1. I am not happy about it but I was dead on about the Cardinals coming into town. They won Friday and Sunday (as predicted) and absolutely knocked the cover off of the ball. When St. Louis comes to town it really reminds me how different professional hitters are from swingers. The Reds, currently, have mostly swingers in their lineup whereas the Cardinals have hitters. What is the different you ask? The Cardinals' batters, every one of them (even the backup catcher who never plays), has a plan and idea of what they want to do. It is absolutely amazing how many of there players hit the ball right back up the middle and to the opposite field as opposed to trying to pull everything. It is small adjustments like that which make baseball teams very good as opposed to just good. I have read and heard all of this stuff about the "Cardinal Way" and I hated even thinking about it but while attending the games this weekend I decided to look at a few things besides the play on the field. From 1st to 9th inning of every game the Cardinals dugout was up on the top step and paying attention to the game while cheering on their teammates and when the national guard was walking the flags off of the field after the national anthem, not a single Cardinal moved from where they standing and showed respect until those flags left the field. The team in the first base dugout was not that engaged. What does this tell me? It tells me that when you arrive in St. Louis you are told that you will act in a certain manner and do certain things, and thats why they are always successful.
2. The road gets no easier for the Reds as the Athletics come rolling into town for a two game series starting on Tuesday. The A's very well may be the best team in baseball, and I have honestly no idea how or why but its true. They constantly just scratch and claw for wins. They have no real big names (congrats to anyone that can name five players besides Cespedes). This is another scary series for the Reds because the Diamondbacks are starting to creep up on their tails in the wild card standings. The bottom line? The Reds need to start winning more consistently and gain some confidence that they can beat good teams. This team has enough talent, they just need to start showing it.
3. Football is back, well sort of. No one is really playing any real games or hitting each other too hard as of yet but it is getting closer and closer. Football season is like no other sports season, because it is the only sport that can completely consume a nation for an entire weekend, every weekend. It's pre season so we all have lots of hope and belief that this is our year, which likely will all come crashing down right about September 8th but as of right now the Browns have the same record as the Patriots and the Bengals are undefeated so the state of Ohio can be excited and look forward to football. As everyone should.
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