In Face of Adversity, Reds Keep Rising to the Challenge

It had to be just before 10 o'clock Saturday night. The Reds Johnny Cueto was in pain. My eyes started to well up with tears. My phone rang. It was a family member. I said, "What do you want me to say?"

Just like Brandon Phillips admitted after Game 1, I too was seeing the Reds playoff chances get dashed before my eyes, and we were only an out in the 1st inning. 

But I should have known better.  Afterall this was the team that lost it's closer in Spring Training as well as two other key relievers.  Enter Aroldis Chapman & the rest of the bullpen to put up the best ERA in baseball. This was the squad that played without Joey Votto for nearly 50 games and all they did was go 33-16 -- including winning 10 in a row--and increasing it's hold on first place from a 1-game lead to 8.

So it shouldn't have come as surprise Sam LeCure stepped in to hold down the fort until Mat Latos (the scheduled Game 3 starter) could get warmed up in time for the 3rd inning.  And what a performance by Latos giving the Reds 4 innings of 1 run baseball.  Brandon Phillips helped spark the offense driving in 3 runs to win Game 1 5-2.  Bronson Arroyo and the offense did the job in Game 2, blowing out the Giants 9-0.

Bottom line, this team doesn't shrink in the face of adversity. It's why they're NL Central Division Champions and it's why they return home with a 2-0 lead in its National League Division Series.  The job is far from over, the Reds still need one more win to clinch the series. Which is why there were no reports of joyous celebration in the clubhouse after Game 2.  On the contrary, the mood was described as "business-like." That's because the team knows it still has work to do in Game 3.

I told friends I thought the Reds needed what I called an "Eric Davis moment" at some point in the Giants series.  For those who don't remember what E.D. did in Game 1 of the 1990 World Series, look it up. What I meant is they needed a moment of belief.  A moment where someone makes a play that serves notice to his teammates, the opponent, the media and the fans that this team is good enough to win.  Remember, this franchise hadn't won a playoff game since 1995, most recently getting overwhelmed two years ago by the Phillies who dismissed them in 3-straight in the NLDS. 

So when Phillips launched a 2-run HR in the 3rd inning of Game 1, that same family member who called me in the bottom of the 1st sent me a text that asked "Signature moment?"

It's still too early to say for sure, but I hope so.  The irony is it was Phillips who told the media after the game that he like other Reds fans uttered the following after Cueto hobbled off the mound in pain, "I was like, gosh, oh no, we're done.  Why? Why?"

I'm not sure how the Reds 2012 season will end, but kudos to Phillips for helping to set the tone and perhaps reminding his teammates as well as the rest of us that we should believe in this team.