Behind The Box Score

Reds fans, Reds country, enjoy it. I said it last night, but it needs said again. This is still the dream ride, still the storybook type season that every fan has waited for. We struggled through Adam Dunn’s strikeouts, through Corey Patterson’s amazing .205 average in ’08, flushing away millions of dollars in him and Willy Taveras, just to get to possibly the promise land, with some “Chapmania” to go along with it. I am no bandwagon. I didn’t hop on the train in mid-May and ride till today. I’ve been a Reds fan for as long as I can remember, with my parents questioning it from the beginning (being both Indians fans). I stuck through all of the terrible, to get to the great. Every Reds fan knows that 2000-2009 were dark years.

It’s September 1st, the Reds are 78-55, sitting 8 games ahead of the faltering St. Louis Cardinals. A year ago, the Reds finished with a total of 78 wins, the WHOLE year. Anything is possible, yes, but ANYthing is possible. I don’t think it will happen, but the Reds can’t stop right now. I kept trying to come up with the last line to really sum up what I’ve tried to say, and find a way to tie it all together. Talking to my best friend, she said it, and I tweaked it to define what this team is about, and what they could be about. We’ve come too far, fighting through the sweep in Pittsburgh, then the loss in ATL, and sweep in Philly/STL at home, and sitting with an 8-game lead, to let it go.

One simple memo to every Reds fan:

“Enjoy it. Every second of it. We waited for this moment, now it’s here.”