Giving Votto a Rest Pays Off

Dusty Baker planned a rest for Joey Votto for the last game of the series with the Washington Nationals.

His reasoning, Votto did not get a break like the others did for the All-Star game.  He also noticed that Votto's bat was a little slow.  The Reds had the longest road trip of the season, with four games in Chicago, three in New York and four more in Philadelphia.  After a Sunday game in Philadelphia, Votto along with Brandon Phillips, Scott Rolen and Arthur Rhodes, flew across country to Anaheim California.  Upon arrival media days, workouts and the game itself ensued.  Then another long flight back to Cincinnati.

The travel was bad enough but the trip came during the hottest weather on the east coast in years.

Rhodes did not pitch in the All-Star game.  Rolen got a day off.  Then Phillips was rested on Tuesday against Washington.  Votto got the day off on Thursday before the recent trip to Houston and Milwaukee.

Some sports talk host were critical.  "You have to try to win that series," Lance McCallister said on the air.

The problem is in a pennant race, like the Reds find themselves in, there is never a good time.  Yes a win in the last game of that series would have meant the Reds won the series, still it is just one of 162 games.  There is no guarantee that Votto in the lineup would have helped the Reds solve Livan Hernandez, who pitched a complete game.  That afternoon game followed the Reds facing the hard throwing phenom, Stephen Strasburg.

So many fans reason that the players make millions of dollars to play a game.  What they fail to realize is that no matter how much a person is paid, the physical limits to not increase.  The modern players have the luxury of staying in shape all year but that does not mean they are super human.  In the old days, most players needed winter jobs but since most of them did the public couldn't tell the drop off in performance when fatigue set in.

I could run three miles without being paid or have someone pay me $10,000 to run three miles and I would be just as tired.  The high salary argument is meaningless.

But Dusty Baker has been there.  He observes more than stats.  He also had to convince Votto he needed time on the pine.  Votto does not like to sit.

Players love to play for Baker.  One of the reasons is that he pays a lot of attention to match ups.  He gets the best out of players by picking spots for them to play and also to rest.

In nine games before Votto's day off, the Reds firstbaseman was 7-for-32 with one home run and four runs batted in.  Since the day off through Thursday, Votto is 14-for-28 with three home runs and six RBI.

Even the numbers back up the decision.