The Heat Is On

I was reflecting this morning on my MLB radio appearance from a few weeks ago as "ML Blogger of the Week." At that point, we had a healthy lead, and the Reds were our nearest division competition.  I was asked if I was a little disappointed that we wouldn’t be going down to the wire against the Astros as we had in the last few years.  "Actually I’m relieved," I said.  "With their pitching, you don’t want to be in a playoff situation with them – they are just too good." 

Well, who would have expected them to win 9 in a row and us to lose 8 of our last 9 games.  We now cling to a half game lead in our division and face the horrifying prospect of a one-game playoff vs the Stros and Oswalt.  Shudder. 

Despite it all, I still have hope for this weekend, although I know it’s going to be stressful.  I like our chances at home against that other beer city team.  And the Astros have to win 3 from the Braves, on top of the 9 games they’ve just won, when the Braves are looking strong again.  If we can win our 3 games and they can lose 1, we’ll be golden. Of course, given our recent play, that’s a huge If. 

I’m washing my hands of Jason Marquis.  Although some blame has to fall on TLR for not pulling Marquis at the first sign of problems, given our desperate situation, most blame has to fall on Jason for pitching horribly.  And then his post-game comments are so blah and generic, ie, "I didn’t make the pitches I needed to make."  This was a huge game, and by giving up 6 early runs, he didnt give us a realistic chance to win it.  I don’t think his comments showed any passion or remorse.  He came off cold, which is the way the team has been playing.  I really hope they can find some fire deep in their bellies this weekend.  Do I need to break out my 45 of Glenn Frey’s "The Heat Is On"?