Series Preview: Phillies @ Reds

Come one, and come all to watch one of the biggest question marks in the world! The Cincinnati Reds (Screams of Horror)!

The Reds come into the series sitting at a very sub par 24-31. Sitting seven games under .500 normally isn’t too terrible, you know if you have a team that doesn’t have the tendency to lose 10 in a row any given month. They currently are rocking a five man rotation that features three rookies, and that is only because one of them got hurt. Thier catcher in Devin Mesoraco is playing in Left Field at AAA because he no longer has the ability to squat, and the fire starter is hitting ninth because hitting leadoff was too much pressure for the young man. The 100 million dollar investment of Homer Bailey has landed the Reds two Tommy John Surgeries with nothing to show, and the 225 million dollar man, “lost his wallet / swing metaphor” for a month.

Hint, hint: if your franchise player loses his swing for a month… mid season… can’t decide what role he wants to have in the lineup… and is completely ambiguous when he has injuries, he probably isn’t the guy you should throw all the money at. But with all criticism aside it is the best season he has had since he could not recover from a meniscus… and a strained quad…. and a bad knee… and dizzy spells…. and a lost wallet in a span of 3 seasons.

But Hey! At least Billy Hamilton, Jay Bruce and (insert any Left Fielder here) have been hitting under .230 for the season. But the fans and talk show hosts need someone to blame so we keep hearing Brandon Phillips name thrown under the bus. Yes, let’s throw the only man with any relative consistency under the bus because he doesn’t have a lot of extra base hits. New Flash Reds fans! Just because you hit fourth, doesn’t make you a number four hitter. Why do you think he is flourishing in the leadoff spot?

But enough for my whining and moaning. Nothing on this team is going to change this year. Especially when you have a manager that yells at the offensive bench after the bullpen blows the lead. Yeah, that happened.

So let us sit through another series that could either tease us into believing that this team has something going for itself, and get all wrapped up in what they could be like a bunch of Browns fans, or let us watch them make fools of themselves like they have done 73 times since the All-Star break last season. Yes, a fantastic winning percentage of 0.402 in the last 122 games. Let that sink in for a moment. On that pace, they would lose about 97 per season. The formula isn’t working and until something drastic happens, it won’t turn around.

…and all of this after a win. This team has me really sore.

So now for the Philadelphia Phillies. I think the only thing that we need to know is that the Reds were just man handled by them a matter of days ago. It may have been in Philadelphia, but the Reds record at home this season is 14-13. They have about a 50% chance to win. Much better than that 40% number they put up over all.

Probables:

Game 1: CIN –  Mike Leake (2-4, 4.40), PHI – Cole Hamels (5-4, 2.88)

Game 2: CIN – Anthony DeSclafani (4-4, 3.60), PHI – Aaron Harang (4-6, 2.45)

Game 3: CIN – Jon Moscot (0-1, 7.20), PHI Jerome Williams (3-5, 5.68)

Go Reds!