2nd-half mantra: Do the little things

[missionhockey21]

2nd-half mantra: Do the little things

By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

The question Reds manager Jerry Narron was asked was about the second half of the season. With the St. Louis Cardinals almost certainly out of reach at 21 games ahead, is finishing second in the National League Central a possibility?

Narron started by talking about playing the game "the right way," a constant theme with him, and ended by saying, "I know I sure don't want to finish in last place."

That tells you about the fix the Reds put themselves in before the All-Star break.

The Reds ended the break 35-53, the worst they've been at that point since 2001. They're on pace to lose 98 games.

Narron is optimistic, but even he is hesitant to put numerical goals on the second half of the season.

"I'd like to see (the team) play the game the right way," Narron said. "I'd like to see us concentrate on doing the little things. I'm a firm believer that if you do the little things right every time, the big things will take care of themselves.

"I think we got carried away about talking about winning in spring training. We got away from what it takes to win."

General manager Dan O'Brien thinks the key to the Reds being successful in the second half is relatively simple.

"I think as individuals and as a team they need to play to their career norms," he said. "Given the talent level of this team, we just haven't performed to that level."

You can talk about playing the game the right way and playing up to career standards, but you also can make an argument that this is simply a flawed team. The pitching just isn't good enough to compete.

The Reds are last in the NL and second-last in the majors in ERA at 5.60.

Reds starters are 20-44 with a 5.91 ERA.

None of the five pitchers in the rotation has a winning record.

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[CincyRedsFan30]

O'Brien will continue to blame the offense(13 runs behind St. Louis for the most scored in the NL) just as much as the pitching just to hide his mistakes. He might be a good guy on a personal level, but I think he is very sneaky as a GM, and I don't like it at all.

[Geki Ace]

The offense may not hit as well as we want with RISP, but it gets the job done a whole lot more than most teams. We're a good offensive series from being first in the NL in runs scored, and I certainly can't complain about that.

[CincyRedsFan30]

And we can't even count the AL teams ahead of us due to the DH and other differences that come from playing in the AL. Our offense is good. Period. Underlined. Exclamation point.