Series Recap: Masque of the Reds Death
"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality"
– Edgar Allan Poe
Well fans and spectators alike, the Cincinnati Reds have dropped their fourth straight series; and a little more pathetically, they have also dropped their tenth game is just 11 days. But as our good friend Poe has stated above, it is one thing to say it, it is another thing to live through it like we have the past 13 days.
The loss in Wednesday’s game signified everything that has been going on the whole season. The pitching has been erratic, and the hitting has been alright. There are days when it appears that our boys of summer have obtained a solid balance offense and defense, then on the others it appears as if the only aspect that is clicking with the Reds is later attribute of the fight or flight response. Wednesday, the starting pitching, in Mike Leake, was over-powered by the the Colorado Rockies by six big ones. Todd Frazier would try to do what any leader does, and that is try to rally his team that was buried beneath the floor boards. Frazier would launch his 14th bomb of the year only to watch this red amy falter late in the game.
The Reds would do what they tend to do in this kind of a blowout game. With the score resting at 6-1 in the eighth, the Reds would drive in a ternion of runs to cut the score within two crosses of the plate. However, the emblematic tease that the Reds have become did what they do best, and that is crawl close, but could not finish. With bases loaded and one out, the likes of Zack Cozart and Marlon Byrd represented the 2015 motif. No big hit with runners in scoring position, late in the game when needed. Instead the clock struck 12 on this story.
"And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."
– Edgar Allan Poe
This forced a second loss in a three game set and the fourth straight series loss for the Reds; which leads us pondering into the future of this team. How long with this uber-funk last? If it does last, how long does Bryan Price keep his job? Those are all question surely the front office as been asking itself. But the feeling for most Reds fans has to be helplessness. Almost as if being wall-up in the basement with no way out.
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting…"
-Poe