²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ

I am nearing a Reds week-long mental break for my own well-being at this point, as decades of losing is finally coming to a head for not just me, but many life-long fans.  The mediocrity, the lackluster at-bats, the unwillingness to make big moves, the bad signings, the stubbornness of Francona, and the overall well-being of this team is once again damaging the morale before Mid-May.  It’s the same movie, kindly re-winded like the old Blockbuster Days and replayed for the Cincinnati region year after year.  I’m tired.  I’m exhausted.  I just want winning baseball, as I love the Cincinnati Reds, but how many evenings can we all waste watching 2-hit games?  At some point, you’ll end up going insane, right?

Weekly Whine

My weekly whine of the Cincinnati Reds deserves a shipment of weekly wine…or preferably liquor at this point.  Here we go:

• The Reds are second to only the Rockies in total strikeouts.  How does this happen year after year?  Chris Valaika, I had high hopes.  Same results.
• Remember that huge win streak in 2023 when everyone got called up?  I wish it never happened.  It gave the front office too much hope and helped them decide not to be too aggressive over the last two off-season’s. Almost like the Bengals Super Bowl run.
• Change Elly to leadoff, force pitchers to pitch to him or have him as a running threat with no outs.  Tito, I know you’re a World Series Champion.  What am I missing here?
• McLain and Steer, what on Earth happened fellas?  How long can this go on? 
• 2025 is the 12^th consecutive season where the Reds have a losing record at the 40 game mark.  Holy Mediocre.
• Chase Petty isn’t ready for big league pitching.  Stop hurting the kid’s confidence and leave him be. 
• It took this long for the organization to realize Blake Dunn isn’t a major league batter? 
• Elly De La Cruz has to start hitting for extra base hits and has to start hitting in big situations. 
• In 20 of 42 games, Cincinnati has scored less than 3 runs.  WOOF!
• Want to look up something scary?  Look up the last time the Reds won a series after losing the first game and send me a text after you find out the last time that occurred.

Positives

• Connor Joe has joined the Reds and quickly made an impact in his first game with the team.  Will he be the spark this team needs to get over .500?  I don’t know, but I am willing to watch them try anything. 
• There is plenty of time for things to turn around, but you can’t concede every fifth game in the meantime, as we deal with Greene’s injury. 
• The White Sox are in town, which should give us all hope again (should).