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Break up the Reds! Magical Season Continues - Win Streak at Eight

June 8th, 2006 | Thaq Diesel

By Thaq Diesel

A look at the last four wins:

Monday - Griffey comes up HUGE with a 3-run jack in the 9th inning to take the lead on a fat fastball on a 3-2 count. Coffey has a no-stress save. F-Lo goes 4 for 5. Starting pitching and middle relief not so great. Just win, baby.
Tuesday - Eric Milton is one start away from officially becoming yet a third dominant starter for the Reds. His change up is really starting to get nasty. There is an Adam Dunn sighting in this game. Griffey gets dinged up again, though it looks to be minor. Edwin Encarnacion looked like he was shot when he fell to the ground while running the bases. You thought blown ACL, blown hammy, he was bit by a Black Widow spider… It turned out to be just a mild sprain, but it must have hurt like hell.
Wednesday - A series sweep of a bitter rival in their house. How sweet it is! Aaron Harang dinged up his ERA just a tad when he ran out of gas in the sixth, but in the ‘Natti it’s all about results and a win is a win. Dave Weathers continues to sputter a bit. The Reds ordered up some Coffey in the 9th and it was strong.
Thursday - Some retribution was delivered for the smack laid down by Chicago last week. Bronson Arroyo looks to be a leader on this team - he has some street cred with the championship he earned with Boston. He was quoted saying this Reds team is a confident as the Red Sox in the playoffs. A bit of hyperbole, perhaps, but he’s leading with his arm. Great offensive production from the bottom of the batting order. Adam Dunn is in a real funk. This team is smoking hot and is hitting on all cylinders right now.

Random Thoughts

The Reds have all the team components required to win. Not all the pieces have necessarily been working at the same time, but this team has what it takes to be a playoff team. Most notably, pitching, depth and great pinch hitting have been key strengths. Hitting has not been noticably absent at times, though during this winning streak hitting has certainly improved.
I love watching Todd Coffey coming out of the bullpen like a clumsy freight train. It’s not a cool entrance like, say, Trevor Hoffman. However, the zeal Coffey displays has to give the opposing team some pause. I wonder if the bullpen coach tells him something like, “If you can beat Javier Valentin to the mound, there’s a hot dog hidden under the rosen bag.”
How fun was it to watch Griffey jack out a game-winning home run Monday night? It was a reminder of the immense talent he has and a great moment in his career. I saw the catcher set up outside on the 3-2 count, but the ball stayed over the plate. Griff got around on the ball with that easy swing and it exploded off his bat. It was even sweeter to ding up the Cardinals and their vaunted closer Jason Isringhausen.
Cincinnati, and his subsequent release was the best thing to happen to Tony Womack the past two years. Talk about being motivated by your ex…

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