Cincinnati Reds: Faltering Down the Stretch

That noise you hear in Cincinnati is the town's sports fans flipping the channel over from the Reds to the Bengals. The Bengals looked very promising with Carson Palmer's healthy return against Green Bay on Monday Night, giving Cincinnati football fans lots of hope. On the other hand, the Reds have looked awful on their latest West Coast swing and need to right the ship immediately if they still want a shot at the playoffs upon returning to Great American Ballpark next week.

A week ago, the Reds were on-top of the NL Central. After swooning to a 6 game losing streak, they're now 5 games behind the Cardinals, with only 28 games to play... all but forcing them to concentrate on a wildcard berth. If the Reds want to get back into the Wildcard race, now's the time to do it. They have a 3-game weekend series versus San Diego, who they currently trail by 1.5 games.

I'm not predicting doom and gloom for the Reds yet, like some of the local sports talk hosts and callers, but this is the most important series of the season for the Cincinnati Reds. For the Reds to survive this roadtrip, they really need to win this series. If they take 2 of 3 versus San Diego they'll be right back in the driver's seat for the Wildcard... Now it's time to sit back and see if they can do it.