BY STEVE HASSEY
Opening Day is a holiday of hope and promise each year in Cincinnati as baseball fans from around the metropolitan area pile into Great American Ballpark for the first game of the long season.
Thus far, the season has been a disappointment as the hype of the Reds has turned into despair after starting the season by winning just three of their first eleven games for the first time since 1995.
Fans have circulated many different theories as to why the Reds’ performance has been off.
“The hitting is just not good enough. Also, Dusty Baker leaving does not help,” said senior varsity MHS baseball player Jason Brokamp.
But the Reds also have many injuries, a factor that junior Jonathan Hanley finds impacting the team’s early struggles.
“Once Mat Latos and Aroldis Chapman come back and Devin Mesoraco gets back to full health, we will be hard to beat,” said Hanley.
Even as some turn an optimistic eye toward future days, there is still despair over the Reds’ relationship with their perennial rivals, the Cardinals.
“We can’t claim first place because we can’t defeat the Cardinals. We never have been able to beat them, and I don’t see that changing this year,” said Hanley, who attends about eight games per year.
That does not mean that the Reds will become perennial losers. Brokamp, Hanley, and junior Brooke Kelly all believe that the Reds will have a record over .500 and place second in the NL Central. However, there are several different ways that students believe the Reds can get their season back on track.
“We just have a lot of great young talent combined with experienced players. Guys like Billy Hamilton and Mat Latos have older stars like Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips to look up to,” said Kelly.
Brokamp, however, believes managerial error has led to the slight dip in performance from the Redlegs.
“Our manager, Bryan Price, should play Billy Hamilton a little bit less. He worked better as a role player last season,” said Brokamp.
Hanley has a different idea of what can fix the Reds’ season.
“If Joey Votto plays like he did in 2010, his MVP season, we take first place, no doubt.”