REDS AUGUST GAME THREAD

[Murdock2420]

(08-15-2021, 02:21 PM)kevin Wrote: August 15th and I do not see Reds catching Brewers.

So Reds are at this time chasing The Padres for Wild Card spot.  Others are in the mix including The Cardinals who have Flaherty back from injury with a solid win this week. Flaherty at 9-1 on season in spite of missing months due to injury makes Cardinals tougher.

Forget Pirates and Cubs except as Spoilers. The key games are going to be Reds vs Cardinals down he Stretch, and hope that Padres fall back.  The Mets are also in the hunt.  Also Giants, Dodgers, Phillies, Braves, Brewers, but some of these teams are out in front.  The Reds are trying to catch Padres and the Cardinals are trying to catch the Reds, as of August 15th.

The great manager of Baltimore Orioles Earl Weaver use to say late August and September is when you need to get HOT if you are to win in  October. His Red Hot Orioles clocked the struggling down the stretch Reds in 1970 to prove his point.  Just as the Red Hot Mets clocked his Orioles in 1969.  The play-off teams with the best records from August 15th to end of season are the teams that roll into October HOT and READY to win the World Series.

If Castillo and Gray could just get HOT and stay HOT down the stretch to go with Miley, Mahle and Gutierrez.  If Castillano and Winker and Votto can lead the way and maybe Suarez or others get HOT like Bench did at end of 1976.  NOW is the time TO GET HOT.

I also like Casey Stengel on winning 5 World Series in a row. Casey said you can win a game in the 3rd inning as much as in the 9th inning.  I agree with that. Managers who wait for the 9th inning are fools. If you can lay it on a team early in the game, Get After Them. Bat Around. Knock their pitcher out early.

While the Reds certainly have their work cut out for them to catch the highly overachieving roster in Milwaukee, it's a little too soon to rule it out.

Keep in mind that Milw has the toughest schedule of all the playoff teams remaining. While they only have a single 3 game set with the Reds, they have to deal with 13 games with the Cards who are in 3rd and trying to make their own push. They have 4 games at SF, 3 at the Dodgers to end the season, they also have to travel to Cleveland, and play Philly and the Mets. They should come back to earth rather rapidly with their upcoming schedule which would place the Reds in a position to gain some ground.