-pop-corner-stores-obsolete

 

This probably needs its own topic.

They are just reinventing the f-n vending machine.

Sounds like a hotel mini-bar.

So apparently 30 years ago 1 out of every 5 dudes at daytime Reds games went shirtless:

It was only a high of 90 degrees that day, too. Not a particularly hot day. I imagine that was pretty normal at a lot of ballparks in the 80s, though.

It was only a high of 90 degrees that day, too. Not a particularly hot day. I imagine that was pretty normal at a lot of ballparks in the 80s, though.

Riverfront, Vet, 3 Rivers, etc., those type of stadiums heated up fast. Zero airflow, closed in.

C. Trent Rosecrans has left the Enquirer to report on the Reds for The Athletic. The Athletic is a network of writers that offer paid content. You can subscribe to The Athletic's Cincinnati coverage here.

 

John Fay is returning to The Enquirer as the main beat writer.

Eugenio Suarez signs a 7 year $66M contract with the Reds. Club option for 2025.

 

https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/reds-sign-eugenio-suarez-to-extension/c-268849158

The Reds finally pulled the trigger... Price, who never should have been hired as a manager (IMO - great pitching coach), had a record of 279 wins to 387 losses.

 

Reds fire manager Bryan Price after 3-15 start to season

 

The Cincinnati Reds announced on Thursday morning they have fired manager Bryan Price, who was in the midst of his fifth season with the club.

 

The Reds said in a statement that pitching coach Mack Jenkins has also been fired. Bench coach Jim Riggleman was named Cincinnati's interim manager. The statement said the Reds will conduct a search for a permanent manager "later in the year."

 

The Reds are 3-15 this season, nine games behind the Pirates in the NL Central.

 

Louisville (Triple-A) manager Pat Kelly was named Cincinnati's bench coach and Pensacola (Double-A) pitching coach Danny Darwin was added to the major league staff.

 

 

Looks like 1,000 people at most lasted until the bottom of the 13th to see the Reds win this thing today:

https://www.mlb.com/reds/video/winkers-walk-off-homer-in-13th/c-2129213683

 

The Reds are 25th in attendance, with only about 1/3 of the Dodgers:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

 

But amazingly, almost 2x last-place Miami. 

 

 

 

Looks like 1,000 people at most lasted until the bottom of the 13th to see the Reds win this thing today:

https://www.mlb.com/reds/video/winkers-walk-off-homer-in-13th/c-2129213683

 

The Reds are 25th in attendance, with only about 1/3 of the Dodgers:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

 

But amazingly, almost 2x last-place Miami. 

 

 

 

 

My buddy in Cincy told me attendance is going to keep getting worse, as many fans front-loaded their season packages.

I can understand a crowd that thin in the 13th inning of a weeknight game in April, but it was a beautiful mild summer day with a 12:35 start time.

 

 

The good news is that you can get some really good seats for < $10 on Stubhub. I've been going more than usual this year because it's cheaper than it's been in a long time. The fact that you can bring your own food, water, etc. in makes the whole night cheap - some peanuts on the street, a Jimmy John's sandwich, and 3 hours of baseball for $15, max.

The good news is that you can get some really good seats for < $10 on Stubhub. I've been going more than usual this year because it's cheaper than it's been in a long time. The fact that you can bring your own food, water, etc. in makes the whole night cheap - some peanuts on the street, a Jimmy John's sandwich, and 3 hours of baseball for $15, max.

 

You can bring your own concessions into a Reds game?!?!?!?

^ Yeah, it's probably one of the best kept secrets in town because whenever I mention it, most people are shocked. You can't bring booze, glasses, or cans, but anything in a closed plastic bottle and any food smaller than 16x16x8 is allowed. I've brought in entire pizzas before, Chipotle burritos, etc.

 

The good news is that you can get some really good seats for < $10 on Stubhub. I've been going more than usual this year because it's cheaper than it's been in a long time. The fact that you can bring your own food, water, etc. in makes the whole night cheap - some peanuts on the street, a Jimmy John's sandwich, and 3 hours of baseball for $15, max.

 

You can bring your own concessions into a Reds game?!?!?!?

 

Pretty certain you can do this at most MLB ballparks.

When I was a kid I remember the moms commonly bringing coolers into the game.  The dad carried the radio. 

 

Do people still take binoculars to the games? 

^ Yeah, I remember moms bringing coolers full of apple sauce and bologna sandwiches when I was a kid. I haven't seen binoculars in awhile, they were pretty much a necessity in the red seats at Riverfront. GABP is set up much better for baseball so you really don't need binoculars even from the cheap seats. The same can't be said for some other parks, even if they're similarly sized. I used to get cheap seats at Citi Field and even though it has a similar capacity the seats are seemingly much further away from the action.

 

---

 

Also, this weekend saw a Reds first - someone finally (almost) hit the "Red hits sign, fan wins Toyota" sign. It was close enough that Toyota counted it anyway:

 

Yeah I sat in the red seats behind the scoreboard 1-2 games before Pete Rose hit 4,192.  It is one of my earlier childhood memories.  The place was sold out and the energy of 50,000+ on their feet every time he came up to bat couldn't help but leave an impression.  When you were out there the sound of the ball hitting the bat arrived at least a full second after you saw it happen. 

How's the Reds farm system looking??? I always enjoy summer better when both Ohio teams are doing well.

^ It's in pretty good shape. I think the Reds are purposefully taking things slow for a few years because there are 3 playoff contenders in the division who are sort-of peeking, so there's no real reason to waste money and talent last year nor this year. The good news is that aside from Joey Votto, there really aren't many people in the system that are old enough to rent a car, so if they can get the right mix, things should be good for awhile.

Your solidly last place Cincinnati Reds just swept the almost first place Cubs.  First 4-game sweep of the Cubs since 1983.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-reds-20180624-story.html

 

 

^ If the Reds can stretch their current 7 game winning streak to 20, they'll be .500.

 

We'll have to wait and see if Bryan Price was actually the problem with the Reds. That 3-18 start is almost impossible to come back from but a little streak like this here and there is a good sign.

It was not Bryan Price. It is just the statistical numbers are playing out. Also, at the beginning of the year, 3 of their starters were on the DL so losing that pitching production and given the offense started slowly is why they started the way they did.

 

The experts were predicting them to win around 70 games this year and they are likely to do that still. Chances are they may even exceed their wins from the last couple of years this year, which is statistically where they are expected to be based on beginning of the year numbers.

 

The biggest problem is the Reds decided to suck at the beginning of the year instead of August so that fans lost interest early.

The Reds are still in last place in the NL Central, but have 10 more wins than both the Royals and the Orioles.  They are closer to first in their division than all of the other last-place teams except for The Padres. 

 

There is a decent chance that the Reds could end the season 10 games under .500, and possibly get closer to .500, which isn't a terrible season, and is indicative of a potential outburst in 2019.

 

Look at how KC has collapsed from its back-to-back 2014-15 World Series appearances.  People argue that the inequity in the league doesn't matter since a small market club occasionally makes it to the World Series, but any team that does so is looking at a subsequent 40-year drought. 

The win probability graph from the Reds win over the Indians last night - the Reds scored 7 runs with 2 outs in the 9th inning to come back from a 4 run deficit and win the game:

 

 

 

^yeah I need to review the events of that game.  Hopefully somebody posts highlights on youtube.

 

Keep in mind that somehow YOUR last-place Cincinnati Reds have executed two four-game sweeps this season.  One of the Dodgers in LA and the other of the Cubs. 

^ Some interesting tidbits about the last place reds: over the last 30 games, the Reds have the best record in the National League. With the win over the Indians yesterday, they've won 7 of the last 9 series - 5 of which were against first place teams. Without the dismal 3-15 start under Bryan Price, they'd have a winning record. If they keep this up they'll break out of last place (currently only 1.5 games behind the Pirates) and maybe even eclipse .500. This was supposed to be the hard part of their schedule.

The Reds are playing well. They should keep and sign the core. Get a pitcher or 2 in the offseason. Sign Harvey for another year. And lets see what happens.

ESPN ranks Reds fans #4 most-miserable:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24449243/ranking-most-miserable-fan-bases-mlb

 

Fair enough.  The Lindner/Castellini years have sucked.  Marge Schott spent the money necessary to field consistently competitive teams. 

The Castellini years haven't all sucked, though the past 3-4 seasons have been abysmal. The Reds had some really stacked teams in 2010-2014 and they completely squandered the opportunity. They got swept out of the playoffs by a Phillies team that was objectively better than the Reds, including getting no-hit by Halladay in 2010. But the real kicker was the utter debacle against the Giants in 2012. The Reds had one of the best records in baseball that year, and they won both of the games out in SF to start the series, meaning they only had to win 1 of the 3 home games. Hadn't been swept all season at home that year. And in typical loser Cincinnati sports fashion, they lost all 3 of those games to get knocked out of the playoffs. I think the next year they made it to the playoffs as a wildcard team, and got pounded by the Pirates in Pittsburgh in that lame one game playoff.

 

That was the window, and the Reds couldn't get it done. Even winning one series would have done so much for the local enthusiasm and mood, but like the Bengals, the Reds are professional chokers. I haven't watched much baseball since those years. I'd love to see the Reds get good again, but I really have very little faith in them to win when it counts.

This year’s team was pretty entertaining despite their losing record. They had the ability to beat good teams, had some good stretches and had some personalities to root for. When they go back to a playoff worthy record I’ll be a super fan again.

The biggest problem is not a single pitcher has panned out over a full season so far.  DeSclafani did, but he hasn't quite been the same since coming back from injury.  Mahle was having a decent year, then he suddenly had a meltdown halfway through the season.  Castillo was really disappointing early on, but he seems to have turned things around more recently.  If those guys can have solid seasons next year and if the Reds are able to sign at least a #2 type pitcher, I'll be feeling pretty good about their chances next year.

These Yinzers have been pelting batters for years, and last night in Cincinnati it finally came to head. Enter Amir Garrett:

 

 

Also, as of today the Reds may have the best rotation in baseball. Hopefully that doesn't just translate to a lot of 1-0, 2-1, etc. losses.

Edited July 31, 20195 yr by Ram23

The Reds still, in theory, could win the division.  

that mlb has let that pirates thing drag on so long is just disappointing. were they waiting until someone gets hurt? sheesh.

 

when does trevor bauer make his first start?

13 strikeouts with a 5-run lead and they deny Castillo the chance to pitch a complete game:

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2019/08/05/reds-beat-angels-luis-castillo-career-high-13-strikeouts-joey-votto-mike-trout-taylor-cole/1929393001/

 

That's crazy.  It's un-American. 

He was at 119 pitches with 2 more innings to go, he would have ended around 150+.  If it was a shutout, maybe, but this call makes sense for a young arm.

1 hour ago, 10albersa said:

He was at 119 pitches with 2 more innings to go, he would have ended around 150+.  If it was a shutout, maybe, but this call makes sense for a young arm.

 

My bad I thought they yanked him at the end of the 8th, not the 7th.  

If the Reds could somehow sweep this upcoming 4 game series against the Cubs they’d be right back in a 4-way race for the NL Central division title.