I grew up in Central-Ohio in the 70’s and 80’s. Like a lot of kids in this area, I wanted to grow up to be the shortstop of the Cincinnati Reds and I WOULD HAVE DONE IT TOO, if I just could have hit the ball a little better, ran the bases faster, fielded more efficiently and IF the Reds wouldn’t have signed a local guy who betrayed OHIO to go to the U of M named Barry Larkin.
So, with my baseball career hopes dashed, I have always been a fan of the Cincinnati Reds. I was even able to lay aside my resentment of Barry Larkin over the course of his 19 years in Cincinnati and today I am able to admit that the Reds did the right thing, picking him up as he was only SLIGHTLY better than I was…I still have an ego, ya know?
Anyway, the season kicked off On Monday with a loss to the Diamondbacks from Arizona…I wasn’t happy with the loss as I thought the Reds should have won that game, it was the home opener for crying out loud!
The team looks good this year and I am more hopeful about our chances in 2008 than I have been in several years. I know the Reds traded Josh Hamilton to the Texas Rangers and Josh is an incredible athlete and an incredible story but the team did the right thing. The Reds needed, and still need more, pitching help in the rotation and the guy we picked up from the Rangers Edinson Volquez is as much of a pitching stud as Josh is a hitting stud, the thing is, both are just POTENTIAL and now they each have to prove it.
Dusty Bakerr came in as the new manager of the team and I like Dusty because he is old school baseball. I am not sold on the charges that he blew out the arms of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior while managing the Chicago Cubs. regardless, the guy has a command from the top down and that is to WIN.
This year I am going to blog about “My Cincinnati Reds” not because I am a baseball expert but because I am a guy that all the stat geeks who dominate in fantasy leagues totally write off…I am a FAN…I can see the virtual rolling of the eyes right now, that’s ok, I know deep down that even stat geeks didn’t always check PECOTA to see what the VORP on a player like Corey Patterson is in CF to Josh Hamilton…I know they didn’t always check the GB to FB ratio on a pitcher and instead at one time liked those players just because they were pitching for their favorite team.
Sort of sad how calculated everything in life has become, even a game like baseball.
Here’s to the Reds going 161 - 1 this years and KILLING the hated New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox in the World Series!