Opinion

When yesterday's Reds starting lineup was published, it stirred up quite a bit of controversy on Twitter. Several fans were questioning Dusty Baker's batting order, particularly at the top of the order. In fact, it has been a hot topic for most of the season.

I have no problem with fans second-guessing the manager. I have done it myself. There also is nothing wrong with countering that criticism by supporting Baker's decisions. Besides, we all have the same goal: to see the Reds win!

Welcome to Tribe Talk, where Bleacher Report's Cleveland Indians fans weigh in on the ups and downs of the club each week throughout the season.

This week, we evaluate Manny Acta's performance in his first season as Indians manager, assess the team's rebuilding efforts by examining the cases of a few specific players, and predict what the future has in store for the Tribe at third base.

The year was 1993. Bill Clinton took office and the Buffalo Bills lost their third straight Super Bowl. The World Trade Center was bombed, and two days later a fifty-one day standoff began in Waco, Texas between Federal law enforcement and a religious cult. On top of all of that, the New York Mets were about to have one of the worst seasons any baseball team or its fans ever experienced.

Much has been written and said pertaining to the events at Great American Ballpark this week.  A two game Reds lead has now turned into a one game deficit.

Additionally, the national media is starting to pile on them as well.  In light of recent events, Brandon Phillips, in particular, is looking like the kind of player who goes out and talks a big game, but can't back it up with his play.

Okay, enough is enough.  I highly suspect that as trained professionals, some of which have been at this for a long time, the team has moved on.

The Yankees had to overcome a five run deficit last night to beat the Texas Rangers after Javier Vazquez's poor start, a start he shouldn't have even made.

Javy's pitches topped out at about 85 mph last night, which is not good enough to get major league hitters out, let alone the heavy hitting Texas Rangers.

As I'm doing my ritual refreshing of my twitter page, I see my cousin re-tweet something that made me stop in my tracks.

The St. Louis Cardinals came in to Cincinnati to claim back first place in the division from the Reds. They may have done much more than that.

It wasn't even close. In the three game series, the Cardinals outscored the Reds 21-8.  Forget about the infamous basebrawl of game two—the Cards hit the Reds hard and often.

This could be the single most pivotal point in the season for the Reds. How they react, bounce back, or fade away between now and September 3rd will determine the whole season. 

Why September 3rd? 

Fellow members of Braves Country, our beloved Braves are 18 games above .500 and will end tonight up by at least 2.5 games ahead of the red hot Phillies.  We sit a half game out of first place in the National League, and we have the second biggest division lead in Major League Baseball.

The Mets have failed to reach the World Series since they did so in 2000.  Although they have lacked talent in some of the years since then, it hasn't all been self inflicted.  There have been some players that have just killed this team over the last ten seasons.

Here is a list of the top five players that have beaten the Mets up over the pat ten seasons.

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From the third week of May to the All-Star Break, when the Atlanta Braves were rolling, Billy Wagner was one of the best closers in baseball.

Over that approximate two month stretch, the 39-year-old southpaw was 16-for-17 in save opportunities while collecting one win in a total of 23 appearances.