Seth's 50 Centers

“I’m an idiot.”

That’s what I told my college roommate Randy this afternoon. Why? Because of what I had told him just prior to that:

“After seeing the Reds play Monday I think things might get turned around!”

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’m not sure which, the Reds went out and played great again tonight, beating the Astros 2-1 on the road. It’s the first time in the month of May the Reds have won games on consecutive days, or back-to-back games for that matter.

The reason it’s unfortunate is that after Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s debacles, I was finally ready to admit to myself, and those who care about me, that this season was a waste. It was en route to Saturday’s slug fest with the Pirates that I was telling Randy how, despite the constant losing in every conceivable way, I was still finding things to like about this team.

I liked the way Ken Griffey Jr. had been playing. I was really excited about Brandon Phillips — his 22-game hit streak was sweet even though it was played out during the aforementioned slide of May — and watching Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo, despite Arroyo’s last two outings, pitch has been mostly entertaining. Not to mention the way Josh Hamilton played early! (Hamilton began a rehab stint after going on the disabled list earlier this month and hit a home run for the Bats on the first pitch he saw tonight.)

But Saturday changed that. As I watched them fall behind 4-0 in the first inning, and constantly fight back only to give up a few more runs the next inning, I really became disgusted. It was such a train wreck Sunday that, even though they got down 6-0 this time, I couldn’t turn away as they fought back to lose 14-10. They never held a lead, but they were tantalizingly close to taking over multiple times before letting it slip away.

Is it too late?

When the CPA and I watched Monday, however, something changed my mind.

Ryan Freel collided with Norris Hopper on a scary play in right center field in the third inning, lying on the warning track for 13 minutes, mostly motionless, before being put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital. FSN commentator Chris Welsh tried to say during the telecast of the Reds’ 4-0 win that the Reds were playing with more fire, possibly because the loss of Freel had pushed them to try harder.

I don’t know if I buy that. I felt like I saw a new burst earlier than Freel’s departure, but the results were there. Newly returned from his banishment to AAA, Edwin Encarnacion made play after play at the hot corner, diving to the ground several times to make stops.

Alex Gonzalez made some big plays at shortstop and Kyle Lohse threw a complete game shut out.

Yes, they only scored four runs, and yes on another day that could’ve been a 10-4 loss the way this team’s pitching has gone. But I felt like I saw something out of those guys that I hadn’t seen this year. Pirates pitcher Ian Snell had had his way with the Reds in the past, and they got to him pretty well, even beyond the runs they scored.

Taking another step

As already mentioned, the Reds won at Houston 2-1 tonight. Adam Dunn hit a 400-foot sacrifice fly to tie the game 1-1 and Scott Hatteberg hit a home run late in the game to give them the lead. This time the Astros didn’t score seven runs in the eighth inning — Matt Belisle went 7.2 innings before turning it over to the pen — and David Weathers got out of some trouble with a little help from Gonzalez on a 6-3 double play.

Breaks have gone their way the past two days. On the Freel play Monday, Humberto Cota appeared to have an inside the park homer when the umpire ruled that Freel had held onto the ball despite being unconscious on the track. Hopper tried to dive for a ball in center tonight with a man on and missed it, having to chase it back to the deepest part of the park. Adam Everett had hit the ball and he was motoring around the bases when Hopper hit cut-off man Phillips and he delivered a perfect strike to Chad Moeller at the plate. Everett was called out in a bang-bang play that seemingly would’ve gone the other way just a few days ago.

I’ve been pulled right back into a season that’s still going nowhere.

So yeah, I don’t really think my team is cursed, although that’d be a convenient cop out if I wanted to say that Marge Schott’s big dog did something to curse the Reds after the 1995 season. No, I think I’m doomed to constantly look for the good in my favorite teams, causing me to hang on to seasons well beyond their expiration dates.

If anyone wants to join me, there’s plenty of room.

Email me about this or other topics at seth@seths50centers.com.