THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Good Tuesday Morning!

We saw another reason why the Reds, as currently comprised, can't contend for a playoff berth. It occurred Monday night, when Aaron Harang pitched terrific baseball for seven innings, and the Reds lost in 14. They had ample opportunities to beat the Marlins. But they could not come up with any 'situational' hits. Plain and simply, this team lacks a veteran bat in its line up that will make an opposing pitcher work, giving it's younger players like Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips better pitches to hit.

You can talk all you want about this current Reds team being 'hungrier' or 'more focused' than the 2008 Reds. What you're really saying is, you're glad Griffey, Jr. and Dunn are gone. But you don't account for what their presence (yes even an aging Griffey, Jr.) in the batting order did to the opposing pitcher. And Dunn's 100 rbi, which he consistently put up while in a Reds uniform, have yet to be replaced. Last night's game was crying for a long ball from the Reds. It wasn't there. And another terrific pitching performance was wasted. Dusty Baker emptied his bullpen, with the exception of closer Francisco Cordero. He was down to Danny Herrera, the last guy Baker wanted to see on the mound. Herrera faltered. The Reds lost a game they should have been able to win, long before the 14th inning. I think you're going to see a lot of game like this, unfortunately.

This is clearly the most controversial and the most intriguing Bengals draft pick. When the Bengals selected running back Bernard Scott from Abilene Christian, they appeared to have had a flashback to 2006, when they seemed to average an arrest a week. Here's a good video put together by draftguys.com.

It doesn't matter how good Scott is, or can be. What matters is whether or not he can stay out of trouble. This guy would be better served on a team with some solid veteran leadership. That's something the Bengals don't have.

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