Ah 2007. When BP was fast.
Ah 2007. When BP was fast.
Wonder what's up with Ludwick. One AB to pinch hit last night and MIA tonight.
Protecting with two strikes must be a strange concept for this team.
We'll all look back on moments like this and laugh.
Bruce sounds like he is very close to returning. Friday?
Votto might be close. Friday?
Latos sounds like he is about 3 weeks out or so.
The Reds have hung in there, and no one has run away the the division yet. Besides, the Reds won there only series against the leading Brewers so far, with Bruce and Votto at less than 100%.
The bullpen will get better(literally can't get worse than dead last). The starting pitching will remain strong, and the lineup will add some depth to it soon.
When we're watching the Reds in the playoffs for the third straight season, and 4th in the last five, this will be just a small bump in the road, that helped define this team's true talent and character.
Tom Servo (05-20-2014)
I like the optimism. If anyone noticed, so far this season I've been pretty optimistic with the team especially considering the injuries and I have consistently stressed the sample sizes as well. But I have to be realistic with the team and where they stand. I'm a bit worried. If you wanna comb through the archives, I consistently said to wait till late-May before we can start making any kind of solid conclusions. With the injuries, I guess you could argue we still can't, but one thing that is inarguable is time.
The good news is that we are only 6 games back from Milwaukee. That, couple with our returning starters is the best thing to hope for.
At the beginning of the season I predicted 90 wins.
As it stands now with 118 games to go, the Reds would need to be 70-48 the remainder of the schedule to pull that off (.685). While I have confidence in the starting pitching and the return of Bruce/Votto, that's an optimistic outlook. I would say the Reds would need at least 90 wins to get to the wild card game again, unless we luck out and the division has a down year.
As it currently stands, our think our best hope is that the Central tanks a little this year (which would be reasonable since last year's 3 playoff teams could be considered an anomaly). In that scenario, perhaps the Reds could win the Central with a 84-86 win season ala 2006 Cardinals. Again, maybe optimistic, but as it stands now, the Central doesn't look as tough as it did last year.
I think I should start a thread for this specifically. Tomorrow though. There is beer to consume for now.
I would like nothing more than to look back with a big smile and say "PepperJack was right. He told us!"
But we heard very similar things last season when the Reds were pissing away game after game after game early in the season, then they wound up in a crappy one-off game in Pittsburgh. All of these games count. There needs to be a bigger sense of urgency from this team. So many are under-performing.
Rounding third and heading for home...
I hate losing too, but it's May 20th/21st, and I didn't say anything that was unreasonable.
Look, I'm not expecting a miracle here, I personally don't think the Reds need one. They have top shelf pitching, the bullpen really can't be worse, and the team's hitters are getting healthy one by one.
Maybe Bruce is healing really fast, but won't perform to his standards when he does come back. Maybe his power will be down, but I have no reason to expect that to be the case. What if Votto is out longer than the team hopes, or Ludwick is out longer, or Mesoraco looks human for too long?
Those are worse case scenarios that are about as likely as the absolute best case ones, in fact, the worse case outlook is less likely for some of these, and I'm a naturally positive person. I don't use baseball to get depressed, I let other things take care of that, baseball is fun, and full of optimism, at least it is in May(unless you're a fan of a really bad team, and even then there is the draft).
I'm not concerned about last season's failures, because this is a new, and different season. It changes every year, even if the core remains. Like how different the team was in 2012 compared to 2013.
People are/were down on the offense. I am just not one of them.
I think Bruce will be strong when he returns.
I think Mesoraco will settle in nicely this season.
I think Phillips is playing better than I thought he would, coming off his injury last year.
Hamilton is proving he can handle the everyday job.
Frazier is having a nice bounce back at 3B.
The team, to me, may have two holes, LF/SS. I think an in-house combo can handle LF(Ludwick, Lutz), and I think the team will ride with Cozart at SS.
I'm not going to try to predict trades in two months, or cry woe is me in May, while the team is alive, and getting healthy.
I will enjoy this season no matter what happens, the Reds are playing baseball. I hope you, and others who are even more down about the team than you are, can find enjoyment in the season too.
redsmetz (05-21-2014)
I agree with most of that. That's why I say urgency instead of panic. May is certainly too early to start freaking out, but we need to see some signs from this bunch. These games to this point represent 25% of their "final grade," so to speak. I can't stress that enough. This thought that just because it's a long season means you can write off all these bad games we've seen to date is dangerous. You seldom get the chance to make up the ground. I think I read somewhere today that they need to play near .593 baseball from here on out to get to 90 wins. That's asking a lot for a team with very little margin for error.
Rounding third and heading for home...
I decided to take a night off last night...was actually really nice.
I'm glad I didn't have tickets for last nights game. Awful game, just awful. I really don't like how this team is trending. They are getting blown out now and that's very bad news for the rest of the season if things don't change quickly.
I'll be in attendance this afternoon. Thunderstorms are predicted for the DC area so there may be delays. I imagine they will wait around all night to get this one in since the Reds are't back in DC again this season.
Reds Fan Since 1971
Meh, Cueto was due for a stinker.
KittyDuran (05-21-2014)
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