By Thaq Diesel 

Okay, first the big picture.  It was a .500 road trip which is good but it culminated with some brutal losses to the Cardinals, and those always seem to sting and hurt a little bit more.

I’m trying to figure out why I hate the Cardinals so much more than most other National League teams.  I guess I feel like they’re really talented (especially in the pitching area) and that they’re a “rich” team, like the Yankees.  While their payroll is higher than the Reds, it’s not disproportional from the Braves, Astros, Phillies, etc….  Maybe it’s the way the Reds have lost to them.  Great Cardinals players always seem to do great things against my beloved Reds.  Edmonds has crushed the Reds with some plain ridiculous catches.  Cardinals pitchers have had marquee starts against the Reds the past few years.  Hell, even Mark Whiten made a splash with four home runs and 12 RBI in 1993.

And then there’s Pujols.  He did it again today with three home runs, one of them the knife in the heart to win the game.  As an individual player, I actually like and admire his play.  I just don’t want him to be great against my team.  Ugh, I just can’t stand it. 

Other players do great things against teams and it doesn’t seem as bad as this.  For example, the Red Sox came down from three games in the NLCS against the Yankees and it was consided amazing, yes, but it was also notable because it was done against a great team.  All the great things mentioned above against the Reds were done against them because they were a below average team, against whom you expect great players do such things.  (other notable foibles -  the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Saints, the Washington Generals, etc…)

Adam Dunn is one of the strangest players I’ve ever seen play.  He can always be counted on to do one of three things at the plate with no deviations:  1)  Hit a home run  2) Strike out  3) Walk.  The home run and strikeouts make sense – you’re swinging hard, and sometimes Cerrano no hit curveball.  But how can you be patient enough to walk as much as he does and still strikeout as much as Dunn does?  Whatever – just keep smacking them out, Adam.  Through Saturday’s game he had a 1,000 slugging percentage (slugging average).  (For those of you keeping track, the record is Barry Bonds’ juice-induced .863 in 2001.)

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