A Letter to Bob Castellini

Dear Mr. Castellini,

On behalf of all Reds' fans job well done so far this season. The veteran signings have paid off HUGE (Rollen, Cabrera), and the young guys we brought up through our system in the past few years are absolutely crushing it (Votto, Bruce, Gomes).

The pitching staff.. while excellent at times, has been way too inconsistent for the Reds to stay in this. The Reds' team ERA is 4.42. Just for comparison sake the Cardinals' is 3.24. I don't care how good the Reds offense is or how good they are pulling out close games, at the end of 162 games that is just too much to make up.

So this is every Reds fan begging you... Please Mr. Castellini go out and sign a free agent pitcher. Lee and Oswalt would be unlike anything the Reds have done since they brought Griffey over. This team needs it. We are one of the only teams in contention right now that don't have that surefire "ace." Take a look at it: Yankees (Sabathia, Pettitte); Red Sox (Bucholz); Rays (Price); Twins (Pavano); Tigers (Verlander); Atlanta (Hudson); Cardinals (Carpenter *cough* tool *cough*); Padres (Clayton Richard); Dodgers (Kershaw). The closest thing the Reds have is Arroyo and Cueto and as good as they have been they just aren't on that level.... yet for Cueto, he will be in 1 more year or possibly the 2nd half of this season. He's close. Leake has been stellar, but he's still a rookie so the second half will most likely be a lot harder on him than the first.

With all that in mind, you have to recognize that if you really want this team to make the playoffs you'll go and make a Godfather offer to Oswalt or Lee. Just do whatever it takes to get them. I know we're a small market team, but if this team contends and makes the playoffs it will be unlike anything the city of Cincinnati has seen in 10 years. Cincinnati is a baseball city, and the people are just dying for a team to cheer for. The fans will pack the stadium, merchandise will fly off the shelves and the Reds will become the "it" team of the MLB much like the Rays were a couple years ago. Even if looking at signing a big name picture purely from a business standpoint, all of that has to make it a consideration. Throw in the need for this city to have a winner, and there is just no way you can't go and get us a superstar. Right? Good. I'm glad you agree.

Sincerely,

Reds Fans

Brian"OswaltPlease!" Reinhart

Amazing Video

Okay so this is definitely a Cintucky first. A tennis post followed by a soccer post, but I came across this video and found it too amazing not to share.

Its a compilation of reactions around the US to Landon Donovan's goal to advance the US out of pool play. There is one from Convington, KY which is pretty cool. Although I was mad it didn't say Cintucky we'll let it slide.

I'm pretty sure you could put the Rudy theme song to a train wreck and it would still get me worked up, but still. If this video doesn't give you chills you need to see a doctor.



Oh also I am at a wedding today and will be unable to follow the game, so if someone can text me and volunteer to send updates throughout the day, I will not only love you but you will also get a shoutout on the blog which is read by literally tens of people.

Brian "Still don't know how to cheer for soccer." Reinhart

Tennis? Yes, Just Read

Something remarkable has been happening for over an entire day now in the world of tennis. That's right, tennis. The sport doesn't get much face time on this blog. Maybe it would if there were any good American players. Or if it was discovered that an American player had slept with hundreds of women includes porn stars, prostitutes and men (allegedly). However, when a tennis match in Wimbledon is tied at 59-59 in the 5th set and has been suspended TWICE for darkness, now that is something to write about.

American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut are in fact tied at 59-59 in the 5th set of their first round Wimbledon match. The match has lasted over 10 hours. Isner has a new record 98 aces and Mahut has 96 aces. The match will continue tomorrow and who knows how much longer.

To try to put that into perspective, let's compare it to a baseball game, since baseball is one of the only sports that can go on as long as necessary. There are 9 innings in baseball. In a typical tennis match there is about 45 games (typical is 4 sets ~11 total games per set). So far there has been 163 games in the match. That's 3.6 times the length of a typical tennis match. Which would be equivalent to a 32 inning baseball game! If you're wondering, the longest baseball game ever played was 26 innings in 1920 between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Braves which ironically was called a tie due to darkness since they didn't have lights then.

The match will resume at 10:30am EST tomorrow.

Greg "dudes must be in shape" R.

The State of the Reds

A couple thoughts on the weekend as we watched the Reds stumble back to their rightful place in the world of mediocrity:
- Getting swept by the Mariners is a joke. I don't care who they had pitching, or that it was on the West Coast, or any other excuses people want to throw around, it is just plain pathetic.

- 1 run in 2 games, and two 1-0 losses was a long time coming. The Reds had been able to "magically" eek out all these 1-run games, but the problem is eventually that magic runs out, the law of averages evens out and math beats magic every time. I don't even know what that last sentence meant. Who cares though? The Reds don't try; why should I?

- The Reds are now 7-13 in their last 20 games. Against a relatively easy schedule.

- Somehow they are still only 1.5 games behind the Cardinals and if they can manage to straighten things out quickly they can still contend. Luckily we have a great coach who will certainly figure that out and a front office that will spend the necessary money to get us help where we need it by paying for star players in their primes... oh wait..

Brian "I shouldn't be this salty at 24.. thank you Cincinnati" Reinhart

Where the Reds At?

The Reds often times make it hard for me to stick up for them. For example, losing 4 out of their last 7 at home and losing the series to a horrid Royals team. Or pretty much anytime a bullpen pitcher is brought into the game not named Arthur. Or when Drew Stubbs manages to strike out 5 times in 4 plate appearances. Or the fact that they should be at least 4 games up on the Cardinals instead of 1 as of June 14th. However, the fact that it looks like no Reds players will get voted into the All Star game is a tragedy. It will make it hard for a manager to pick 5 Reds that should have made the team when none got voted in by the public.

Currently, there are FOUR Reds players in the top 15 in National League batting average. Rolen at .313, Phillips at .311, Votto at .306, and Jonny Gomes at .301. Rolen is tied for 3rd in homeruns at 14, Votto is tied for 8th at 13; Gomes (47), Rolen (45), and Votto (41) are all in the top 14 in RBIs. Need I go on? Currently in the NL All-Star voting, Joey Votto is 4th among first basemen, Brandon Phillips is 5th among 2nd basemen, Scott Rolen ISN'T EVEN IN THE TOP 5 IN 3rd BASEMEN, and Jonny Gomes ISN'T EVEN IN THE TOP 15 IN OUTFIELDERS. That is completely baffling to me.



Oh and if you want to talk defense? Jonny Gomes doesn't have an error (although that raises my eyebrow since I can remember a couple balls he's misplayed...), Phillips is 2nd in fielding percentage among 2nd basemen, Rolen is 3rd among 3rd basemen, and Votto is 5th among first basemen.

I think I have made a pretty solid case here. So how bout it. You can vote up to 25 times per email address. Check it out here and vote for the Reds!!


Greg "It's almost football season...stay tuned for Bengals articles" R.