Dusty Baker

When yesterday's Reds starting lineup was published, it stirred up quite a bit of controversy on Twitter. Several fans were questioning Dusty Baker's batting order, particularly at the top of the order. In fact, it has been a hot topic for most of the season.

I have no problem with fans second-guessing the manager. I have done it myself. There also is nothing wrong with countering that criticism by supporting Baker's decisions. Besides, we all have the same goal: to see the Reds win!

The Cincinnati Reds have been one of the biggest surprise contenders of this baseball season, having last made the playoffs 15 years ago, in 1995. Before this season, the Reds had finished below .500 nine straight seasons, never finishing better than third in the NL Central since the year 2000. This year's success, therefore, much like the success of the 2008 Tampa Bay Rays, has come as quite a shock to many baseball fans.

Brandon Phillips is a great man and just made baseball really interesting. Unless you're a St. Louis Cardinals fan, or don't like the Reds, you should agree with that statement.

Phillips recently had some very colorful things to say about St. Louis that a ballplayer usually would say about their rival, comparing them to little female dogs.

According to many reports, the Cincinnati Reds are on the verge of signing Gary Matthews, Jr. Matthews had a big year for the Texas Rangers way back in 2006. That year he put up .313/.371/.495/.866. The LA Angels then swooped in and signed Matthews for a huge deal.

Matthews' big year in 2006 skewed his career numbers, but the Angles ignored that and tried catching four years of lightning in a bottle. It didn't work out.

After three disappointing years, the Angels ended up getting the Mets to take him as insurance for Carlos Beltran.

The 40 year old Ken Griffey Jr. retired earlier this week after playing professional baseball since he was 19. He will always be remembered for his time in Seattle, not in Cincinnati. In the late 90's he was the best player in the game and was in the discussion for possibly being the best all around player ever.

The announcement ends a 22-year run in the major leagues that included 13 all-star selections, 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves and a .284 career batting average.

Dusty Baker has always been criticized for overusing his starting pitching. Critics point to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior as exhibits A and B. Then there is the whole fiasco with Aaron Harang in May of '08.

I always thought he got a raw deal on that label. Wood's delivery made him destined to screw up his arm, and Prior was simply a one-and-a-half-year wonder. Harang seems fine mechanically; he just hasn't been able to avoid the home run ball.

Not literally, but the Cincinnati Reds do need to do it figuratively.

Memorial Day weekend is just a few days away—marking the unofficial start to Summer—and for baseball, this weekend also marks the "real" start to the season.

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season.

In the words of my esteemed colleague, Jim Anchower , "Hola amigos. How's (stuff) shaking out? I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but misery's been flying at me from all directions, and it's been a (dang) full-time job to just duck out of the way of all of it."

Well not really—four days.

But it's been a long time since I've stood on my anti-Dusty Baker soapbox (at least 10 days). 

The month of May has been good to the Cincinnati Reds. They have gone 7-4 through a Cardinals, Cubs, Mets and Pirates slate.

The hitting is coming around, currently ranked fifth in the N.L. with 158 runs scored. But the major turn-around as been courtesy of the starting pitching.

After a magical one-hit complete game shut-out by Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey followed suit. He gave up a whopping five hits over a complete game shut-out. The legendary Dayton Daily News beat writer Hal McCoy sums it up best: