Things turning around?

[redsrbetter]

We have had some pretty big wins lately with the sweep of the Nats, the split with the Bucs, and the huge win against Clemens and the Stros. We are winning games against teams in our division right now and those games always help. Our offense has been stellar the last few games and hopefully that continues. Claussen has a a few recent good outings and we have someone to call a legitimate ace. Pena and Hudson are due back soon and they can only help matters. That, along with Hancock to hopefully replace someone who is struggling in the bullpen.

I think our only low spots are Wilson and Milton along with the possibility of Aurilia starting over Freel or Lopez. We have a series against Colorado next (I will be there for the whole thing) in which we should take the sweep. But with Milton going against them, we may have a game we struggle.

Do you guys think we can play a little catch up the next week? They have the same schedule as us for the next week or so. They can take the Rockies like us. They can take the Astros like us. And then they have Boston to deal with, like us. So, I think we should at least keep up with them for now.

[Reds_fan_4_life]

i believe in miracles and we have a "weaker" schedule but not sure how we'll fare against them. I'm hoping we get some extra power with Pena back i hope by the rockies series b/c Pena and Coors Field OO BABY watch out!! there's gonna be some dingers flyin out of there no doubt.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I hope so, but it's going to take a LOT to even get within the Cards' radar. A win tonight will put them at (33-17).

[volzok]

I agree CRF. I dont look for the Reds to be in the Cards radar. I would settle for this team to get on a roll and compete for the wild card like we all thought they would at the beginning of the season.

[griffeyfan3]

yea i hope we can play a lil catch up in these next few weeks. may be hard to do with the al east leading o's coming into town but who knows.....

and we should definatly sweep the rockies but thats what we said when we went to milwakee.

[redsrbetter]

Milwaukee is actually quite good this yera. I do not expect us to catch up right away, as the Cards will get there wins. But getting a few games up on them in the next week or so could be good for us.

[theFatty]

I don't think Aurilia will be playing much. The other day he started at 3rd, not starting at SS and moving FeLo. I immediatly thought that was a sign of things to come.

I hope so

[missionhockey21]

We should just be glad the Cubs are not living up to expecations (like CRF mentioned in his article), always good to have less competition for the WC.

We can not expect to win lots of games in a row or whatever, it's just not what this team does. What we can do and need to do is to win 2/3, 2/3, 2/3 and so on. Slowly we'll get back into the race.

[Sea Ray]

I don't think anyone in the Central will challenge the Cards. The second place team may very well be around .500. At best this team can make a run at second place and evaluate our holes for next year. As for wildcard, I doubt it. Get to .500 then we'll talk about it.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yeah, with our pitching staff, we just have to have steady and consistent play for the rest of the year if we're going to even think of climbing back into the WC race.

[NFLman2033]

Good News is, its a long season, as shown in recent years when the Reds start out hot, and then fall way out of it by the end of the season... so by that logic, it means we have a long time to pull out of it... but to do so we have to play better then .500 ball for the rest of the season, which means no more split series, and win 3 in a row only to lose 3 in a row... My keys to pulling back into this.

#1 Eric Milton needs to keep the ball down.. like he did in his start before last.. he had more ground ball outs in that game then he had all season(dont' know for sure, but I'd bet on it) When he keeps the ball down, he is our 2nd best pitcher, but if he doesn't he is a huge liabiliy, especially in Coors, but come dog days of summer for us, the ball will be blasting off in GABP.. everytime he pitches its like throwing gas on a fire.. BOOM.....BOOM....BOOM...

#2 Consistancy.. we need our players who are playing well right now.. Lopez, Freel, Harang, and LaRue.. to keep up what they are doing.. to this point our team has been streaky in the hitting department, and virtually non existant in pitching... by that I mean we are lead by a few guys who are hot at the time, to this point it was Randa and Pena early.. then Jr, Dunn, Casey for a bit.. and now its Freel, Lopez, and LaRue... if we can get the whole lineup clicking at the same time, we could easily rattle of a bunch of wins.

#3 get Pena and Hudson back.. Pena is going to come back, and who ever is cold(right now I am looking at you Kearns) sits out and we let Pena all or nothing with Dunn all or nothing and have Freel, Lopez, Casey, and Randa get on consistantly.. that is a powerful Offense.

#4 Continue to get good pitchign from David Weathers, Kent Mercker, and Ryan Wagner... if these 3 play to their peak ability that is a good bullpen.. sure they are no Nasty Boys, but they are capable of playing well enough for us to keep us in games.

#5 Paul Wilson needs to either figure his stuff out or get the hell out of Cincy.. if its an injury, fine, heal up get out there and pitch like (you guys say he is) able to. We don't need another Jimmy Haynes.

Bottom line is, It is possible we could gain some ground, I am not going to plan on it, but will be just as happy as the rest of you guys if we do

[Wally Mo Pena]

the biggest things holding this club back right now are Milton and Wilson, and Austin Kearns. Not everyone else is doing great, but they are the only one's who haven't pulled it together to dome degree. Wilson is on the DL, and maybe he'll get better. Wily Mo is almost back and hopefully he can step right back into where he was, and kearns can take his weak hitting to the bench i guess.

As far as milton goes, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they can find something wrong with him too and sit him down for a while. Hopefully hudson can be back by mid june and maybe hancock too. I don't know what you do with all of them, but assuming elizardo and coffey go down when everyone is back, hopefully the managemnt will put the best staff they have out there.