Griffey Walk Off!!!!!!!!!!

Griffey pinch hit two run shot won it for the Reds tonight over the Bucs. Darly Thompson actually pinch ran for Ross after he doubled in the bottom of the 9th. Harang pitched a pretty good game tonight going 7 innings and 8 Ks. The Reds move closer to .500. NICE.

The Road Wowes Continue

Well we do know that Edinson Volquez is better than he showed tonight, but the question is this; Is Jessie Litsch as good as he pitched tonight. Litsch held the Reds to just three hits in his eight innings of work. He pitched as good a game against the Reds as I have watched this season. Retiring 17 of the first 18 batters, Litsch made sure this game was over early. Volquez is still the best pitcher in the NL this season and should start the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.

I was again hoping for two out of three in Toronto as we did in New York but it wasn't to be. There's a baseball saying that goes like this; if you split on the road and win at home everything else will take care of itself. Well this road trip is standing at a split 3-3 heading to Cleveland.

Every time this season when it seems like the Reds are about to get on a roll, (Yankee's series), they all have a couple of bad games and things just snowball from there. I am not sure what Dusty is thinking with his lineup card at times, but if Corey Patterson is in the lineup after inter league play ends I think: well maybe I better not say anymore about that kids might read this.

On a positive note Griffey did get number 602 in Toronto and is inching closer to Slamin Sammy.....Everyone keep voting Jr. for the next few days, it might be his last chance to start or appear in the All-Star Game

All right Reds we want two out of three at Jacobs Field this weekend!!!!!

Jerry Hairston Jr. back today!

Jerry Hairston Jr. is expected to come off the DL today. He's been down in Loserville with the Bats on a rehab assignment. The Reds are 4-9 since he's been out. With him, they were 14-11. He's really the only leadoff hitter they have.

Here's the lineup I'd like to see:

Hairston Jr. SS
Bruce CF
Griffey RF
Phillips 2B
Dunn LF
Keppinger 3B
Votto 1B
Bako C
Pitcher's spot-Preferrably not Arroyo right now!

Reds W

Reds win 6-5 in Toronto after that disasterous game last night. Harang was shaky again getting a no decision. Jay Bruce wins it on a sac fly in the 10th. Cordero closed it out in the bottom of the 10th. The pen pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings. I love my boys Burton and Bray. Burton is now 4-1 and both have ERAs under three. Griff hit 602 tonight. They struck out 12 times as a team. That's not solid. It's an overriding theme for this team. A win is a win though......Reds 6-5. They are now only 6 games under .500. I love to see them get there before the all star break.

Reds stink up Canada

The Reds sucked a whole lot tonight. Pitching, fielding, and hitting. The Jays under new/old as crap manager Cito Gaston put up 22 hits and 14 runs as the rip the Reds 14-1. The Reds put up a big 4 hits..................WOW! I'm not sure what genious put together that lineup tonight with Dunn in the 2 hole, Keppinger in the 6, and Bruce in the 7 hole. Arroyo had a beautiful stat line: 1 inning, 11 hits, 10 ER, 1 walk, 1 K, and an outing that raised his ERA to 6.52 for the season. How much is he making???????????????? Garbage.

Good Foxsports.com article on Big Adam Dunn

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8276984/Dunn-doesn-

Doesn't really mean he loves the game but he's obviously one tough dude.

Reds North of the Border

The Reds open up tonight at Toronto. Arroyo will square off with AJ Burnett. It's a little shocking to see both these guys with losing records and ERAs above five. The Reds are coming out of the Big Apple taking 2 of 3 from the Yanks. Joey Votto will be playing in front of a lot of family and friends tonight going back home to Toronto. Hopefully, he'll continue his hot hitting and take a few deep this week. Let's hope Corey Patterson is not in the lineup tonight b/c he's 1 for 15 lifetime vs. Burnett.

Good Start To Road Trip

If you would have told me the Reds would start this latest road trip by taking 2 out of 3 from the Bronx Bombers I would have said "that would be a great start to this road trip."

How tough would it be to try and fill Daryl Thompson's shoes from Saturday. He made his major league debut Saturday against the New York Yankees in a sold out Yankee Stadium no less. Although he got into trouble several times he always got out of it. With the lead off hitter getting on base in each of the first four innings no one scored on him. Although he didn't get the win, Reds scored too late for him to qualify, his heat reached as high as 96 mph. Throwing smoke like that helped him strikeout four hitters and not allow a single run. Great first game I don't care what your name is.

Oh yeah to top off the series win, Griffey hit his 601st HR.

If was great to reminisce about 1976, but today is a new day and this team got just what the doctor ordered, a series win on the road. Let's keep it going and win 2 out of 3 from the Blue Jays now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reds visit Yankee Stadium 1st Time Since 1976

The Reds rolled into New York tonight for the first game of a three game series at Yankee Stadium to kick off this road trip. It's always special to visit the "House That Ruth Built" and this being the final year of the stadium makes it even more special. With the Yankees playing their best baseball of the season and riding a seven game winning streak, the Reds had to know this wasn't going to be an easy task. Great news.....Reds win 4-2 to stop the Yankee winning streak in it's track!!!!!!!!!!

The Reds were a led at the plate by Joey Votto, who probably had the biggest hit of his young career with his 12th home run of the season. I would think that any rookie who hits a home run in his first AB at Yankee stadium would rank it pretty high on his hit list. Joey had three hits tonight. You think he will remember his first trip to Yankee Stadium and have something to tell his grandchildren some day.

On the mound Edinson Volquez was lights out again. Volquez threw his twelfth straight quality start holding the Yankees to two runs over seven innings to pick up his tenth win. I am a Big Red Machine fan for sure and I can't remember the last time a Reds pitcher was this exciting to watch sense Don Gullett pitched for the Reds, yes the "Boss" did steal Gullett away from the Reds after the Reds sweep the Yankees in the 1976 World Series. And yes Gullett was more exciting to watch than Tom Seaver was just for the fact that he threw so hard. Everytime Volquez takes the mound you feel like the Reds have a great chance for a win. Wonder how long it's been sense the Reds had a ten game winner by June 20th??????

All right Reds let's finally have a good road trip!!!!!!!!!

So much for this week!

Well, this week has started pretty horribly with a sweep at the hands of the similar record owning Dodgers. Again, I say re-freakin-diculous. This Reds team is way underperforming and if Randolf can go, so can Dusty Baker. I believed it was a poor hire at first and I believe it even more now. I am sickened by the talent to wins ratio that this team has put up. I love Dunn and Griff but it's time to move on. The Reds are sitting 12.5 out in the Central. The Blue Jays GM just said today that Dunn has no heart and doesn't even enjoy baseball. That says it all to me. That info has to be coming from somewhere. Griff doesn't hustle at all. The 3-0 pitch last weekend did me in with him. I'm sure after he swung at the 3-0 pitch that he jogged down to first so not to injure himself and that .244 average and .391 slugging percentage. Dunn is sitting at a cool .227 and zero defense. Big Adam simply cannot play the outfield. He's a first baseman/DH on an American league team.........bottom line. I love Griff and Dunn but it's time to start over with young, athletic, hustling players who want to win in Cincy. The pitching staff is lining up, it's time to move Votto to the 3 hole and get the future on the road.

Jay Bruce

Well the one thing we know for sure about Jay Bruce is that yes he is human. Some, including myself, might have mistaken him for superman right after he was called up from AAA Louisville. Bruce was so on fire that anyone would expect him to come back to earth soon, don't even try to tell me it didn't last longer than you thought it would.

After his hot start Bruce has went 5 for 34 for a more Corey Patterson like .147 average in his past nine games. Is Jay Bruce a superstar, that remians to be seen at the big league level, but my money says yes he is. He will have the usual rookie up and downs but he is a Major League baseball Player that will partol the Cincinnati Reds outfield for quite a few years.

Now if we could only get the pitching and hitting to be good at the same time we might win a few games!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Week Ahead

The Reds open a series with the Dodgers at Great American this week. The Reds have to start making a move now. They are sitting in dead last in the NL Central. They are 12 1/2 out of the Central to the Cubs and still 9 games back in the Wild Card race. A sweep would be nice in this LA series at home. Over the weekend, the Reds travel to Yankee stadium for three against the Bombers. Volquez will pitch Friday vs. Mussina and then Homer Bailey's spot in the rotation comes up on Saturday. It'll be interesting if they give him one more shot in a big game or call up Belisle. It'll be intersting to see Griffey and Dunn tee off on the short porch in right in Yankee Stadium. Regardless the Dodgers series is big the next three days.

Tueday: Cueto vs. Billingsley
Wed: Kuroda vs. Arroyo
Thursday: Lowe vs. Harang

Down on the Farm-Pitching

Living outside of Louisville, I get to pay a lot of attention to the Reds Triple A Louisville Bats. I heard Rob Dibble talk about the lack of pitching talent in the Reds organization but I have to disagree. One guy that you should be very excited about is Daryl Thompson. He came over from the Nats in that Austin Kearns deal that everybody thought was so awful. Everybody will soon figure out how nice that move really was. Right now, in Louisville, he is 3-0 with a 3.25 ERA over 4 starts. The stat I like is his .98 WHIP and 22 strikeouts in 29 innings. This guy lit up the Southern league at Chattanooga with a 1.76 ERA holding opposing batters to a .208 average. I have a feeling we'll see this 22 year old in Cincy before the year is out. He is the next real deal to go along with Volquez and Cueto.

Matt Moloney and Adam Pettyjohn are two other guys who could make it up this year. Currently, both of their ERAs are a bit high at 4.92 and 4.73 but they are 6-3 and 7-1 respectively with WHIPs of 1.36 and 1.33.

Hopefully Homer will come on, and this young pitching staff for the Reds will be unbelievable next year with Harang at the head of the rotation.

Reds vs. Red Sox TBS Sunday game of the week

The Reds and Red Sox from Great American will be on TBS Sunday at 1. Hopefully, it'll be a better result than today's extra inning nightmare.

All for nothing-Reds lose 6-4 on Saturday

The Red Sox quickly answered in the 1oth with back to back shots from Cincy native Kevin Youkilis and the boxer or cereral Co Co Crisp. Crapola. 6-4 Sox. That's why we're in last place. Is it sad the Bronson Arroyo pinch run for Griffey in the bottom of 10? I say, that's sad.

Impatient hitting, poor bull pen work, and bad defense today was the story. Jay Bruce, Votto, and Janish are definitely looking like rookies this week. Reds need to get the series W tomorrow on Father's Day.

Vote for some Reds for the All Star game in Yankee Stadium: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2008/ballot_reg.html

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Edwin homer to tie it in the 9th!

Edwin put a whoopin on a Paplebon outside corner slider to tie this thing up today!

Reds/Red Sox Saturday update top 9

Griffey Jr. just bounced into a 3-0 count double play to end the 8th with Jay Bruce on 3rd. That is re-freakin-diculous. No excuse for that. Straight down the pipe 3-0 fastball and he rolls over it into a double play. To his defense Jolbert Cabrera should've been standing on second on a ball in the dirt on a 2-0 count. Griffey is showing his trade value with a big .248 average. Way to go Griff. Reds down 4-3 going into the 9th. Here comes Paplebon in the 9th. Good luck with that. Phillips and Dunn will get their hacks in to tie it if the Reds can hold Ellsbury and company here in the 9th.

Reds/Red Sox Saturday update top 8

Brandon Phillips just unloaded one into the upper deck in the bottom of the 7th to make it 3-2. Votto just struck out to end the inning. He couldn't have hit that ball with an oak tree. Wakefield still in control and it's up to the Reds pen to keep them in it. Oh my, here comes David freaking Weathers. First pitch, Drew hammers one for a double. I've said it many times before, David Weathers makes me sick at my stomach!

Reds Sox/Reds Saturday update

The Reds hitters are making Tim Wakefield look like a Cy Young winner today through 6 and a half swinging at every first pitch that's near home plate. Reds down 3-1 going into the bottom of 7. Volquez was very good going 7 and striking out 9. Three hits by the Reds and Adam Dunn's horrific defense aren't going to help him.

Remembering 1975

AH, has it really been 33 years sense my main man Pete Rose, aka... "The Hit King", led the Cincinnati Reds past the Boston Red Sox in what many baseball fans and media members alike consider the greatest world series ever.


I might be telling my age but I remember it like it was yesterday. Who could forget Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair. You can bet your ass the Sox fans havn't. Many Red Sox fans memory fades after game six as the Reds came back and won the World Championship in game seven. I do also believe that this is the only time there was four days off between game five and six. After a day for travel between game five and six the skies opened in Boston and rain held up the series for another three days.


Pete Rose was actually the MVP of the 75 series, that is if you don't count the curse of the Babe!

Well finally the Reds and Red Sox play again at The Great American ballpark in Cincinnati this weekend. Aaron Harang might have pitched his best game of the season last night and the Reds bullpen was just as stellar as the Reds took the opening game by a score of 3-1. And what about this guy Jay Bruce, more on him in another post later. Bruce and Dunn both went yard last night to secure this win for the Reds.

Reds vs. Red Sox

For the first time since 1975, the new Evil Empire travels to Cincy for this Father's Day weekend. Last night, Jay Bruce and Aaron Harang took care of the Sox 3-1. Today, you can check out the Reds on Fox Game of the Week.