DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Its August, and the Reds are still in contention!

I know what it means, I just thought they were giving the Cards a little to much credit.

Depends on who you're pulling for, I think. The wins get the Reds closer to the Magic Number, as do the Card losses,...etc.

Without looking or paying real close attention, are the other 2 NL races tight enough to warrant a a discussion of the Wild Card implications ? I would like to see the WCard come from the Reds/Cards "loser." I'm sure Atlanta, SanFran, LA, et al will have something to say there before it's all over,....no ?

I love it when it's squeaky tight !

I can't wait til September gets here so we can start a new thread titled "The Hunt for Reds-October"

Been waitin a Loooooooonng time for that

That movie was released in 1990. Is that not the last time the Reds were in the playoffs - I'm almost 100% they won The World Series that year,....I have never heard that -- it is awesome.

My point is, I think you might be the "original" on that slogan. I would trademark it NOW ! Of course, you'll probably have to fight (MGM's ?) lawyers too,....

That's exactly why if it hasn't been trademarked, somebody ought to.

Did anyone hear about the Reds honoring Pete Rose on September 11th, the 25th anniversary of his record breaking hit? Bud Selig has given approval to Pete Rose to be on the field for the ceremony.

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2010/08/19/reds-get-permission-to-honor-rose/

Here's the kicker. Pete can't make it that night because he will be appearing at the Hollwoood Casino in Indiana. You just can't make this stuff up.

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Pete is such a disappointing man.

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Glad i was always a Johnny Bench fan growing up.

Joe Morgan for me.

I had tickets to the 5th game of the playoffs in 1979 unfortunately the Pirates swept the Reds in 3 games...

I did however go to the 5th game of the World Series that year as the Pirates came from down 3-1 to beat the Orioles and their three headed pitching monster... I'm still waiting for my Pirates / Indians world series...

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I'm still waiting for my Pirates / Indians world series...

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Your gonna be awfully old when that happens.

Cardinals lose again tonight, Reds up 1-0 in the 3rd.

Pete isn't going to change, he's had a million chances to do so.

Reds up 3-1 in the 7th.

I don't know.. some people start getting up in years and their perspective changes... they start thinking about getting into heaven and stuff ... he could still change.

I was one of the fools who believed Pete for years, but when he came out and said that he bet on baseball and then followed that by crying. My level of respect for him dropped greatly.

I still believe he belongs in the hall for what he accomplished on the field, but other than that. He can go fornicate himself.

Reds win!! Seven in a row!

Big win.

I bet "LaRosa" is starting to get nervous.

Reds end LA blues, win seventh straight

Cincinnati snags first victory at Dodger Stadium since '05

By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com



LOS ANGELES -- In a place where they've have had about as much success as the opening of any recent Lindsay Lohan movie, they Reds showed that their status as real-deal contenders is becoming more and more impenetrable.
Not even their curse at Chavez Ravine was a formidable foe for the Reds' winning ways during a 3-1 victory over the Dodgers Friday night. Gone is the team's 12-game losing streak at Dodgers Stadium.

And now the Reds' margin over the second-place Cardinals is widening like the San Fernando Valley. They moved to 4 1/2 games ahead of St. Louis, which was a 6-3 loser to the Giants earlier in the evening.

"Every game this time of year -- especially when you have 40 left -- is important," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "If you can pick up a game, that's even better."

Since that ominous sweep at the hands of the Cardinals last week, the Reds have rallied like Ralph Macchio against the Cobra Kai in a "Karate Kid" montage. They have won a season-high seven in a row to move to 20 games over .500 at 71-51. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have dropped five straight.

The Dodgers, now one game over .500 at 62-61, weren't the same team that kicked the Reds up and down Sunset Boulevard in the past. They were missing key players like Manny Ramirez, Rafael Furcal and Russell Martin. Vicente Padilla was supposed to start but went on the disabled list.

"It's a new year," Baker said. "We have a different team and a better team. They were banged up some. A couple of their key players were out."

Reds starter Homer Bailey was still in the lower Minors when Cincinnati last won a game at Dodger Stadium on July 28, 2005. Brandon Claussen was the winning pitcher that day and no current Reds players, except for the injured Aaron Harang, were even around to see it.

Bailey (3-2) delivered seven strong innings while allowing one earned run and four hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

"We're just trying to win every game we play," Bailey said. "The losing streak wasn't in anybody's minds, at least not mine."

In two starts back from the disabled list after he missed nearly three months because of shoulder inflammation, Bailey has allowed just one run over 13 innings.

"You start remembering every single day when you showed up and did rehab how much you wished you were playing," Bailey said. "That definitely comes out. I was throwing the ball well before I got hurt. I tried to carry it over."

After retiring his first six batters of the game, Bailey walked leadoff batter Jamey Carroll in the third inning. It led to the Dodgers' only run. With runners on the corners and two outs, Ryan Theriot put down a safety-squeeze bunt between the mound and third base. Theriot beat Bailey's throw to first base as Carroll scored.

Following Theriot's bunt, Bailey retired the next 10 of 12 batters to get through the sixth with 100 pitches and looked as strong as he did in the first inning. Baker contemplating going to the bullpen, but heard the words from Bailey he wanted to hear.

He said, 'Skip, I want this one,'" Baker said of Bailey. "We needed him that seventh inning, because we didn't have [Nick] Masset and I wanted to stay away from [Logan] Ondrusek. My bullpen was a little spent. He went out there and showed what willpower can do."

Back on May 1 in St. Louis, Bailey was well over 100 pitches and told his manager he wanted to stay in to face Albert Pujols. Bailey gave up a tie-breaking RBI double to Pujols and the Reds went on to lose as Baker was vilified. But for the big picture, he liked how his pitcher wanted the ball then and liked it even better on Friday.

Bailey gave up a leadoff double in the seventh to Casey Blake before getting a groundout and back-to-back strikeouts to finish with 114 pitches.

"That's the making of an ace," Baker said.

Brandon Phillips led the Reds with three hits in his first three at-bats and had all three RBIs. His two-out RBI single to left field off of Carlos Monasterios (3-4) in the top of the second scored Ryan Hanigan with the game's first run. In the fourth inning, also with two outs, Phillips' single to center field scored Hanigan and Drew Stubbs to give Cincinnati the two-run lead.

"Brandon was huge today. How many times have I said that the team that gets the most two-out RBIs usually wins?" Baker said. "It was Brandon's night tonight."

The Reds, which were 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position, missed on doing more damage. But the lead held up with Bailey and the bullpen.

Arthur Rhodes followed with a perfect eighth. Francisco Cordero had a relatively drama-free 33rd save, including his eighth straight. A one-out bloop single was erased by Blake's game-ending double play.

"Physically, even after the game, I felt like I could still go," Bailey said. "Usually once you find out you're not in the game, you kind of go through a little shut down. I was happy with the way I threw. I put some ice on and watched the game. There's a big comfort knowing those guys in the bullpen have your back."

Reds looking for eighth straight win

By Gina Mizell / MLB.com


Getting swept by the rival Cardinals and the now-famous fracas that came with it may turn out to be the event that kicked the Reds into gear for the home stretch.
They've been unbeatable ever since -- literally.

Cincinnati has won seven consecutive games since that series and will go for No. 8 in a row when it faces Los Angeles in the second of a three-game series on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

Friday's 3-1 Reds victory snapped their 12-game losing streak at Dodger Stadium and also pushed their road winning streak to eight games.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre said the Reds' recent play hasn't been a coincidence.

"Ever since the Cardinals beat them up at home in that emotional series that they had, they've been on a mission and they've gone and beat up some people," Torre said. "They had a couple games, especially against Arizona, that they scored a lot of runs, especially late. They're playing with a lot of confidence right now."

Reds righty Johnny Cueto will make his first start since serving a suspension for kicking those around him during the brawl with the Cardinals. He threw a simulated game and bullpen session earlier this week and said he is ready to return to the mound.

"I feel strong. I worked out a lot -- running, everything," Cueto said.

Cueto is 5-2 with a 1.99 ERA in his last 10 starts.

Heading to the hill for Los Angeles will be Chad Billingsley, who has allowed six runs total over his last six starts but has only two wins to show for it because of eight total runs of support in those games and a less-than-stellar bullpen.

That bad luck includes his last outing in Atlanta, where he gave up one run on five hits over seven innings but did not factor into the decision because the bullpen allowed the Braves to score three runs in the ninth-inning and come away with a walk-off win.

Billingsley gave up seven runs (four earned) in three innings in a start in Cincinnati in April.

Reds: Gomes stuck at 99
Jonny Gomes did not play on Friday against the Dodgers and still finds himself in a 1-for-19 slump. He's also been stuck on 99 career home runs since July 19, but Reds manager Dusty Baker said he doesn't believe Gomes is trying to put extra pressure on himself to try to reach 100.

"He's pulling off the ball some," Baker said. "As a hitter, sometimes you tend to press when you see your batting average sinking. I think one of the worst things and best things ever created was when they put your average up on the board. I don't care who you are, you're going to look."

Dodgers: Manny may return
The return of Manny Ramirez from a calf injury could come on Saturday after the slugger made his third rehab start for Class A Inland Empire on Friday. Ramirez played six innings in left field and went 0-for-2 at the plate. Still, Torre said the Dodgers will not rush Ramirez back, partly because of the subsequent roster move that would have to be made.

"He said he felt good, and I just told him that we need to have a little more of a read on being able to handle the outfield stuff," Torre said before Friday's contest. "We have to make a move, and that move's not going to be easy to make."

Worth noting
The Reds led the National League in most major offensive categories entering Friday, including batting average, hits, runs and RBIs. ... Brandon Phillips has not committed an error in 54 consecutive games. ... The Dodgers have recorded quality starts in eight of their last 10 games. ... Los Angeles placed starting pitcher Vicente Padilla on the 15-day disabled list with a bulging disk in his neck on Friday and recalled reliever Travis Schlichting from Triple-A Albuquerque. Carlos Monasterios started in Padilla's place on Friday and took the loss after allowing three runs in 4 1/3 innings.

They've gained 5 1/2 games in nine days.
Even if the Reds only go 1-4 to finish the road trip, it's been a succesful one.

Homer was outstanding again last night. 7 innings of 1 run baseball. Left a runner on 3rd with back to back strikeouts. I think Marty said he has given up just the 1 run in the 13 innings he has pitched since coming back.

4.5 up now. Life is good.

Cards are up 5-0, gonna need a victory today.

Yep. The west coast trip has been quite successful so far. We have SF next which can be tough.

The Cards are at Pittsburgh, Washington and Houston next so we need every win we can get. We could easily be in 2nd place by next Wednesday.

Not if they keep playing .650 + ball,...I think the Reds are in pretty good shape, regardless of what the Cards do, or don't. The key is not peaking "too" early and being able to ride September out. Gonna be a good ride in any case.

.650 may be a challenge for us, but with the rotation we have it is more than doable. I like the fact that Leake was pushed to the bullpen. Hopefully that helps the youngster from hitting the rookie wall.

The Club won't be worried if they slide to 2nd by next week. The Cards upcoming games can't get much easier, that is if St. Louis is worthy of contention.

Yes it is going to be an entertaining September.

I wouldn't expect to win 2/3 on the road, but .500 there is a "need-to-happen." Back home, they're as good as anybody in the NL. My only worry for them in tanking it to St Louis is staying in the Wild Card hunt.

Right now, they're in the catbird seat.

Reds win again, as do the Cardinals. I'm very happy with this west coast trip so far.

You should be.

Go figure the Pirates are taking care of the Cards again.

As far as today's game.... It was an ugly win, but can't complain about it, after all it was a win.

You're welcome Cincy.

GO BUCS.

Also a thanks to the... Nationals, tonight?

What the hell is the Cards problem against crappy teams?

If this team gets to the postseason, I'm a not sold one freaking iota on our bullpen. It's bad.

Now we have a 4 game lead in the standings......Cubbies and Brewers next, then a final series against the Cardinals.

35 games left to the season.

Let's go Redlegs!!!