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 Read the rest of this entry »
In his three years as the general manager of the dreadful Pittsburgh Pirates, Neal Huntington hasn’t shied away from shocking moves. First was in his inaugural season, shipping off Jason Bay. Then in his second year, sending Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, Nate McClouth and Adam LaRoche packing for new cities, new teams and new dreams. Well Huntington has pulled the trigger once again, with what he calls his “Legend Package.” Read the rest of this entry »
Watching Reds Live, Scott Rolen had a quote that I think shows what this team really has been like this year.
“We didn’t get 7 games up by looking at the scoreboard… We did it by playing, and winning.”
This is special. Chapmania hits GABP, the Reds keep rolling, the Cards keep stumbling. I keep trying to find other words for this last 2 1/2 weeks after getting swept those dreaded Cards, the way we have played. This is the kind of stuff that champion-type teams do, they play baseball the right way. Since that series, the Reds are 13-4, and (not counting tonight’s stats), have batted 20 percentage points better than their season average (.290 vs .270), and bang out an average of 10.8 hits a game, 1.4 better than the earlier part of the year.
I don’t know that there are many words I can use right now. Just every Reds fan out there, look at the standings, look at the schedule, smile. And realize how special of a run that this can be. It’s far from being over, there is still a whole month of baseball left to play, and we have a big series in St. Louis this weekend that could put Reds Nation into a euphoric state if we take care of business. Just think, a year ago, the Reds were 58-73, 18.5 GB at this point. This year, a 7 game lead, and a 76-55 record. Good times.
Just call it a 13 month break. Edinson Volquez went 6 strong tonight, giving up only 1 run and 3 hits in in his return appearance after having Tommy John surgery last July, en route to a 8-1 win. He dominated the Rockies (49-41) after a bumpy first inning, retiring 15 out of the 18 batters in the 2nd through 6th innings. The bats came alive tonight, supporting the pitching staff with 8 runs, 7 of the 8 runs came in via the long ball, 4 home runs hit by the Reds tonight, Stubbs adding two of the blasts. Thoughts from tonight:
As half of the 2010 season is in the books for the first-place Cincinnati Reds (sounds weird, doesn’t it?), BtBS is going to take a look at the big wins, losses, plays, and what needs to be done to stay ahead of those dreaded Cardinals to clinch a playoff birth for the first time since 1995.
Best Wins of the 1st half:
May 18th: Reds 5, Brewers 4- Dreading the 9th inning against all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman, the Reds find the rally at the perfect time, retaining at the time a short-lived stint as the NL Central leader. Janish led off the 9th inning with a double, and was knocked in as Rolen hit a blast into the left field seats (the deck below where we had been sitting in the bleachers). Hoffman crumbled under the pressure by giving up a double, walk, and Joey Votto ended the game with a long single that allowed Heisey to come around to score the winning run, capping the comeback that seemed impossible when Cincy trailed 4-1 in the bottom of the 8th, and before Votto’s 8th inning blast, 9 reds had been retired in a row.
April 8th: Reds 2, Cardinals 1- A rough start by dropping the first two night games of the 2010 campaign were erased with one swing of the bat by none other than Jonny Gomes, who hit a walk-off blast into the left field seats to cap off win #1 of 2010. Bronson Arroyo worked his day game magic in the victory, going 8 strong with only 4 hits and 1 ER. This helped Cincy avoid a dreaded sweep by St. Louis, keeping the Reds around for the time being (see below).
May 16th: Reds 7, Cardinals 2- Another big win over the Cards to take over first place in the central for the first time all season. Scott Rolen was the big man of the night, going 2 for 4 with a big blast in the first inning to help the Reds jump on STL and Brad Penny early. Bronson worked his magic again, going the distance, giving up only 2 ER and 7 hits, en route to his 3rd win on the season.
Rough moments of the 1st half:
5 game slide/Swept in Pittsburgh (April 14th-18th): Moments to forget from this stretch include: 30-160 (.188 BA) from the plate, 2 terrible bullpen appearances in the 9th inning in consecutive games (Masset on Friday, Cordero on Saturday). Add to the batting part with amazing run outputs of: 3,2,3,4,3. Yikes. At this point, I think about how finishing anything better than 5th or 6th would quite an accomplishment.
The collapse in Atlanta: Up 6 runs going to the 9th. Single, single, single, single, walk, error, strikeout, grand slam. That’s all for that one.
The collapse in Philly: Up 6 runs going to the 9th. Double, flyout, single, single, home run, flyball, walk, home run. Lost in 10th. ‘Nuff said, again.
For the Reds to win the division/wild card, they must…
If the Reds don’t make the playoffs, it will be because…
Prediction- This team has the right mix of everything. The batting has been amazing at times, pitching off the charts, and the core of young players don’t have a lot of September expierence, but i feel like they can make the playoffs and dethrone the Cardinals. A new decade calls for a new leader of the division, and the NL Central will belong to the Cincinnati Reds.
Let’s get him back too.
According to a BaseballAmerica.com report, the Reds have hooked the first two draft picks from the 2009 draft. Mike Leake, the first pick for the Reds, signed for 2.27 million, coming out of Arizona State. He was dominant in college, going 16-1 his senior year, with a stellar 1.71 ERA. On a blog earlier this year, Leake said that, Read the rest of this entry »
Can we get these guys on the schedule more often? I think just about any team in the majors would love to have the lowly Nationals (40-75) on their schedule about every week. Jonny Gomes took the Nats pitching deep three times in his first three at-bats, and the Reds cruised to an easy 7-0 victory last night. He started the season Read the rest of this entry »
Even a month after he admitted to taking Andro from 1998 to 2004, he still is taking some drugs on the days he pitches, and some on off days. According to a USA Today report, he said that, “I have a lot of guys in the locker room who think I’m out of my mind because I’m taking Read the rest of this entry »
Former Cincinnati Reds and current Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton has recently admitted to relapsing, which stemmed from a January incident in Tempe, Arizona. He reportedly was drunk, and took pictures with women that weren’t his wife. “Honestly, I hate that this happened. But it is what it is. You deal with it. I realized that, obviously, I’m not perfect, in this ongoing struggle, battle, that is very real. A lot of people don’t understand how real it is,” the slugger said of the incident.
Before the event, Hamilton had been clean since Read the rest of this entry »
Everybody knows that one guy in life that just has a bad break day after day, and it never seems to change. Well for this guy, this group of guys, they finally got their luck to change tonight. They trailed 2-0, 4-2, and 5-3 as late as the eighth inning. The Reds (47-61), fought back all night against the Read the rest of this entry »
Behind the Box Score is a sports website run by Zach Fleer and Jason Morrow.
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