If the rest of you are like me, the biggest worry you have watching a Reds game is that they'll blow a big lead. I don't worry about a 5-0 loss or even a 16-5 loss. Sometimes it's just not our day. But losing games after being up 10-1 has the potential to devastate a ballclub.
With that in mind, I think what this team needs more than anything else is a shutdown hammer for the bullpen. I guy who can put a fire, like the 8th inning today, out.
I hate to put this sort of pressure on an untested rookie but I think this team needs Aroldis Chapman more than ever right now. We need a guy who can prevent these sorts of meltdowns. A guy you can put in there and know he won't give up 6 runs. Right now there's not a guy in that pen who isn't vulnerable to giving up a six run inning, although perhaps Coco has turned the corner.
I think we need Chapman and we need him now. He will have a chance of being the guy who puts us over the top in these last 5 weeks. Wouldn't that be a story?