Boxscore

Okay, this is getting old. The Cincinnati Reds lost to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays tonight, dropping their record to 41-40.

That’s 81 games total: the halfway point. Feeling good about the prospects of this team for the rest of the season? Because Walt Jocketty has shown his complete lack of ideas on what to do to improve the .500 team. And manager Dusty Baker’s calm, toothpick-chewing ways aren’t exactly lighting a fire under the under-performing team’s ass.

Tonight, the Reds wasted another brilliant start by Johnny Cueto. Cueto went 7 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs–two of which were allowed to score thanks to a rare bad appearance from Bill Bray. And then Logan Ondrusek allowed a walk-off home run to lose it in the 9th.

The Reds continue to be a tough team to watch, and the lack of apparent caring by anyone in charge of the team doesn’t make it any easier. I’m not one to panic, but 81 games into the season is no longer early. That’s a long enough time to get a good idea about the team’s problem areas. And the 2011 Reds are weak on starting pitching and have gotten no offense and not good enough defense from shortstop. Waiting and seeing isn’t going to make things any better.