The Reds win the pennant! The Reds win the pennant!

Okay, so they actually clinched the NL Central title last Tuesday, but I'm slow getting around to writing this up.  This is a good feeling that we Reds fans haven't had in a while.  After 15 long years, we are back in the playoffs.  They didn't finish off the year quite as strongly as I had hoped (they should have had home field in this round), but Jay Bruce is on fire right now, and the (presumptive) NL MVP Joey Votto has come out of his mini-slump.  I was kind of surprised that it was Cueto rather than Wood in the starting rotation for this round, but with Wood and Bailey both pitching well here at the end of the year, I don't think any of the starters (except perhaps Arroyo) will have a really long leash.  If the good versions of Volquez and Cueto show up, this series against the Phils could really be a pitching duel.  As much as their rotation scares me, we are actually 3-1 against them (Halladay, Coles, and Oswalt).  Plus, the Browns and Buckeyes both won this weekend, so I'm loving life right now.