Show your Red leg Pride!

Now that you are finished admiring your Reds in person at Great American Ballpark, or from the comfort of your own home, you will have plenty of time to shop for your favorite Reds apparel. There are tons of places you can find your favorite Reds merchandise, so that when next season rolls around you are all decked out and ready to support your hometown team. First of all is the site I have already mentioned, and that is the Reds homepage. But a couple of other places that you could check out would be Champssports.com, where you can find a variety of teams, including your favorite Cincinnati Reds. There is also shop.mlb.com which will have all of Major League baseballs teams.
And when you aren't out shopping for apparel, you could always take advantage of the Cincinnati Reds Hall of fame Monday through Saturday 10a.m. to 5p.m., and Sundays noon to 5p.m. You can check out the Pete Rose exhibit and the exhibit dedicated to the Reds announcers, and more of the Cincinnati Reds history. This is a great place to take school kids on a field trip, or to visit as a family on a rainy day. You can find out all kinds of historical facts about the team, and all those who made an impact on the Reds throughout history.
And now that the season is finished, try not to go through withdrawals from not getting your reds fix in TV, just visit the site or go to the hall of fame to get your dose of the Cincinnati Reds.

Upcoming season

Now that the season is over for the Red legs, there is much to talk about for the 2008 season. First of all they Reds are taking deposits for 2008 season tickets. Secondly, pitching is the headlines as usual for the Reds improvement. This past season Weathers was the only reliable relief pitcher that the bullpen had. But there is great hope in the rookie Jared Burton, he just needs a little more experience in the major league to be a promising player in the 2008 season.
But like I said before, this good pitching will come with a cost. THere was a lot of talk about the big hitter from left field, Adam Dunn, being traded for some better pitching. Which really upsets me, because I do have to say Dunn is my favorite player on the Reds. THis also makes me wonder that if they get rid of Dunn, if they will lose fan base? I won't be one to stop watching the Reds, but I will be quite disappointed if he is gone next season. I understand that the Reds will need to maek some trades in order to improve the team, but I will be in mourning for quite a while if Dunn is traded.

Re-evaluating this past season

With the Reds season being so close to the end, it is definite that they will finish under .500 for the season. This will make it the seventh season in a row of coming up under .500, and the 12th consecutive season of not making it into the playoffs. Their record will end at 72-90, but while this may not seem too stellar, their mid-season team shake up turned the teams losing streak around. As of July 1st, ex-manager Jerry Narron was replaced as Cincinnati Red's general manager due to the at that current time, 31-51 record. This left an opening at the Red's for new General Manager Wayne Krivsky. Once he made a couple of changes within the Reds management,such as Pete Mackanin as the interim manager, it turned the teams luck around. This resulted in a 41-49 record for the remainder of the season. Mackanin is in the running for a permanent position. While Mackanin did turn the second half of the season into a winning one, the team still lost seven of its last eight games, leaving many wondering if he can really cut it as the Red's manager.
Unfortunately with the improvements needed to make the Reds a competing team next year will mean getting rid of some of its big hitters to acquire the needed pitching relief. They had some prospective pitching in rookie Homer Bailey, and others, but they need some good relief pitchers to hold on to the leads that they get with the active hitters they already have, since the Red's bullpen has the worst ERA average in the league.
Even though the Reds need improvement, they still have the dedicated fans that no matter how down they get on the team, will keep returning. And like I said before, as long as the Reds have those die hard fans it will definitely improve the teams morale, and give them the confidence they need to perform. The fans do have a part in the Reds success!

Season coming to a close and a look to next season

With this less than stellar season coming to a close, there will be room for improvement for next season to give the Reds a chance to compete. The top of the list for improvements is definitely the pitching. The starting pitching isn't horrible; its the bullpen that needs all the help it can get. In order to do this the Reds will most likely have to trade Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion. Most American League teams will give up a fairly decent middle reliever or closer to grab Dunn as a designated hitter. Encarnacion will bring in a halfway decent middle reliever. So after being picked to finish fifth in the division and doing the analyst one better by finishing fourth. But with these hypthetical changes hopefully next season they can work up to maybe third, but we're all hoping for a division championship or at least a wild card spot.

So, in great likelihood, the lineup would look something like this: 1B - Votto, 2B - Phillips, SS - Gonzalez, 3B - Keppinger, C - Ross/Valentin, LF - Griffey, CF - Hamilton, RF - Ellison, and Util - Freel. Hopefully the young players can pick up some things from the veterans. Especially from Freel and Griffey, the two hardest players the Reds have had since Pete Rose.

Injury alert!

Adam Dunn went into surgery the other day for his knee, which will take him out for the remainder of the season. He is expected to have a full recovery in 4 to 6 weeks, so he will be well rested for next season.
The Reds lost to the Astros last night 6-7 being the final score. Even though the team lost the game, Brandon Phillips made it into the 30-30 club last night, hitting his 30th homerun for the season. Phillips joins only one other second baseman in history to gain at least 30 homeruns and 30 stolen bases in one season, Phillips record being 32 stolen bases and 30 homeruns so far for the season.
The Reds 2008 tentative home game schedule came out this week as well, but will not announce start times until a later date. The Reds will begin their season at home as tradition, against the Arizona Diamondbacks. For more info on the upcoming reds season and anymore news you can't wait for until I write again, visit www.cincinnatireds.com for your Reds fix.

opening day

Woohoo! Well I am off and running and can't wait to start writing about my beloved Reds. THis season had it's ups and downs, but I am positive that next season will be the one for Cincinnati, all they need is a little support. I don't understand how the Bengals can bring in so many die hard fans each game, when the other team in Cincinnati doesnt, considering it is cheaper to get into the Reds games. I think the Reds would improve if they just had more backing from their home town fans. Many players thrive on the fans that always have their back no matter if they win or lose, and the fans that are so hyped up they don't sit down when the game is getting down to the end. All it takes is some dedicated fans to amp up this team.
This week had a bit of bad news for the Reds, Griffey had an injury that will take him out for the season. But that's ok because he will be rested and ready to go again next year, fresh and rejuvinated. The pitching had some troubles this year as well. But they brought some new talent up, and with a bit of practice, and a little more game experience they could be a force to reckon with. Get ready for next season, look out! For more information on the Reds check out this sight: