an overdue update.

I know I havent written in a while… and its not because I have been lazy or haven’t wanted to. Back in may while playing hockey, I came across the center line and checked a guy so hard that it sent me spinning and upside down to the point where I spiked my shoulder when I landed and ended up tearing the AC joint. I knew immediately that there was a problem and drove straight to the ER. Two weeks in a sling, and two or three weeks of physical therapy later.. and here I am.

Because of things I ended up missing the CUBS series in early June which I was excited about. Excited because probably one of my favorite players was going to be there, RYAN FREEL. Freel has had his ups and downs with injuries and such, but he is a still a great player, who given the chance.. can shine like not many other. Unfortunately though, instead of being here and being able to see him potentially play… I ended up in bed, resting and lamenting over the pain I was suffering being able to barely move.

This morning I found out the Freel has again been traded, this time to the Kansas City Royals… a team that never comes here for interleague play. So my chances of seeing one of my favorite players has gone down the drain.
Aside from that, when I did return to action at the ballpark it was with warm welcome and concern from my fellow friends and employees, and once things got underway it felt like I had never missed a day.

One of the biggest highlights of June was of course the civil rights weekend in which we celebrated the heritage of baseball and its breakthroughs of both discrimination and the color barrier in the sport. First up in order to get to the weekend we played Atlanta. After a fair amount of rain delay… Laynce Nix, the beast that he is.. drove in RBIS to assure a win, which was given to Daniel Ray Herrera for his first career victory. After that, the reds would take another win.. ultimately losing the 3rd of the series in an exciting 3 game run against the braves.

Then onto the civil rights weekend… in which I was closer to greatness than I think I have ever been. It was a really surreal feeling, but before that lets talk about the adventure I had on Friday of that week.

The boss contacted me and asked me if I would be available on Friday daytime to do some stuff, and I told him I had already planned to take it off. With Thursday being a day game, I am accustomed to just taking Fridays off from my regular job in order to enjoy the time before a long weekend of baseball. It was then that I found out that I would be working for MLB TV, covering a live Q & A session with some great people like Hall of Famers and local legends Oscar Robertson and Tony Perez. Hank Aaron was there as well.. and after I realized he was sitting 4 seats away from me, I couldn’t help but want to just leave my camera and shake the hands that beat babe ruths record. Highlights of this day and a look at some of my work can be seen at http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090619&content_id=5418930&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

After that it was on to Saturday… and one of the best moments of my life. Even though the reds would struggle, it was made up for by the magic that was in the air that night in which history was made. One of the crowning moments had to have been seeing Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby and Hank Aaron all together.. and being only feet from them. Ali, now in the last stages of his life but still looking good, seemed to still be enjoying the spotlight.. as they drove him away on the golf cart after the ceremonies on the field, he did his trademark pose where he put his fists up for the crowd, who ate it up.

I cant even tell you what really happened during the game itself… because I was drowning in the fact that I had just seen 3 legends all together at the same time. I couldn’t believe how blessed and privileged a moment that it was for me to be there… and its something I might not ever get over.

The reds keep struggling a back and forth war to keep at or above 500,.. but I think that some key changes can be made soon to get them where they need to be. I am standing by my prediction of slightly above 500 and possible wildcard that I made before the season began.

It shows through on a week like this past one and its always mystifying to me to see them play so badly against a low ranked team, and then tear it up against a high ranked team. Arizona and St. Louis talent-wise are so far apart from each other as well.. and its always a hard to thing to watch one of our pitchers do so incredibly well on the mound, only to see his efforts squandered late in the game by the backup bullpen. Its obvious that some incredible mistakes have been made this past week and I cant really tell you why… just to say that hopefully the proper changes will be made and adjustments and such.

July is a challenging road for the reds… and unless something happens to get them back in line, I don’t think they are going to see themselves moving out of fourth place. Having to go up against powerhouses like Philadelphia and Milwaukee doesn’t help when you’re struggling just to get more than 5 hits per game..
And before any of you naysayers go off on some tangent like “THE REDS SUCK, I AM SO DONE WITH THEM” just because they gave up 22 runs last night, let me remind you that this year is the best the club has been in a long time and they have consistently been at or around the 500 mark ALL SEASON LONG…

which in itself is an accomplishment seeing as how they have been plighted with injuries and setbacks to most of the players who have been considered their major stars. They won games WITHOUT Alex Gonzalez.. and Edwin Encarnacion.. they have been winning without Volquez on the mound,.. and they won when Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto were both out on injuries and other things.. they have been winning and staying where they quite frankly were projected by many experts to finish out at in a season of rebuilding with young and new talents.

Will they ever be back to the status of the 1990 team? Probably not.. not even the Yankees with all their bankroll and power could be that. Baseball has changed and the way its played and done has changed.. and its something that the fans need to accept.

The fans need to accept that the reds aren’t going to go to the world series this year. They need to accept that they aren’t going to finish in first place… that at best they will end up maybe getting the wildcard, and that’s about it. Any sane person knows that the team is in a stage of rebuild… that its been injury plagued.. and that the new talent is fully developed enough yet. Things take time.. and if you cant be patient, you probably should find some other team to bandwagon for.

But hey… that’s just my opinion, and rain or shine I am going to love my reds all the way into October.

Thanks.