By Thaq Diesel

I attended Wrigley Field this past weekend, taking in an afternoon game on Friday and again on Saturday.  It was in many ways a fitting end to the Reds chances for the post season.  Taking 2 out of 3 games was a must, but the bats fell silent for the entire series and the result was the other way around.  If it wasn’t for a pitching gem (a grind-em out one at that) by Arroyo on Friday, the Reds likely would have been swept.  And they would have been swept by the worst team in the National League, which many feel is as bad as it has been for a long time.  The pitching on Friday was great, Saturday was sufficient, and today, well, Uncle Milty said it best when he said, “I probably shouldn’t have been out there today.”  It’s good to be a gamer but it’s a killer to your team when you force the issue.  The sad part is that it takes six or seven runs for Jerry Narron to distinguish between a normal Milton and one who doesn’t have any stuff at all. 

I know Griffey is out, but even he wouldn’t make much of a dent in this team offensively.  I didn’t think the trade of F-Lo and Austin Kearns would hurt this team’s run production, but now I wonder if it did?  It may just be that the reliance on the home run has finally caught up to Cincinnati.  They’re second in the majors in home runs [206] and also conspicuously third in striking out [1094].  For a team with that many dongs, they’re 18th in the majors in runs scored and 27th in batting average [!].  Not a lot of contact hitting going on out there.  I fear that’s the straw that broke the camels back this season – the poor hitting and the at-times abysmal defense. 

Coming later this week – my game log for the lone Reds win on Friday at Wrigley.  It gets pretty descriptive, especially around the third tall beer. 

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