Heroes of the Zeros: The Starting Rotation

Slyde — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:21:24 -0000

It's that time of the decade when people start creating lists of the best and worst whatevers of the past 10 years. I was going to do that too, but then I decided to make you guys do all of the work. So, over the next two weeks we will be voting on the players that we think deserve the title of All-Decade team member for the Cincinnati Reds. Each day, I'll present you with a new position, and you get to vote. While we do this, the running totals will be kept secret so that you will be surprised when we announce the final roster on December 31st. The maybe we can finally put to bed what might be the worst decade in Reds history.

We'll start with where it started to end, the starting rotation. The Reds haven't exactly been stocked with quality starting pitching during the decade, but you still have to figure out who the top 5 of the decade are. To qualify for the team, a pitcher must have spent at least 50% of his time with the Reds as a starter and he must have made at least 20 starts in a Reds uniform. The rest of the qualifications are up to you. I've listed the stats for the 23 pitchers that meet our minimum qualifications. The voting form is in this post after the jump.

Click header to sort table by column
	ERA+	FIP	GS	Years	G	CG	SHO	W	L	W-L%	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	HR	OPS
Jose Acevedo	78	5.17	54	2001-2004	68	1	0	16	21	.432	304.1	334	198	189	97	222	5.59	58	.830
Bronson Arroyo	113	4.47	136	2006-2009	136	8	3	53	50	.515	871.2	887	424	387	260	630	4.00	119	.755
Homer Bailey	81	4.92	37	2007-2009	37	0	0	12	13	.480	195.0	217	129	118	97	132	5.45	23	.803
Rob Bell	92	5.93	35	2000-2001	35	1	0	7	13	.350	184.2	176	112	105	90	145	5.12	41	.840
Brandon Claussen	85	4.96	57	2004-2006	57	0	0	15	27	.357	309.2	351	195	176	120	223	5.12	47	.824
Johnny Cueto	94	4.87	61	2008-2009	61	0	0	20	25	.444	345.1	350	191	177	129	290	4.61	53	.792
Lance Davis	97	4.66	20	2001	20	1	0	8	4	.667	106.1	124	60	56	34	53	4.74	12	.808
Ryan Dempster	66	5.27	35	2002-2003	37	1	0	8	12	.400	204.1	236	150	145	108	150	6.39	30	.856
Elmer Dessens	115	4.47	80	2000-2002	104	2	1	28	27	.509	530.1	564	246	232	148	306	3.94	66	.756
Osvaldo Fernandez	88	4.60	28	2000-2001	35	1	0	9	9	.500	159.0	172	95	93	64	71	5.26	14	.775
Aaron Harang	106	4.07	193	2003-2009	195	13	6	69	73	.486	1231.1	1288	606	572	315	1043	4.18	169	.767
Pete Harnisch	92	5.80	29	2000-2001	29	3	1	9	9	.500	166.1	181	105	94	63	88	5.09	32	.836
Jimmy Haynes	84	5.05	56	2002-2004	57	1	0	17	25	.405	306.0	354	188	172	145	183	5.06	38	.820
Luke Hudson	87	5.44	25	2002-2005	31	0	0	10	11	.476	139.0	124	83	76	81	98	4.92	18	.790
Cory Lidle	80	4.95	24	2004	24	3	1	7	10	.412	149.0	170	95	88	44	93	5.32	24	.832
Kyle Lohse	101	4.24	32	2006-2007	33	2	1	9	17	.346	194.2	213	109	99	52	131	4.58	23	.777
Eric Milton	77	5.40	66	2005-2007	66	0	0	16	27	.372	370.1	439	256	240	103	231	5.83	73	.850
Ramon Ortiz	80	5.66	30	2005	30	1	0	9	11	.450	171.1	206	110	102	51	96	5.36	34	.882
Steve Parris	98	5.10	33	2000	33	0	0	12	17	.414	192.2	227	109	103	71	117	4.81	30	.858
Elizardo Ramirez	75	5.30	26	2005-2007	31	0	0	4	14	.222	142.2	176	106	97	47	86	6.12	24	.876
Ron Villone	87	5.92	23	2000	35	2	0	10	10	.500	141.0	154	95	85	78	77	5.43	22	.871
Edinson Volquez	128	3.90	41	2008-2009	42	0	0	21	8	.724	245.2	201	107	94	125	253	3.44	20	.681
Paul Wilson	86	5.00	66	2003-2005	66	1	0	20	21	.488	396.2	450	231	215	130	240	4.88	60	.817

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/13/2009.

I will only be accepting your first vote, so don't bother trying to stuff the ballot box, you cheaters. I don't care how much you want Jimmy Haynes in this rotation Dan O'Brien, you only get one vote.

Game 5 Recap: Lakers Win, Rockets Lose, We All Learn A Little Something

Only_A_Lad — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:44:45 -0000

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Here we have a game where Kobe was allowed to get to the line freely. A game where the slightest contact by a Rocket in the 4th was cause for a foul. A game that was nevertheless a field goal away from a win.

Now, it should be noted that, unlike a lot of fans, I will freely admit that I blame games on the officials. And I'm pretty much going to do that here. You can use all the excuses you like ("That's the way stars are reffed" or "Kobe just takes over"), but that doesn't change the fact that Kobe was given a three point play after no Rocket came close to touching him. That doesn't change the fact that he was bailed out by the officials in the fourth, and it doesn't change the fact that this is not the way a professional basketball game is supposed to be officiated.

With that being said, the Rockets had plenty of opportunities to win this one, but they ultimately failed to do so, regardless of officiating blunders. Trevor Ariza was absolutely atrocious on the offensive end of the court: 15 points on 21 shots. Aaron Brooks had more turnovers than assists. Simply put, the two rising stars of the Rockets lineup failed to play efficiently or intelligently. Brooks was unable to beat the Lakers' guards, and he utterly failed to handle their trap defense properly. Ariza's attempts to create off the dribble were largely unnecessary and usually ended poorly. Not a good game for either of them.

The Rockets' frontcourt, however, was great. Luis Scola has seen better nights, but Carl Landry and Chuck Hayes were spectacular, combining for 34 points and 32 rebounds on 16-21 shooting. The Rockets outrebounded the Lakers, forced Kobe Bryant to take over the game (which is, despite what so many will tell you, not a winning plan most of the time), and kept everyone else but Andrew Bynum from being much of a factor. So what killed the Rockets?

Free throws could have been made (though the Lakers were converting about the same percentage). The overall defense could have been improved (about .03 pts/poss. worse than in the rest of the season). But what really killed the Rockets were turnovers. 19 of them will do that for you.

Ariza and Brooks combined for over half of that total. Not cool. AB has got to handle double teams and traps better. Ariza has to... well, I'm not sure how he can improve on that. He's not a great ball handler, and he should probably stop trying to take it inside. Make more cuts to the basket off the ball. Plenty of times tonight, the offense seemed to become stagnant, with Lowry or AB dribbling around the arc and everyone else standing still. Chuck made cuts, and so did Landry, and both of them finished at the rim. The same cannot be said of Ariza.

There is an incentive here to settle. "Well, the Rockets finished only a point behind the World Champs, right? Good show!" The Rockets fought hard, but they screwed up. I believe wholeheartedly that this team is *a lot* better than virtually everyone has said, and I as a fan am not going to settle for a game that could have been won if not for stupid errors. The Rockets are going to surprise a lot of people by just staying in these kinds of games, but I'm here to tell you that they're going to surprise a lot more by winning. Adelman, Morey, and the Rockets sure as hell aren't settling for this result tonight - you could see it on Chuck's face at the end of the game (okay, maybe that's just projection) - and neither should the fans. The Rox are better than this.

So, uh, I guess this is tradition here:

Three Up:
Chuck Hayes: MVP for the game. He cleaned up messes around the rim, fought for rebounds, and even created a play or two.

Carl Landry: Stud off the bench. Why wasn't he getting more PT? The fact that he had to replace either Chuck or Luis has everything to do with that. Given the way the Rockets played defense without Hayes on the court, I'd be hesitant to put both Landry and Scola together, too. Still, Luis Landry lives, and the Rockets aren't going to win against great opponents if they can't go to their two best post players at once. Particularly in OT, maybe Adelman should have been more willing to play all three. Maybe. I'm no expert.

Hakeem Olajuwon: Nice to see the greatest center of all time hanging around the Toyota Center. That should happen more often. (No, I wasn't really impressed with anyone else's performance)

Three Down:

Aaron Brooks: Couldn't get his shot to go for most of the night, though he eventually came back for a 3-7 performance from behind the arc. The 7 turnovers, however, killed the tean, and he needs to do a better job of running the motion offense.

Trevor Ariza: Do what comes naturally, not what you need to force. Stop trying to create off the dribble.

Three point shooting: You know what? Let's just chalk that up to bad luck, though the Rockets certainly weren't going to be shooting 50% forever.

SB Nation - Rob Bell

Heroes of the Zeros: The Starting Rotation

Game 5 Recap: Lakers Win, Rockets Lose, We All Learn A Little Something