The Cincinnati Reds managed just three hits in a 5-1 loss to the Miami Marlins in Monday's opener of an important 7-game homestand.
If the Cincinnati Reds felt a little overlooked when it came to All-Star selection announcements over the weekend, it wouldn’t exactly be anything new.
On the other hand, as centerfielder TJ Friedl said, if the league or anyone else is overlooking the Reds, “It’s not always a bad thing.”
Friedl, de facto ace Andrew Abbott and closer Emilio Pagan are among the would-be All-Star candidates left left out after fan voting, player voting and league considerations led to Elly De La Cruz becoming the team’s only National League All-Star when 30-man rosters were announced Sunday.
Whether Abbott or anyone else subsequently makes it as an injury replacement, the Reds seem unified on one thing when it comes to the small-market team’s fourth consecutive year with only one selection on announcement day (Hunter Greene was a second Reds selection last year as an injury replacement):
They had more important things to spend their energy once the dust settled on Sunday’s announcements.
And maybe even a little more to focus on after a sometimes sloppy, hit-bereft 5-1 loss to the Miami Marlins in a rain-delayed Monday opener of an important seven-game homestand leading to the All-Star break.
“I don’t think anybody in this clubhouse is caught up with that in terms of being overlooked,” Friedl said.
Especially after playing a game that some of them wished would be overlooked by everybody − in particular a two-run, two-error play in the sixth that changed the tone of a one-run game and involved a throwing error by third baseman Noelvi Marte, followed by another throwing error by pitcher Lyon Richardson.
It wasn’t any better on the other side of the ball for the Reds, who managed just three hits (one until the ninth) one game game after getting just one as Marlins pitchers faced just four batters over the minimum – one day after Philadelphia Zack Wheeler faced one over the minimum in a complete game against them.
Overlooked? For what it’s worth, the paid witnesses (17,167) added up to the smallest home crowd in more than two months. So there’s that.
The surging Marlins’ 11th win in their last 14 games handed the Reds their fifth loss in seven games.
In the bigger picture, beyond one game on a damp Monday night in early June, if American baseball fans or league peers voting for All-Stars − or even the occasional local paying customer − wants to overlook the Reds going forward?
“It’s not the worst thing in the world,” Friedl said. “But for us that’s all kind of outside noise. What we do well in this clubhouse is control what we can control and take care of what we can take care of. That’s our effort, playing for each other and all coming together for the same common goal.”
Like beating the Marlins today. And tomorrow. Especially after the way the series started. And staying in the playoff picture they’ve spent the past month fighting and clawing to get close enough to taste.
“We had a tough road trip,” said Abbott, who got a no-decision in one of just two Reds wins among six games in Boston and Philadelphia. “We still feel we can make up ground.
“It’s important to try to get some momentum going into the break, have a positive homestand, and then you take that into the All-Star break to relax, recoup and then come ready to play afterward.”
This seven-game stretch against Miami and woeful Colorado represents not only a chance for the Reds to regain footing in the wild-card picture with 2 1/2 months left in the season but also to send a message to the front office that this team is worth an aggressive buyer’s posture leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.
No matter what kind of message the All-Star selection process sends to anyone else about this team with a Hall of Fame-bound manager and just enough talent to have a right to believe in its chances over the 65 games in the post-break stretch.
“We had a lot of (All-Star candidates) this year,” Abbott said. “TJ put on a great centerfield (show), and there’s nothing behind it. There’s a lot of other guys that would qualify as snubs or whatever you want to call it.
“Elly for sure deserved to start in my opinion. I think that’s a snub in itself that he’s going as a reserve,” Abbott added. TJ, Emilio − there’s guys that have done a lot of good stuff on the team that being a teammate you’re going to recognize that they’re doing it. Maybe the league brushes it off because it’s not what they want to see or whatever.”
Because of the small market? The lack of $700 million players?
Doesn’t matter to these guys.
Regardless of how they opened this homestand – or even because of it – if the rest of baseball wants to overlook the Reds, that’s fine with these guys.
“It definitely fuels the fire,” Abbott said. “Everybody’s like, ‘They don’t have this, they don’t have that.’
“That plays into an underdog advantage for sure,” he said, adding that he thinks some other players from other teams might have been similarly overlooked.
“But we don’t control it,” Abbott said. “So just keep playing and do more, I guess.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds chances of MLB playoffs ahead of MLB All-Star Break
Category: Baseball
