Kuzul

Speed kills.

Ask the Yankees circa 2004 when a stolen base by Dave Roberts in the bottom of the ninth kept the Red Sox—down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series and 4-3 in Game 4—alive and propelled them forward to the greatest comeback in baseball history.

Or maybe you could just look at the 1982 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.

That season the Brewers lead all teams with 216 home runs, 30 more than next closest team. Last in the league that season were the Brewers’ World Series opponents, who hit just 67 home runs, 149 fewer home runs than the Brewers!

However, the Cardinals did steal 200 bases that season, second in the league to the Rickey Henderson-led Oakland Athletics and 35 more than the team with the third-most stolen bases.

In the seven game World Series between the two teams, the Cardinals stole seven bases compared to the Brewers one on their way to a World Series title.

With the importance of speed writ large in the history of Major League Baseball’s playoffs, let’s take a look at the 10 fastest players in this year’s postseason.

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With no real expectation hanging over them, the Cincinnati Reds enter the 2010 playoffs amid little fanfare, overshadowed considerably by their NLDS opponent, the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. 

Despite winning the NL Central, the Reds face a tough draw in a championship-caliber Philadelphia squad.

The Reds look to topple a team looking to appear in its third straight World Series, not to mention motivated to return because of last season’s loss to the Yankees.

The Phillies own the best record the majors at 97-65 and are the league’s hottest team coming into the playoffs, ending the season on a torrid 24-7 run, with starters Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels posting a 13-1 record in September.

While Dusty Baker’s young group has a tough series ahead of them, the Division Series represents a great opportunity for the Reds to display their talents to a national audience. 

In his 15th season, Scott Rolen will look to use his ample playoff experience, which includes two World Series appearances and one victory, to help ease the pressure on his inexperienced teammates. Still a productive part of the Cincinnati batting order despite the old man tag he bears in the clubhouse, Rolen will look to protect MVP candidate Joey Votto (.329, 37 HRs, 113 RBI) against the formidable Big Three of the Phillies rotation.

With Votto in mind, the All-Star first baseman remains the player most essential to Cincinnati’s success in the NLDS and beyond. This year, the power-hitting lefty went toe to toe with fellow first baseman and three-time MVP award winner Albert Pujols for the NL MVP and NL Central crown, winning the most important of those two battles, as the Reds flew past St. Louis for their first playoff berth in 15 years. 

For the Reds to be successful in this series, their offense must flow through Votto, instead of just being Votto. In Cincinnati’s 92 victories, the Canadian-born lefty hit .332 with a whopping 81 RBI in just 310 at-bats, while only racking up 32 RBI in the other 67 games. The problem with these splits is that in those Reds losses, Votto’s batting average was still a solid .309, and his 12 home runs were only one less than he accumulated during victories.

Votto, while consistently an offensive force whether the Reds won or not, still needed the help of his teammates to ensure success for Cincinnati. While that may seem cliché, the truth of the matter is that Philadelphia’s pitching staff is good enough that it can afford to give up a base to a player of Joey Votto’s caliber, especially if the rest of the Reds offense isn’t up to par.

The pressure then falls on Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, two key components of the Reds’ lineup, to produce at the plate to complement Cincinnati’s prize first baseman in these playoffs. 

Known for his big mouth and even bigger bat, Phillips is a perennial power threat at the top of the Reds’ order, accounting for 106 home runs over the last five seasons. While he may be having a down year (.275, 18 HRs, 59 RBI), the playoffs represent a clean slate for Phillips to break out offensively and make up for his subpar season. 

Behind Votto in the Reds’ batting order is defensive standout Jay Bruce, the cardiac kid himself. A once-heralded prospect in the Cincinnati system, Bruce has shown flashes of greatness, especially in clutch situations, throughout the season.

The right fielder has taken his game to the next level over the season’s final two-plus months, hitting .338 with 15 homers and 29 RBI since August 1st, including a game-winning, division-clinching home run against the Houston Astros on September 28th. 

On top of his offensive output, Bruce is regarded as the second-best defensive right fielder in the majors this year, behind only the immortal Ichiro Suzuki. The young outfielder used both his arm and his legs to make highlight-reel plays for Cincinnati all season long, as he became a staple of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight‘s Web Gems segment. 

Led by Dusty Baker, managing his fifth postseason with his third different team, the untested Cincinnati Reds must show poise and maturity when they take the field against a seasoned Phillies team. With 22 wins in their last at-bat this season, the Reds are no strangers to playing the underdog role, something they will have to deal with right off the bat in these 2010 MLB Playoffs.  

Jesse Paguaga is a regular contributor to Baseball Digest. He writes as an intern on the Bleacher Report website. Jesse writes for Gotham Baseball, along with Gotham Hoops and Gotham Gridiron. He can be reached at Paguaga@usc.edu and can be found on Facebook and Twitter (@JPags77).

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For the first time in seven years, postseason baseball has found its way to AT&T Park. In the National League Divisional Series, the newly crowned NL West champion San Francisco Giants (92-70) will meet the Atlanta Braves (91-71), who also squeaked by on the final day of the season.  The winner of the five-game series will move on to face either Philadelphia (97-65) or Cincinnati (91-71).

No doubt Giants general manager Brian Sabean is spearheading an extended powwow with manager Bruce Bochy and his staff, as the rules call for the 40-man active roster to be trimmed down to 25 by Thursday’s opener in China Basin.

Although substitutions can be made in each round of the playoffs, it will be interesting to find out the composition of the final list for the NLDS, as it will undoubtedly give clues on how they intend to attack the Braves and advance to their first National League Championship Series since 2002.

All year long, the Giants’ outstanding pitching has defied belief, especially during the final month of the season. San Francisco hurlers held opposing batters to a .182 average in September and conceded three runs or less in 24 out of 26 games, a feat that has occurred only once since 1920.

However, the team’s bats haven’t fared as well, with their own dubious streak defining their offense. In the last 29 games to close the year, Giants hitters scored more than four runs only eight times.

With that said, smallball will the be order of the day in San Francisco, and the signs were evident in last Sunday’s division-clinching win over San Diego. In the bottom of the seventh inning, with the Giants in desperate need of adding an insurance run to a slim 2-0 lead, Eugenio Velez laid down a sacrifice bunt to move 245-pound Pablo Sandoval from first base.

However, the portly former All-Star’s lack of speed was blatantly clear when he was gunned down at second with three strides to spare in what became a waste of an out.

The Giants’ formidable rotation and bullpen have compensated for the toothless offense for most of 2010. Since this pattern will likely continue into the playoffs, the necessity of manufacturing runs will be at a premium in close games, where each win gets the team one step closer to the World Series.

According to the way Sabean and Bochy have handled the season to date, I have broken down the current 40-man roster and given my projections for the final 25 who will take the field for the NLDS. Starters are in bold, cuts will have lines through their names, and shaky picks up for debate will be in italics, with key stats for each player included.

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The playoffs are when legends are made. You can be a great player in the regular season, but if you fail in the playoffs, then you will be served a cold dish of doubt and ridicule.

Nobody wants to be Mr. May.

Just ask Alex Rodriguez. Until last year he was considered Mr. Regular Season, a choke artist, a joke, and overpaid. He still may be overpaid, but he has a ring on his finger to keep him happy.

Every year there are a new crop of players with something to prove, either to themselves or to the baseball world in order to solidify their stance in the history of the game.

Here are the players with the most to prove in this postseason.

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The Cardinals came into this season expecting to challenge the Philadelphia Phillies for the National League pennant and to dethrone the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Yet they were out of contention by the middle of September, in the clutches of a collapse from a first-place tie with their longtime rival, the Cincinnati Reds, and were far removed from being the hottest Redbirds team in three seasons.

Collapse is a more powerful word than the phrase “second-half swoon,” but collapse is more appropriate in this situation, without question.

Redbird Nation is baffled:

How a team expected to swim deep into the playoffs needed CPR, personal oxygen tanks, and a breathing apparatus by the beginning of September is beyond us.

Instead of challenging the Phillies in the playoffs, the Cardinals were eliminated by the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates with a week remaining in the regular season.

Watching their barroom-brawling rivals run away with the division crown this particular season is a James Bond movie-like bitter and poison pill for diehard Cardinals fans to swallow.

They were 12-6 against the Reds, but their record was an ugly 26-33 against the rest of the division, and 46-50 against teams with a losing record.

Again this year, thanks to a second-half swoon that has become the norm over the last three Redbirds seasons, the Gateway City’s Gas House Gang’s gritty baseball team flavor lost its savor under their now-embattled tragic Cardinal of a manager: Tony LaRussa.

The Cardinals were playing like the best team in baseball from the first pitch after the 81^st All-Star Game.  Starting on July 15, their first eight games after the break were played in St. Louis against two of the top NL teams: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Eight revenge games to start the second half: The Dodgers had swept the Cardinals out of the playoffs in 2009, and the Phillies were the defending NL Champions.

After the infield dust settled, Major League Baseball eyes watched in admiration at the Redbirds’ sizzling performance.

First, the Birds swept the Dodgers by outscoring them 22-9 in the four-game series.  In July, Joe Torre’s squad was still considered the front-runner to win the NL West.

Then, the Cardinals bopped the Phillies in three straight games, taking the series 3-1, and outscoring Philadelphia 23-8 in the four contests. 

Then, in the very next series, in Chicago against their top rivals (the woefully struggling Cubs), the Cardinals were dismantled by yet another team that owned a losing overall record.

The Cardinals’ August began in Houston against the cellar-dwelling Astros.  Houston shoved an 18-4 loss down the Cardinals’ throat; an embarrassing effort that drew the ire of Cardinals fans who experienced the bitter commentary of MLB analysts as well as those from other team’s fans.

But the Redbirds made up for it a week later, by running Cincinnati red—in Cincinnati.  This was the “Scrap Series,” where the Cardinals swept the clashes but ended up losing the conflict.

Cincinnati’s cocky infielder, Brandon Phillips, a breathing conflict on the diamond, fired the then-second-place Redbirds up with his comments that I will not repeat here.  And when he stepped to the plate, the Cards’ rugged catcher, Yadier Molina, dared Phillips to shine across the line.

Phillips did so and the brawl was on to the Reds’ detriment, or so it seemed.

Being swept by his managerial Mad Hatter in Tony LaRussa, Cincinnati’s skipper Dusty “Batman” Baker’s blood boiled as he was seen bristling in postgame interviews.

The Reds went on a division-clinching run after the series’ infamous summer brawl, while the Cardinals started to swoon.

To end August, the Cardinals got swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates and by the Astros, plus Albert Pujols and the St. Louisans were almost swept by the Washington Nationals.  In the last 10 games of the month, the Cardinals record was 1-9.

The swoon was now lasting way past June.  Even though the Redbirds destroyed the Reds by a score of 6-1 in a game played on national television on the Saturday before Labor Day, for all intents and purposes, the division race was over.

How could a relatively young team with a Cy Young candidate (Adam Wainwright), a first baseman vying for the Triple Crown (Pujols), a $25 million enforcer (Matt Holliday), a top NL closer (Ryan Franklin), and a former Cy Young winner (Chris Carpenter) miss the playoffs? 

Before asking yourself “What just happened?” chew on this:

As you know, I believe that the blame has to fall squarely on the grudge-holding mind of manager Tony LaRussa. 

Both LaRussa and McGwire are pond scum, and now we see them for what they truly are. Hopefully, in this long offseason, consequences and repercussions will be the result. 

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In a Bleacher Report Community effort, the top Featured Columnists for MLB’s top teams have come together to give the fans a thorough understanding of what to expect when your ace succumbs to playoff pressure, putting a close game in the hands of your bullpen.

Each Bleacher Report Featured Columnist has been a fan of their team, as have you, for as long as possible.

In speaking with these writers, they understand the history as well as the current state and future prospects for their bullpen.

This has been a learning experience in putting these analyses together and may this be a guidebook to you fans who need to know what your opposition is going to be throwing at you late into a game.

Two last things:

1) In finding the videos for this slideshow I found it comical that every closer either enters the game to Metallica’s, “Enter Sandman,” or at least has a youtube tribute to him set to that song.

2) Make sure to check out Mariano Rivera’s video on how he dominates attached to the first Yankees slide.  It’s a must-see.

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The season is almost over, bones and hearts have been broken, while arms and dreams have been restored.  We have come a long way since April, but for Cincinnati, the fun is only beginning. 

This 2010 edition of the Reds was picked by most to finish fourth or worse in the NL Central this year.  Not enough offense, not enough pitching, not enough experience, and on and on and on.

The Reds didn’t get the memo.

This team played spoiler all year long.  The Reds, who weren’t quite ready, showed early on they were here to stay.  Joey Votto had the best year of his young career and very well could end up with the NL MVP award.  He threatened for a triple crown and somehow, SOMEHOW, almost missed being an All-Star. (Charlie Manuel better hope Votto doesn’t hold a grudge.)

Rolen, Cabrera, Rhodes, Cairo, the Reds were too old, and wouldn’t be able to stay healthy.  Sorry wrong again.  Rolen and Rhodes were All-Stars, Cairo was clutch all year and Cabrera added stability at SS, which had been a revolving door of failed experiments since 11 left town.  These guys were winners, and the funny thing is, winners win. 

Phillips took heat for starting the Cardinal Clash by saying what we all were thinking, but he continued flashing that gold leather again all year.  He hit lead-off, hit second, hit fourth, Brandon did whatever Dusty needed.  Reds fans want to trade Phillips for his Ocho Cinco-ness, but ask the Reds’ starting rotation if they appreciate him being up the middle. Psst….I bet the say yes!

Hanigan, Ramon and Fu Manchu himself, Corky Miller were more than any of us could have hoped for behind the plate.  They all brought their big bats and were big behind the plate.  Those three guys have done wonders for this pitching staff all year. 

The outfield wowed us with their bats before the All-Star break.  Gomes was unstoppable, Stubbs ran on everyone, and no one ran on Jay Bruce.  Jay was under the gun.  Many said this was his put up or shut up year, very unfairly by my accounts, but Bruuuuuce put up in a big way.

You mean you didn’t hear?  Bruce crushed a walk-off home run to clinch the NL Central for Cincinnati.  I saw grown men do things I couldn’t have imagined.  They hugged, they cried, they rolled around on the beer stained, peanut littered concourse at Great American, all because Jay saved the day.

The pitching was great all year, Leake was too cool for the minors and pitched great.  Our favorite hamburger jingle writer, Arroyo won 17 games.  Travis Wood stood toe to toe with Roy Halladay.  The list goes on and on.

We have to give some credit to Dusty too.  The guy who couldn’t win with young players, the guy who burned up young arms.  He flipped the right switches all year and did something not one other Reds manager had done since 1995: make the playoffs.  So Dusty, even though we scratched our heads sometimes, here’s to you.

All that is nice, but will it matter?  Can Cincinnati make it a Reds October?  I believe in these guys, and I know they believe in each other.  I’m going to keep my Gomes-esque ski goggles ready for when these Cincinnati Reds crash the postseason party.

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Outstanding rookie Mike Leake will not be a part of his team as they make their first playoff appearance in 15 years.

This is from the Cincinnati Reds Team Report on Yahoo! Sports:

RHP Mike Leake won’t pitch again this season, and he won’t be on the postseason roster, manager Dusty Baker said. Leake, Cincinnati’s first-round pick in 2009, hasn’t pitched since Aug. 24 due to fatigue in his right shoulder. He finishes the season 8-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 24 games, the first 22 as a starter.

It is a shame he will not take part, but I would rather see him have more than just one halfway decent year.

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I would imagine that when Cincinnati Reds OF Jay Bruce woke up on Tuesday morning, he had no idea how special of a day it would be.

With the game tied at two in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bruce took the first pitch he saw from Houston Astros reliever Tim Byrdak and launched it over the center field fence to give the Reds a 3-2 win, but more importantly send the Reds to the playoffs.

The Reds clinched the National League Central title with the win and their first playoff appearance in 15 years.

Bruce, with his walk-off HR, joins Steve Finley, Alfonso Soriano, Hank Aaron, and Bobby Thomson as the only players to clinch a playoff berth for their team in such fashion. I watched the Bruce HR as it happened, and it was a really cool moment. The best part about the HR was that he knew it as soon as he hit it.

Now that the Reds are headed to the postseason, it’s time to answer some questions. I am going to venture to say that the Reds have more questions to answer than any other team that will be or may be participating in baseball’s postseason tournament.

The biggest question for the Reds is who will start Game 3? Bronson Arroyo and Johnny Cueto will start Games 1 and 2. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Do they go with Homer Bailey, who has a 3.71 ERA in the second half? Do they do with Travis Wood, or do they go with Edinson Volquez? Mike Leake is not an option anymore, as he was shut down for the remainder of the season.

I would say they would most likely go with Bailey in Game 3.

Other questions the Reds have are is Brandon Phillips‘ hand going to hold up throughout the postseason? How reliable can Francisco Cordero be in the ninth? Has Arthur Rhodes run out of gas?

I’ll attempt to answer all of these questions during my postseason preview on Monday.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Jay Bruce and Joey Votto are not yet household names among baseball fans. Soon, they will be.

In about a week’s time the Cincinnati Reds will be playing in the National League playoffs for the first time in 15 years as the 2010 NL Central Division champions.

The Reds have endured some of the worst seasons the franchise has ever seen the last 15 years. All the hardship was washed away last night as the Reds clubhouse was soaked with champagne for the first time in the history of the Great American Ball Park.

The method for the Reds’ success was a patient approach to building a winner.

Cincinnati’s great start to the season was not taken seriously. They couldn’t last the whole season—not a young and inexperienced team. However, not only did they play a full season of winning baseball, the reigning NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals were the team that collapsed amidst their own high expectations for 2010. 

The engine driving the Reds is their first baseman, Joey Votto. Votto, the leading MVP candidate among experts, means more to the Reds than any other player in the National League. Joey is having a monster season, batting .325 with 37 HR and 111 RBI, ranking in the top three in the NL for each category.

Votto is just one of the many talented young players the Reds have received major contributions from this season.

Jay Bruce, last night’s hero with a walk-off home run vs. Houston, has had his struggles in 2010. Dubbed a surefire All-Star by baseball scouts, Bruce has had a very inconsistent MLB career since an impressive debut last season.

The Reds’ patience in Bruce is not just good for the franchise, but also sends a message letting players know they’ll get their shot, a welcoming thing for drafted players and free agents.

The majority of Cincinnati’s best players under 30-years-old, including a quartet of quality pitchers: Johnny Cueto (24), Aroldis Chapman (22), Homer Bailey (24), and Edinson Volquez (27).

The youth of the Reds will keep them a contender for many years to come, but they are not lacking experience, a flaw many in the mainstream media think will be their downfall come October.

Cincinnati has been brilliantly directed by veteran manager Dusty Baker, who last night became the ninth manager to lead three different teams to the playoffs (Giants and Cubs, previously).

On the field, former World Series champions Orlando Cabrera and Scott Rolen will provide the leadership and knowledge to guide the young players through the postseason.

Cabrera’s story is unique, as he helped end 86 years of baseball torment for Boston in 2004, while Rolen, after failures in Philadelphia, finally helped the St. Louis to glory in 2006.

Sports is not a patient business, and with an economic recession, teams are pressured to make risky moves now.

The Reds have showed us taking a patient approach to developing talent, building team character, and mixing youngsters with veterans is a great recipe for success.

This plan will not only help the Cincinnati Reds’ 2010 campaign but will also give them many, many years of championship-level baseball.

Are the Reds baseball’s new dynasty in the making?

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