Big win, need to keep it rolling

The walk-off tonight was huge. Griffey, benched by Dusty, came in and hit it in his only at bat in the bottom of the ninth. The Reds did leave 10 on base in the first eight innings, something that has become somewhat of a trademark of the season thus far. They managed to fight back and climb out of the cellar of the NL Central and, with a good 2 week stretch, could be .500 by the All-Star break. Then again, if Corey Patterson keeps playing, the Reds could be 15 under and preparing for next season when Griffey and Volquez head to New York. Will be fun to watch either way. Volquez tomorrow which should be a win and hopefully another strong outing from Thompson on Wednesday.

The Euro Cup ended on Sunday with Spain winning in a mostly boring 1-0 game. Too bad one of the best tournaments had to end with one of the worst games. Now soccer is essentially over until August. Only a few World Cup qualifiers between now and then. I guess it is time to focus on the most important fall sport, football. More on that in the coming days.

Euro Cup

If this doesn't get you excited for soccer, you are hopeless because this guy is awesome.

FOOT 2008 (REMI GAILLARD)
by nqtv

2-7 Homestand; now 9 straight on the road

Harang is still hurting thanks to Dusty and now the season may be gone in the next 10 days. The Reds face the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Indians with one solid pitcher, Volquez. Arroyo is pitching better but still not good, Cueto is hit or miss, Harang has ben mostly awful since Dusty ruined him and we don't have a #5 starter right now. That rotation means we will be lucky to go 2-7 on the road trip. After another bad trip, it may be time to write the end of the year column and move on to next year, hopefully without Dusty. This homestand was too depressing to write about and, barring a good road trip, the Reds will be too far back. The funny thing is the schedule gets much easier in July but our team is such a mess and so far back that it won't matter.

At last the Euro cup will be going on to provide some entertainment. Today's game was great as Germany defeated Portugal, one of the pre-tourny favorites and the team with the best player in the world, Christiano Ronaldo. Now Germany is in the semis and will be favored over their next opponent, either Croatia or Turkey. Should be a good game tomorrow because both teams have nothing to lose, especially Turkey who came back from 2-0 to win 3-2 on Saturday. Sunday is the next big game when two heavyweights Spain and Italy face off. That will be the biggest soccer game of the year thus far. It will be much better than watching Dusty blow this upcoming Reds road trip.

No Reds today but plenty other things to watch

The Reds blew the series with the Red Sox by losing both game over the weekend. No big surprise there. Now they have a day off before a three game series with the Dodgers. A sweep of them would give the Reds a .500 home stand before a tough road trip to Yankee stadium, Toronto and Cleveland. If we can get the sweep and stay at .500 on the road trip, it would be huge. I'm sure Dusty will blow some games by playing Corey Patterson and the Reds will lose more than they win.

Other things on TV today: That whole playoff thing should be fun to watch. Pretty level playing field except for Tiger's 64-5 lead in tournaments won and 13-0 in majors. I'll take Tiger by 3 with an even to Rocco's +3.

Also, Euro 2008 continues with some teams getting eliminated. Poland-Croatia and Austria-Germany today with both being played at 2:45. Germany and Croatia will probably move on. Although, there is always the chance that Austria and Germany will team up and take over the rest of Europe until the US comes in and kicks their ass. If I were Poland, I would be worried if I heard tank noises during the game. I'm just saying it wouldn't be the first time.

Pujols is no longer an issue

Albert Pujols was hurt in last nights game and sent back to St. Louis for more tests. Not a good sign. As much as I hate the new Ty Cobb he is really good and fun to watch even if he is 31-i mean 28. His shot off Lidge from 2005 was one of my favorite moments in baseball the past 3 years. Now the Reds should win the net two games. We have Cueto tonight and Arroyo tomorrow against a lineup that is now at best 'below-average' and at worst 'Royals-like.' If Dusty loses the next two we might as well pack it in and do what he can to get Matt Kemp, the Dodgers CF who is apparently on the market. A package of Dunn, Matt Maloney, and another prospect may do it and it would be amazing to have Kemp and Bruce in the OF for the next 10 years. Or at least the next 5 when they both are headed for free agency. However, I am sure Dusty would try and make him bunt and swing at anything so as to avoid clogging the bases. Sure is working so far this year for his last place team.

Another reason to watch Euro Cup right here. Seems like as good a thing to root for as any.

Looks like Harang is the one

I previously had a poll of which pitcher Dusty would hurt first and it appears to be Harang. He has been our ace for 3 years. Now he is 2-9 and since Dusty allowed him to pitch 4 innings on two days rest he has gone 4IP, 10H, 6ER; 6IP, 9H, 3ER; 5.1IP, 11H, 7ER; and his ERA has gone up an entire run. He doesn't know what is wrong but I have an idea; He pitched 4 innings on 2 days rest then came back and threw 4 more after 3 days rest. For a pitcher whose body is used to 4 days off each time, that is horrible. Dusty has overworked him and he is struggling to get back on schedule. Hopefully he can get it together soon before the season disappears. Home against STL and BOS this week. We need at least a win tonight and a 3-3 week or the season will slip away.

Onto soccer. The poll shows a substantial amount of readers, 3, want me to talk about soccer. Well one of the largest soccer tournaments, European Cup 2008, started this past weekend. This is a tournament involving 16 teams from across Europe. They are divided into 4 groups of 4 teams and after a round robin, 2 teams from each enter an 8-team tournament. Europeans love their soccer and this tournament includes most of the best teams in the world save for Brazil, Argentina, and England(who failed to qualify because they could not earn a tie at home against Croatia last fall). ESPN is showing every game on either ESPN, ESPN2(most are on here), and ESPN Classic. Each day belongs to one group the first 2 weeks meaning 2 games a day, one at 12 and the other at 2:45. Watch if you want to hear great fan support and even better soccer. This is how crazy they are about this tournament.