Cincinnati Reds prefer keeping NLDS lineup unchanged – NLDS News
Cincinnati Reds' manager Dusty Baker stated on Tuesday, October 9, that the club will go ahead with an unchanged line-up in the playoffs, unlike the regular season when they went for routine mixing and matching in order to keep the players fresh.
The Reds, it is pertinent to mention, have kept the same line-up for the first three games of the National League Division Series. From what can be seen, that has perfectly worked out, keeping the Reds in the leading position with 2-1.
"That's tough during the playoffs," Baker said on Tuesday. "You're basically trying to keep everybody fresh during the season in order to get to this time. You get to this time where guys are still fresh because you spread out the work. There is going to come sometime soon, depending on the time of the games, when I'm going to give a guy a rest or a blow, so to speak."
Reds did well both defensively and offensively in all the three games of the NLDS, an evidence of the strategy working perfectly. The fact that the emergency reliever Sam LeCure was instrumental in keeping the San Francisco Giants batters at bay after Johnny Cueto’s exit showed the defensive capability.
All the same, the win by margin in Game 2, with 12-4 victory, also spoke volumes for the Reds ever improving combination of batters and pitchers.
However, one of the players that can be brought in is Todd Frazier, the rookie infielder who stunned many by his performance.
But the issue is that of consistency that Scott Rolen has shown in the third base, rendering it improbable to make any changes there. Nonetheless, in the absence of Votto, Frazier performed really well.
“It's very hard to keep Frazier out of there, but I try to get him in there when I can because Scott Rolen is still Scott Rolen," manager Dusty Baker said.
With two games of NLDS remaining and the Reds having a 2-1 lead, it remains to be seen if the club decides to make a change in the line-up given the fact they did not make it in the first three games.
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