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In case you hadn't noticed, Mat Latos is beginning to look a bit more like the Mat Latos we all wanted when the team made the Mat Latos trade. Since his bad outing against the Cardinals back on April 18th, he's posted an ERA of 2.76 while striking out a batter per inning. He's still walking more hitters than you'd like, and he's only pitched seven innings once, but you have to like the way things are trending.

Opposing him is Brandon Beachy of Kokomo, Indiana. He leads the league with a scintillating 1.33 ERA and is coming off an impressive complete game shut out of the Miami baseball club. He is no doubt a good pitcher, but so is Mat Latos. As a fan of the Cincinnati Reds (they are my favorite team, you know), I will be rooting for Mat Latos to pitch better than Brandon Beachy tonight.

Lineups and bullpen log after the jong:

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We all knew it was only a matter of time. Joey Votto had been good enough to earn nominations for this august honor in every week (save one) so far, but it wasn't until last week that he won the darned thing. His three-shambo day last Sunday springboarded him to 87% of the votes, the biggest landslide in the 1,093 year history of the Red o' the Week award. He is the fire at the nucleus of this team, the whirling dynamo that keeps it chugging down the tracks toward the pennant. For his efforts, he will get a pack of Teddy Grahams courtesy of my cousin Malcolm. Malcolm always has Teddy Grahams at his house. Lucky.

This week, we have three first-time nominees for the Red o' the Week trophy. And, of course, Joey Votto.

Ryan Hanigan

The Hanny Man can 'cause he catches with the glove and makes the pitchers pitch good. And the pitchers pitch good 'cause the Hanny Man thinks they should. Hanigan is heating up and is consequently getting a bit more playing time. As of today, he has 92 PAs to Devin Mesoraco's 67. Mesoraco is clearly the catcher of the future for this team, but he's getting the back up quarterback treatment right now, sitting behind the accomplished veteran and learning the position at a comfortable, gradual pace. There are many reasons why Hanigan is one of my favorite players on this team, but this is probably the most awesometeamplayer one right now.

For the week, he OPS'd 1.434 with two walks, a schnoodle, and a double. He is without a doubt the third-best hitter on this team, so why he is toiling away hitting in the eight-spot in the order is absolutely stupefying to me. The way the team has struggled to get on base so far, you'd think his .385 clip would do well to generate runs at the top of the order. Not-so-fun fact: Reds leadoff hitters are OPSing .443 for the season. The ninth spot is OPSing .511.

Drew Stubbs

Speaking of generating runs at the top of the order, Drew Stubbs scored five of them this past week. He scarfed a pair of funyons last night to add to his four singles, four walks, and a steal for the week. He struck out nine times, but if he's OPSing .930 I don't give any cares at all how often he strikes out.

Ryan Ludwick

Ducky earned his first nom this week mostly for his game-winning performance on Sunday in New York. He didn't do much else for the week, but when you win a game almost single-handedly the blue ribbon panel here at Red o' the Week takes notice.

Mike Leake

Last week the scuttlebutt was mumbling that Leake's rotation spot could be in doubt. I guess it lit a fire under his keister, because he pitched a pair of perfectly pleasant games. For the week, he totaled 14 innings, struck out 11, walked only three, and allowed only two earned runs. He also walloped his first career schnoodle in last night's game. Mike Leake!

Joey Votto

He's good blah blah blah. 1.072 OPS, three XBHs, six walks.

Poll

Red o' the Week for week seven is:

• Ryan Hanigan
• Drew Stubbs
• Ryan Ludwick
• Mike Leake
• Joey Votto

  180 votes | Results

It's been said many times that the Reds Renaissance of 2010 was built upon improved run prevention, thanks to better glove-men as much as better arm-men. In 2008, Walt Jocketty's first year as the Reds' General Manager, the Reds converted only 67.1% of batted balls into outs (Defensive Efficiency), last in the National League. The Reds moved all the way up to third in the NL in 2009 and carried over their defensive gains through last season. But I noticed in riverfront76's recent 18-game summary that it's been a much different story this year:

	DEF (raw)	Place in NL	DEF (BPro park-adjusted)	Place in NL	UZR	Place in NL
2010	0.701	3	0.84	5	43.2	4
2011	0.705	1	1.27	2	43.8	2
2012	0.689	12	-1.31	12	-1.8	10

The dramatic defensive drop-off is puzzling given the team's relative roster stability from last year. Further, two of the primary additions to this year's team - Zack Cozart and Ryan Ludwick - look to be solid fielders, an observation supported by the limited sample of this year's fielding data. And the recent loss of Scott Rolen shouldn't skew these numbers too much, as he's played almost two-thirds of the team's innings at the hot corner. So what's weighing the gloves down?

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• Louisville was the only team in the Reds organization to lose on Monday. Falling to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs 7-6 in 13 innings. It was an all hands on deck affair for the Bats, as 19 different players got in on the action. Chad Reineke got beat like a day-old Kroger steak, giving up 6 runs in 4 innings. Scrabbles' man-crush Josh Judy pitched two scoreless innings, with 4 Ks and a BB. Danny Dorn made the most of his 1 hit in 6 ABs, jacking a 3-run dinger in the 5th inning. Up Next: The Bats wrap up their series against the Iron Pigs with baseball and breakfast at 10:35am today. No starters have been announced.
• Pensacola beat the Jacksonville Suns 4-1. Hacksaw Tim Crabbe had a great game, throwing 6 scoreless innings with 6 Ks and 2 BBs, lowering his ERA to 3.69. Crabbe, who BA says has the best slider in the system, has been solid since the start of last season where he posted a 3.45 ERA across two levels. The offense was provided almost solely by Who's Yordanys Perez, who went 3-4 with a donger and 3 RBIs. Donnie Joseph got his 10th save throwing a perfect 9th, and striking out 2 batters. Up Next: Pensacola is off today. They head back home to take on the Junior Braves on Wednesday at 7pm.
• Bakersfield ramrod'd the Visalia Rawhide, and won 6-4. The Blaze were sitting pretty with a 4-0 lead heading into the 8th inning, on the heels of a great start by Chad Rogers who pitched 7 scoreless innings. And then Daniel Wolford came in and promptly squandered the lead, giving up 4 runs (3 earned) in the 8th. But, with two outs in the top of the 9th, Donald Lutz and Travis Mattair honked back to back wangers to regain the lead. Brian Pearl shut the Rawhide down in order in the home half of the 9th to get the save. Up Next: The Blaze continue their series in Visalia, as Josh "Boring Name" Smith (1-4, 5.09 ERA) takes the mound for the Blaze at 10:00pm.
• Dayton actually won a game (!!!), beating the Great Lakes Loons 7-6. The recently demoted Kurtis Muller went 3-4 with a ding dong and 2 RBIs in his first game of the year with the Dragons. Ryan Wright continues to be one of the lone bright spots in Dayton, going 2-2 with a double, an walk and a ROE. Stalin Gerson pitched to the score, scattering 3 runs over 6 innings. Kyle McMyne had a rare rough outing, walking two and giving up two runs without recording an out. Up Next: The entire Midwest League has the day off today. The Dragons head to Lancaster to face the JetHawks on Wednesday at 7:00pm. Jacob "Boring Name" Johnson (0-0, 1.80 ERA) gets the start.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Tonight, Mike Leake pitched like he'd grown up wanting to be a Braves fan and was thoroughly miffed that Mike Minor was taken 8th overall in 2009 instead. Leake, who has obviously struggled this season, was fantastic tonight, going 8 innings and allowing just 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 6. Leake walked only one batter, and did it all on just 98 pitches, and he honked is first career wanger. Commence Greg Maddux comparisons...and commence the damnation of those Greg Maddux comparisons.

Honorable mentions to Drew Stubbs, whose Light Tower Power had 2 HRs and a BB, Zack "MVP/GG" Cozart (2 for 4, HR), Joey Votto (1 for 2, 2 BB, ho-hum), and Sean Marshall, who came in to put out a fire in the 9th to pick up his 8th save of the season...a day after losing the closer's job.

Key Plays

• The Reds got freaky deaky in the first, and never really looked back. Drew Stubbs waited just enough on an off-speed pitch, and lifted a solo shot to the LF seats. Reds lead, 1-0.
  
• Some dude who nobody really misses hit a HR for the Braves in the 2nd. Game tied, 1-1.
• The Reds needed a spark to get going, and Mike Leake (Mike Leake!) was just the spark for the job. Leake homered in the 4th, and the homer-gates were broken. Cozart and Stubbs followed with solo shots, too, and the Reds had busted up the Braves' young pitcher. Reds lead, 4-1.
• Leake continued to cruise, the Reds went on cruise control, and Jose Arredondo and Marshall combined to put the game away in the 9th. Reds win!

via www.fangraphs.com

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Not a bad little road trip for your Redlegs, yeah? Winning four of seven against the Braves, Mets, and Yankees is definitely something to come home smiling about. Unfortunately, those very same Braves are coming back with them for a four-game set. If you read JinAZ's series preview from earlier today, then you know the Braves are one of the best teams in this here National League. Given the pitching matchups for the series though, I think our boys have a sporting chance at taking three of four.

Mike Leake (Mike Leake!) looks to build upon his efforts against the Mets last Wednesday when he threw six solid innings and limited the Mets to three runs. That's not great, but baby steps. This Braves lineup is far more dangerous than the one the Mets put out there, so he has his work cut out for him.

He faces off against the young man taken exactly one pick before him back in the '09 draft, Mike Minor. Minor's bobbed up and down between the majors and minors so far in his brief career, and there are perhaps some rumbles that he could be getting another ticket to Gwinnett. He's pitched pretty well thus far, with a K/BB ratio of 2.94, but a .344 BABIP and a gonzo weird strand rate have inflated his ERA to over 7.00. Thems ain't good pitchin' numbers, as they say down in Georgia.

This one's on The World Wide Leader for those of you in parts afar, so a good night of baseballin' to you.

Go Reds! They're my favorite team!

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The Reds took two out of three from the Yankees, which was awesome. But they don't have much time to unwind, as a potent Braves ballclub comes to Great American Ballpark to kick off the week. We already know about the Braves, because the Reds just faced off with them last week. Therefore, I'm going to be pretty concise with this preview, except where there are new things to say. Like, for example, this Aroldis Chapman situation.

The short version of the Braves is that they are an offense-first ballclub, and that their rotation and bullpen have underachieved. They field well too.

Great American Ballpark Park Factors

Runs: 1.02

Home Runs: 1.06 LHB, 1.13 RHB

You know the drill: GABP is a hitters' park, and is a great place to hit home runs. But it's not Coors Field, and ranks behind Coors (five times the effect), Chase Field (2.5x the effect), and Wrigley Field (twice the effect) among National League hitters' parks in terms of the overall park effect on run environment(tied for 8th overall).

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