CINCINNATI, OH -- Amid discussions of the struggling Reds' hitters, starters, and bullpen, the beat writers are often forgotten, but they're scuffling like the rest of the team.

Friday, May 13 was one of those tough days for the Reds' writers. Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Fay was the first victim of the slump. In his piece, Changes Coming? today, he committed an error when he incorrectly referred to Sean Casey as the team captain. Fay again faltered when he described Felipe Lopez and being “on his way” twice in the span of three paragraphs in his article Lopez Finally Coming Into Own. According to the official scorer the repeat was not an error, but it was a play that a veteran like Fay should have made.

Cincinnati Post reporter, Marc Lancaster, had a respectable showing today when he gave up just a couple hits on misplaced commas and the improper use of the indicative mood when the subjunctive was in order in his piece At Last, Fun for Dunn. However, teammate Joe Santoliquito at Cincinnatireds.com got off to a shaky start with overuse of alliteration in Harang Harasses Hitters. When, later in the same story, he gave up the tautology, “Harang's mechanics might not be any better than they are right now,” the game was as good as over.

It isn't surprising that the Reds' media is struggling to find the inspiration to create fresh copy when its subject matter is so consistently depressing. Reporters are searching for non-game-related content to even out the tone of their writing. Brian at Redleg Nation, for example, posted a long comparison of the 2005 season to the 1986 season in his attempt to brighten the weblog. Some bloggers are even resorting to poking fun at other writers to ward off the sobs brought on by watching and reporting on the actual games.

Blogger JD at Red Reporter summed up the mood among the reporters, “How many different ways can I say that the Reds are terrible?”