Thrice is Nice

1. What is the difference between 11-6 and 12-5? The difference is being 2.5 games back or 1.5 games behind the Pirates and Cardinals. Regardless of 2.5 or 1.5, the fact of the matter is that the Reds took care of the teams that they were supposed to beat and made up the ground that needed to be made up over the "Necessary 17". The Reds sat at 7 games behind the Pirates on June 8th but in the last two plus weeks have sliced 4.5 games off of that 7. Making up that number of games in that short of time is tough enough when playing the teams directly ahead of you, yet alone when you do not play a game against the teams ahead of you at all. My thought remains that the Reds are still in wonderful position to come from behind and take the Central. With that said...

2. Things get very real, right now. The Reds are heading into St. Louis for a HUGE three game series against the Cardinals. Busch stadium will be packed and electric for this series (wouldn't it be cool if that were the case at GABP?) The Reds have been outscored by the Cardinals 75-29 since dropping a 9 spot in the 9th inning on April 8th and honestly have looked outplayed nearly every meeting since. I think that Thom Brennaman says it best that the Cardinals show up expecting to beat the Reds and the Reds show up hoping to beat the Cardinals. That needs to end immediately. Remember when the Reds swept the Cardinals in St. Louis after the brawl in 2010? That was the last time the Reds really needed to go into St. Louis and make a statement, it's time that they make another statement tonight. I have a hunch that they do it.

3. I'm in the mood for some predictions, and I am feeling rather confident and perhaps too much so but I think that the Reds will be closer to the NL Central crown at the end of these three days than they are now. I think that the Reds will take 2 of 3 from the Cardinals by winning tonight and tomorrow. The Pirates are playing the Brewers in Pittsburgh, which is not as easy as it would seem. The Brewers are sending Kyle Lohse, Tom Gorzelanny, and Yovani Gallardo to the mound for the three game series. Lohse has been flat unhittable for the past 2 months, Gorzelanny is lefty with a sub 4 ERA and Gallardo probably has the best stuff of the three. The Pirates are not a good hitting team, so facing three pitches (2 of which can flat out dominate a game) who control a game pretty well makes it hard for the Pirates. I think Milwaukee takes 2 out of 3.

Today's Standings

Pirates          76-54
Cardinals     76-54
Reds            74- 57 (2.5 GB)

Thursday's Standings

Pirates         77-56
Cardinals     77-56
Reds             76-58 (1.5 GB)

Then, the Cardinals play the Pirates over the weekend. Someone has to lose, and that is when the Reds make their jump into 2nd place.