Monday, April 14, 2008

I asked this question Sunday morning on 700 WLW: at 6-6 (now 6-7) is the Reds' glass half empty or half full? Tonight, with the Reds only a game out of the cellar in the National League Central Division, you have to wonder.

The surprises have been the better pitching, and the lack of hitting. It's flat out staggering how poor the Reds are hitting with runners in scoring position. They left 32 men on base in last weekend's three game series at Pittsburgh.

Now, they're in Chicago for three, a homecoming for Dusty Baker, the former Cubs manager who'll at least get a good reception from the players he left behind, accoring to the Cubs' official web site.

The Chicago Tribune has another take on his homecoming.

The NFL will release it's schedule Tuesday at 2pm. My prediction: One Monday Night game and one Sunday Night game and that's it for our "Men In Stripes".

And with the draft coming up, thoughts on who the Bengals take with that 9th over all pick are lacking a consensus. Let's hope the Dayton Daily News is off base with this call.

Will they need a WR? I'll be the Bengals take at least one in the first four rounds. Remember, they have multiple picks in every round from the third on. But Seth Wickersham on espn.com makes a good case why the Bengals don't really need to rely on a third wide receiver this fall.

SI.com has video of just about every player who could go in the first couple of rounds. I hope they're right and Sedrick Ellis, the DT from Southern Cal, is the Bengals' pick at #9. Take a look at this guy!

And just in case they don't get a good return guy in the draft, no problems. With the new rule change, the Bengals can always 'defer' if they win the coin flip. Marvin Lewis has already said, he'll take the option a lot. My good friend, Mike Florio, at profootballtalk.com has some more thoughts on the new 'defer option', in one of his latest TV segments.


That's it fo rnow. If you're in Cincinnati, see you tonight on WLWT Channel 5. And you can always check out my web site: http://www.kenbroo.com/.