Reds' revised lineup fails to produce results
Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker redid his lineup for Wednesday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, but the shakeup didn't quite work. Cincinnati lost 11-1.
Baker had to try something, as the offense has been a huge disappointment. Wednesday was the sixth time in nine games the Reds have scored one run.
Brandon Phillips, who has been dealing with a strained left hamstring, was moved from leadoff to cleanup. Zack Cozart went to leadoff after hitting second in his first 10 starts. Drew Stubbs was moved from seventh to second. Scott Rolen was dropped from fourth to sixth.
"There's quite a few factors," Baker said. "Right now, whoever is hitting behind Joey (Votto) are not quite themselves. Brandon, that's why he's so valuable. He's one of the few guys who can bat anywhere in the order and has had success."
Phillips has hit fourth 398 times in his career now. He's a .278 batter with 59 home runs and 248 RBI as the cleanup man.
"I'm cool if the team needs me to do it," he said. "Was I looking forward to it? No, I wasn't. I was looking forward to hitting leadoff. But I really didn't see this coming -- how we're playing as a team. Every team goes through a little funk."
The Reds went into the game hitting .211 as a team, and they went 9-for-32 (.281) against three Cardinals pitchers. However, Cincinnati was just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
