Resilient Reds Get Stronger After Losses

The Reds may be the best losers in the major leagues.

In a bit of a twist on the "learning how to win" meme that we hear so often when describing good teams, this year's Reds are perhaps most notable because of the way they lose.

The Reds have bounced back from some of the most disheartening games and series you can imagine. The Cardinals' three-game sweep in Cincinnati three weeks ago was just the latest opportunity for the Reds to show their resilience.

As they go into the rematch in St. Louis this weekend, the Reds hold a commanding eight-game division lead. That's because the Reds responded to that sweep by going 14-4, while the Cardinals have gone 5-12 including five consecutive losses entering this weekend.

How'd the Reds do it? By knowing how to lose. More specifically, by knowing how to forget about a loss.

"I think early we had to learn how to lose," Scott Rolen said. "With young teams, generally speaking, if you lose it's like a morgue. Then you get with a veteran team, and there is respectful quiet, but the clubhouse eventually picks up. You aren't going to throw a party, but you can talk, watch games, be normal humans again. By the time you get on the bus, you are talking to people. I think that's important. I think carrying losses around and sleeping on it and bringing it back to the ballpark isn't good. You need a fresh start every day. The best way to have a fresh start is to end fresh."

Rolen, who joined the Reds at the trading deadline last year, has been one of the key clubhouse personalities as the team has developed a maturity to go with the young talent. Orlando Cabrera and utilityman Miguel Cairo, both acquired over the winter, have also helped this team have the mindset to take the next step.

"Those guys let us know, if we lose a game, there is a lot of season to go," Brandon Phillips said. "You just leave it and go forward. All you can do is worry about the next game and not get pissed off about the last series we had. That's all we've been doing."

They've had practice.

On May 20, the Reds blew a six-run, ninth-inning lead, losing an epic game in Atlanta. After that game, they won eight of the next 10.

In mid-June, the Reds went into Seattle to play the lowly Mariners and they got swept, scoring one run in the three games. The Reds followed that by winning five in a row, and nine out of 11.

"I think carrying losses around and sleeping on it and bringing it back to the ballpark isn't good. You need a fresh start every day."
- Scott Rolen Just before the All-Star break, the Reds got swept in a four-game series in Philadelphia. They blew a six-run, ninth-inning lead in one game. They lost three of the games in extra innings. They were shut out in the final two games. When the Reds returned from the break, they won four of five and 11 of 17.

They kept playing well through early August, when they suffered that kick-in-the-gut sweep by the Cardinals. In a series punctuated by a bench-clearing brawl in the middle game, St. Louis outscored the Reds and 21-8 and knocked them out of first place.

Just about everyone around baseball who watched that series figured that the Cardinals, the preseason favorites, were about to leave the upstart Reds behind for good.

"At the end of the day, we got embarrassed for three games," Jay Bruce said. "That's not a good feeling to have. We know we were a better team than that. Dusty (Baker) told us to forget about it and move forward. We have a bunch of games left that are more important, because they are coming, not the ones that we already played."

Baker, whose forte is motivating players and handling people, said it's nothing he's done to convince his players to be so resilient. It's the way they are.

"They don't worry too much," he said. "I think that helps. If you have a worrying bunch, they are going to worry themselves right into craziness. If you don't have a bunch that worries a whole bunch, they tend to let bad losses roll off them. That's what you want ... if you let them eat you up, they will."

The Reds had an off day immediately following the St. Louis debacle, which Rolen admitted didn't hurt. After that, they won eight of their next nine games.

"The (Cardinals) just outplayed us, but our guys know that they have the talent," GM Walt Jocketty said. "We're good enough to bounce back and keep plugging away. That's what we've been good at doing all year."

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