Reds' Struggles At The Plate Explained

When a team is not scoring runs it looks listless.  There is no activity.  Everyone takes a right turn on the way to a bench seat.

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Fans see this and assume there is a lack of effort.  The reality of the situation is that hitting is hard.  Teams are going to struggle from time to time.  They hope that they don't struggle at a bad time but really there is no good time.

The Reds have scored one run in its last 22 innings against the likes of Jon Niese, Daisuke Matsuzaka and A.J. Burnett.  The current slump has come at a time when the team was playing for the division title, then home field advantage in the wild card game on Tuesday night.

"You have to things that got you to this situation (playing in the playoffs).  You  know there are going to be times when you're up and down offensively," Baker said.  "I think it is easier to be more consistent on defense.  It's easier to be consistent in your pitching, if you have good pitching.  Offense tends to go up and down.  There are a lot of factors.  Who you're facing.  If you're not finding any holes, sometimes you're htting but not finding any holes.  Sometimes they are helping you out on the other side with errors or just not making plays.  I've said it 100 times.  It's not easy sitting over there and watch your team struggle.  They say that hitting the baseball is the most difficult things to do in sports.  Then they say that good pitching beats good hitting.  How many times have you heard that?  Then when you're not hitting they ask, 'How come you're not hitting?'  That doesn't make any sense when you think about the first two things."

The Reds have had three second year players that have struggled at various times this season.  Zack Cozart, Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco have struggled on and off.  Ryan Hanigan and Ryan Ludwick have battled injuries all season.

"There are guys that aren't at the same point in their career as far as knowing how to hit," Baker said.  "Some guys are ahead from the beginning. Some guys learn.  Some guys take longer to learn.  Chili Davis asked me, 'How do you walk?'  I said you walk by not swinging at a bad 1-1 pitch that makes it 2-1 or a bad 3-1 pitch.  A walk is a byproduct of the pitcher not making pitches."

"When David Concepcion came up he couldn't even spell hit," Baker said.  "He hung around Tony Perez and he learned.  It's not an over night process."

"There are only two things a pitcher can do to you and that's what I'm trying to stress," Baker said.  "They can either come at you, then run from you or run from you and if you take pitches come at you. Very few pitchers come at you and come at you and keep coming at you. You have to decide what a pitcher is trying to do to you early in the series.  You hope they don't try to get you out the same way all the time.  That means you're not making any  progress.  You adjust they adjust.  It is a series of adjustment.  You look at good hitters.  Over time there has nothing that hasn't been tried on Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Hank Aaron or Willie Mays.  Then after they tried everything and they see if they could hit on their backs.  You don't have that anymore.  If you're going to stick around here (major leagues) for a long time, you've  got to narrow your holes and figure out what they are trying to do to you.  And when your hitting out there you have to recognize fear.  Barry Bonds was the best at recognizing fear.  It's like that dog, if you show fear he is going to bark you around the corner."