Red alert in Cincy

I don’t think this is the first Touching Base Blog entry from out of town, but it’s certainly the first from the state of Ohio, since I’ve never been here before today. All season, I haven’t been able to understand why the Reds, with so much talent on their roster, have been at or near the bottom of the NL Central. Tonight, I think I get it. Granted, Carlos Zambrano has pitched eight shutout innings for the Cubs, but still, I think the following observations are worth making: First, in interviews before the game, there was a clear disconnect between things that Dusty Baker said and things his players said. Very strange for the manager and his players to not be on the same page. In the second inning tonight, Joey Votto was picked off second base in a 1-0 game. Votto’s a young player, but shoddy baserunning has been a theme for Cincinnati (one, in fact, that was brought up in Baker’s pregame press conference) and is the kind of thing that can cost a team ... [link]