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Paul Daugherty
Enquirer columnist files news and observations

Paul Daugherty
Paul Daugherty has been an Enquirer sports columnist since 1994 and has been chronicling Cincinnati sports since 1988. He has covered almost every major sporting event in America, as well as five Summer Olympics. Along the way, he has been named one of the country's top-5 sports columnists four times, and Ohio columnist of the year on seven different occasions. Last year, he was voted 2nd-best sports columnist in the country, by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Jerry Narron

Once more in Sunday's paper, Jerry Narron said the Reds need players who "play the right way.'' He needs to stop.

Every time the manager makes that statement, he's unwittingly indicting himself. The guy has sung that tune for 2 years. His players never added the chorus. While Wayne Krivsky has busied himself dumping power for pitching, the players that remain still play the game one home run at a time.

The Reds don't bunt. They don't hit behind runners. When Griffey and Dunn played every day, they struck out too much. Defensively, they left gaps in left and center as big as a mall parking lot. In the infield, Brandon Phillips is the only guy w/consistently good range. For a manager who dwells to distraction on the "little things,'' his players sure lived big, to borrow a phrase. That doesnt reflect well on Narron's leadership.

He's also too forgiving. Most obvious is allowing Dunn and Griffey to walk to their positions, inning after game after season. It's embarrassing. When I mentioned to Narron that Dunn's loaf out to left could best be timed by sundial, the manager said, "He'll never run out there.'' Oh, really? Why not?

That said, this team probably maxed out its potential. And until the last West Coast trip, it never gave in. That's a tribute to Narron. I just wish he'd either stop talking about the little things, or get pissed enough to make sure the little things get done properly, and by everyone.


9 Comments:

at 10:10 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, it's confusing as hell. It's that same logic (or lack thereof) that kept Edwin Encarnacion on the bench for that stretch earlier in the season - he seemed to be the only one who thought the guy wasn't ready to be an everyday player. Yet Royce Clayton is?

You're going to see pats on the back go around, talking about how this team battled and over achieved and came "oh-so-close" to the playoffs.

Problem is, it's a .500 team that got lucky in a terrible division. You'll never see a Red Sox or Yankees fan celebrating a .500 season, so why should we? If these guys play .500 baseball next year, they'll finish 10 games out.

 
at 12:59 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agree with Doc 100% on this one. All talk from Narron. This team very rarely "played the right way." They wre awful defensively and too reliant on the long ball in that tiny stadium. The Cardinals collapse will allow the Reds to say they finished only a few games back, but anyone paying attention knows that this team was very mediocre and had they played up to their real potential, they should be division champs. There are lots of other teams that would have parlayed three decent starters and a good offense into a better than .500 season. I think you take a look at this naivete of Jerry Narron as a reason they didn't play better. I wasn't sold on his contract extension in early summer. Krivsky seems ok, but Narron not the guy. This team needs something different.

 
at 9:13 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not much of a Narron fan, and I agree with all the comments above, but he did have the Reds playing great ball early in the year and he built some nice chemistry, spreading playing time around in the infield when Phillips arrived and keeping a bad situation from developing. Krivsky pushed the panic button when he traded Lopez and Kearns so quickly after the break(shoulda waited until the offseason, coulda gotten more) and the offense got enemic after that. As much as I think he;s a winner as GM, he wrecked team continuity and created a bizarre atmosphere by bringing in some many over the hill players in the second half of the season. It also wrecked any chemistry Narron had put together. So give Jerry a break and see what he can do with an offseason of aquisitions.

 
at 12:57 AM Blogger OrangeD00d said...

Narron says it, Dave Miley had exactly the same reputation, Bob Boone said it all the time, Trader Jack, Ray Knight. They all said it.

I still don't see how Narron is an improvement over Miley. Dave had a proven track record as a winner at every level of the Reds organization over many, many years. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with another big-league job next year.

Narron was what, a loser in Texas?

OK, whatever. If he wants to talk small ball, let's trade Dunn for pitching, move Junior to a corner outfield spot (and out of the 3 hole), and let Krivsky build a team appropriate to the professed philosophy.

P.S. I wonder if Davey Johnson is ready for a comeback, now that Marge is gone?

 
at 2:51 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

While we're on the subject of "doing the little things," how about "little things" like NOT sending Gary Majewski back out to pitch the eighth against Atlanta (when he gave up a four-spot before anybody had time to get loose), or leaving Milton in an inning too long (becase he went with his heart), or pitching to Albert Pujols (despite already having hit two bombs in the game), or...

I guess you could put me in the anti-Narron camp. But getting his players to actually DO the "little things" he keeps talking about would go a long way toward winning me (and a bunch of other Reds fans, I'll wager) over.

 
at 3:15 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

He said it when he was hired 1 1/2 years ago and nothing has changed...He said it a year ago at the start of the season and nothing has changed...He said it multiple times throughout the season and nothing changed...

Why should we all the sudden think, "Wow, this manager knows what needs to be done this offseason to prepare for next year!" ??????

 
at 7:04 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Narron reminds me of Politians - All Talk, No Action.

 
at 11:08 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's be honest here. What exactly do you expect Narron to say day-in and day-out over the course of the season? He is an easy going guy, which in many ways is an asset to the players and to the team overall. He comes from the Joe Torre school of managing, accept Narron has 1/10th of the Yankee's talent and 1/4 of their budget. Narron is not a rah-rah, get-in-your-face, tell the media something I don't share with the players type of manager and to a certain degree, let's be happy for that. If Narron required Dunn to sprint back and forth from the dugout, it wouldn't win additional game for us, and more than likely you would be writing a column questioning Narron's focus and qualifications to manage. This team was lucky to sniff at .500 this year and Narron did an adequate job managing them, despite not giving good quotes to the media.

 
at 9:59 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm shocked, I say shocked to hear you say that the Big Donkey loafs out to left... don't you know that the Donkey is the Reds representative for the 'Heart and Hussle' award...

btw there is an unconfirmed rumor that they are renaming that award "The Freel"

 
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