Bleh, the Reds were in the mix for a while but with their pitching struggles (that was supposed to be a strength, the Reds sit a near insurmountable ten games back of the first place Brewers. In fact if the Cardinals don’t get their stuff together, they could be out of it too because they’re five back. Even this latest four game winning streak hasn’t helped the Reds out too much.

The Reds are 12 out of 16 in ERA. That by itself isn’t horrible, but it’s not the pitching staff of a contender. Johnny Cueto has been good, Mike Leake has been solid and everyone else needs some big time improvement. Homer Bailey is our third best starter. Not that it’s bad, but it kind of puts things into perspective because he’s been the sixth man of sorts. The pen has been good, but not lights out.

You have the one-two punch of Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, but Brandon Phillips power seems to have escaped him and that makes for a lackluster lineup. They do have the third best OPS, but that’s due in part to the two studs at top. In fact things are kind of backwards. The Reds have scored more runs then any other team in the National League but one, yet their pitching let them down.

So while 10 games isn’t an impossible deficit to make up, it’s highly improbable. Time to start thinking about next year if it’s the end of the month and we’re still ten games back.

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