By Thaq Diesel

I guess I’ll have to take the blame for a God-awful 2-8 road trip, one that single-handedlly may have knocked the Reds out of the playoffs.  Like me, the Reds have apparently spent their summer passed out in the back yard on a lawn chair with “Cheeseburger in Paradise” on endless repeat.  Now, sunburned, their arms tired, the neighbors ready to kill them for hearing the same song all summer (Only for the Reds it’s the twangy song titled “We Win If We Hit More Homeruns Than You,” by Adam Dunn.), the Reds return home in the last month of the season to try and salvage an almost miracle run atop the wildcard this year. 

The timing of the West Coast road trip was bad (late in the year, right after the new Christina Aguilera album came out) but you had to think that the Reds could manage at least a .500 swing, given their relative success away from home this year.  The Reds, however, were chewed up.  Worse, it was by the teams they were hoping to stay in front of for the wildcard.  I guess the positive spin, like it’s been applied all summer, is that they’ve played about as badly as you could expect the past two weeks and are still 2.5 games out of a playoff spot.  You just keep waiting for an 8 or 9 game win streak to happen; it just hasn’t.  It will sort itself out with two series each against the Cubs and Pirates (teams the Reds should beat, but haven’t done so regularly thus far this season).  The Reds also play the Giants, Padres, Houston and Florida – all teams that have to be looking at the wildcard as up for grabs, the same way Cincinnati is right how.  Winning series against the Giants and Padres would really help the cause. The Reds still control their destiny somewhat.

The wildcard looks to be the single goal now that the Reds are 6 games out of first with now more games against St. Louis.  Mr. Poo-holes is waking up again and the Cardinals have had some pretty good pitching of late.  The Reds need to get some good starts and get the lumber working again, right quick. 

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