The Reds have one thing left after this past trainwreck of a month, and that's second place.
Second place might not mean much when .500 would definitely take it, but I want it. It means an offseason of NL Central pundits and bloggers being unable to dismiss the Reds. It's a small thing, but it'd be nice. Losing head to head to the Astros is the surest way of missing out on second place, and it looks like that's what the Reds are determined to do.
Quick thoughts:
- I only watched part of the game, because MNF was actually a hell of a game, but I still saw quite a bit flipping back and forth. The team looks unbelievably flat. Shellshocked even. Sleepwalking. Whatever you want to call it, it's bad. Maybe it was just facing Roy Oswalt, but then I remember the weekend they just had ... I'm kind of tired of this team checking out a month early every year, whether they're in contention or not.
- Marty Brennaman was brutal when it came to Kyle Lohse staying in the game, but his outing really wasn't that bad when it was all said and done. Six innings, six hits, and four runs isn't great, but it's not that bad.
- Every time Rheal Cormier enters the game my blood pressure skyrockets thinking about how he's under contract through next season.
- David Weathers has had a nice, quiet little season. Why he hasn't gotten more work down the stretch is beyond me. There've been times recently where he's gone a week between outings, which is maddening when you think about how often Ryan Franklin pitches. I'm getting a little angry writing this.
- I'm going to write a lot about Adam Dunn once the season's over, but my opinion of the guy has changed quite a bit this season. I'm nowhere near Michael territory, but a part of me is starting to wonder if the Reds are a smart enough organization to get the most out of a player like Adam Dunn. A competent franchise accentuates the talents of it's players, while doing all it can to minimize the weaknesses, and the Reds simply don't do this. Moving Dunn up and down through the lineup is a good example of this. Not moving him to first base is another. It'll be interesting to see how Krivsky puts his stamp on the team this offseason. I'm most interested to see what, if anything, he does about Dunn.