This Week in JPEGs: Taking It Easy Against the Mets, Joey Votto is Batman, and Pirates Walk the Plank

Time for Friday, time for JPEGs, time for you to get a watch! Last week in this here thing, you all chose Billy Goes to Outer Space! as your winner. It got a good jump (get it) on the admittedly weak competition and ran away (get it?) with 72% of the votes, stealing (GET IT?!) the win.

This week, I found inspiration at the cinema. Film is such a powerful social force. Much as cavemen gathered around their campfires and told stories of great hunts and heroic battles and meet cutes to strengthen the bonds of their primitive clans, film is a shared experience deeply woven into the fabric of who we are as a collective. And so, many of the JPEGs this week reflect oft-used tropes of Hollywood. And one about napping.

Taking It Easy Against the Mets

With the win on Monday, the Reds clinched their third playoff birth in four years. Sure, 2010 and '12 were straight-up division-winners, but the Wild Card is still nothing to sneeze at. Hot on the heels of the Pirates and Cardinals, there was still more to play for.

But then Jonathon Niese and Daisuke Matsuzaka happened. The Reds only tallied 12 hits combined in the final two games of the series, scoring only two runs and losing both of them. I know these guys are professionals and they wanted to win these games as much (or even more) as any other game, but dang. Sometimes it sure didn't look like it.

Joey Votto is Batman

Joey Votto is the best hitter in the National League. But there are some who will tell you that Joey Votto doesn't have it anymore. He's gone soft. He's not aggressive enough. Sometimes he'd rather take a walk than drive in a run. They'll tell you that sure, Votto's still pretty good, but it's really going to suck in five years when he's making $25 mil and only hitting 10 home runs a year. They'll tell you he just doesn't have the heart of a champion.

But they're wrong. Joey Votto is the best damn hitter in the National League. He's the hero this city needs, but not the one it deserves.

Pirates Walk the Plank

So it comes down to this, the final series of the season. Three games against the dread Pirates. Whoever wins the series will host the Wild Card game.

/cue dramatic overture

One team. One weekend. One destiny. And only one thing in the way.

Reds vs. Pirates.

And this time, it's personal.

And also there are alligators in the Ohio River now.