Behind The Box Score

Sometimes, I wonder. Today is another case of that question popping up in a 5-3 loss today to the Cubbies. Johnny Cueto (8-7) had another semi-rough first inning, giving up three runs, one of them a long ball by Aramis Ramirez, his 7th of the year, but second in the last two days. In total, the Reds hurler surrendered 5 hits in the first inning alone, and survived only because of a Kevin Hart strikeout. Speaking of the Cubs (50-45) pitcher, who had a good day on the mound, giving up only 1 ER, and 5 hits in 6 innings of baseball. He improved his record to 2-1 on the year.

The first inning was just another installment for the Reds (44-52) this year, who have given up 83 runs in the first inning this season alone. “Those things get in your head sometimes. Sometimes there is no explanation. When you are in a bad way, these things happen. You search for clues, but you don’t find any,” Dusty Baker said of the opening inning woes.

Honestly, there’s not much else to say. They are playing their worst baseball of the year, and they are in a free fall mode that is not gonna change unless they decide to turn it out, get some quality pitching, and get some clutch hits. The month of July has pretty much shown that these Reds were meant to crumble. Quoting my favorite Reds columnist, Hal McCoy who was talking about the triple in the first by Derrek Lee, but also talking about the Reds in general when he said, “No Man’s Land. Right now the Reds have squatter’s rights on it right now.” There’s not much left to do as a fan but watch this play out…Joey Votto and Jonny Gomes hit solo home runs in the ninth, but that was cosmetics applied to the ugliness.”