Discounting the convoluted 2020 season, shortened due to COVID-19, the Reds haven’t played in the post-season after a full 162-game schedule since 2013.
That team was managed by Dusty Baker and his reward after that season was an unceremonious dismissal.
At the current All-Star break, the Reds are 50-47 and next-to-last in the National League Central, 7 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs.
So a more realistic goal for the Reds is a wild card spot. They are only 1 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants for the last wild card spot.
Francona was asked if he likes where his team stands as play resumes Friday night in New York against the Mets, a team just a half-game out of first place in the National League East.
As always, Francona took the baseball cliche — day-by-day and one game at a time.
“It doesn’t matter, it’s where we are right now,” he said. “The best way I know how for us to do better is to win Friday. That’s the best formula.
“If I felt different, I’d tell you, but that’s how I feel about it,” he added.
His methods work.
His reputation is that his teams play better after the All-Star break. In the three seasons when Francona managed the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians to American League pennants, his teams averaged 45 wins after the All-Star break.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
If the Reds can do that, they would finish 95-57, probably good enough for a wild card.
In 2004, Francona’s Red Sox had the best record in the American League after the All-Star break, winning 94 games and Boston’s first World Series win since 1918.
Francona is optimistic and his buzz word is “Push.”
“We really gotta push in the second half,” he said. “I still think our better days are ahead of us. And I think it will be very exciting.”
It will be very exciting if the Reds complement their starting pitchers with some timely hitting.
Before the break, they won two of three from the dismal Colorado Rockies, but they were 3 for 30 with runners in scoring position. And one of those three hits didn’t produce a run.
The emergence of Elly De La Cruz as a hitter, that’s a hitter, not a slugger, will be beneficial if he keeps up what he did the last month before the break.
And it might be difficult because expect more teams to do what Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer did. He walked De La Cruz intentionally three times last Friday in Colorado’s 3-2 win.
Austin Hays, batting behind De La Cruz, hit into a double play and struck out four times, stranding eight runners.
During his last 21 games, De La Cruz hit .360 with two homers, three doubles and three triples to drive in 13 runs.
Most importantly, he is spraying singles and doubles the opposite way as pitchers try to get him out with outside pitches.
Most significantly, MLB batters are averaging .245. De La Cruz is hitting .280. Last season, he led MLB with 218 strikeouts.
He is cutting those down and so far has fewer strikeouts than Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Byron Buxton, Rafael Devers, Dansby Swanson, Willy Adames and Corbin Carroll.
Sometime soon, the Reds hope, Hunter Greene will rejoin the starting staff, but the timing seems to be advancing like sands in an hourglass.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The team can almost count on a win every time All-Star pitcher Andrew Abbott takes the mound (8-1, 2.07).
Nick Lodolo (6-6), Nick Martinez (7-9) and Brady Singer (7-7) have had their moments, and have great stuff, but all three have suffered from the Reds’ silent bats.
And there has to be concern about wear-and-tear on the bullpen with the near-nightly appearances of Francona’s marching orders — Scott Barlow to Grant Ashcraft to Tony Santillan to Emilio Pagan.
Like the offense, the bullpen has been a mixed bag of drudgery games and plentiful games.
Santillan and Barlow haven’t been workhorses, they’ve been Clydesdales out of the bullpen. Both are near the top in appearances and innings pitched for relief pitchers.
Santillan has 47 appearances and 45 2/3 innings while Barlow has been called upon 46 times for 42 innings.
Can fatigue be far behind and if so can Brent Suter, Sam Moll and Taylor Rogers pick up the slack? Or will the Reds make some bullpen tweaks at the trade deadline at the end of the month.
And the club could use some help in the power department, although the yare dead in the middle of the pack in home runs with 103, more than contenders like the Phillies, Blue Jays, Cardinals, Brewers, Giants and Padres.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
It would help immensely if the Reds could make a Francona-induced push against their National League Central brethren. They are 11-15 against the Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs and Pirates.
And it is worse against the National League East, a 6-11 record, with their next six games against NL East teams, three against the Mets and three against the Washington Nationals.
“I’m glad our guys got these four days off,” said Francona. “They could use it because they’ve been playing hard, so it was good for them.”
How good? Can they push? The answer begins Friday night in Citi Field.
NEXT GAME
Who: Cincinnati at New York Mets
When: 7:05 p.m., Friday, July 18
TV: FanDuel Sports
Radio: 1410-AM, 700-AM
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