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| Reds at Giants, Game 1 9:37 EST, Saturday Night. |
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| Will Sandy Alomar, Jr. become the full-time boss next season. |
Cincinnati Reds 97-65 (NL Central Champions, 2nd best record in the Major Leagues)
50-31 Home 47-34 Away RS: 669 RA: 588 DIFF: +81
Finally, the Reds get their 2012 postseason underway in San Francisco this weekend. Despite finishing the regular season with the 2nd best record in all of baseball, the Redlegs have to travel across the nation, and play their first two postseason games on the road vs. the Giants. The Reds took the season series 4 games to 3, and look to go deep in this postseason, after getting swept out of the postseason in 2010 vs. the Phillies. Things look to be in order this time around, with balance hitting/running, outstanding starting pitching, and dominant pitching out of the bullpen. The Reds will lean on Jay Bruce (34 HR's & 99 RBI's), Joey Votto (.337 BA & .474 OBP), Scott Rolen (just 10 errors in 194 total chances), and Brandon Phillips (163 hits, 15 SB's) to lead them past the Giants in their NLDS match-up. Runs will be hard to come by in this series, which looks to be dominated by outstanding pitching from each club. The Reds Cy Young-candidate Johnny Cueto (19-9, 2,78 ERA, 170 K's) will get the start in Game 1 vs. Buster Posey & the big bats of the Giants lineup. It's critical for the Reds to snag at least 1 (if not both) games in the Bay Area before heading home next week to finish the NLDS series. Here's to the start of what could be a magical month of October for the Reds & Reds fans all over. The Reds last won the World Series in 1990 with their sweep of the Oakland A's "bash brothers".
Cleveland Indians 68-94 (4th place, AL Central 20 GB of the AL Central Champion Tigers)
37-44 Home 31-50 Away RS: 667 RA: 845 DIFF: -178
After a dreadful second half (24-53), in which saw the Indians have a number of long losing streaks, the nightmare ended last night with a 9-0 loss in their 2012 home finale vs. the Chicago White Sox. Now, after letting their manager (Manny Acta) go after 2+ years at the helm, the Indians front office is again on the search for a new manager. That guy might just be the Indians bench coach from the Acta coaching staff, Sandy Alomar, Jr. Sandy took over the team as the interim manager the final six games of the season. News out of Cleveland today was that Alomar, Jr. was being interviewed for the permanent position starting next spring. Another name being rumored, that the Indians have talked to is former Red Sox manager Terry Francona. Whoever it becomes, will have a huge challenge with a team that struggled to score runs, while allowing way too many (845 RA, 2nd worst in MLB). In other news, the Cleveland Cavs opened up preseason practice this week with Media Day coming on Monday. This the 3rd year ALBJ, improvement and progression is at an all-time high for this youthful squad.
Browns Notes:
Well, an 0-4 start to the season, the Browns look to pull off an upset win vs. the Super Bowl Champs come Sunday afternoon. The first month of the season, the Browns were plagued by a play or two in each of their 1st four games. The Browns continue to struggle with scoring points, as they have been held to just 16 points or less in three of their four games. Positives have been the all-around play of RB Trent Richardson, who has scored a touchdown in three straight games. Browns starting QB Brandon Weeden has passed for almost 1,000 yards in the first month of the season, however, he has thrown some costly interceptions. On the other side, the defense will be without starting CB Joe Haden for one more game, and will be facing one of the better QB's (Eli) in the NFL. With the Giants having a number of injuries on the offensive side, the Browns D needs to step up and keep this game a low-scoring one. In 2008, the Browns pulled off one of the biggest upsets of that season, when they beat the Super Bowl Champion-Giants on MNF in Cleveland, 35 to 14. Will history repeat itself this time around?
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| T Rich & Co. look to pull off the upset vs. Eli & the Giants. |
Week 6! Urban Renewal tomorrow will cover another full-slate (the best so far this season) of college football games for this upcoming weekend. A Buckeyes/Cornhuskers Game preview, with predictions/picks on the weekends marque match-ups. I LOVE COLLEGE FOOTBALL!
