A lineup I'd like to see

I'm not worried about the Reds' recent woes. Yet. I mean, Harang has lost two games - he lost six all year last year - and we know he's not going to continue on this road. The pitching has been fine. Sure, Stormy blew that game yesterday, but it's not like it was his fault alone for losing. The offense is in a black hole right now. Based on the past several years, we know that won't continue. With just one righthanded bat with some pop added to the bench, the entire makeup of this team would change.

Regardless, some lineup tweaking is in order:

RF Jeff Keppinger
LF Adam Dunn
2B Brandon Phillips
CF Ken Griffey, Jr.
3B Edwin Encarnacion
1B Joey Votto
SS Alex Gonzalez
C Paul Bako
Pitcher

Why not bat Kepp leadoff? No, he's not a conventional leadoff hitter, but his on base percentage is .367. Compare that to that Dusty import who's been hitting there - .246. Yeah, that's on base percentage, not batting average. Kepp's not a base stealer, but look who's batting behind him. You don't need to steal bases when you have 120 homers sitting behind you.

I know Griffey doesn't have the range to play center anymore, but I'd rather have him there than Kepp. Kepp doesn't have the range to play short, either, evidenced by the fact that the Reds have turned the fewest double plays in Major League Baseball. Last year when Alex was in the lineup, they ranked among the higher teams. I can't wait for Alex to get back. He'll give the team a much needed righthanded bat in the lineup, not some Corey Patterson whiffle bat. And he should take Juan Hands of Gold Bat of Foam Castro's place on the roster, provided that the Reds are willing to cut even more losses and rid the team of one of Krivsky's numerous mistakes.

Patterson can come off the bench to replace Kepp for defensive reasons late in games. The dude just can't hit. His three million bucks is tying the team's hands right now. Oh, Wayne, WE TOLD YOU BUT YOU NEVER LISTEN AND YOU NEVER LEARN. Isn't Jocketty sitting somewhere in the Reds front office? Can't he be consulted when Wayne wants to sign yet another washup/hasbeen/neverwas/veteran presence?

Adam Dunn's on base percentage is a whopping .423 right now. I've always liked him in the two hole. Conventional wisdom says he's a slugger, but Dunner is not a conventional player. Put him in the second spot of the order to take advantage of his high OBP. It's not like it'd be the first time he hit there. With BP, Griffey, and Edwin hitting behind him, he's gonna score a lot of runs. Not that he doesn't already.

The whole lineup runs righty-lefty until the Alex and Bako. I don't think it makes a bit of difference, but some people do, including Reds managers for the duration of this seasonal losing streak.

When the Reds finally call up Jay Bruce (next month), I'd like to see Kepp playing in five different positions during the week. So, say it's Edwin's turn for a day off - the lineup would go:

3B Kepp
LF Dunn
2B BP
RF JR
1B Votto
CF Bruce
SS Alex
C Bako

And Votto's turn:

1B Kepp
LF Dunn
2B BP
RF JR
3B Edwin
CF Bruce
SS Alex
C Bako

And on and on.

As for the Bench, Alex takes Castro's spot on the roster, so we'd get rid of him. Bruce takes Hopper's spot, so we get rid of him. Valentin stays. Trade Hatteberg for a righthanded bench bat (or sign Mike Piazza for a decent amount to be used solely OFF THE BENCH. Yeah, I like that idea. In which case you trade Scotty for a couple of minor league guys or a draft pick or something like that. I like Scotty, but he's a lefty on a bench in desperate need of righties.) I've heard that Frank Thomas is now available...:)

What to do about Ross? Well, he isn't hitting at AAA right now, and Bako is hitting at the Major League level, so keep Ross down on the farm. I thought the Bako signing in the spring was stupid, as I was certain we were going to carry three catchers again although that proved to be a stupid experiment for the past two years. (Leave it to Wayno, though, to continue to make the same mistakes again and again...) But since Ross is hurt, or was, we replaced him with a guy that's pretty much the same catcher with less of an arm. Remember when the Reds had the most productive offensive catchers in the NL a few years ago? Now it seems we're stuck with .220 hitters with no power. What's that they say about if it ain't broke??? Wayne.

Kudos to the Reds for pulling Fogg from the rotation. Too bad he just can't be cut, but hopefully a trade can be worked out so we can put this nightmare behind us. If Belisle doesn't work out, we've got Homer, who has only given up four walks in four games pitched at AAA. He also has a sparkling 1.07 ERA. But Fogg? I can't believe he was part of a championship team last year. He's not a bullpen guy. Or maybe he is. We'll see.

It's killing me to see a team with so much potential being butchered by arbitration clocks and guaranteed contracts. PUT THE BEST TEAM ON THE FIELD, WAYNE. I swear, I feel like this is Little League, when the coach's fatass, clumsy son gets to play third base when there is a real athlete toiling away on the bench.

PUT THE BEST TEAM ON THE FIELD.