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Pressure on Reds keeps on building

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By By Hal McCoy, Staff Writer Updated 6:08 PM Tuesday, June 9, 2009

As Brandon Phillips said after a not-so-great series at not-so-Great American Ball Park over the weekend in which the Reds went 1-2 against the Chicago Cubs: “Now we have to go run the Washington Nationals into the ground.”

Looks to me as if former Cincinnati/Washington general manager Jim Bowden ran the Nationals into the ground before his resignation. Bowden is under investigation for an alleged skimming scheme involving money paid to Latin American prospects.

But that’s another story.

Bowden left a mess and the Nationals inarguably are baseball’s worst team — 15-40, 17 1/2 games out of first place — as the Cincinnati Reds open a three-game series here tonight.

When they were the Washington Senators a couple of different times, writer Charles Dryden penned: “Washington: first in war, first in peace and last in the American League.” A slight revision: “Washington: first in war, first in peace, last in the National League East.”

Losing a sweep to the Nationals would be reprehensible. Losing two games would be terrible. Losing one would be inexcusable.

Yes, winning on the road isn’t easy. But it’s the Nationals. Pressure? Yes. The Reds have lost seven of their last 10 and fallen flatly into fourth place in the National League Central.

The word of the year so far with the Reds has been resilient. One hears it in the clubhouse as often as one hears a Latin tune belching out of Willy Taveras’ boom box. Every time adversity pops its ugly head, the Reds snap it off. So far.

It is time again. And it is time to score runs. No, Joey Votto isn’t there. No, Jay Bruce isn’t hitting. Manager Dusty Baker can’t find a clean-up hitter to suit his tastes.

But to quote the mutterings of tasteless Larry the Cable Guy, the Reds have to, “Git ’er done” under the current circumstances or fall by the wayside and become just another under-.500 Reds team, the ninth in a row. They are only two games over .500 and staggering to the left and teetering to the right.

They scored 15 runs in their last seven losses and only eight in the three games with the Cubs, and that includes a 4-3, 11-inning win.

And speaking of git-er-done, the Reds desperately want to avoid being pounded upon by former teammates Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn, who has 17 home runs and 44 RBIs as Washington’s cleanup hitter. Kearns bats sixth in the Nats’ lineup and was the Reds’ No. 1 draft pick in 1998 when Dunn was the No. 2 pick.

Washington followed by three in Kansas City should be the perfect medicine. Should, though, is a short, succinct word that is one-third of a cliche after a mishap — shoulda, coulda, woulda.

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SO WHAT... THE REDS LOSE A FEW GAMES... BUT I BET YOU THEY WILL WIN ALOT MORE.

Michael
11:08 AM, 6/13/2009

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Joe, how does that sweep by the Nats looking now? Bwahahaha!!!

Curt
9:08 AM, 6/10/2009

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@joe: no they wouldn't. Dunn hits homers, but the reds still lost when he was here. Trading him was the right move.

@Bill: Seriously, find something else to complain about. To call for someone's job because Phillips' pants are baggy is a little senile. Oh my, things have changed since you were young. By gosh, this world is a big and scary place with these yougins running around with their baggy pants and their rap music.

ha
2:17 PM, 6/9/2009

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The Reds are going to sweetp the Nationals. Get in touch if you'd like to put a little wager down.

Sweep
2:16 PM, 6/9/2009

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Remember the days when Cincy had a no facial hair policy and the players looked sharp. Now we have Phillips with the baggie straight legged pants down to and over his ankles and the ******** bill of his cap, pure class. Why does the Reds let DDN use that picture of Phillips did the PR department resign.

StraitBill
1:26 PM, 6/9/2009

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