CONCERNS ARE EXTENSIVE AFTER ONLY ONE GAME

4.6.10
BY:MEH
SEASON UNDER SIEGE
CONCERNS ARE EXTENSIVE AFTER ONLY ONE GAME

(Photo: Michael E. Keating)
After only one game behind them, Reds fans are already feeling high and dry. It seems that all of these years of losing have caused some sort of dismay inside of their heads. Names like Chapman, Leake, and Votto has been temporarily set aside. The excitement that has been circulating the city of Cincinnati recently has been hushed by one game, one player, and one pitch.

Albert Pujols is not a Reds killer; he is just a killer. Pujols' average against the Reds is a staggering .365 after Monday's game, but don't let that fool you. His 42 homeruns against the Reds only chronicle 8.76% of his career 368, so don't feel special. He has a lifetime .334 average and during his best two seasons ('03 and '08), he hit .359 and .357 against the entire league. Pujols has faced Aaron Harang 57 times during his career, more than any other Reds pitcher. Harang has held Pujols to a .316 average over those 57 at bats while Pujols has hit under .316 for the season only once in his career (.314 in '02). Monday's homerun by Pujols was only the fourth Harang has allowed while facing him.

With the Reds playing in the same division as Pujols, and maintaining a losing record during his whole career, there is no surprise to why he has slightly better career numbers against our bad teams in the past decade. We can't denounce what Albert Pujols has done to Cincinnati pitching in the past on players who are with the team now. Pujols has been terrorizing teams since 2001 and has shown no signs of termination. We can only hope that our current squad can contain him a little better than the former ones.

The Reds were defeated by the Cardinals on Monday by a final score of 11-6.

The Reds play the Cardinals again on Wednesday at 7:10pm.

Whack Reds attended Opening Day and took a few photos. There's a few stadium shots, a guy who had his Danny Graves jersey turned into a Bruce, a fan keeping score, empty seats, CJB digesting the score, and a 4256 kid. Our seats weren't good enough to do any better.