A Long Way Away

I know. It's early. But I sort of have to be excited for the Reds, who have come out of the gate strong. As of this writing, we're 12-7, and up 3-1 on the Nats, good for 2nd in the NL Central, and half a game up on the Cards for the wild card. So far everything has worked out well, basically. Arroyo has been good, Harang has been solid, and Weathers has actually been alright as a closer. The rest of the pitching has been good enough. On offense, it turns out that Adam Dunn is pretty good, and the rest of the lineup can hit. Kearns has finally hit like he was supposed to after his stellar minor league career and his rookie season. And we've been doing this without Griffey for the last couple weeks. So maybe the Reds can stay in the race for a while this year. I think that we need to have either Williams, Milton, or Claussen step up (or get another starter), and get lucky with the bullpen (ideally, have Wagner come back up and take over the back end of games). But the Reds have figured how to play at home, and are becoming a team that no one wants to face (not so much because they're great, but they can ruin your bullpen in a 3 game series).

But in all likelihood, by the time the All-Star break rolls around, the Reds will have lost ground, and will likely be out of the race. And I'll switch my allegiance to the Yankees.

What I love about the start of every season is redemption. Some teams look like they are just rejuvenated. Everyone has a chance. Every team has talent on there, enough talent that lets you wonder, "what if...?" If everything falls right. If the talented pitcher with the live arm gets the control down... If the power hitter who can't lay off bad pitches could just learn to be a little more patient... If the young relief pitcher would just not have those mental blowups out on the mound... If the infield plays as well as it did last year... If the outfield hits like it did two years ago... you may just have enough to make a run at the pennant.

We know that some teams go in year in and year out and are expecting to win. These teams just walk in there knowing that they are good, and they go out and prove it. The regular season is almost an informal interview, with the playoffs being the true testing grounds. They just have a feeling of greatness. Many teams will have this feeling at the start of the season.

And for some teams, the feeling lasts longer than others. Some teams come out stumbling, and their seasons are over before they even started. Sure, they may make a late run in August and September and finish with a respectable record, maybe even .500. But they aren't going to win any pennants. But they'll make everyone interested for next year, since they flashed a glimmer of hope late in the season.

Other teams last for a while, and then fade, when everyone understands that they just weren't quite talented enough this year. The young guys were a little too young. The old guys were a little too old. They were able to keep it up for a couple months. But baseball... it's a journey. You don't sprint the whole way. Teams that use up all of their mojo by June... well, they usually don't hold on. But it's a building block for the franchise. They can figure out where they need to improve. A new starter. Another left-handed bat. A lefty out of the 'pen. Maybe next year.

Everyone has hope. At least for a little while. Let's see if my Reds can carry this on for a little while longer and make some folks in the NL Central sweat.

-Chairman