Commentary: Fighting Reds Dread

Sports

Discussion

June 6, 2010

By JON WEBB Glasgow Daily Times The Glasgow Daily Times Sun Jun 06, 2010, 05:59 AM CDT

GLASGOW — Yes. Happiness. That’s it.

That’s the emotion I should experience when I think about the Cincinnati Reds this season. When I look at the standings and see the team playing reciprocal leap frog with the St. Louis Cardinals for the top spot in the NL Central, I (again) should experience elation. Joey Votto’s .320 average (third time) should cause me to mentally drop the “e” in his name, while Scott Rolen’s 13 home runs (finish strong!) should cause me to regret I ever publically proclaimed him a worthless, white-flag washup.

But none of the above things make me feel happy at all. Quite the opposite, actually, and in order to solve the problem, I turned to the most trusted source of information at my disposal.

Surprisingly, Wikipedia didn’t help. The best it could offer was a diagnosis of Dysthymia: “chronic mood disorder that falls within the depression spectrum, the opposite of hyperthymia ... (which consists of) feelings of hopelessness, poor concentration and difficulty making decisions ... (and) poor appetite or overeating.”

Despite the fact I spent 20 minutes standing in front of the office vending machine trying to decide between Toast Chee and Nip Chee crackers — an event that sort of encompasses two of the above symptoms — I don’t think Dysthymia is the problem. More likely, it’s Reds Dread: a non-existant-before-this-sentence disorder that not only rhymes but describes the pit-of-stomach churn experienced by Cincinnati fans as they wait for any initially successful season to lavishly implode.

And if the past 20 years are any indication, the Reds’ 2010 campaign could definitely meet a Hindenburg-ian fate.

Take 1994 for example. Through 114 games, Cincinnati stood at 66-48, led the NL Central by a half game and were on pace to finish with 92 wins. Had the win total panned out, the Reds could have played the NL’s best team — the (wait for it) Montreal Expos — in the National League Championship Series and perhaps even won their second World Series in four years.

The implosion? A 115th game never occurred due to the player’s strike, which cancelled the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

Moving on.

1999: Cincinnati racked up 96 wins and forced a one game playoff with the New York Mets to decide the NL Wild Card spot. All the Reds had to do was defeat Al Leiter and his gang of merry men to advance to the post season for the first time since 1995.

The team managed five hits and were shut out 5-0.

2006: a true travesty. Thanks to the emergence of Brandon Phillips, dueling aces in Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo and the empty eyed swing of Adam Dunn, the Reds stayed near the top of an anemic division before a late season slump left them three and half games behind the 83-78 Cardinals.

And what did the Cardinals do with their postseason? Oh nothing, just won the World Series and earned the distinction as the team with the lowest total of wins (translation: suckiest) to ever seize an MLB championship. If you allow me some wholly unprovable projection, the Cardinals’ stupid, stupid win over the Detroit Tigers in five essentially proved the Reds could have done the same and delivered the team’s first championship in 16 seasons.

All the above examples aren’t the only dread-worthy moments of the Reds’ past two decades, of course. In between the aforementioned years, campaigns riddled with 70-some wins and late season rosters full of names like Buck Coats and Stephen Larkin pile up.

But does any of this mean 2010 will end in some dread-worthy way?

As of this writing, things look good. The Reds’ starting pitching, if a bit erratic, has been solid. The bullpen is improving. Jay Bruce has learned how to take a walk and exciting young players like Drew Stubbs, Mike Leake and Aroldis Chapman are either making an impact or eagerly waiting to do so. Problems like an offensively emaciated Phillips and a deteriorating Harang persist, but could easily correct themselves before they wreak too much havoc.

The team has a solid chance this year. Which, more than anything, keeps my eye on the sky, wary of German blimps.

Text Only

Sports

It's tournament time

May 26, 2012 1 Photo
Underdogs...
With the likes of softball powerhouses Greenwood, Glasgow, Bowling Green and Allen County-Scottsville in the tournament, the Metcalfe County High School Lady Hornets, winners of the 16th District, are probably heading into next week’s Region 4 Tournament as underdogs.

May 25, 2012
Champions...
Another chapter in the Glasgow High School Lady Scotties’ fairy-tale softball season was written Wednesday night as they became the first GHS team since 1996 to claim the District 15 Tournament championship, after beating the tournament’s No. 1 seed and the No. 1 team in the state, the Allen County-Scottsville Lady Patriots, 1-0.

May 24, 2012
Couldn't give it up...
Until a few weeks ago, Glasgow High School senior Shelby Ray wasn’t sure if she would pursue sports into her college career. Although a standout basketball and softball player, Ray thought it was time for her athletic career to come to a close so she could focus solely on academics in college. But in the end, she said she couldn’t imagine walking away from softball.

May 24, 2012
Finally
After Glasgow High School center fielder Jordan Alexander settled under a fly ball to make the final out of the Scotties’ District 15 Championship game victory over Allen County-Scottsville Wednesday night, he raised his hands above his head, let out a big yell, and took off running to be with his teammates.

May 24, 2012
Cornerstone
A cornerstone in the foundation that Steven Murphy has used to build the Glasgow High School softball program has been pitching. He believes you start everything with good pitching and then you can build from there.

May 23, 2012
Season ends
The Barren County Trojans have struggled with their hitting over the last six or seven games of the regular season and unfortunately for the Trojan faithful, the problem arose again for Barren County on Tuesday in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association District 15 Baseball Tournament in Glasgow.

May 23, 2012
Opportunity knocked
Going into Monday’s baseball game against Glasgow, Monroe County High School coach Jerome Taylor said the Falcons, to have a chance to beat the No. 1 seeded Scotties, would have to take advantage of every one of their opportunities.

May 22, 2012
Big obstacle
The Monroe County Lady Falcons came into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association District 15 Softball Tournament Monday night in Glasgow with a big obstacle in front of them.

May 22, 2012
Mohon finishes fourth at state
May 20, 2012
More Sports Headlines

Sports

Search Results

Discussion

Commentary: Fighting Reds Dread

Site Map