Halfway Home

Which I guess means you're standing on second. While the All-Star Game is the celebrated halfway point of the baseball season, last night's Reds-Phillies game was the 81st game on the Reds schedule, making it the actual halfway point. And what a way to end the first half.

22-1.

Damn.

22-1. 10 runs in the first, Cueto records a total of 2 outs, and Paul Janish comes in to pitch the top of the eighth. Paul Janish, of the backup shortstop variety, came into pitch. That's how well things went last night. You can't even make the "its an Eagles-Bengals" score joke because you can't score "1" in football (although if anyone could figure out a way, I'd put my money on the Bengals).

I can't say it was all bad, though. Cole Hamels, Jimmy Rollins, and Shane Victorino are all on fantasy teams I manage, so it helped me have a good night. Now, reality always trumps fantasy for me, but if the Reds are going to lose, they might as well lose big to guys that are on my fantasy team. And from what I've read, I think athletes would rather lose 1-22 than 0-1. The latter is a tight game where one hit here or a different bounce there could decide the game. When you're down 0-10 at the end of the first, about 38.5 things have to all go your way just to make it close. Some nights its not your night, and last night was definitely one of those nights.

So where does that leave the Reds at the midpoint of the season? They're 40-41, in fourth place in the NL Central, and 3.5 games out of first. Yeah for mediocrity. Back in January, I predicted that the Reds would finish the year just over .500, and I think they're right on track for that. When Votto went on the DL, the offense suffered mightly, and its still struggling to get back on track. The starters have been hit or miss with the addition of some injuries. And the bullpen has been statisitically the best in the majors so far, but there's no way they continue to pitch at that level through September. So they're pretty much right where I thought they'd be. I expect the starting pitching to get better (Volquez will get healthy, and Homer Bailey pitched brilliantly his last time out before Albert Pujols made the case for getting walked with the bases loaded), and once Votto gets back into the groove, the offense should even out. They're a .500 team, and I don't expect them to make a major move before the trade deadline, so I don't expect them to get any better. I do still think they can finish the year with a winning record, which would be good for morale, but I don't see them contending for anything. But given how the team's been the past few years, I'll take the moral victory this year.