Sports 12 May 2025

Matt’s Take: Mediocre Reds and lackluster at-bats

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By Matthew McAdow
HCP columnist

I am nearing a Reds weeklong mental break for my own well-being at this point, as decades of losing is finally coming to a head for not just me, but many life-long fans.  

The mediocrity, the lackluster at-bats, the unwillingness to make big moves, the bad signings, the stubbornness of Francona, and the overall well-being of this team is once again damaging the morale before mid-May.  

It’s the same movie, kindly re-winded like the old Blockbuster days and replayed for the Cincinnati region year after year. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I just want winning baseball, as I love the Cincinnati Reds, but how many evenings can we all waste watching two-hit games? At some point, you’ll end up going insane, right?

Weekly whine

My weekly whine of the Cincinnati Reds deserves a shipment of weekly wine…or preferably liquor at this point.  

Here we go:

• The Reds are second to only the Rockies in total strikeouts. How does this happen year after year? Chris Valaika, I had high hopes. Same results. 

• Remember that huge win streak in 2023 when everyone got called up? I wish it never happened.  It gave the front office too much hope and helped them decide not to be too aggressive over the last two off-season’s. Almost like the Bengals Super Bowl run. 

• Change Elly to leadoff, force pitchers to pitch to him or have him as a running threat with no outs.  Tito, I know you’re a World Series Champion. What am I missing here?

• McLain and Steer, what on Earth happened fellas? How long can this go on? 

• 2025 is the 12th consecutive season where the Reds have a losing record at the 40-game mark.  Holy Mediocre.

• Chase Petty isn’t ready for big league pitching. Stop hurting the kid’s confidence and leave him be.  

• It took this long for the organization to realize Blake Dunn isn’t a major league batter?  

• Elly De La Cruz has to start hitting for extra base hits and has to start hitting in big situations.  

• In 20 of 42 games, Cincinnati has scored fewer than 3 runs. WOOF!

• Want to look up something scary? Look up the last time the Reds won a series after losing the first game and send me a text after you find out the last time that occurred. 

Positives

• Connor Joe has joined the Reds and quickly made an impact in his first game with the team. Will he be the spark this team needs to get over .500? I don’t know, but I am willing to watch them try anything.  

• There is plenty of time for things to turn around, but you can’t concede every fifth game in the meantime, as we deal with Greene’s injury.  

• The White Sox are in town, which should give us all hope again (should). 
 

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