TheNastyNati

So, I've been up in Cleveland because my g/f's family has been having problems and I've been helping them out.  This has left me fairly out of the loop with the Reds but apparently I should stay here.  The Reds went on a 4 game tear against the National which was definitely a much needed scenario.  Now the Reds are looking at being relatively close to the .500 mark again.  Last time I think I got my hopes up a little bit too much and I may have jinxed us.  I apologize for that.  Still, we have a tough road schedule ahead of us.  The Cubs have cooled off a bit lately but they are still the Cubs and the Brewers are looking to have one of the most deadly one two punches in baseball with Ben Sheets and C.C. Sabathia.  That's not going to prove to be easy at all.

Regardless, lets take some time to look at the positives.  This is a team that, for whatever reason, tends to win against teams with better records.  Plus, we are on a tear and if Busty can FINALLY do his job and motivate this team, we can stay on that tear and ride it all the way until they come home.  I mean, come on, just once Busty Faker, we need this team to stay focused.  That's what a coach does!  It's not too much to ask for you to do your job.  The rest of us get up and go to work every day.  I think you can do it. 

Plus, Jay Bruce is beginning to get back into form.  He isn't looking like an All-Star anymore BUT he is starting to get into a 2 hit a game groove.  I can live with that, especially when one of those hits is a dinger out of Wrigley field.  If only Keppinger could get his timing back we'd be good to go. 

When it comes down to it, we have some hope and we have something to look towards.  We may not be a contender but if we can get back to .500, inch by inch, at least we'd have something to celebrate. 

I'm not gonna lie, I had some serious hopes for my Reds this season.  We finally looked like we had a few things worked out.  Last year the story was that we had decent offense but had awful starting and closing pitching.  In the off-season we acquired Francisco Cordero and Edison Volquez for Josh Hamilton.  Hamilton was going to be missed but he wasn't nearly as good last year as he is now so I thought it was a great idea.  Plus, we had some young guns like Cueto coming up to round things out.  Good news on the pitching front, and since I thought we had offense covered I was pumped.  A team that could contend?  NICE!  Plus, the word was that the Cards, Astros, Cubs and Pirates weren't going to be that great so we had an even better chance of running away with it and finally making the play offs...

Now we are nearing the all-star break and the Reds are 13 games behind the Cubs for the division title and well under .500.  It's not looking good for any form of a play off berth.  Plus, to make things worse, the Reds teased us with getting 2 games under .500.  We thought that with Bruce back we might have a chance at turning things around.  It was just a tease, like I said.  After that the team went on the road and we started going downhill.  Nothing seemed to work out.  We couldn't field, hit, pitch or run.  In fact, fundamental baseball was just not happening.  The question becomes, is it too late to make something out of this year or will the management finally start to make some moves towards next year.  Who will be traded and brought in before the all-star break, if anyone?  Personally, I'm holding out hope for a late season burst but I'll still be looking to next year for the real fireworks.