Since last we rested the Reds defeated Oswalt, swept St Louis, then slumped badly, squeeking out one win against white hot Arizona. Also David Blaine has been underwater most of this time.

What it was

The Reds matched my predicted 6-4 record, scoring 40 while allowing 35.

 HOU 5-4 W
 HOU 6-3 W
 HOU 2-3 L
 STL 6-1 W
 STL 3-2 W
@COL 0-3 L
@COL 7-1 W
@ARI 1-7 L
@ARI 1-3 L
@ARI 9-8 W

The Hitting

All stats from April 28 to May 7, a stetch of 10 games.

The Good

Kearns       .457/.500/.657 7 R 1 HR 5 RBI 4 BB 4 K

Encarnacion .303/.378/.606 5 R 2 HR 3 RBI 3 BB 8 K

Austin carried the offense. For the year he's .328/.391/.571 22 R 6 HR 22 RBI. This is what we've been waiting for. He needs to start hitting in the primo spots of the batting order.

The Bad

Freel       .188/.257/.476 1 R 0 HR 0 RBI 3 BB 6 K 0-1 SB

Phillips    .219/.324/.574 4 R 0 HR 5 RBI 4 BB 2 K 4-4 SB

Dunn        .222/.349/.639 8 R 4 HR 9 RBI 7 BB 9 K

Lots to choose from here. What's going on with Freel? Phillips has come down from his incredible high, but he logged his first 4 walks while only striking out twice. That bodes very well. He's also continued to run. In related news Lopez stole 4 bases in 5 attempts over the past 10 games. Dunn went through one of his cold spells. He still led the team in runs and rbi but most of those came yesterday. As usually even when he slumps he doesn't make many outs.

The Ugly

Aurilia was on fire (.353/.389/.765) before landing on the DL. Still no Junior. Is Whiffey our savior?

The Pitching

The Good

Harang 2-0 2.25 ERA 1.00 whip 19 K 4 BB

Arroyo 1-1 2.40 ERA 1.26 whip 5 K 4 BB

Coffey 6 1/3 IP 0 ER 2 BB 4 K

Round up the usual suspects! Harang is third in the Major Leagues in strikeouts behind Johan Santana and Carlos "0 Wins for Red Menace's Fantasy Team" Zambrano. Hammonds and Mercker haven't given up any runs over this period as well.

The Bad

Williams 1-0 5.40 1.63 whip 3 K 2 BB

Weathers 6.75 ERA 3 BB 2 K 0 BS 3 SV

Williams has actually been worse than those stats. He's being hit very hard. Weathers hasn't blown a save since Pujols, so no harm done there. Elizardo took 2 losses despite a 3.60 ERA.

The Ugly

The Calls have begun for Coffey to be annointed the closer. I'm of the school that it's a terrible waste to use your best relief pitcher only in the 9th inning when winning, so I think that would be a big mistake. We'll have to face this debate soon though.

What it will be

6 at home against the Nationals and Phillies. I say we take both series and go 4-2.