Over the course of six days, the Reds went from being tied for first place and having a marginal lead for the Wild Card to 4 1/2 games back and having two teams blow by them.  For the first time in a long time, the Reds are on the outside looking in.  I guess I’ve been expecting this to happen for a while (i.e. the slide) but for it to happen this late is, well, disconcerting.

This time it was all at the expense of the Dodgers.  Todd Hollandsworth and Brandon Phillips were our offense on Monday.  Phillips homered and drove in two runs while Hollandsworth had two hits and three RBIs.  Chris Michalak was the starter and he was pegged for four runs over four innings.  Todd Coffey didn’t help when he gave up two runs in the seventh.

On Tuesday, the Reds took the lead in the sixth on Brandon Phillips RBI single and then Mark Belisle gave up a run in the bottom half of the inning and the game was tied.  Then neither team scored for ten innings as the game went well into extra frames.  The death blow was Ramon Martinez’s solo homerun off of Ryan Franklin.

Yesterday, the Reds ran into a pretty good Greg Maddux and while Aaron Harang was only okay, it was a collapse by the bullpen that put this game out of reach.  Jason LaRue homered and Ken Griffey, Jr. and Edwin Encarncion both had two hits and one run.

Where are you Adam Dunn?

Next up is a huge three game series with the Padres, who now currently lead the Wild Card race.  There’s no better way to make up ground then to beat that top team.  It’s put up or shut the F up time.

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Man, they were there.  I know it was just a day, but they were there.  And what a difference a weekend makes.  Now the Reds are clinging to a half game lead for the Wild Card (over the Padres), fighting for their lives against the NL West leading Dodgers.

Thursday seemed so long ago, but the Reds won that day.  The Reds came back from three down to tie it in the seventh.  Then in the eighth, David Ross hit a solo shot to put the Reds ahead for good.  Edwin Encarnacion had three hits, two RBIs and one run.  Juan Castro drove in two runs in the 6-3 win.  Ryan Franklin picked up the win and David Weathers notched his tenth save of the season.

It all went downhill from there.  In the next three games, all the Reds could muster were two runs.  Ken Griffey hit a solo homerun in the first inning on Friday and then David Ross hit a solo homerun on Saturday.  When you score two runs in three days, you’re not going to win too often.

Next up is the Dodgers.  I hate the color blue.  Hopefully the Reds do too.

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Hooray. Forget that Wild Card thing. Man this has been a weird year. The Reds have been on the inside of playoff contention for a long time now. Hanging on for dear life. And now they’re back in first place with the Cardinals. Go Reds

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What happened to the Astros? I thought Roger Clemens was coming back to “win.” Since he’s come back, the Astros have been pretty bad. Good thing is, their bad luck is our good luck. They beat us today, putting us a game and a half back of the Cardinals in NL Central (Cards play tonight), but the Reds won another series.

Friday was exciting. The Reds went down 3-0 and were down most of the game until the eighth inning. Then opportunity struck and Rich Aurilia hit a three run homerun to tie the game up. Not content with a tie, the Reds kept up the heat and later that inning, Royce Clayton drove home Brandon Phillips for the go ahead run. Bronson Arroyo had a pretty good start but he didn’t get a decision. The winner was Ryan Franklin with Scott Schoenweis getting his first save.

There was very little drama yesterday. The Reds exploded for thirteen runs in the first four innings in the 14-0 blowout. Adam Dunn hit homerun number 38 and he drove in three runs. Scott Hatteberg homered as well and he had four RBIs. Five different Reds scored twice and Kyle Lohse and Mark Belisle combined for a four hit shutout.

Man, our bullpen blows. This time, Todd Coffey was the culprit. He gave up six runs in the seventh inning in the 7-3. He didn’t even get a guy out. Rheal Cormier didn’t help things because most of Coffey’s runs were actually scored on hits Cormier gave up. Ken Griffey, Jr. and Todd Hollandsworth each had two hits and RBI in the loss.

No days off here. The Reds fly right to San Francisco for a four game series against the Giants. The Giants have been winning so hopefully the Reds put an end to that.

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Man, the new and improved bullpen is dropping like flies.  Gary “I must be so good a team will give up position players for me” Majewski and Kent Mercker are already on the DL.  Now Eddie Guardado, the Reds closer, is on the shelf.  Sounds like his left elbow is acting up.  The bullpen has been our weakness most of this season and this doesn’t help things.

There’s good news though.  The Reds are winning.  They lost the series opener to the Pirates on Friday but bounced back yesterday with a beat down.  David Ross homered and drove in five runs and Brandon Phillips homered and drove in three runs.  Edwin Encarnacion continued his awesome second half with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs.  Eric Milton was shelled, but when your offense gives you 14 runs, it doesn’t much matter.  Ryan Franklin picked up the win in this one.

Aaron Harang bounced back from losing to the Cardinals earlier this week with a very strong outing today.  He struck out nine and gave up only one run in seven innings.  He’s now 13-8.  Adam Dunn hit homerun number and Encarnacio singled and boosted his batting average to a nice even .300 for the season.  Heading into the game, he’s hitting .369/.436/.738 since the All Star break.  Talk about huge.  He now has 27 RBIs in 27 games since the break.

The Cardinals also won two of three this weekend so we’re back to two and a half games back.  In the Wild Card race, the Reds have a little more breathing room.  They picked up a game and now lead the Diamondbacks and Padres by two games.  Next up is three against Houston, who are clinging to their Wild Card chances.  Be nice to bury them.

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Just when the Reds were making progress, we run into a speed bump.  The Reds dropped two of three to the Cardinals, so we lost a game in the standings there.  The Reds also have a bunch of teams breathing down their throat for the Wild Card.  Our lead there is still just a single game.

Aaron Harang was outdueled on Tuesday.  He was roughed up in five innings before yielding to a Gary Majewskiless bullpen that kept the Reds in the game.  Unfortunately, all the Reds could manage was four stinking hits.  All singles.

They made up for the lack of hitting by blowing out the Cardinals the next day.  Edwin Encarnacion showed his potential by belting two homeruns with four RBIs.  Adam Dunn hit homerun number 36 and Ken Griffey, Jr. also went yard.

Then the bats left us again yesterday.  Griffey hit a solo homerun in the seventh for the only run of the game for the Reds and a great start by newcomer Kyle Lohse went to waste.  He gave up a single run on five hits in seven innings of work.

There’s hope though.  The Cardinals play three against their arch-nemesis, the Chicago Cubs.  Ironically, they can’t beat the Cubs.  The Reds play the last place Pirates.  So we can’t blow a chance if the Cubbies give us one this weekend.

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Adam Dunn sits at 35 homeruns so far this season.  Five more and he’ll notch his third straight forty homerun season.  What is the signficance you say?  A few things.  First off, Dunn would be the first player to hit 40 homeruns as a Red in three seasons, much less three in a row.  It’ll also put him at 198 in his career, which will tie him with Barry Larkin for seventh all time in the franchise’s history.

If the Reds ownership and management are serious about this team’s future, it’s imperative that Dunn be signed to a big multi year contract.  Ken Griffey, Jr. is in the twilight of his career.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s still very good.  Dunn is the future though.

Man are things interesting.  The Cardinals have hit another skid, only this time the Reds have thrown some wins together.  So we head to St. Louis only a game and a half back of the Cards.  And it doesn’t get any better then Aaron Harang vs. Chris Carpenter in the series opener tomorrow.  I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it.

And I’ve avoided talking about this, but the whole Gary Majewski thing has me in a tizzy.  And to make things worse, Kent Mercker, who hasn’t been awful this year, is now out for the season.  Maybe we can trade Edwin Encarnacion for another middle reliever or something.  Makes sense to me.  Who needs those position players anyway when you can have a pitcher who throws an inning or two every third day.

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By Thaq Diesel

This Cardinals series has a crazy playoff atmosphere to it.  It’s pathetic that it takes cheap hot dogs and half price tickets to get the stadium full, but the fans are doing their part now that their butts are in the seats. The din was a full roar when David Ross smacked his homer in the 9th to win it tonight.  Watching Freel hustle Rose-style yesterday also got the fans into a full frothy foam.  Let’s hope the Reds continue to get support as they stay in the race even after management takes the $1.00 hot dog training wheels off.

With so many teams on the Reds heels, it is paramount that Cincinnati focus on winning the division.  The wildcard probably won’t get decided until the last day of the regular season (if then).  When the smoke clears, I doubt the Reds will be in the thick of the wildcard.

• The David Ross walk-off home run is in the top five of the highlights of the season, with Ryan Freel’s catch yesterday being in the mix.  I also think Harang beating Carpenter 1-0 earlier in the season, Arroyo’s home runs and Dunn’s walkoff are in there too. 
• The comebacks the Reds have made against them cements the fact the Cardinals bullpen is chock-full of holes.  It gives me hope the Red Legs can eventually move past them again in the standings.  
• We’ve seen some spectacular defense the past two nights.  Freel’s catch is as good as any I’ve ever seen Edmonds make.  Freel did it at a critical time in the game, too. Edwin Encarnacion also made a great snag at third tonight to save extra bases.  Phillips is starting to shine in the field.  We can’t get back the games lost by defense earlier this year, but maybe the defense can bail out what is still looking to be a shaky bullpen (until it gets it sea legs anyway).
• It’s amazing to see all these new names come out of the pen.  It was a wholesale change (Weathers, Coffey and Mercker notwithstanding) but there was no risk in making such a move; there was nowhere to go but up.  The trouble here is the pen is still finding its identity.  I also don’t know yet where to dial up the butt-clench-ometer for each pitcher because I’m not used to seeing how they react in clutch situations. 
• So the hopping at the plate on a walkoff homerun is still in vogue, but now the helmet toss before reaching home plate in the mix.  Why do players do that, you ask?  Have you ever had geeked up athletes smack you in the earholes of a batting helmet or football helmet before?  It hurts like hell and is nearly deafening.  It’s a defense mechanism more than a celebration. 
• I’ll have more information on the atmosphere at Great American when my roving reporter and good friend CG attends the game tomorrow afternoon with his wife, sister, three-year old son and infant twin boys.  Well, I guess he’ll tell me about the first two innings, anyway.  After that he’ll tell me what the game sounded like on the radio with the twins screaming in the back seats.
• They said on the television broadcast that the Reds fans have gone through 61,000 hot dogs in the past two days.  I rate Charmin toilet paper a hot BUY BUY BUY!!! 

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By Thaq Diesel

The Reds get a left-handed bat for the bench, where none existed previously save for the switch-hitting Javier Valentin.  This could be nothing, but hopefully this one move could be the difference maker for a clutch hit late in the season.  Hollandsworth had been having a down year for the Indians, but perhaps there was a “Wedge” in the team affecting him…”THANK YOU!  I’ll be in town all week!  Be sure to tip your waitstaff!” 

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Alright, this is what it’s all about.  The Reds are now 3 1/2 games back of the Cardinals and the Cards just happen to come to town for four games.  Screw this wild card stuff.  The Reds are going to sweep the Cards and take over the NL Central lead.  As long as Gary Majewski doesn’t get into a game.  And if you still can’t tell, I’m still bitter about the Reds trading Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez for middle relievers.

Friday’s game was a nail biter.  The Reds went down 2-0 early but the Reds stormed back with four runs in the sixth.  Royce Clayton homered again and he now has two as a Red.  Edwin Encarnacion drove in two runs and Aaron Harang improved to 12-7.  Eddie Guardado got into trouble in the ninth, but he pitched out of it and picked up his seventh save.

Brandon Phillips had a career day yesterday.  Three for three with two homeruns and four RBIs.  Adam Dunn hit homerun number 33 and David Weathers scooped up the win.  Bill Bray threw in the ninth and he picked up save number two.

We could have finished the sweep today, but a late inning surge by the Braves left us a win short.  Gary Majewski was the suspect and he gave up four runs in the eighth inning (have I mentioned that was a bad trade) to give the Braves the win.  Ken Griffey, Jr. hit homerun number 23.

Just in case we don’t sweep, the Reds have a one game lead over the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.   There’s a lot of teams hanging in there though, so this could be a very fun final couple of months in the National League.

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