Cincinnati Reds: Moving On

Much has been written and said pertaining to the events at Great American Ballpark this week.  A two game Reds lead has now turned into a one game deficit.

Additionally, the national media is starting to pile on them as well.  In light of recent events, Brandon Phillips, in particular, is looking like the kind of player who goes out and talks a big game, but can't back it up with his play.

Okay, enough is enough.  I highly suspect that as trained professionals, some of which have been at this for a long time, the team has moved on.

Scott Rolen knows it's a marathon, as does Jim Edmonds, Bronson Arroyo, and Arthur Rhodes.  

You know what?  Bad stuff happens sometimes.  Adversity pops up.  You fall on your face sometimes, and endure losing streaks.

I have watched this Reds team all year.  The fundamentals of the game have been performed to a high degree by this unit.  I don't believe for a second that in the span of three days, the team has forgotten how to pitch, hit, field the ball, and run the basepaths.

St. Louis isn't the main concern.  I highly suspect that the Wild Card will come from a division outside of the National League central, so if the Reds finish behind them by only a game or two, then we can look back at the head-to-head play.

The bigger concern is dealing with our upcoming travels out west.  There are five cities in the pacific time zone we have yet to visit, whereas the majority of the games vs. the Cardinals have already happened.  What's done is done.

I just don't look too much into what happens in individual series, and make declarations as to how the rest of the season will turn out.  St Louis intentionally set up their rotation so that their aces would be going in this series.

I don't think that many teams will emerge from a series successful after facing Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Jamie Garcia.

I'm still hopeful, and though I'm very disappointed by recent events, it's refreshing to have meaningful baseball in August.

I'm sure the four teams below Cincinnati in the National League Central would love to trade places.