Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
There has been a lot of discussion flying around both in the media and in the Reds fan community around causes for the Reds' poor showing vs those teams that are the cream of the crop in MLB.
I have a further thought, based a bit on comments from Leake and Lecure about the game yesterday, and on Doc's latest TML (which I normally ignore but it actually had a decent premise today).
What if the Reds are becoming Bungle-ized? Let me explain...
As a long suffering member of the the Bengals fan club I recall many, many, many painful games where the Bengals were basically defeated before the kickoff. Pretty much every game versus the Steelers and Ravens were that way for quite some time. The Bengals would be out there in body, but most definitely their minds were somewhere else, and the final score would often show it quite lopsidedly. They had basically already gotten to the point where they were defeated before the first snap.
Now, what if that same thought process is creeping into the minds of a number of our Reds'? I am speaking more of when they play the Cards than any of the other teams above .500 that we play. It has gotten to the point, where it seems almost as if the towel is thrown in at the first signs of adversity against the Redbirds. I honestly think that there is a defeatist attitude that is creeping up on a few of the Reds players and if Dusty or someone doesn't step up and give a Bluto style speech soon, we could be seeing alot more blowouts whenever we play Louie.
To go further, I believe a culture of winning needs to be established and maintained. I believe that Marvin Lewis over the years has been able to nurture that culture and now the Bengals believe they can beat anybody at anytime. I would like to see Dusty and his staff get that thought process firmly established in the locker room again. I feel like it has weakened a bit.
Just a (hopefully) interesting thought I have been mulling over a bit this morning.
What say you?
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
No, but they do seem to not be playing with the same desire they showed last year.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Thanks for playing, Doug. :lol:
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
I don't know if they're the Bungles. They have a history of winning the whole thing, something the Bungles are always swimming upstream against. But their collapses in the last two playoff appearances will have to be exorcised before they will play with that indomitable swagger that champions play with.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
No, because I don't care about the Bengals.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tom Servo
No, because I don't care about the Bengals.
It wasn't a direct comparison between the Reds and the Bengals. I was more looking at the current state of mind of the Reds against that of past Bengals teams. You could use any number of repeatedly downtrodden clubs as examples.
Baseball is just as much a game of mental toughness as it is a physical sport. And it is played by humans, and as such those players can go through the same gamut of emotion we average joes do each day.
So, when I say a case of the Bungles, I guess I mean more the feeling of despair one feels when you think you are outclassed/outgunned/out-everything by your opponent and the resultant poor play that is demonstrated from that.
Sorry for any confusion and thanks for the discussion.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
I remember the Big Red Machine, those guys felt they were going to win every night. The only weakness for most of the BRM days was a short series against hot pitchers.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
My post was that's the type of swagger these guys need. But they need to back it up also.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
OC_Red
It wasn't a direct comparison between the Reds and the Bengals. I was more looking at the current state of mind of the Reds against that of past Bengals teams. You could use any number of repeatedly downtrodden clubs as examples.
Baseball is just as much a game of mental toughness as it is a physical sport. And it is played by humans, and as such those players can go through the same gamut of emotion we average joes do each day.
So, when I say a case of the Bungles, I guess I mean more the feeling of despair one feels when you think you are outclassed/outgunned/out-everything by your opponent and the resultant poor play that is demonstrated from that.
Sorry for any confusion and thanks for the discussion.
Still no.
If the Reds had that kind of thing going on, they wouldn't have won Saturday. They wouldn't have won the first two games in San Francisco last year in the playoffs.
Things happen. There isn't always some alternate explanation for it other than those dudes on the other side were just better.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dougdirt
Still no.
If the Reds had that kind of thing going on, they wouldn't have won Saturday. They wouldn't have won the first two games in San Francisco last year in the playoffs.
Things happen. There isn't always some alternate explanation for it other than those dudes on the other side were just better.
Teams choke. Not saying the Reds are right now, but it's not as though teams and players can't psychologically seal the deal.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
No, They are the victims of the injury bug.
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Hey Meat
No, They are the victims of the injury bug.
the good teams have backup plans.. Like hmm the Cardinlas lost guys to injury, even lost Albert, they didnt start to play like the Reds.. they still Win!! the Pirates lost guys, they are still winning..
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Redsfansince72
the good teams have backup plans.. Like hmm the Cardinlas lost guys to injury, even lost Albert, they didnt start to play like the Reds.. they still Win!! the Pirates lost guys, they are still winning..
So the Cardinals who had the injuries the Reds have last year, weren't affected by them?
Re: Do the Reds have a case of the "Bungles?"
The Reds have lost their ace, their left fielder and only guy who really profiles as a cleanup hitter, arguably their best reliever and lefty setup man, a reliever who was signed to be the closer before Chappy went back to his role (2 of their 3 top bullpen arms), their veteran catcher has played banged up and half speed all season when he is even on the field, BP has battled a couple "hurt but playing" injuries, their 4th OFer - the one with power - missed most of the first half leaving them with almost no power from the bench, with no protection pitchers have become even more wary of Votto taking the bat from his hands in any kind of dangerous situation. And it hasn't been first one guy, then he comes back and another goes on the DL - its been all at the same time and for long periods of time.
The Reds are built to win with a mostly healthy roster - they aren't deep enough on the farm right now to deal with too many injuries. And that lack of farm depth also plays a role in tying Walt's hands. We are in a lull between the group of young prospects reaching the upper levels and those upper levels being a bit bare because of trades that got the Reds the roster to compete in the first place. I don't see the great head scratcher understanding their struggles this year.