Cardinals Mentally Own The Reds
By Matt Niehaus
Every time the St. Louis Cardinals come rolling into Cincinnati and Great American Ball Park Reds fans psych themselves up for
Deer in the headlights.
Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
the game. Convincing one another that this will be the time the Reds get the sweep. The Reds have only swept the Cards once since 2010.
The Cardinals and the Reds have met 60 times since the start of the 2010 season. Of those 60 games the Reds have won 26 of those games while the Cardinals have won 34. Now you might not think that is a big deal but 8 games can make or break a season.
Cincinnati has only been swept by the Cardinals once since 2010, that happened in 2010 when the Reds were swept at home. You may remember that series due to the bench clearing brawl.
An embarrassing stat for Cincinnati is the fact that they have been shutout 5 times since 2010, while they have never shut out the Cardinals. The Reds have only one the season series matchup once in that time period, in 2011 they won 9 games while St. Louis only won 6. At that point Reds fans thought things might turn around.
2012 saw the Reds remain competitive in the matchup, unfortunately that hasn’t carried over into the 2013 season.
In 2013 the Reds have only won 4 games while losing 8. In the 8 games that they have lost by a combined total of 54 runs. That is basically 6.75 runs a game. The average they are losing by is 6.75, the Reds have a hard time scoring 3 runs let alone 6 to stay in the game.
The Cardinals and their players know they will be the Reds when they come to Cincinnati. Since 2010 the Cards are 15-15 at Great American Ball Park. The Reds play .500 ball at home, on the contrary the Cardinals have gone 19-11 at home against the Reds.
Cardinal players have the mentality that they will win, they will own the Reds when the two clubs play. To be brutally honest the Reds are scared of the Cardinals, for whatever reason they fail to preform when they face the Cardinals. Every year that these two teams have been competitive Cincinnati at some point looks like a quivering puppy in the corner.
It is incredibly disappointing to sit in GABP and stare blankly into the Reds dugout while all the Cardinal fans celebrate around you. It is frustrating and the Reds and the players don’t seem to care. Sunday was a massive embarassment for the team and the fans.
The only way for the Reds is up, unfortunately they appear to be trying to climb out of a well without a rope, a struggle that quite honestly I don’t know if they’re up for with this manager and this team.
The Reds and the Cardinals face each other 7 more times this season, time will tell of the Reds can turn their season around.