CINCINNATI — For Cincinnati Reds fans there is a hatred that rivals Green Bay Packers-Chicago Bears, New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox and Sergio Garcia-Tiger Woods.
Mention the St. Louis Cardinals to a Reds fan and they stick a finger in their mouth to gag or they put an unprintable word between St. Louis and Cardinals.
That isn’t the way in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse and the fan animosity frankly surprises former St. Louis outfielder Ryan Ludwick, who now wears a Reds uniform.
“I gather a lot about the rivalry more from the fans — they don’t like the Cardinals,” said Ludwick. “I walk around Wal-Mart and Target and the fans have made it really clear their feelings about the Cardinals.”
The fans want the Reds not only to sweep this three-game weekend series, they want a total defeathering and beak-tweaking.
Inside the clubhouse, respect is more like it and Cincinnati superstar Joey Votto puts it clearly when he says, “It is important to respect your competition and we respect the Cardinals and I think they respect us. That’s why they are the team I have the most respect for in baseball.
“No matter who you are playing, you have to have the attitude that you are playing against the best in the world,” said Votto. “Any of them can embarrass you in front of your home fans and that’s who we play for and to entertain. We want to send them home happy.”
In the last five games, the Reds have not scored more than two runs against the Cardinals, although one was a 2-0 Cincinnati victory, and Votto was asked if he thought St. Louis pitchers have the inside secret on how to muzzle his team.
“I hope they think they do,” said Votto. “Usually when you think you like that, think you have the game solved than you better go back and start from scratch. If they think that — well I doubt that they do, I really doubt that.”
Manager Dusty Baker was asked the same question — do the Cardinals have the Reds’ number — and he said, “Hey, I think the Cardinals have everybody’s number, not just against us. I didn’t even know that stat.”
The Cardinals arrived in Cincinnati with baseball’s best record (39-21) and a three-game lead over the Reds, even though Cincinnati’s 36-24 record in the fourth best in the majors.
Asked if he thought the Cardinals or his Reds are the best team, Baker thought a moment and said, “The stats don’t lie — for now. They have everything working over there and we don’t have everything working. Yeah. To answer the question. Yeah, they’re the best team in baseball, right now they are the best. But we’re hoping to become the best.”
The Reds are playing .600 baseball, but the Cardinals are at .600. While that looks bad for the Reds, Baker sees the up-side.
“It ain’t frustrating,” said Baker. “It would be frustrating if we were 15 games out. Imagine if we weren’t play .600 ball how far we would be out. You can’t do anything about they’re doing, only what you’re doing. We’re trying to catch ‘em and they’re trying to lose us and we don’t want to get lost.”
“And it doesn’t seem like we’re playing .600 ball because it seems like we’re struggling, like we’ve struggled the whole time because the way our close games go and we haven’t blown anybody out.”
Baker paused to fetch the right words and came up with, “It has been a pleasant struggle.”
