Well Brandon Phillips may have awoken the sleeping beast. Great idea, call them a bunch of bitches, they certainly went in to the Queen City and hit them in the mouth.

_________________
1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

I stand corrected NSJ. I was not buying the Reds early on, and they have proved me wrong. Tell you the truth, I hope they hold off the Cards. I don't care much for either team, but I dislike the Cardinalls a little more and they have had recent success.

_________________

That's cool, Frank. I'd be rooting for anyone other than the Cards, if the Reds were out of it.

Also, cool of you to respond to your own post. I've been waiting patiently for next Tuesday to respond, hoping the Reds didn't blow it by Labor Day. Interestigly, Labor Day weekend is huge. Although the Reds have a five game lead, they play three in St. Louis next weekend and they have not matched up well against Wainwright, Garcia, and Carpenter - all of whom they face next weekend. The Reds will likley have to remain hot to stay in first place and still have the Cards, Padres and Rockies to play on the road in September.

I'm with ya , Frank. Dustiny in the World Series will be the cherry on top of another miserable Cubs season under Jim Hendry.

Kinda like watching the Thome and the Twins play in the playoffs will be another cherry topped miserable season for the Sox.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

apples and oranges. Dusty was terrible here. Thome was very good in a Sox uniform.

_________________

True, but that won't make it hurt any less.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Even without Thome the Sox have wasted a number of chances to get back into first place.


And notice I didn't bring up Dusty or the Cubs.

_________________

I still stand by my wish that the Cards could play the Reds every day...

...but that being said, I definately have to eat some crow as far as their success this year goes...

_________________
"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."

I started this thread and I was a year off and I could end up being wrong before the month is over with but it looks fairly accurate to me.

_________________

7 games now

What the fuck happened to the Cardinals?

_________________

People down here are going crazy, calling for LaRussa's head. It is quite entertaining.

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

19k people at the game in Cincy last night for a team in 1st place who just called up their biggest prospect.

Baseball is definitely more popular than football.

_________________
Team Cutler.

Please let bigfan know this so he can start a thread in the Sox forum about taxes in Cincy going toward their new park.

_________________

-They can't hit. They've just endured consecutive shutouts and save a couple 10 run game are averaging around 2 runs in their last 15 or so.

-They screwed up and traded Ryan Ludwick for more pitching (Westbrook) when they didn't need it. Carpenter, Wainwright and Garcia in the playoffs would have dominated.

-They wasted a bunch of the season with Felipe Lopez at 3rd.

-LaRussa has made some pretty questionable calls that have cost them games.

-They can't beat the bad teams and have lost consecutive series to the Cubs, Pirates, Nationals and Astros.

-All the while the Reds were putting up the best record in August in MLB and now have the third best record in baseball.

The series in St. Louis this weekend will be interesting, but the Reds could get swept and still have a decent lead.

They've been getting 30K+ for the past month or so, but under the circumstances you mention, 19K is bad.

Great American is such a great place for a game too. Used to go quite a bit when I went to school in Ohio. Awesome park, easy to get to.

I'm sure attendance will be a lot better from here on out

_________________
Team Cutler.

Since it looks like Dusty and the Reds will make the playoffs we can now turn our attention to how he will fuck up in the playoffs. Will he pull his stud pitcher too soon like he did in San Francisco or will he pull his stud pitcher too late like he did in Chicago?

_________________

Anyone is capable of making a wrong sports prediction, but this is particularly funny because the Reds having the best August record in baseball is quite opposite from falling apart and withering.

Has Dusty had many other seasons in which one of his contending teams fell apart in August and withered in September? I know it happend with the Cubs once. When else?

Happened with the Cubs more than once.
But that being said, the Cards being awful for some crazy reason has a lot to do with the Reds being that far in first too. didn't see a LaRussa team being that bad lately..
Let's see what they do. I predicted a 2nd place finish. THat's not completely unreasonable for Mid August.

_________________
"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Here are two under the radar guys to watch out for this year:

Jonny Gomes and Micah Owings

Gomes was a rising star in the Rays organization and a big power hitter who has led the Reds in home runs and RBI this spring. I'm not a fantasy guy but Owings can pitch and hit. He'll soon be named the #5 starter after giving up 3 ER's in 18+ innings this Spring. The guys above (plus Volquez and Cueto) are the Reds' future, but I met Gomes and Owings surprise.

_________________
You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Magic Number: 13

Twenty games over .500

Game and a half off of best record in the league.

Cardinals are 7 GB.

What does your math tell you, Steve?

I'm finally feeling comfortable that the Reds will win the Central. Now it's about trying for the best record in the NL.

Issues:

1. Closing. Cordero has blown a ton of saves. I think they should give Chapman a shot at closing while the games don't mean anything. I doubt Dusty will do it.

2. Can't beat playoff teams. Not good in the playoffs.

3. No starting pitching aces. Bad recipe for the playoffs.

4. Young team. Key players (excpet for Rolen) don't have playoff experience.

5. Manager. Darkside and Nas had some intersting Dusty thoughts which began this thread, but I can't find Nas' points.

So basically they are fucked!

_________________
You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

Lets go Reds. Since I am getting this game I want to see an on field clincher.

_________________
That's my purse! I don't know you!

Resigning core:

Jay Bruce - Six years/$51M
Bronson Arroyo - Three years/$35M

I don't think Votto is signing a long-term deal this offseason, but I hope I'm wrong.

Reds sign Renteria, 1 yr/ 3M. WS MVP.

that jay bruce deal could be a nice value if he can combine the concepts of hitting .275 and hitting for power. thus far, he's managed to do either one or the other throughout the course of a season. i remember seeing him hitting .270 last year on the waiver wire/FA-list and i'm like "OMFG! i can stash this dude and when the power surge comes if he doesn't dip down to .230 i've got something here... but it never happened"

edgar renteria is an overblown backup infielder who performed in the world series, but that's about it. .276/3/22 in ~260 at bats, and if you look at 2009 he got ~500 at bats and was like .250/5/48, so it's not like you made a worldbeating signing here. in baseball moreso than other sports it's not like the reds can just sleepwalk through the regular season and turn it on come october. i don't know if janish is the answer, but rest assured he won't be the answer once edgar renteria shows up in decent health (can't forget what eggar has done for us, man)

i always thought that bronson arroyo sucked, and even though he gave you competent 3/4 in the rotation performance over the last 4 years, when the 2011 season starts he'll be 34 and "he won't get a hell of a lot better"

the reds really need homer bailey to step up and be the dude, along with the return of edison volquez. harang is/was/always-will-be done since dusty cooked him in that extra innings game a few years back. from there, i'll take my chances with mike leake and travis wood... i don't think there's anything OMFG there.

depending on how dusty handles aroldis chapman (and history is not on his side) and how volquez returns combined with cueto/bailey developing, they could be a bitch. they'll win at least 80 games and possibly be very very good if all of the pitching works out (you could have volquez/cueto/arroyo/bailey/leake/wood/chapman and maybe be able to deal leake/wood for something else if chapman works out as a starter... that's the plan, right? idk if they'd give up on a ~25 year old first round draft pick this early, but bailey would have to be first odd man out. i'm guessing harang is done, right?) but this is dusty, so i think he'll help find a way to ensure a chokejob either in the regular season or especially in the postseason. i hope that dusty baker never wins a world series, and while i don't hate the reds i do hate dusty baker so until he's gone i will actively root against the reds with the exception of serious injury to a promising young talent.

_________________

Just read this. Pretty damned insightful for a guy who is not a fan of this team. Well done. (Reds didn't pick up Harang's option and he signed with the Padres).

Reds signed Votto for three years/$38M which basically only avoids arbitration, but not a bad signing for Reds for the current NL MVP and ROY runner up (Geovany Soto).

Arroyo doesn't get much credit, but he will likely be the Reds most consistent pitcher this year. Again.

Big series against the Cards this weekend. Cards look like their doing ok without Wainwright and without Albert playing to form. If I were a Cubs fan, I'd be roorting for the Reds, but unfortunately, the Reds track record against the Cards is not good.