John Clay's Sidelines

(AP photo)

Can we now say the Reds’ season is officially over? It might as well be. Sad but true. That 4-3 loss in 10 innings to Houston last night dropped the Dreads 7.5 games back of red-hot Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Brewers are now 3.5 ahead of St. Louis and 5.5 ahead of a fading Pittsburgh. After losing three straight to Philadelphia, the Pirates lost last night to the visiting Cubs. Pittsburgh has lost six of its last seven.

Pitching has much to do with Milwaukee starting to show some separation. In their last 14 games, the Brewers have benefited from 13 quality starts. It would be a perfect 14-for-14 if Chris Narveson could have gone one more inning on July 26 in a 3-2 win over the Cubs. Instead, Narveson pitched five innings, giving up two runs. In their last four games, Milwaukee’s starters have allowed five earned runs in 26.2 innings.

Continue reading ‘Unable to get big hit, Reds facing a bigger deficit’

Courtesy of Cincinnati Reds:

Great stuff from Hall of Famer Hal McCoy’s Dayton Daily News blog on Joey Votto’s press conference today in Toronto.

The Reds first baseman was activated from the Disabled List and will be in the lineup, batting third, when Cincinnati takes on the Blue Jays tonight. Votto is from Toronto.

But Votto held a 4 p.m. press conference to discuss the details of his absence, and it all goes back to dealing with the unexpected death of his 52-year-old father last August.

An excerpt:

“The days I was taken off the field were miniature versions of what I was dealing with by myself. Ever since late May I have been struggling with this in my private life. I’d go on the field and try to play well, but I couldn’t do it any more because I was overwhelmed physically with the stuff I was dealing with off the field finally seeped its way onto the field and I finally just had to put an end to it. I really couldn’t go out there. I physically couldn’t do my job.”

Be sure and read Hal’s entire post. It’s illuminating proof that no matter how big and strong an athlete may be, he can be subjected to the same emotions and struggles as everyone else.

John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer also has details on his blog.