Another winning month

[OnBaseMachine]

With the Reds 5-2 victory against the Braves today, the Reds wrapped up another winning month as they went 14-12 in July. It's the first time since 1992 that the Reds opened the season with four consecutive winning months. The 1992 Reds finished the season with a 90-72 record though they missed the playoffs. If this club can just keep having winning months they'll stay in contention until the end.

Reds record by the month:

April: 12-11; 106 RS/126 RA
May: 18-11; 162 RS/117 RA
June: 14-13; 118 RS/116 RA
July: 14-12; 129 RS/86 RA

At one point the Reds were 7-11 in April but they went on a five game winning streak to end the month.

As evidenced by their RS/RA in July, the Reds should have went a lot better than 14-12 but at least they were able to salvage a win today and end the month on a positive note. It should be noted that this month featured a season long 11 game roadtrip.

A look at the upcoming month:

Reds play 27 games games in August.

1 vs Braves
3 at Pirates
3 at Cubs
3 vs Cardinals
3 vs Marlins
3 at Diamondbacks
3 at Dodgers
3 at Giants
3 vs Cubs
2 vs Brewers

The bolded part is the key stretch. A nine game roadtrip to the west coast. The Reds went 3-3 on their first west coast roadtrip thru Seattle and Oakland back in June. The Reds have struggled on the west coast in the past, so a 4-5 trip would have to be considered decent though 5-4 should be the goal.

There's no such thing as a gimme win in Major League Baseball, but if the Reds can make it through August with another winning month, their schedule eases up a bit after the first 7-10 days in September. A 14-13 August would put the Reds at 72-60 entering September. That should be the goal at this point. Anything above would be a bonus.

[reds1869]

The west coast trip gives the Reds a chance to deal some damage to the other Wild Card contenders. I hope this is the year we see a winning west coast swing.

[guttle11]

Too bad they aren't in contention.

[Mario-Rijo]

I think we end up 5-4 on that West coast trip, just a gut call. 2 or 3 from Az., 1 from S.F. and 1 or perhaps 2 from the Dodgers.

[OnBaseMachine]

Another winning month. The Reds finished August with an amazing 19-8 record, the best record in baseball for that month! It's the first time the Reds won 19 games in a month since September of 1999 when they went 19-9. What an amazing month by the Reds. Hopefully it continues into September!

[OnBaseMachine]

The Reds had their first losing month of the season as they went 12-15 in September, however, the Reds still outscored their opponents 114-104 in September. The Reds were still playing decent baseball but not winning the close games.

Breakdown by month:

April: 12-11, 106 RS/126 RA
May: 18-11, 162 RS/117 RA
June: 14-13, 118 RS/116 RA
July: 14-12, 129 RS/86 RA
August: 19-8, 148 RS/126 RA
September: 12-15, 114 RS/104 RA

Overall so far: 89-70, 777 RS/675 RA

[redsmetz]

That super hot August along with St. Louis' collapse in the same month went a long way towards propelling us into the play-offs.