We Control Our Playoff Chances

[ryanparkersongs]

Even though we had a horrendous West Coast swing and came back home to open up the homestand with a loss, we still have a pretty good shot of making the playoffs. The next few games are critical, though. While we play the Pirates this weekend, the other immediate Wild Card contenders play each other. Philadelphia plays at Florida (which I could see being an even series) and San Diego plays at San Francisco (again...a potentially even series). If we can win the games against the Pirates, we are guaranteed to be gaining ground on at least 2 of our Wild Card competitors. Even better, St. Louis travels to Arizona due to lose a few games.

Then, while we play San Diego at home, Philadelphia plays at Atlanta (who couldn't see the Braves pulling off one or two here?) and Florida plays the New York Mets (who will beat Florida). In the meantime, the Cards will be playing the Astros (potential losses for the Cards here). Then, we play the Cubs while Philadelphia plays the Astros (pretty even series), the Cardinals play San Francisco (the Giants could take one or two from the Cards), and the Padres play the Dodgers (the Dodgers should be motivated to win here).

What I am trying to point out here is IF we can get on a little winning streak here in the next few games, the playoffs can be ours. All of the teams we are competing with play several games, some against each other, where they are likely to lose a few. Hope is still alive! Of course, the necessity is beating teams we should beat like the Giants, Pirates, and Cubs.

[crazybob60]

Hey Ryan, saw you on Channel 5 the other night and really did enjoy the segment, I don't know if there is another thread on this, but since I saw you created this one, just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed it and really liked your work, sorry for this being off-topic but I just wanted to bring it up!

And yes, we do control our own destiny here, and even with the horrid west coast swing, we still are very much in the hunt which says alot about the NL this season and also about the Reds about how they have achieved ever so much more than what people thought...

[ryanparkersongs]

Thanks for the comments. They had me on there for the Bengals upcoming season. I hope I haven't done the Reds song for the last time yet this season, though! I really think we have a shot at it. The next few days will tell the tale.

[crazybob60]

Very true!!! I hope you haven't done the last of it either. I don't get to listen too much to the music at work although I have heard snippets of the songs here and there but it was much better here it on the TV and such with you actually there. Very nice, and yes as I stated in just the previous thread, I hope the reds can pull off a winning steak similar to the losing steak that they just had, which say they win 9 out of their next 11 which would be really nice and hopefully pretty much seal the deal, but I would say that this week and next week hold the reds fate in their hands!

[MaineRed]

Agreed. As I said in the game thread if the team can pull out a win tommorow and then sweep the Pirates, they are 73-70 and sitting in the catbirds seat for the final 19.

With the remaining schedules of the other teams, I'd be happy to take the series with SF and then get 2 of 3 from the Pirates. I think 4-6 games over .500 will probably win this thing, so getting to 72-71 would be pretty good position if my assumption is true.

I believe the Pads play 17 of their final 23 on the road and the Phils don't have it real easy either. The Reds have some work to do but I refuse to give up.

[crazybob60]

San Diego is 36-37 at Home and 35-29 on the Road. So with 8 games left at home and 17 games left on the Road for them, that might not actually be a good thing as originally thought, although during the stretch run, the home field advantage is always good to have, so I can see where you are coming from there MaineRed and I sure do hope that that is the case, unless of course we are in contention for the Central title and not the WC at that point in the season, because the second to the last series of the season, from 9/25-9/27 the Pads play the Cards in what could be a battle to help the Reds, and lets hope it does cause I would love for the reds to still be in it at that point in the season. Can you imagine what this city would do???? Let's hope that we would actually turn out for the games without some crazy promotion for us to get out there!!!!! But yes, I do agree for the most part with MaineRed there, that the Pads do have a rougher road ahead of them than most teams do down the stretch. Let's hope they falter and the Reds shine!!!!

Also, on a side note, MaineRed, where did you get the Davis auto rookie that your avatar is? Did you get that when he was signing at the stadium when the Braves were in town? I was there, just curious if I ran into you or not?

[Razor Shines]

We do need a little help, but I agree if we get hot we could still take this thing home. Maybe Harang and Arroyo will get a second wind for the stretch run. We're going to need the bullpen to pitch well also. Another big key will be whether or not EE and Dunn can get hot, and RA needs to stay hot.

[crazybob60]

We also need Brandon Phillips to start hitting the ball similar to when he first came over from Cleveland, if he would get that hot again, boy it would be Game Over!!!!

[Z-Fly]

Quote from Chappell's show, "The milk has gone bad."