What If Cody Ross and Josh Hamilton Were Still Cincinnati Reds?

The 2010 MLB Postseason has been bittersweet for the Cincinnati Reds and their fans.

Making the playoffs for the first time since 1995 is a huge deal. In fact just getting over .500 was a cause for celebration this season.

The Reds were able to fight off the big bad St. Louis Cardinals and finally made it to October baseball.

But then the Reds were no-hit by the Philies Roy Halladay. Running into a buzzsaw like that was part bad luck, but also part first game jitters of an inexperienced team.

Game 2 was a chance to brush it off and try and even up the series. A 4-0 lead quickly evaporated as the Reds' defense completely unraveled. Another shutout in Game 3 and the series was over before you could blink.

Now the Reds sit back and watch the NLCS and ALCS as familiar faces are doing major damage.

Cody Ross has been the best player in the NLCS, collecting an RBI in four straight postseason games, tying a Giants record. He has 10 hits, four homers and seven RBI in the playoffs.

He has single-handedly kept a stagnant Giants offense alive and well.

Once upon a time Ross was a Red. In April of 2006 General Manager Wayne Krivsky acquired Ross from the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player-to-be-named. He was placed on the disabled list after getting hit by a pitch in late April.

He was reinstated from the DL in early May. Three days later, he was traded to Florida for cold hard cash.

So maybe he wasn't a Red for very long, but the Reds sure could have used his clutch hitting against the Phillies.

What hurts even more is watching Josh Hamilton dismantle the Yankees.

So far Hamilton has four home runs and seven RBI through five games in the ALCS. For the entire playoffs he has hit .316.

Hamilton played 90 games for the Reds in 2007. He hit .292 with 19 homers and 47 RBI. It was his first season in the bigs and fans across Red Leg Nation were ecstatic for the future with Hamilton.

After the season the pitching starved Reds decided to use the unlimited potential of Hamilton to entice the Rangers to trade Edinson Volquez for him.

With his history of drug problems, the Reds figured Hamilton would be much more injury prone than the average player. He did miss almost half the season while playing in Cincinnati.

Fast forward to today and it looks as if the Rangers have gotten the better end of that trade.

Hamilton missed a month this season with a rib injury but will still more than likely be the American League MVP.

He has continued his success against the seemingly unbeatable Yanks. He was named 2010's best center fielder in the AL by The Sporting News on Wednesday.

Volquez was the Game 1 starter for the Reds and couldn't even get out of the second inning.

Sure he was an '08 All-Star, but after undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing almost five months of game action between '09 and '10, it looks like Volquez has been more injury prone than Hamilton.

And now that the Reds are overloaded with starting pitching while trying to solidfy their outfield. Yes hindsight is certainly 20-20.

Not to take away anything from a great 2010 campaign, but the Reds are left wondering what-if.

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