Lance McAllister asks if we think the Reds will play better in May. No, they won't.
Look beyond your love and loyalty for the Reds for a moment...
1. They have a lefty/lefty platoon at first base, although Votto gets all the playing time. Name one team that has 2 lefty hitters at first.
2. Outside of Affeldt and Cordero...the bullpen is still crappy.
3. Dunn and Griffey will strike out 300 times this season combined. AND, they have no range at all in their respective positions.
4. 3 catchers. Nuff said.
5. Name ONE candidate for lead off hitter on this team. If you say Ryan Freel you are stupid. Jay Bruce? Please. When he is ready to come up, he is NOT a lead off hitter.
You want just one reason why Wayne Krivsky was fired? Todd Coffey. Don't get me wrong, there are many other reasons why he was fired, but Coffey...dear god.
Todd Coffey should go to the mound with a poster that says, "Hi, I'm Todd. I am going to throw you a 92 mph fastball right down the middle of the plate on the first pitch."
Now he belongs to the Lousiville Bats and if we are lucky...we will never see his ass on the mound in a Reds uniform again.
What did Krivsky give him? 3 Million? What a joke. Why not buy a Tee-ball Tee for like 29.95 and just have the other team hit off it? That would save about $2,999,970.05. We could use that money to pay Bill Bray to suck, or Gary Majewski to really, really suck.
One positive note: I am liking Joey Votto more and more each day. As George Grande would say, "He's a first baseman".
Watching games on FSN is painful. If it weren't for the delay, I would listen to the game on the radio and watch it on tv with the volume down.
George Grande and Chris Welch are awful commentators. Especially Grande. Last night he said the following:
"Tony LaRussa, is a manager."
"That guy is a ballplayer"
"He's a pitcher".
The LaRussa comment took me over edge. For the love of God, leave those damn cliches at home and start paying attention to the game itself, George.
My friend and I have a game we play during each Grande/Welch telecast. We pick the number of times that Welch will contradict or disagree with Grande during the game. Welsh is quite the contrary dude. He DOES have decent baseball knowledge. More than I do, for certain. But please...you can't sit there and tell me that Reds broadcasts are fun to watch. The pregame show is just plain painful. And the post-game..filled with things like, "Well, the Reds lose tonight 11-0, but the GOOD news is, Ryan Freel stole second."
or..."The Reds had a tough night at the ballpark today, but Jeff and JB, you had to like the way that Ken Griffey Junior ran out to his position in the 5th inning."
Everytime the Reds play at St. Louis I get jealous. Everything about that franchise is better than Cincinnati. The ballpark is amazing. Outside the ballpark, it's busy with fans and casual walkers who stroll up, grab a beer and check out what's going on. You can look into the park from the downtown which is an awesome feature.
Oh, and they always seem to have a better team. They hit, pitch, field and....they win.
St. Louis, as Lance McAllister pointed out, draws capacity crowds every game. In April, at night during the week, on business day specials. Their fans come to the ball park.
I am not going to say something stupid like, "I wish Cincinnati had fans like that". Afterall, we have suffered through the likes of Jimmy Haynes, Paul Wilson, Jimmy Anderson, et al. We have listened to GM's tell us that Wily Mo Pena was the second coming to God and then watched as he made Pedro Ceranno look like a good curve ball hitter. That said, it would be nice to have the kind of atmosphere surrounding our franchise, WIN OR LOSE, that St. Louis and Chicago have.
I just get jealous sometimes of teams that get it. I get jealous of seeing fans that love their team so much, they will travel and fill up GABP. I get jealous of seeing teams field the baseball and have outfielders with range. It bothers me that we pay over 20 million dollars for 60 homeruns and 300 strikeouts, while guys like Adam Kennedy and company just hit, field and play the game in a solid manner. Nothing flashy...just solid.
The Reds have way too many holes right now to contend. This may change soon if they can make some deals, but I am not holding my breath.
