The Reds need someone to blame, so let’s blame the Sorry-Looking Broom from Game 3

We hate to tell the Cincinnati Reds fan who was waving around the Sorry-Looking Broom a few days ago that we told her so. But, well, we did tell her so.

To recap, here's a list of some of the things that happened since she was wielding the broom with the score tied in the 10th inning of Tuesday's Game 3 at Great American Ballpark— an action that was just begging for disaster to strike her favorite team:

• Scott Rolen, who has eight career Gold Gloves to his name and will go down as the finest defensive third baseman of his generation, booted a ball that directly led to the winning run in a 2-1 loss in Game 3 that kept San Francisco alive and breathing.

• Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco, who hit a total of 13 homers in the regular season, both hit homers as the Giants offense awakened during the Reds' 8-3 loss in Wednesday's Game 4.

• The Reds managed 12 hits and three walks but stranded 11 runners as Cincinnati lost Thursday's Game 5 by a score of 6-4. The Reds became the first National League team to blow a 2-0 lead in a five-game series since the LDS format was instituted in 1995.

Now, could we blame Mike Leake and Mat Latos for failing to show up for their starts in Game 4 and 5? Dusty Baker for running his losing streak in possible elimination contests to seven straight games? Rolen for doing his best impersonation of Alex Gonzalez a few seconds after the TBS cameras showed the lady and the Sorry-Looking Broom? Our pal C. Trent Rosecrans of CBS Sports for fanning the negative flames of discontent of a pessimistic fanbase after Game 4?

Yeah, probably. In fact, that would be completely logical. (Especially blaming C. Trent.)

But as any Reds fan knows from their unhealthy obsession with the Chicago Cubs, it's a lot easier to blame a collapse on something like a billy goat or some random guy wearing a pair of headphones. So we're going to pin this Reds collapse (and any future ones) on the Sorry-Looking Broom. That thing is haunting and just looked like it was up to no good.

Make sure all of your bases are covered this postseason ...
Follow @bigleaguestew, @KevinKaduk and the BLS Facebook page!