Doc: There’s only so much this Reds team can do

The Reds defy description now. Saying they stink is obvious, explaining why is redundant, singling out individuals for personal blame is mindless frustration. Fire Price and Jocketty! might clean your spleen. It’s not adding to the discussion. All you can do is wish for next spring.

A loss isn’t a loss, not if your eyes are already seeing April 2016. So take this from Thursday’s 0-1 L to the L.A. Greinkes: Reds rookie pitcher Anthony DeSclafani is a tough kid, cooler than his years, who has a chance to shine in a 2016 rotation with Homer Bailey and Raisel Iglesias.

In the last 11 days, DeSclafani twice has pitched against Zack Greinke, who is dealing in a world of his own. “Disco’’ stood his ground both times. In seven innings Thursday he allowed six singles, and a run which scored on a double-play ground ball. Greinke beat him, 1-0, after beating him 2-1 in Los Angeles on Aug. 16.

Maybe next year, DeSclafani will oppose Koufax on Sunday afternoon and Gibson on Friday night. The odds are against it. Meantime, he shows uncommon sand for a rookie. Or, as Bryan Price calls him, “a veteran rookie.

“You expect him to be a little more wide-eyed. He’s never pitched feeling he was the lesser guy.”

The only thing DeSclafani didn’t do well was bunt. He had two at-bats to advance a runner to second base. He fouled off six pitches.

The Reds weren’t going to beat Greinke, anyway. Greinke is an authentic eccentric on and off the field. (Eccentric? Earlier this year, when his manager Don Mattingly paid Greinke a visit to the mound, to check on his pitcher’s condition, Greinke said, “I’m not telling you.”)

He throws sliders and curves and cut fastballs. The bottom falls from his pitches like an over-easy egg out of a tilted skillet. On Thursday, for the 10th time in 26 starts, Greinke left the game without allowing a run. His ERA has never topped 2.00, not all season.

Studious hitters thrive on tendencies – what this pitcher likes to throw in that situation – but Greinke offers no patterns. He’s in his own little orbit out there.

The Reds had four singles; one was a swinging bunt. They got one runner to third base. It doesn’t help that at the moment, they have one player who can hit, and Joey Votto is generally seeing lots of pitches he wouldn’t feed his dog.

“Pitchers are running from Joey now,” Price noted. “The thing that blows my mind is how many pitchers don’t go after him with two outs, nobody on and up 4-0. That to me is ridiculous. There has to be consequences to walking Joey. We need Todd and Jay to get hot again, to carry some of that load.”

Frazier and Bruce are living on the planet Misery. It’s not known how much longer the Reds can handle Bruce’s extended funk-o-ramas, but you have to think he’ll be actively shopped this winter. Entering the game, Bruce was hitting .141 in August.

Frazier’s journeys from peak to abyss aren’t as radical, but they’re just as evident. He has four homers in his last 216 plate appearances.

When your offense revolves around two streaky hitters, maybe you need to rethink your offense. I didn’t say DeSclafani was going to win lots of games next year, only that he had a chance to lose lots of games the way he lost Thursday. When a team doesn’t hit, it looks lethargic. When a team can’t hit, it looks bad.

The Reds look bad. Price is reduced to defending his players’ effort, and whenever that happens in any sport, the party is over. Trying hard isn’t a reason to celebrate. It’s implied in the contract.

Barring a miraculous turnaround, there isn’t much reason to expect Price will return next season. Every re-boot needs a new hard drive. It’s too bad, and it’s not fair, given the injuries both seasons and the salary dump this year. But fairness isn’t part of the long-term plan.

That’s what you have to look at now. The long term. See Disco’s pitching through the panoramic lens of next year and beyond. Anything else will hurt your head.