ST. LOUIS – If not now, when?
Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona admittedly doesn’t like to have many team meetings.
But with significant injuries to key players piling up almost as fast as bullpen letdowns – and with another four straight losses hanging in the overhead bin with the rest of their luggage on the way to San Diego – it was time.
As usual, the message was as simple as the meeting was brief.
“When it’s the hardest to believe, you have to. And when there’s doubt you’ve got to believe in each other and pick each other up,” Francona said, after back-to-back losses in the Cardinals’ final at-bat gave St. Louis a weekend sweep. “What I don’t want is for this to be a morgue. That’s not the way it’s supposed to be.
“It’s hard for us right now,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that aren’t going right. We can make it better. And we will.”
The Reds have a group on the injured list that includes ace Hunter Greene, closer Emilio Pagán, two-time All-Star shortstop Elly De La Cruz and two of their top three setup men, Graham Ashcraft and Pierce Johnson.
Since finishing April in first place in the NL Central, their bullpen has been among the worst-performing pens in the majors. They opened May with an eight-game losing streak. They’re halfway to another one after getting swept in St. Louis. And they’re two games under .500 for the first time this season – thanks in large part to a 2-13 mark against division opponents.
“It’s about us,” said Matt McLain, who slugged two home runs in the St. Louis finale and three in the final two games of that series.
“It wasn’t a good series as a whole,” he said. “So you know we’ve got to come together, play the game the right way and lean on each other. And keep playing hard.”
Francona had had maybe three or four unscheduled meetings last season, the final regular-season address coming after the Reds got swept in West Sacramento by the Athletics and looked like toast. They responded by winning nine of their final 14 games to make the playoffs on the final day of the season.
This one comes just ahead of a typically tough trip west for a series against a good Padres team having its own set of struggles.
“I told them, ‘Run the bases with your pants on fire and don’t leave anything on the field,’ “ Francona said. “That’s not just the best way, it’s the only way (if) we’re going to get where we want to go.”
“We’ve just got to stick to it. There’s a ton of games (left),” said starter Rhett Lowder, who returned from the injured list Sunday with three heavy-traffic, scoreless innings. “There’s gonna be highs. There’s gonna be lows. As long as we stick together, and like Tito says, don’t feel sorry for ourselves, we’ll (get through it).”
In other words, no moping.
“We’re not gonna do that,” Lowder said. “We’re gonna keep our foot on the pedal and try to get better every single day and win as many games as we can.”
Said veteran reliever Sam Moll: “We’ve got enough talent to win ballgames.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cards sweep of Reds triggers rare meeting with team for Terry Francona
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
