Dew drops on green grass, and stubble on catchers;

Bright shiney helmuts fit snug on the batters ;

Twine run 'round cork, and then sewed up with string;

These are a few of my favorite things.

Sunday red jersies and home fans are cheering;

Questioning strike calls, the batters are leering;

Nasty little change-up, from a Do-mi-ni-can;

These are a few of my favorite things.

B-Lips huge smile, and impossible leather;

Baby blue skies, and hot-sweaty weather;

Peanuts at my feet, and a tall ice-cold brew;

These are a few of my favorite things.

When the Bengs stink,

And the Bucks stink,

And it's really cold,

I think about baseball and GABP,

And then I dont feel so bad.

Baseball season is drawing to a close . . . and I hate it.

When given the choice between watching a championship football team, and a last place Cincinnati Reds, I am one of a rare breed that would rather watch the baseball game - and everyone of them at that.

But my options arent even that good this year, and havent been for many years.

Unfortunately with the summer drawing to a close, the days get shorter, the nights get cooler, and baseball fades into memories of hot summer days spent drinking cold-overpriced brews in the ballpark.  Football starts creeping in during the month of August with preseason rankings and fantasy drafts.  The kids all go out and buy their Ohio State sweatshirts and Ocho Cinco jersies, and the Redlegs are put away in the closet like so many other summer toys.

And what do we have to watch for this winter?  The Cincinnati Bengals continue to lack focus, direction, and solidarity.  The highlight of this was last week when the Bengals wer e playing the Ravens and the Bengals were trying to move the ball downfield in the third quater.  Carson Palmer threw a ball on first down to the right side, and the reciever had turned what looked to be the wrong way for the pass, second down.  Palmer took the snap, handed the ball off to the RB, gain of maybe a yard.  Then, on third down, Carson took the snap, looked for his receiver on the left, saw he wasnt there and immediately threw the ball out of bounds and away 20 yards upfield.  No kidding,  it was the first time Ive ever seen Carson look like he had given up on the field.  Disgusting.  Why does our offense always lack consistency?  Dont we have Carson Palmer, 85, TJ, Utecht?  Why isnt anyone on the same page?  Granted, Im in no way, shape or form, as educated a football man, as I am a baseball man, so I dont fully understand the finer nuances of the gridiron.  But it isnt hard to see when a team isnt playing like one, and this Bengals squad just doesnt play like a team.

What else is there for us in the great state this winter?  Ohio State football of course.  The first team any kid from Ohio is indoctrinated  with at an early age, and why not?  Woody Hayes and the Buckeyes is the scarlet and gray the courses through our veins.  After being fairly dominant the past few years, the SEC style of play has absolutely picked us apart when weve come to face it.  Speed kills (the buckeyes) and Jesus Tressel just hasnt been able to crack the code.  So as we head to SC this week, Buckeyes fans have started to get nervous - and we should be.  Beanie Wells is out, so Boeckman is going to have the pressure on his shoulders to make good passes, and keep the ball moving upfield.  The offensive line as well, must be feeling the pressure having been matched pretty well by the Bobcats last week.  Will losing to USC mean no shot at the title this year?  Hopefully we dont have to find out, but if OSU does lose, there are going to be a lot A LOT of people in Ohio whining for the playoff system.  WHICH IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN.

So Ohio fans, are you excited for football season?  You shouldnt be.  The things Ill be looking for most during the winter:

1. Reds DFA: David Weathers

2. Reds Release: Jolbert Cabrerra, Josh Fogg, Javier Valentin, Ryan Freel, Corey Patterson

3. Reds Retire: Alex Gonzalez

4. Bengals: 7-9

5. Browns: 8-8

6. OSU: wins big ten, trip to Rose Bowl with 2 losses

7. OU: wins MAC, trip to bowl game where they beat Hawaii by 3

After saying last week that Brandon Phillips has a case of "home-runitis", Dusty Baker decided to encourage the fence-swinging by putting Lips in the 4-hole.  Why?  Anyone that has seen Phillips over the past two seasons can see that Phillips has gone from hitting opposite-field gap shots, to trying his damndest to pull everything over the left-field fence.

I know it must be frustrating for Brandon, but it sure can be frustrating for fans, too.  I would like to see Phillips batting 2nd in the order.  He does put the ball in play alot, and batting him second would force him to worry more about on base percentage, than his slugging.  Of course we all know Dusty thinks that OBP is an overrated statistic, but it seems to me that we score a lot more when we "clog the bases" rather than just swinging away.

Of course, we got rid of our base-clearers when we unloaded Dunn and Griffey, and Im sure Phillips feels pressured to not only step up as a leader, but also to become the offensive leader on this team.  Batting Phillips fourth only encourages this mentality.  This past season, you could essentially put two strikes on Brandon right away, with his approach to the plate.  Once Phillips gets behind in a count, he shortens up his swing and pokes a base-hit somewhere.  I would be willing to bet money that no more than 3 ofhis homeruns came with two strikes.

So cant Phillips be coached out of this power-funk?  Probably not.  At least, it seems not by Dusty Baker.  The only real solution would be to get a true, power-hitting right hander to take the pressure off of him.  Just like Dunn has settled down Arizona's lineup and takin the pressure off of those hitters, a legitimate right-handed bat could take the heat off of Lips.  Get that nice, short swing back, bat him second, and wait for the playoffs, right?

Ramon Ramirez will start tomorrow night against the Brewers, and this leaves me with one big question: Where is Josh Fogg.  Yea, the guy came up lame running to home last week, but I mean the guys a solid veteran whos just been struggling alittle but this year, right Dusty?  There is no reason to march out a young guy like Ramirez to see if he could possibly contribute next year.  In fact, shouldnt he be down helping AAA Louisville win some sort of championship for this franchise? Wait, whats that....the Bats were eliminated this weekend?  Well damn, I guess we could have used some of those arms the last week up here in Cincinnati. I think Stinkin' Lincoln and Jared Burton should be fine, but they are tired.  And guys like Herrera and Roenicke sit in AAA, helping win a meaningless title, for a meaningless minor league team.  AA Chattanooga never made any playoffs, so why couldnt some of those guys have beeen promoted to AAA?

Where are the priorities?  Was it Walt or Dusty or Bob who decided that keeping together a bunch of kids in Louisville was more important than getting this team on track for next year?  I have to assume it wasnt Dusty.  Even the guy is filled with more useless wisdom than a magic eight-ball, I dont think he values the Bats' winning games over the REDS winning games.  Part of his job is protecting his players, and a deeper bench does just that - especially arms. 

Was it Walt's decision to keep AAA intact for an extra week?  I guess Walt has the luxury of being able to travel to Louisville any time he wants and checking his minor league talent pool, and he probably has a good idea of what the expectations are for those players.  But could he have known what Dickerson was going to do when he came up? Or Ramirez for that matter?  Why wouldnt he want to get these players up here to see if they can help the Cincinnati big league Reds. 

So was it Bob then?  Is it possible that Bob's pride is so beat up, that he's willing to hang his hat on a minor league champion?  Has it really gotten that bad Mr. Castellini?  Dont you want to see some more of the future of this team from the cush' owner's box at GABP?  Who won the AAA championship last year? ... ... ...  Oh nobody knows?  Its because it doesnt matter a hill o' beans.

I wish someone could explain to me why we werent pulling guys up last week.  We have several good pitchers down there that need to be showcased and evaluated.  I know nobody in this organization has ever had the "problem" of too many promising young pitchers, but lets make a good decision here for our major league club.  Gets these kids up while they are going to be facing some of the best teams in the National League.  Not only would I hope that it would fire these kids up, but I also think it would be a prime oppertunity to see where we stand for next year.

Come on guys, lets start looking forward.  The season is over, and this team is taking on a new face.  Lets make sure we have all the right parts chosen before we move into Spring Training next year.  You have to get these guys up and lets see how they perform in the Bigs.