It’s been a season of ups and downs for the last place Cincinnati Reds so far this year. The downs include a piss poor start that ended up costing the manager his job. The ups were the best June in all of baseball, and 3 All-Star appearances by our beloved team. With that said, it’s the halfway point, and it’s time to hand out some awards.
Tag Archives: Joey Votto
Joey Votto is Clutch AF
Holy shit. I couldn’t believe it last night. Down 4-0 in the top of the 9th, with two outs, against our most hated rival — The Cleveland Indians — the Reds put up a 7 spot.
Scooter, Geno and Joey Are Headed to the All-Star Game
Yep, you heard that right. Your 2018 last place Cincinnati Redlegs are sending 3 guys to the All-Star game in DC next week.
Okay, fine. The Reds have been playing a lot better than their record shows, as of late. If it wasn’t for their historically bad start to the 2018 season, we may even be in some sort of race (Wild Card or Divisional). For the last month of the season, Scooter has been leading the league in hitting, and Eugenio Suarez has been tops in the NL in RBI for most of the season. And Joey is just Joey, as always.
It’s Time for People to Start Respecting the Cincinnati Reds
I know it sounds crazy to say that about a team that is currently in last place in their division, but anyone who has been paying attention to baseball for the last month knows it’s the truth. After starting the season with a disastrous 3-18 record, the Reds have gone 33-30, bringing their current record to 36-48. Sure, that’s still a pretty poor record and keeps them 12.5 behind the first place Brewers, but the way they’ve turned the season around and made themselves somewhat respectable deserves a hat tip from even the harshest of critics, but they don’t seem to be getting much respect.. especially in All-Star Game voting.
A lot of people predicted the Reds to be in the cellar of the NL Central this year, but nobody expected them to be this bad. Replacing Manager Bryan Price with Jim Riggleman, Mack Jenkins with Danny “Dr. Death” Darwin as the pitching coach and a rare early season trade for Matt Harvey has completely changed the trajectory of the 2018 Cincinnati Reds. A lot of the early struggles weren’t necessarily Bryan Price’s fault, but you can’t fire the roster, so something had to be done. And boy, did it work. Continue reading
Canada Hates Joey Votto
Joey Votto is arguably one of the best Canadian-born baseball players of all time. So it’s no surprise that many Canadians were displeased to hear him come out and say that he doesn’t “give a rat’s ass” about Canadian baseball. In a recent interview for Yahoo Sports MLB Podcast, Votto was asked about fellow Canadian James Paxton’s no-hitter that he threw recently in Toronto. While Joey did say he was happy for Paxton as an individual and as a fellow baseball player, he said that he didn’t care about the fact that Paxton did it as a Canadian or that he did it on Canadian soil. Votto went on to explain that having spent almost half his life in American baseball, he really doesn’t feel a strong connection to Canadian baseball anymore. He later apologized for what he said, and for how bluntly he said it, but many Canadians are still not happy with him. At least according to Twitter.
Scooter Gennett Named National League Player of the Week
What a stretch of baseball for the Cincinnati Reds. As a team, they’ve rattled off six straight victories and are the owners of the league’s longest active winning streak. I guess they don’t call us #Wincinnati for nothing. Two weeks ago Joseph Daniel Votto was named the National League Player of the Week, and now Scooter Gennett earned the same honor. Somewhere out there, St. Louis Cardinals fans are debating that Yadier Molina deserved the award despite being on the disabled list after failing horribly as a catcher and getting hit in the nuts with a baseball.
I’m Regaining Confidence in the Reds and That Scares Me
Why oh why must they do this to me? As I watch Saturday night’s tilt vs. the Hollywood Dodgers, the Reds have won 4-straight and are showing signs of a team that can put some runs on the board backed by quality pitching. Sure, the mini-winning streak has come at the hands of the tumbling Mets and injury ridden Dodgers, but it’s lightyears ahead of what they were playing like earlier in the season.
Listen, I don’t think the Reds are going to charge back into the conversation of winning the division of wild card spot. Actually, yeah they will. At least in my dumb brain. If they can string together 20 more wins without losing more than 2 or 3 heart breakers, we’re looking at a contender. They haven’t shown me anything in the last four games that makes me think it isn’t possible. Guys are getting key hits and the bullpen has been ready to finish off strong performances by the starting rotation. The 2018 Reds are back, baby. Continue reading
