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Tom Archdeacon: No easy answers for Reds
By Tom Archdeacon
Dayton Daily News
CINCINNATI | "Let go of the banana."
That was Ryan Freel's suggestion.
The Cincinnati Reds had just lost for the 11th time in their last 13 games — this one a 7-2 setback to the San Diego Padres Wednesday at Great American Ball Park — and everywhere you looked there were signs it's going to be a long, dismal summer of baseball in Cincinnati.
Don't look for a Giacomo miracle from this bunch. No glorious finish from a back-of-the-pack start.
Only two major league teams have worse records than the 12-21 Reds. They're in last place in the National League Central. Their pitching is horrendous, the offense is one dimensional, there doesn't appear to be much help in the minor leagues and the only way a trade would help is if you could put almost the whole bullpen on a bus headed out of town.
Fans already have started shying away and by the end of Wednesday's game, many of those still at the ball park sent the Reds on their seven-game road trip with a chorus of boos.
Early in this home stand, the first signs of player discontent surfaced when at least two Reds publicly groused about their playing time. Wednesday, though, instead of sniping, the few guys who did show up at their lockers for a post-game session with the press were at a loss for words, much less solutions.
Right fielder Austin Kearns tried to think of something that could jar the team from it's funk: "We need a game where we score 12 or 13 runs or a good pitching effort. Something (dramatic) to turn things around."
A few dressing stalls away, Freel contemplated what could trigger better times:
"Turn the sprinklers on?... Maybe just Bull Durham it."
The Reds second baseman was talking about the classic baseball movie where Kevin Costner gets his struggling team a much-needed rain-out by sneaking into the opponent's ballpark one night, turning on the sprinklers and submerging the field.
As for the Reds, Freel said they must deal with their own flood of emotions now: "We need to just go out and relax and let things happen. But when you go 0-for-8 like we just did, the panic button gets pushed. People start pointing fingers and all of a sudden nobody knows what's going on.
"The best thing we can do?
"We need to let go...Let go of the banana...Just let that thing go."
And just what in the world does that mean?
As it turns out, in India — where there are lots of monkeys — there's a tried and true practice for catching the primates. You get a bottle with a small opening just big enough for a monkey to stick his hand through. You secure the bottle and then drop a banana down into it. The monkey will come up and grab into the bottle for the banana. Unable to pull his hand and the fruit back up through the neck, he'll struggle with it while somebody comes up and drops a sack over him for an easy catch.
Right now, the Reds are no different. Game after game, they do themselves in and end up easy pickings.
Since they swept the Mets in the first three games of the season, they have won just one series of the next 11 and have not won back to back games since April 17 and 18.
Wednesday, San Diego had little trouble bagging the hapless Reds in record style: Padres' manager Bruce Bochy got his 800th big-league victory. Second baseman Mark Loretta tied his career mark with five hits in the game and left fielder Ryan Klesko continued to abuse Cincinnati starter Paul Wilson. His three-run home run in the fourth was his fifth homer in 14 at-bats against the Reds' pitcher.
Always a stand-up guy when the post-game heat is on, Wilson admitted afterward Klesko has pretty much owned him of late: "It was just a bad ball to him. I got a fast ball up and in this league they make you pay for that. I'm just not getting the job done right now. I'm forcing things, trying to find a groove and when you try to do too much — try to do things you're not capable of — you have trouble."
And he's had plenty of it of late.
The team's most reliable starter last year, he signed a two-year deal in the off-season worth $8.2 million. But last Friday he was shellacked by Los Angeles, giving up eight earned runs without ever getting an out in what would end up a 10-run first inning for the Dodgers. Wednesday, he matched a career high, giving up 12 hits — and five earned runs — in five innings. He's now 1-4 with a 7.46 earned run average.
But the burden isn't just his. He's getting no help. Eric Milton, signed from Philadelphia for $25.5 million over three years, has given up a whopping 13 home runs. David Weathers, brought in on a one-year, $1.35 million deal, mostly has been a bullpen bust and closer Danny Graves too often loses his touch.
Yet, for all their own mound woes, the Reds faced an opposing pitcher, Wednesday, they should have treated like a ready-to-bust pinata.
Tim Stauffer, just 22 and on the road, was making his big league debut. He struggled at the game's start, hitting Freel and then giving up a home run to Felipe Lopez. He loaded the bases after that — just as he did in the third — but the Reds never scored again.
"A situation like that, you got to put him away," Freel said. "But we couldn't do it. Why, I don't know?
"I guess you could say today we finally put it all together. In the past, it's been one or the other for us — no pitching and good hitting or good pitching and no hitting. Today, it finally clicked., Today we didn't have anything. No pitching, No hitting. We didn't do a thing."
...Except hold that banana.
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Originally Posted by missionhockey21
