Corey Patterson is mired in a 1-for-28 slump. Said slump has dropped his line to .186/.258/.475 (hey! look at that slugging percentage!) and he's pretty much been the not-Jay Bruce black hole at the top of the lineup that most Reds' fans feared he would be this year. Unsurprisingly, he got the night off in favor of Ryan Freel tonight. Logic dictates that the benching was due to his slump. Dusty Baker does not play by logic's rules. From Hal McCoy at the Dayton Daily News: Baker was not aware of Patterson's slump until a writer informed him Sunday.
"Really?" said Baker. "I did not know that. He hasn't been striking out a lot so a long stretch of no hits is not as noticeable as when a guy piles up the strikeouts."
Unless Freel hits for the cycle, drives in four, scores five and makes three stupendous catches, Patterson will soon return. Not Tuesday, though. The Reds face lefthanded Hong-Chih Kuo, so Freel or Norris Hopper will be in center. Or maybe Jerry Hairston, Jr.
Can anyone point me towards a job that pays in the six-to-seven figures per year neighborhood that lets me travel across the country and watch baseball games from great seats without having to really pay that much attention to what's going on on the field? Because honestly, I'd kill for that gig. I swear I'd even notice when my lead off hitter only fails to get a hit over a seven-game span.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Can Dusty Baker really be that stupid? Does Reds ownership read that quote and start banging their head against the wall? Can Corey Patterson actually become a black hole and suck even more?
Posted at 11:58PM on Apr 21st 2008 by Kurt Frost
2. He's too busy making sure his players aren't "clogging the basepaths".
Posted at 1:13AM on Apr 22nd 2008 by johnnyt471
3. I love the fact that Dusty travels with an entourage of bad baseball players. I wonder if Hairston Jr. and Patterson have to do his laundry on the road.
Posted at 1:40AM on Apr 22nd 2008 by petejayhawk
4. Give Dusty some more time and pretty soon the Red's pitching rotation will be a black hole too. Go look at all the other black holes he has created in San Francisco and Chicago.
Posted at 2:24AM on Apr 22nd 2008 by JKlicious99
5. Patterson has always sucked. He should be in the minors.
Posted at 9:51AM on Apr 22nd 2008 by bet the super bowl
6. Just wait till he talks Reds management into hiring Neifi Perez. He and Patterson are Dusty's boys - even though they're often hovering between mediocre and absolute suck, Dusty somehow always gets them on his teams...
Posted at 5:40PM on Apr 22nd 2008 by NoOneOfAnyConsequence
7. God Dusty sucks. Is Neifi Perez on the Reds yet? If not, I'm sure Dusty will get him in there at some point soon.
Posted at 7:35PM on Apr 22nd 2008 by JP
8. Haha I hadnt read the comments yet...so true about Neifi
Posted at 8:21PM on Apr 22nd 2008 by JP
9. Well honestly Patterson doesn't suck, he is just being horribly misused. Patterson would make a great 4th OF, as his defense is topnotch. But as an everyday leadoff hitter, as Dusty is using him, Corey certainly cannot get it done.
Posted at 3:40AM on Apr 23rd 2008 by brandon
10. Dusty is such an idiot, I feel bad for the Reds.
And it's not just Patterson vs Freel. How about Votto vs Hatteberg.
Dusty has been playing this same song forever, from SF to Chicago and now to Cincinnati. Management new this when they hired him, so why would they be any surprised that he's acting the same way he's always acted.
Posted at 7:52PM on May 2nd 2008 by rollnsf
11. It just a matter of time before the Reds trade for Juan Pierre.
Posted at 9:41AM on May 7th 2008 by Palmer