It never fails.  I get my hopes up for a season (doesn't matter which) only to have them dashed against the rocks of shame and loserdom. 

Let's start with the Bengals.  Chad is a whiny baby.  I used to idolize him!  But c'mon.  There is a possibility this is all a publicity stunt (I've heard that theory more than once), but if so, he sure is taking it pretty far.  It's like watching pro wrestling, but at least there I know it's fake.  Couple this with Odell Thurman's past transgressions (although I think he's done his time, he should sit second string this year) and Chris Henry's issues...  I'm anxious about September.

The Reds are another story.  At least we're not the Nationals.  But right now, that's about all we can say about this sorry team.  Cueto's good, for a human, and Volquez is as well.  Harang is doing well.  But to counter that we have pitchers like Fogg and Arroyo.  And errors abound as well.  Fielding errors?  Seriously?  Not that I don't expect there to be any, but how many does EE have alone?  Six official.  The rest of the team?  Six official.  And in the world of baseball, EE may have caused them and not been charged with an error, I'm not sure, I don't remember off hand.  And he has the second lowest Fielding Percentage available at .889, defering to Freel, who is only showing 7 innings to EE's 168.

That's ridiculous.  On the upside to EE...  3 homeruns in 2 nights?  Maybe his hitting slump is over.

Now here's hoping we can get the Dodgers to split the short series.  Goodness knows we need any W we can get, sloppy or not.

Well, I don't get Homer in my car or at home, and the sister station in Dayton is a bit different, as they do more national stuff.  So I listen to 700 a lot.  And they play the commercial for thelotd.com involving someone setting up a group for FOBP: Fans of Beer Pong (they're trying to get it in the Olympics).  Imagine my surprise when I found there is no FOBP group?  So, naturally, I remedied the situation.

I've never played Beer Pong in my life.  But damned if I'm going to allow thelotd.com to falsely advertise!  So join!  And use it as a forum for wacky and funny sports stories, related or unrelated to Beer Pong!

Oh boy.  After losing three straight to the Pirates..the PIRATES...my formerly high hopes are a bit dashed.  Looking at the numbers, we're not too bad.  Baseball is a math nerd's game.  Stats say we have a team batting average of .280; okay, that's not great.  But when you take into account we're adding pitchers in there as well, some of whom only have had three to five at bats, that's not horrible either.  We have a combined ERA of 3.37; including Arroyo, Fogg, and Coffey who all have ERAs over 5 (in fairness, this is also including Volquez at .87, and Cordero at 0 (OMG)!)  Technically, we're not doing too bad.  An average of .280 is respectable for a team (not great, not bad); and 3.37 ERA is a little high but not commendable nonetheless.

So why are we under .500?  The pitching is there with Volquez, Cueto and Harang. The batting, by the numbers, is there with 6 players over .300.  Upon closer look, however, that's EXACTLY where our problem is.  When our second place(s) by average are two pitchers, you know there's an issue.  Dunn is at the bottom of the list (of people over 0) with .167.  That's sad.  Encarnacion and Hatteburg are also under .200.  At least Patterson can be proud of his RBI's, with 28 and leading the team, but still, his average is .262.  Something needs to change...I'm just not sure how!

It's not like me to do this, but welcome to my Lot D blog; now visit my other, more established blog, Fitting The Pieces Together, for a bit more about me and my past.  I reckon I'll double post for a bit, although I haven't posted there in a while.

In the meantime, how about them Reds, eh?  Cueto is phenomenal, I'm telling ya.  I'm just hoping this isn't some kind of beginners luck.  Harang isn't doing much worse, and the two of them with ERAs under 3.0 is outstanding.  I guess I could say the Bronson is doing okay (an ERA of under 6 for him isn't horrible), but it hurts me to do so, because, frankly, I just don't like the guy.

Say what you want about our offense, but 5 of our boys have over .300 averages, (6 if you count both catchers, but only one can play at a time).  Our problem isn't OBP, it's RBI.  As in the past, we leave way too many runners stranded.  I wonder if it wouldn't be a bad idea to change the batting order up a bit.  I personally don't see the problem with going away from the power power power cleanup junk junk junk power junk mold and experimenting.  Nothing wrong with it if it works. And as long as Dusty Baker is open to the press and lets them know that he's just trying to see what it takes to win games, Cincinnati would let him.

Ya hear me, Dusty?