Manager's Pregame Notes: Enright Alright, Upton Talked To, Sending Messages

Kirk Gibson isn't taking anything for granted when it comes to teaching his young team how to play the game the right way.

Asked if he talked to Justin Upton about last night's poor decision to try and throw out the runner from third on a sacrifice fly instead of hitting the cut-off man and holding the runner at first Gibby said, "We talked to him. Of course."

It's been frustrating around here. I will continue, along with my coaching staff, to make sure they understand. We're not going to assume they understand that. We'll continue to push the baseball acumen, we'll continue to push fundamental stuff."

To further emphasize that point, Gibby mentioned that lineup board in the club house which carried the additional message, "Run on and off the field."

The message being to play with energy.

"I know these guys are thinking about the end of the year and it's tough. I've been on teams like that but it's our obligation to play the game the right way," Gibby said.

Other Notes

• Barry Enright is not on an inning limit and should be fine to pitch through the rest of the season
• Barry is sporting a new fohawk. It looks pretty bad-ass with that fiery red hair.
• J-Up is having some encouraging at bats.
• Scott Rolen is clearly a guy Gibby is fond of. He talked a lot of about how he plays and what he brings to the Reds. He mentioned Rolen having his manager's back during the recent brawl with the Cardinals.
• Gibby said no decisions have been made yet about September call-ups.
• Dusty Baker talked about the decision to keep former ASU Sun Devil, rookie Mike Leake instead of Carlos Fisher. It came down to Leake being with the team all season and his ability to warm-up quick in the bullpen and throw strikes as a reliever.
• Leake was seen in the Reds clubhouse with a pretty pink backpack. Clearly (hopefully) part of his rookie hazing.
• The line-up again has Drew and Upton in the top two spots with Johnson,  Young, LaRoche, Reynolds, Ryal and Hester after that.