A FEW MO' THINGS, 6/18/12

Programming Notes: I have one show this week.  It will be Thursday.  You have almost all week to plan.  There's really no excuse for not listening.  Also, we're doing the weekly chat this week, after taking last week off.  It will be Wednesday at 9:00am.  Sit here and wait.

Promotional Notes:  I'll be hanging out at the Cricket Store in Florence (7901 Mall Road) on Saturday from noon until 2:00.  I'll be doing stuff that you should make sure you're there for.  Also, they're naming a burger after me at River Downs on Sunday. It's my creation and you want to make sure you try it.  Be at the track from 3:00 until 5:00.  You could win a grill.

Personal Notes: I bought new dishes last week.

-The great thing about a baseball season, is that between the fanfare of its beginning and the drama of its conclusion, you sometimes you get weeks like the one the Reds just completed.

From Tuesday through yesterday, the Reds played as well as I've watched them in over a decade.  The games weren't all that dramatic (average margin of victory was four runs in six games decided by no more than two), there were no walkoffs or late-inning comebacks.  And the wins weren't the result of one superstar doing all the work himself.  And to say that the Reds were machine-like against the Indians and Mets wouldn't do their entertainment quotient justice.  Rather, these were six extremely well-played games and six convincing wins for the Reds, the kind of stretch that can either define a season or be forgotten in a week. Either way, it was the kind of run, that if you appreciate really good baseball, you have to enjoy.

The Reds have their warts, and we should and will talk about them.  And they have important questions hovering over their season (Find me a team that doesn't), but what they also have right now, in addition to the NL's third-best record and the second-largest lead of any Major League division-leader, is a roster that's firing on all cylinders and a team that's playing with an almost-tangible chemistry that we've rarely seen here.

They're pitching.  With the exception of Thursday's win over Indians, this streak has been marked by high-quality starting pitching, even when starting pitchers look like they're about to barf on the mound.  And the bullpen, while not completely flawless, continues to be the team's backbone. 

They're hitting.  And by "they're," I mean everyone.  The team isn't collectively putting up gaudy numbers game-in and game-out, but this six-game stretch has seen everyone join in the fun, from Phillips clobbering Cleveland to Bruce's Big Apple blast on Saturday.  Votto has been on base 16 times since last Tuesday, which is somehow amazing while seeming routine.  What's not routine is the contributions of guys like Valdez, who had four hits, four RBI, and two runs while playing a flawless weekend in New York. 

And the manager is pressing the right buttons.  The lineups might still confound (yesterday's for example), but nearly every move Dusty Baker has made since last Sunday's controversial decision to yank Homer Bailey (which I didn't have a problem with) has worked out, from using Valdez in the two-spot, to calling double steals, to having his pitcher throw inside to his crybaby counterpart.

They're pouncing on opposition mistakes, like the Cleveland errors that gave the Reds two runs last Tuesday and the extra out the Mets gave them in the first inning on Saturday.  They're playing with an attitude rarely seen here.  Previous Reds teams never responded to their stars getting plunked by hitting theirs.  This one did on Friday.  And they backed their manager in the whole Derek Lowe-crybaby fiasco by not losing that game or any other since.

They do the steady and they do the spectacular....

....and they do both with a confidence that permeates through the team and that might be picked up on by a fan base that always seems to be waiting for the other shoe to drop.

They're enjoying the kind of run that will inevitably end and could very well be offset with a run of equal length, but opposite results. 

There's a long way to go and many, many, twists and turns still ahead for a season that's not yet halfway over.  But the beauty of baseball is that in the middle of it's day-in, day-out marathon, there are stretches when teams play the kind of entertaining baseball that you can't help but get wrapped up in, impossible to ignore, and only builds the anticipation for the next game.

The Reds are one of those teams right now.

Regardless of how and when this ends, and amid the natural questions and concerns we all have for the final 97 games of the year, the Reds are playing the kind of baseball right now that demands interest, appreciation, and enthusiasm.

-Scott Rolen could, and probably will, come back tonight.

If this was June of 2005, I'd spend time blogging about how the Bengals were poised to end their playoff drought with an exciting, personality-filled team that oozed confidence and would learn from the lessons of the previous two near-misses.

I'd blog about what looked like the end of days for Bob Huggins as the UC basketball coach.

I'd write about how I felt like The Killers were going to be my new second-favorite band because Hot Fuss was unlike anything I'd heard.

I'd blog about stuff like my vacation in New Orleans, how miserable buying a house was making me, why it sucked to lose both Carson and Pryor in the same year, why the White Sox had a legit chance to be the next Red Sox, how invincible Tiger Woods was, how the most recent Star Wars was at least watchable, and why Eric Milton made me want to inject Windex into my veins every time I watched him pitch.

I'd also blog about how Scott Rolen should be put right back into his team's lineup because at 30 years-old, and coming off an MVP-caliber season, he'd earned the right to reclaim his job upon his return.

But it's not 2005 anymore. 

Carson and Chad ain't here anymore.  Huggs is long gone.  Tiger's human.  And each album by The Killers is more unlistenable than the previous one.

And Scott Rolen isn't coming off a season where he hit .324 with 34 bombs, 124 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.007.  He didn't get MVP votes last year, win a Gold Glove, or anchor a pennant-winning team.  And he's not 30.

Instead, Rolen is coming off five weeks where he hit .174. 

Before that, he was coming off a season where he looked creakier than your grandmother's rocking chair while hitting .242 and while showing the range of said rocking chair in the field.

And before then, he disappeared as 2010 came to a close.

And he's 37.

This isn't about showing Scott Rolen the respect he deserves.  It's not about adhering to the silly adage that a player shouldn't lose his job due to an injury.  And it's not a statement that Todd Frazier will have a better career than Rolen either.  Todd will be lucky to be half as good as Scott when his time in the big leagues is done.

But he's the better player now. 

For two years, we've waited for someone to justify Dusty not using Rolen nearly as much.  We thought that person might be Juan Francisco.  Instead, it's become Todd Frazier.  So with that justification now materialized, is it really a debate as to whether Scott Rolen should be the everyday third baseman?

I've heard the argument that Rolen needs to play so the Reds have an idea if he can still get it done.

If the people making the decisions have been watching, they can see that he cannot.

Here's an adage that's not so silly:  Don't fix what ain't broke. The Reds, with Todd Frazier getting the bulk of the playing time, aren't broken.

Can Frazier play some left?  Sure.  But is Scott Rolen a better player, a more dangerous one, right now than Lodwick, Heisey, or Stubbs? 

No.

Are there worse things than having Scott Rolen, a borderline Hall of Famer, on your bench?  Yep.  Is he a really nice insurance policy if and when Frazier falls flat on his face?  You bet.  Used properly, does he still have some value to this team?  I hope so.

But should he be given his job back in a nod to what he was yesterday?

Not if the Reds are interested in winning today.

-Don't have a ton of time to get into the NBA Finals, but OKC has to A) recognize that Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant can never, ever, ever, be on a bench together at the same time, unless it's during a timeout and they're ignoring their coach to watch the dance team (90% of NBA players do this) B) ease his defensive assignments so he's not picking up fouls early.  the fourth foul on him was a bad call, and changed the complexion of last night's game, but he never should've piled up the first three.

-I watch pro sports to see guys do what I can't.  I watched the US Open and say guys doing what I can.  Watching bad golf is not fun.  Watching this interview is...