I Don't Follow Spring Training

I like to read most of the scarce articles about baseball during the winter although now it is much easier to follow your team with the Internet then when I was a kid. But I just don't like to read about all the spring training stories and injuries. Well if it was a major injury to a known player then I probably would have a hard time not hearing about it.

Spring training seems to be baseballs way of hyping up the new season. But most of the regular players don't play that much at first and many younger and minor league players are working their tails off to make the team.

I like to wait until I know the roster is close to being finalized before I get attached to a player who might not even make the team.

I did read a story about Cueto, it was about his work ethic, and now that he has a three year contract, is he going to maintain the work ethic that got him there, or is he going to resort back to the younger Cueto who didn't work as hard.

I'm a little worried about this myself. I know players will never admit to not working as hard, but you can't help but notice that some players stats will drop a little bit after they sign that big contract.

Rough September

The Reds are one of a few teams that actually have a winning record in every month of the season this year. But they have gotten off to a terrible start in September. It seems that many areas of their game have struggled.

The month began with a terrible road trip through St. Louis and Colorado. They lost the St. Louis series by one win and two losses. They were swept by Colorado in a four game series. This was pretty tough to swallow since in many of the games the Reds had a lead then lost it because of their bullpen. Recently Cordero blew two save situtaions against the Pirates, but luckily the Reds won one of those games in extra innings.

It also appears the batters are struggling and looking tired. Especially Brandon Phillips after he was hit in the hand and missed some games he looks out of sorts at the plate since he came back. The Reds haven't scored that many runs per game in September. They are still hitting pretty well with runners in scoring position it's they are having trouble getting runners on.

One bright spot in September has been Jay Bruce. After he struggled in July/August he seems to have gotten his stroke back and has hit many homers in his last few games. He also made an amazing catch against Arizona to rob them of a home run save Cordero from having another blown save.