Boxscore

This year I haven’t really considered the Washington Nationals a real team. They’re just so bad, it’s hard to take them seriously. I mean, they’ve consistently been winning only a third of the team for most of the year. In the world of bad teams, that’s truly atrocious.

So you might think the Cincinnati Reds would be able to beat up on the Nats. If so, you would be wrong. The series started off well, with the Reds finding a magical bat for Johnny Gomes and a magical bag of things for Bronson Arroyo to ingest giving them a 7-0 win.

Then things started to fall apart. Aaron Harang started the second game, received no run support, and the Reds were shutout 2-0.

Last night I flipped the game on to discover it was already 7-0. Wow. What the hell happened to Johnny Cueto? Oh, yeah, he pitches for the Reds.

Still, the Reds did mount a bit of a comeback, scoring 4 in the 7th thanks to Joey Votto and Drew Sutton’s first home run. It wasn’t enough.

With the loss, I at first thought the Reds had lost the series to the Nationals. But no, this is a 4-game series. That won’t happen until today.

On the bright side, Adam Dunn continues his streak of homering in Great American Ball Park every year of his major league career. So there’s that.

The Reds lost (again) last night–this time to the Chicago Cubs–to stretch out their losing streak to 8. Yes, that’s 8 games in a row they’ve lost.

It would be more if not for a fluke of a win a while back that ended their then season-longest losing streak of 6 games. That makes the Reds 1-14 over their last 15 games.

As the losses pile up, I can’t help but wonder, where are all the “Dusty Baker on the hot seat in Cincinnati” stories? The Reds had optimistic hopes of finishing above .500 and competing this year. Clearly, that’s not happening. Not anytime soon. But no one is getting fired.

Could it be that owner Bob Castellini’s macho stance against losing is nothing more than a PR move? Or is it really a St. Louis Cardinals conspiracy?

Methinks Castellini doth protest too much. Until some heads start rolling, I’ll be thinking that losing suits him just fine.

Before the Aaron Harang took the mound against the Cubs tonight, Thom Brennaman was heard to say on the pre-game show that this game is a “must-win” for the Reds. This got me to thinking: do the Reds need to win tonight’s game? It’s only the grace of the Pirates’ loss last night that the Reds are tied for fifth instead of in sole possession of dead last.

At 11 games back, it’s a little hard to imagine this game being of particular importance to the Reds as a team. To individual managers, sure, but not to the team as a whole.

At just half a game back and in second place, this game could be pretty darn important to the Cubs. That got me wondering whether the Reds shouldn’t go easy on the baby bears tonight. But no. That way madness lies.

On our way home from a particularly long weekend road trip yesterday, the Crack Technical Staff and I were talking about who should be to blame. One idea stuck with me, and I couldn’t shake it: why didn’t the change in ownership fix things? All those years of telling ourselves that if only the team had an owner that knew the game, that would invest a little, the team could win.

Along comes Bob Castellini and the current ownership group, and things did immediately improve. But as we chatted, we realized that “things” hadn’t improved, “marketing” had. The team harvested a lot of low-hanging fruit in packaging up shitty tix with opening day ones and bringing the Reds Caravan into Indianapolis, giving the illusion of a well-run team.

The one person they did invest in, Dusty Baker, might even have been a marketing decision. They hired him so quickly they couldn’t have actually interviewed a full panel of candidates, and my experience is that average fans–the kind who check out an occasional box score but don’t actually tune in for games–love him. “In Dusty We Trusty.”

And there’s been no talk of his job being on the line, despite the performance of the team, which really makes me wonder about the motivations of the management. At some point, though, I hope they’ll realize that “Muncie, Indiana Day” at the ballpark will convince some to come out, but a winning team is what will really put butts in the seats.

But they’re pretty far from that right now. Even the pitching staff that people are quick to defend is only good in comparison to the offense and to previous years: not to other teams’. League average runs allowed: 4.20. Reds’ average runs allowed: 4.48.

Admittedly, that number is influenced by the defense, too, but so what? Isn’t that the whole damn reason Alex Gonzales is on the roster?

So, regardless of whether this game actually is a “must win” for Cincinnati tonight, as they’re down 3-0 in the top of the sixth, it’s certainly not a “likely win.”

In a move no doubt to help the Cincinnati Reds at their battered catching position, the Reds sent Jerry Hairston, Jr. to the New York Yankees for minor league catcher Chad Weems. With Ramon Hernandez on the DL and Ryan Hanigan day-to-day, this probably had to be done simply to limp to the finish of the season. But it does leave the team even emptier in the outfield.

Plus, you know Dusty Baker had to have a single, solitary tear trail down his cheek. The only way he’d full-out bawl like dealing with Corey Patterson last year would be if golden-child Willy Taveras were traded.

In other, hard-to-deal-with-trade-deadline news, Walt Jocketty acquired his man-crush, Scott Rolen. The Reds had been linked with Rolen for weeks, but I’d kind of hoped it wouldn’t happen. The Reds gave up a lot for an aging, injury prone 3rd basemen: Edwin Encarnación, reliever Josh Roenicke, and pretty good pitching prospect Zach Stewart. Rolen will be a boost in defense over worst 3rd-basemen-I’ve-ever-seen EdE, but the price is steep.

The trade for Rolen has to be for next year. The Reds have zero chance this year. (The only way they have a chance next year is if Baker isn’t the manager. Regardless of off-season acquisitions.) Is the market for competent 3rd basemen really that empty?

We’ll see. Either Jocketty’s gone senile by working on a daily basis with Baker–he did sign Taveras for two years–or he’s simply attempting to rebuild his success with the St. Louis Cardinals. Literally.

The St. Louis Cardinals traded for Matt Holliday this week and dramatically boosted their chances to remain atop the NL Central. Again.

Everyone knew Holliday was going to be traded from the A’s this year, but the rumors were flying. Heck, even the Reds blogs were talking about how he might help the team. Unfortunately for Reds fans, the team is once again in selling, building for the future mode. Renting Holliday for the rest of the year wouldn’t have been enough to win anything. Unlike for the Cardinals, who are in first place but need a little offensive help to stay there.

Must be nice to follow a team who ends up in a good position when the draft deadline comes.

The Reds have done a great job over the last few years of building up the farm system. In my mind, a team’s prospects have two uses.

1. Provide cheap, good talent for future wins.
2. Use as payment for renting expensive veterans in a year when the playoff gods choose you.

Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker must think there’s another use, though: taunting young athletes who are superior to their overpriced crappy veteran counterparts (see Ramon Martinez and Willy Taveras).

Come to think of it, maybe that’s why the Reds are in the cellar again. Nah, couldn’t be. The Chicago Cubs were great when Baker was there.