Cincinnati Reds

Last week I saw Andy Pettitte throw six and two-thirds innings of perfect baseball at against the Orioles at Camden Yards.  With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Adam Jones hit a ground ball to third.  Alex Rodriguez was getting the night off, and his replacement at the hot corner, Jerry Hairston, booted it.  Having grown up an Orioles fan and somewhere along the way developing into a Yankee-hater, one might think I would have been rooting for the Birds to end Pettitte’s bid for perfection; however, this was not so.  As a fan of the game, I wanted to witness history.  Sure; I would have preferred seeing an Oriole pitcher throw a perfecto (though even a shutout by one of this year’s starters would have been historic), but I can’t expect miracles.

Continue reading "Nobody’s perfect"

Who are the incredibly unfortunate 5 franchises?

1995- Cincinnati Reds. Lost to Atlanta, 4-0, in NLCS.

The Reds haven't been since 1995, a two year longer stint than the Orioles. They certainly have some young talent on their team now though, with guys like Jay Bruce and Joey Votto keying the offense, with young pitchers like Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto on the mound, Reds fans hope the streak doesn't last much longer.

Continue reading "Congrats to the Brewers and Rays"

Arizona has just traded for Adam Dunn, reports Baseball Digest Daily, bolstering their outfield to offset injuries to Eric Byrnes and Justin Upton, as well as to counteract the Dodgers' recent acquisition of Manny Ramirez. That Dunn passed through waivers is both an indication of his big salary for the year, as well as his undervalued status among GMs.

Continue reading "Arizona Dunn-Backs"

It’s the annual midpoint of the baseball season, and for the brief span that is the All-Star break, all eyes are upon the Bronx. As everyone is well aware of, this campaign is the last go around for the world’s most famous, largest, and most prominent ballpark, Yankee Stadium. It seems hard to believe, and even more sacrilegious that this living legend’s days are numbered. Built in 1923 and christened by the greatest ballplayer to ever live, Babe Ruth, the cathedral of baseball will never truly be replaced. Although the Bombers will move a block to Yankee Stadium’s heir, the Mecca of America’s Pastime will still live on in our hearts. Whether you’re a diehard Yankee fan, or Yankee-hater, you still can respect the history and awe that the stadium brings. So when the All-Stars take the field Tuesday night, sit back on your couch, crack open a cold one and soak up the history of Yankee Stadium, as its final chapter is unveiled to all of us.

Continue reading "National League Looks to End Rut"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

 

Edinson Volquez SP – Cincinnati Reds

When the Reds received Volquez in the winter from Texas for Josh Hamilton, the Rangers looked as if they got a steal. But come to find out, this could go down as one of the fairest and best trades in recent history. While Hamilton has led the world in just about every offensive category at least at one point in the season over in Texas, the hard throwing righty Volquez is killing the National League with his deadly splitter that is causing an abundance of groundballs and whiffs. The addition of Volquez for the Reds has been monumental given the fact that his style of pitching is a perfect fit for the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark. He leads the league with an ERA just over two, and could soon take the title of ace away from the veteran Aaron Harang who has struggled this year. Given the tough task of gaining recognition in the Queen City, a problem endured by Harang the past couple of years, a Cy Young might be too much to ask for, but an appearance in the All-Star game is just about a certainty for Edinson Volquez.

Continue reading "Mic's National League All-Star Team"

The Reds have gone into Yankee stadium and in three consecutive games, their starting pitchers have held the Bronx Bombers, who are just beginning to wake from their early season slumber, to three runs.

Continue reading "Daryl Thompson: One of an Endangered Species"

To Junior, it must have felt like giving birth after a long and complex labor. Hitting his 600th home run last night was probably the most overpredicted and overdue statistical milepost in baseball history. We've been waiting for this to happen for at least ten years, ever since he put up back-to-back 56 homer seasons for Seattle in '97 and '98. When that season wrapped up, he had 350 career longballs at age 28, becoming the fastest player in history to hit that many, a feat he repeated when he cracked his 400th.

Continue reading "Junior's 600"

One of the talked-about items in two of my fave teams (Reds and Mariners) is the possible return of Griffey to the place where he got his start. Seattle's been scouting him, and there's a bit of a buzz, but it's not much more than idle talk at this point, but it's an interesting feel-good possibility that could help out both teams. Let's look at the pros and cons and possible stumbling blocks:

Continue reading "Junior Back in Seattle?"

Two interesting things happened at the end of the Reds-Mets game today. Well, really it was only one thing, but it told me two interesting things. In the top of the ninth inning, trailing 8-3, the eighth spot of the Reds order was due up, and Dave Ross, who had entered the game as part of a double-switch in the bottom of the sixth inning, came to bat. He flied out to right, and Corey Patterson, who had entered in a double-switch in the bottom of the eighth inning, stepped up to the plate.

Continue reading "This Whole Team's Out of Order!"

The Reds went all homer-happy over the Cubs last night, and Edinson Volquez twirled a gem on the mound, leading the Reds commentators and Steve Phillips on ESPN to go all gushy on them, proclaiming the future is now and they're gonna take the NL Central. Is this the case?

Continue reading "Here Come the Reds! (Really?)"

ow the Cubs pitching to fall into place, they certainly become the easy favorite in the division.

Cincinnati Reds

After Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, do the Reds have anybody who can pitch?

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: NL Central"