June 5, 2005

This Is Bleak

If today ended right now, Red Hot Mama would have received the fewest hits since May 8, the first day of my conference in Seattle, and less than a fifth as many hits as May 31, her most popular day so far. I guess you guys must feel like reading about this team about as much as I feel like writing about it.

Today's game was yet another losing effort for the Reds who have now officially been swept off their feet. By the Rockies. This brings us to five losses in a row and a road record of 3 and about 200.

You can argue about whether the kick-in-the-pants that was the dropping of Danny Graves is the reason why we're seeing significantly improved performance from our pitching staff, but there's no way to argue that it's helped the offense in the long-term. The Reds stranded 11 runners on Friday, 10 Saturday, and 10 today in a phenomenal display of, well, what's the opposite of “clutch hitting”?

It's beginning to look like a change in management is likely. I would say “inevitable” if there were any obvious choice of who could come next, but maybe I should be saying it anyway. Either way, I really wanted the story of Miley to work out better than this, and when he does go, I'll miss his constant nervous blinking that always belied the axiety, jublication, or rage that he kept so neatly tucked inside.

Tomorrow's an off-day, but I'd be surprised not to have any material for an entry. I doubt I'll be very happy about the increase in hits.

7 comments to “This Is Bleak”

  1. Justin says:

    This, along with Reds and Blues, is my favorite Reds blog. I visit daily. Please keep up the good work! -JinAZ

  2. Blade says:

    Don’t sweat it. May and June are usually two of the toughest months traffic wise for blogs. Or so I’ve been told. The initial rush of the beginning of baseball is gone, and people check out because there’s a long haul ahead.

  3. Red Hot Mama says:

    Thanks for the boost, you guys. What would I do without you?

    Yesterday *was* bleak, but like usual, tomorrow was another day. Or, rather, today is another day. Or, perhaps I should say, today is this day, which is a different day from the day that was yesterday.

    Whatever. In any event, the Reds can’t lose tonight, it doesn’t look like Miley’s getting the axe just yet, I’ve got some fake Reds Classified coming up this very evening, and we’re having Spamanda and meatballs for supper.

    Life is good.

  4. CG Hudson says:

    No obvious choice? I’m looking for someone to spearhead my Draft Chris Chambliss for Manager campaign. Are you up for it? The guy gets on swimmingly with Adam Dunn (i.e., the future) and appears to be a proponent in general of the OBP-centric offense (hence; all those years winning with the Yankees as a player and coach). I don’t think he was Miley’s pick anyway so there shouldn’t be any hard feelings. An article in the June Reds Report has appreciative quotes from Dunn and Griffey as well. Let’s get Miley out of the way asap and give Chambliss as much time as possible this season. At least until Steinbrenner finally fires Torre and he and his Cincinnati-native wife can move back to town for gainful employment.

  5. Elizabeth says:

    My roomate and I just discovered you blog tonight and think it’s geat. The fake news story about Kearns’ bat gave us a much needed laugh during finals week. (not to mention after a depressing series in Colorado) Keep writing!

  6. dan says:

    I will suffer thru this and still remain mama i share your pain.

  7. Red Hot Mama says:

    To CG: I don’t really know enough about Chambliss to know whether he’d make a good manager, but I approve of your use of the word "swimmingly," so count me in.

    To Elizabeth: [url=http://www.laughnet.net/archive/college/exam.htm]These[/url] were always my favs during finals week, way back in my college days. C’mon, for old time’s sake let’s hear it for Lynx, everyone’s favorite text-only browser! Anyone? Anyone?

    To Dan: Bear down, my friend. The Reds should market a buffered analgesic: they’d make a fortune. Hard to complain about tonight for a change, though.