Reds rolling... down the tubes

As predicted the Boston series has been difficult. Yesterday's loss was tough. Lincoln Logs was shelled last time he went two innings, so why would they leave him in for the tenth? Just bullpen mismanagement. The shot at two of three evaporated with yesterday's loss as Josh Beckett has a 3-0 lead and this game is as good as done. Maybe I'm wrong... but I doubt it.

Good to see Paul Janish finally out of the lineup. He's obviously overmatched but of course, Jolbert Cabrera, today's shortstop, is still in the two slot. Yesterday C. Trent Rosecrans was on the radio in the top of the 2nd, saying Dusty's rationale behind Janish in the two slot is this: with Bruce at leadoff the two hitter will have bunt and hit-and-run opportunities, and will have protection from Griffey in the three hole as well. First off, you don't want someone who can't make contact trying to bunt and hit-and-run on a regular basis. Second, if Griffey is hitting third (ostensibly a run producer) you shouldn't need to bunt and hit-and-run to produce runs. Third, Griffey offers no protection anymore because if he doesn't get a fastball right where he's guessing it'll be he can't get around anymore. But you know what? Good job, Dusty. Let's go ahead and pretend Griffey still hits like it's 1998. It's working out so well so far. An ESPN article said he's been struggling because of the pressure in the chase for 600 homers. I've seen just about every Griffey at-bat this season and I don't see a guy who's pressing, I see a guy who's finished.

Speaking of overmatched, Homer Bailey is one out into the third and has allowed five runs. Boston is a fantastic offensive team but this is ridiculous. All the talk about this team having tons of starting pitching depth has sure turned out to be bunk, hasn't it? They're going to rue their selling Tom Shearn to Taiwan or whatever they did before this year is over.

Bailey was just removed. God.

It gets harder and harder to write about this team on a daily basis, seeing as how for like eight years in a row, it's been the same old story. Bad team after bad team. I know the Reds have rarely been the worst team in the National League since 2001, but for my money this decade has been just as excruciating as the Bengals' 1990s run.

So now do you even give Bailey another start on the big league stage? His next start would be the Saturday game at Yankee Stadium if they keep a five-man rotation going. He wasn't pitching particularly well at Louisville before his callup, and in the big leagues he's had three starts, one okayish, two awful. Might be Daryl Thompson time; his numbers looked sensational in Chattanooga and pretty good with the Bats.

So this is the final game of the 20-straight-games stretch. Assuming today is a loss (fairly safe assumption from the looks of things) they'll end up 10-10. That actually... isn't that bad. Maybe everything written above is premature. Part of what's maddening about this team is many of their wins feel miraculous (lead the league in walkoffs) and when they look bad, they usually look really terrible. They can't hit good pitching to save their lives, any pitcher who they've never seen before looks like Cy Young, and they can't get any consistency with their starting pitching (Harang, Cueto and Arroyo have all been either great or terrible in most of their starts; no consistency). Offensively they're either awesome or don't score any, with nothing in between. Griffey in the three spot has been killing them. They've gotten nothing offensively from their catchers and the lineup needs Keppinger's consistency in the worst way. He's rehabbing, so hopefully he'll be back soon.

Maybe a comeback is coming! We shall see! Laterz!