MIAMI – Sixteen games ago, the Cincinnati Reds were a happier club.
They’d ended the first half on an upswing, and the manager still talked about trying to get back into a muddled division. They were on pace to pick seventh in next year’s draft, outside the realm of slam-dunk draft impact but also not among the game's most pathetic teams.
But since the All-Star Break, the Reds have submerged as if a sinkhole opened up beneath them. On Saturday they fell 7-3 to the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park, the Reds' sixth loss in a row.