...nay, of all-time. 3 with the johnny depps, 3 with the chicagos, 3 with the whale's vaginas. combined record: 147-187. this is officially IT - capital I, capital T. while we're playing the zach braffs of the NL, cincy is home to STL for 4; at PHILLY for 3, followed by 3 more in STL. tough stretch. if we can go 7-2 between tomorrow and august 16, while cincy falters, that set ups a GINORMOUS 3-game set with the reds 8/21-23 that will determine our season. UNLESS the reds take 5 or 6 of 7 from the cards over the next week. then we're chasing STL and EVERYTHING changes. loved the effort this weekend; berkman is locked in right now, luke ruth is now a solid third in the NL MVP race, taveras seems jazzed having his... uhm, friend, sure, on the team with him, and huff is CRUSHING the baseball; guy's making some very loud outs - when those balls start finding holes, he's gonna go on a beltran, circa 2004-like run. unfortunately, ensberg's period started yesterday, so we had to endure both crappy fielding and a typically gutless 9th inning AB where, apparently, he had no interest in atoning for his earlier fielding mishap. sorry; i put on stamp on ensberg last fall; i simply don't like him. still, he needs to produce for us to win and i think garner needs to get radical and bat him 2nd, which i've been championing since before his "no ****" DL stint. line-up would go: taveras ensberg berkman huff scott biggio AE ausmus ensberg does walk a lot and i think he'd see a lot of pitches ahead of berkman. i want someone who can force the action hitting second. ie not adam everett. ensberg could be that guy. magic number is now 34 after a very solid 4-2 road trip...
This is definetly a big home stand for us. I heard on the radio this morning that Garner is going to be resting Biggio a lot in this home stand which doesn't make sense and is sure to get some major criticism if it happens that way.
Bidge plays much better at home...why rest him here? I wonder if he has been getting banged up here lately and we just don't know because Craig doesn't complain about that sort of stuff.
I loved Garden State ... Seriously, though, great analysis of the schedule. I knew the homestand was huge given that we're playing crappy teams and the Reds are playing St Louis, but I didn't realize the Reds have 6 of the next 9 against the Cards with the Phillies sandwiched in there. Truly a massive homestand.
OK, just two questions... 1) Can a team that's tied for sixth in the wildcard standings have a "magic number"? 2) whale's vaginas?
i'm gonna be a Debby Downer and say we only make up 1 game this homestand. sure, the Reds are facing the Cards. i don't see teh Cards rolling up on Cincy though. Cards aren't really that great of a team. as a matter of fact, the whole NL is a joke except the Mets.
I'm sorry, I was trying to impress you. I don't know what it means. I'll be honest, I don't think anyone knows what it means anymore. Scholars maintain that the translation was lost hundreds of years ago.
@ A-Train. & I agree with the thread title. If it doesn't happen during this stretch (& I mean we leap frog a few teams) ... it ain't happening, G's.
Agreed, but we need to sweep some series...Yeah, its onl 4 games, but we need a lot of things to go our way for this to work out...
zach braff is on what television show.....? yes; it's going to take 88 wins to secure the WC; so we're actually 35 away. i'm incapable of using a calculater, btw. they confuse me with all their shiny buttons and big numbers. i'm just a simple caveman lawyer...
Even the Mets have their problems with starting pitching, which is what you need in the playoffs. Team's at home against some soft competition...definitely no roll overs though as the Pirates have been playing well since the All-Star break, Cubs can give you fits, and San Diego is about where we are record wise. Still we're better than all three so we gotta keep the momentum going. Ensberg has really provided a spark to this offense since coming back from the DL. I think JD and Bill were alluding to it the other day, how with Ensberg back and performing, Luke Scott playing so well, that Lamb has been relegated to the bench, which IS a good thing, because before our bench was pretty weak. Plus it gives the team a lot more flexibility if someone (like Preston Wilson has over the past 10 games) is struggling.
I think it could possibly be even less than that; but I guess it'd be safe to just shoot for around 90 wins.
vomit. scott's been the spark; not ensberg. since morgan's return: scott: .435/2/9/1.17 ensberg: .292/0/1/.789 and on a 130K pace.
Scott has to be one of the worst defensive outfielders in all of MLB. Once again I will speak of Garner's inability to manage players. He ruined Jason Lane's confidence this year with the way he handled him. He has done the same with Morgan. Ensberg is one of the premier thirdbaseman in MLB, both offensive and defensive. They screwed with Oswalt with the trade rumors, the Yankees let Pettitte go for a reason (and it wasn't because they couldn't afford him). He has an arm with a lot of mileage on it. He is not the same pitcher he used to be. The bullpen is just awful. Hate to ruin the party for all the sunshine blowers, but it ain't happenin' this year.
WHAT???? Ruined Lane's confidence? How about Lane hitting .200 all year ruining his own confidence? How about Ensberg not telling anyone he was hurt, and thus hurting the team for more than a month. It ain't Garner's fault the players are MEN and are getting PAID to play, if they can't hack it, they can move on. And, Luke Scott is a FINE outfielder, defensively and offensively. 4 games back is not great, but it is not Armageddon either. DD
