The Reds and deliverance on a Sunday

I fell asleep towards the middle innings of today’s Reds game. What can I say, I was tuckered out. When I awoke the Reds were 5 games up on the Cardinals and the magic number was down to 29. The Reds had delivered in the hot sun on a Sunday and Jay Bruce had hit home run #17 on the season. As I remarked and thought about, I used to have to go to sleep in order to formulate dreams that would produce what is now true reality.

Everything is rolling right now. Like that Robert Earl Keen song, The Road Goes on Forever and the Party Never Ends. That’s what this is feeling like in late August 2010. During some points of the 2010 season the Reds have looked like they were going to collapse, only to show you that they had a beautiful unwrapped gift for us all. To show people like me who have doubted them at points that doubters should step aside and clean the egg off their proverbial face. Who knows where the hell this ride ends. It really could end up special beyond our wildest imaginations.

I don’t know if they’ll fend off the Cardinals. I can’t predict the future, but I know that people in St. Louis are starting to give up hope. The Cardinals have a long way to go and a short time to get there (another reference to a song that I love).

A week from now the Reds will be wrapping up a series in St. Louis that sets up as the biggest series they’ve probably played in over a decade. I’d make a case that they’re all big right now, and every night is a playoff atmosphere. Next weekend while big for the Reds, is even bigger for the Cardinals. The Reds have played welll enough to this point that taking even one of three on Labor Day weekend sets them up nicely for the stretch run.

I’m not punching a playoff ticket yet, as I’ve seen too many whacky things happen in sports to count my chickens before they hatch. I believe this team will be in the postseason as I believe they’re in the top four teams in the National league, if not on paper then in terms of intangibles and chemistry. This is just ‘one of those years’ I think for the Reds, by God. But we’re not betting on machines here, we’re betting on something uncertain; human beings. The Reds still have almost a quarter of a season that they must handle their business as they have to this point. If they do that, they’ll be where we all want them to be.

Today, wearing that Sunday day-time Red, was another one of those days in which they handled their business and took another series. I can wake up and start my long work week (I have to work this Friday following the opening of the OSU Buckeyes football season unlike many of my peers) with a smile. And speaking of football, NCAA will be here soon; the NFL in two weeks, and I could give a shit.

It’s still Reds season and I love it.

[Box Score]