A rant: How can people who call themselves Reds fans expect anything to go well with all the negative energy flying around? Today is May 11, not September 11. A season is not over when you're five games under .500 in May (with nine of those losses a result of your bullpen.) You still have 3/4ths of a season to play and 13 games left against the Sausages.Yet cries of "This team sux!" abound. No one is immune to the critical assault. I think it is only a matter of time before the wheels fall of the Hamilton bandwagon and fans start calling for Krivsky's head because of his mini-slump.
As I stated in an earlier post, Milwaukee is not running away with the division, because they have but once faced a team over .500. I'm not saying the Sausages suck. I'm saying they aren't as good as they are playing now. One only has to look at last year's hot start by the Reds to see that what happens up to this point of the season is easily lost. The rest of the division is bunched up, and place changes daily. Expect Milwaukee to cool down this month after playing the Mets, Atlanta, LA, and San Diego. That's a tough schedule!Sure, the bullpen is frustrating, and so is Krivsky's refusal to do much about it. But give him some credit - he did get rid of Rheal Cormier and brought up a young arm. The pen is not going to be this bad all season. We do have to deal with Jerry Morron, who should not be in a manager's position, but such is life. He's part of the triumvirate of evil which plagues the team, but by no means does he stand as an obstacle to a title.
So instead of saying "The season is over!" or "This team is not a contender!" at every misfortune, how about projecting some positive energy on the team? You know, rooting for them instead of looking for things to complain about? Just look at all the positives:- The Reds lead the Majors in home runs with 47. Milwaukee is #2 with 43.
- Josh Hamilton. If a person exists who can't enjoy watching Hamilton play baseball, he might want to find a new sport to follow. (.268/.351/.588, 8 HR, 18 RBI, 19 R)
- Ken Griffey Jr. is hitting like he's ten years younger at .323/.436/.573 with 6 homers, 19 RBI, and 15 runs scored. He's just moved into a tie for 9th place on the all-time homer list, only four behind #8 Harmon Killebrew.
- Adam Dunn is hitting .286/.384/.635 with an NL leading 11 homers and 24 RBI; that's something to be excited about. Oh, and don't forget those 30 runs scored.
- Reds starters are tenth in MLB in ERA at 3.87 (6th in NL), second in innings pitched at 220.2, fifth in strikeouts with 165 (third in NL), tied for NL 3rd in fewest HR allowed, 2nd best in OBP allowed, #1 in K/BB in MLB at 3.17 (we blow everyone else out of the water - #2 is Milwaukee at 2.85), #4 in WHIP at 1.28 (#7 MLB).
- Cincinnati is 10th in the Majors in runs scored at 168 (#6 in the NL). Reds batters are also #2 in the Majors in triples (11), #4 in total bases (518), #10 in RBI (161), #6 in slugging, #9 in OPS, #8 in SB, #1 in pinch hits (16), and they're way down at #12 in strikeouts after hovering near the top for the last several years. The offense is hardly meager, despite about a ten day stretch of a total team slump in April.
- Alex Gonzalez brought his bat to Cincinnati - .293/.346/.552 with 7 homers, 16 RBI, and 17 runs. Felipe who?
- Brandon Phillips (.277/.331/.475, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 19 R), Ryan Freel (.272/.357/.377, 21 R), and Scott Hatteberg (.295/.367/.409, 11 RBI, 12 R) are having good seasons thus far, too. The only starters with problems are Edwin Encarnacion, who was just demoted to AAA, and David Ross, who had a good week this week and seems to be coming out of his cluelessness.
I'm tired of the doom and gloom surrounding the Reds. Just be a fan, I say!
And with that, I'm off to see the worst team in baseball play the Fish.
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