Cooper's Stupid IBB Strategy Earns Sammy Gervacio His First Loss

AND his first earned run in 4 WEEKS I honestly don't know why I bother to watch any more, except to hope that Coop makes even more stupid decisions so he'll be fired, because I'll tell all yall straight, if he is not gone, along with the crappy other coaches, I'm quitting until Drayton wises up. When your team can't beat Kip freaking Wells, they flat out suck. Period. I had a little hope in the first inning when the Astros and a walk, 3 singles, 3 SB and 3 runs, but except for a solo homer from Matsui in the 4th, basically lay down and swung continuously at crap out of the strike zone, refused to work any counts (so what else is new), lollygagged in the OF - Clank slid in the wrong direction, missing a fly ball, and the run later scored, lollygagging in shallow OF - Miggy called off Bourn on a popup which he didn't even get a glove on, and Bourn not even getting anywheres near the 3 FB hit to the deep OF. Roy had a really lousy first inning - his top velocity on the FB was 90. He gave up a homer on the first pitch to coulda-been-a-Stro Drew Stubbs, then a deep FB to the RF gap to Houstonian Paul Janish (the only position player on their WS championship team to make it to the bigs), a deep fly ball at the wall to Votto, an RBI single, a sac-fly to the wall (you seeing any pattern here?) and then a merciful groundout. And then in innings 2-5, the pitchers got 1,2,3 outs - they worked the counts a lot better than the Astros did, that's fer SHER. In the 6th, Roy gives up a hit to left - Clank lollygags over to pick it up and kind of gently lobs it in to third while Janish hustles into second. My GAWD I hate that. It's especially at times like this that I want to go up to Drayton and all his Organization People and scream at full volume in their ears - You really think he's better/more valuable than Luke Scott, hunh???? Him and his not giving a damm if a ball goes for a single or a double??? BAH And the trainer sees something and rushes straight to the mound, but Roy insists in staying in and whaddaya know, a fly ball is hit to left. Clank breaks late, decides to slide at the last minute, completely misses the *()^$! baseball, and fortunately, Bourn backed up the play and got the ball in so fast that Janish had to hold at 3rd. So it's men on first and third and who does Coop bring in? How about the guy with the best success at not letting inherited runners score? How bout the guy with the most K/9? nope He brings in Doug Brocail AND he has the fielders back to concede a run. So naturally, Phillips pokes a ball toward right and score is 4-3. I KNOW this ballgame is OVAH and I SWEAR I don't know why I bother to watch the piling up of carnage. And sure enough, Rolen blasts a ball to the CF wall and we have a tie game. I absolutely HATE Cooper (as a manager.) He brings in Gervacio to start the 8th and Sammy, as usual, either throws a ball FAR out of the zone, or a strike. So he hits Corky Miller, ex-Stro Drew Sutton sac-bunts. Then, naturally, Coop does his FREAKING STUPID IBB BULL HOOEY stuff again because GOAWD FOAHBID that Gervacio pitch to a left hander. So Sammy has to throw 4 pitches deliberately out of the zone, which screws up his concentration - then the next 2 pitches are out of the zone and the next strike flies out to the CF wall and there went the ballgame. Pence had better see some other hitting coach this winter, is all I can say, because whatever these guys have been telling him has ruined any semblance of strike zone/pitch judgement and all he can manage is grounders except for the very few high FB or hanging breakers that he hits out. Lance was out with back spasms. Or something. And I bet that had a wonderful boost to the spirits of the Reds players, too, especially Wells. And tomorrow, I suppose I should tune in to see how long it will take the Reds to pound the stuffing out of Yorman Bazardo. I really REALLY wish that Ed Wade would PLEASE order Coop to stop playing all these tired-ass lollygagging GIDPing Old Guys and please play Maysonet, Manzella, Johnson and Towles. THE ENTIRE GAME. I'd rather watch youngsters trying to learn to hit ML pitching EVEN IF THEY FAIL than watch Clank lope over to another ball he decides to let go for a double. This whole thing about calling up guys so they can watch the Old Guys "go about their business" is not appropriate for guys who are expected to play on the ML club next year. The Old Guys can help the rooks play the game, not glue their butts to the bench. I'm seriously getting to the point where I hope that the Astros play like dog poopoo like this for the rest of the season and lose every freaking game with Coop making DAMM sure that young guys don't get much of any playing time. And I hope that fans can't be bothered to show up for the rest of the home games. One of my Mama's close friends, who buys some VERY expensive season tickets, told me she has written to the club (when they sent her invoices for post-season tickets - can you believe the nerve???) and informed them that if Coop was returning as manager next year, she would not be renewing tickets. There are a LOT of very angry ticket holders. And I promise you that I'm ready to join the revolution, meaning I am not going to any more games, or taking my kids to any more games, until Coop is gone. And I am NOT kidding.