Brandon Phillips vented about the struggling offense
"Honestly, I feel like we shoulda lost every game [of the series]. We're not hitting the ball. Our pitching staff is doing the job, but two runs is not good enough. "This [Nationals] team right now, they're down, they're in last place ... it's just terrible how we hit the ball. Honestly, in my opinion, I feel like we shoulda lost every game."

This one made me wince
When an out-of-town beatwriter (I'm assuming from Baltimore) ask Dusty what Ramon Hernandez has done for the team so far, he replied, "Ramon could be our MVP, actually. Without Joey Votto, well, the way he has played first base and the way he has caught. He's our best two-out when you need a base hit clutch guy. Plus, he has been great on the team, a great attitude and between him and Alex Gonzalez coming back are the two most important guys we've had in our lineup."

Is he serious? I'm hoping this was one of those situations where he wanted to say something nice about the guy because he has been a positive guy on the team thus far, but to say he could be the best player we have? I really hope Dusty was just shooting from the hip here because if he truly believes that Ramon Hernandez is the MVP of this team so far then he has a serious malfunction in the way he evaluates talent. And that is no slight to Hernandez, who's been more than a fine replacement for the crap we had catching last year.  Maybe I'm just overreacting to a throwaway line from Dusty.  I hope so.  But then what about the crap about Gonzo?  Dude's the worst player on the team.  Ugh.

Micah Owings threw a lot of pitches yesterday
and failed to get through the 6th inning. It broke a streak of 7 quality starts from the Reds staff. "I’m going to keep working," Owings said. "It might not be apparent, but I feel like I’ve made strides here as opposed to my first two years in Arizona."

The Fay has a few suggestions on how to help the Reds offense
He says there is a chance that Votto will be back on Tuesday. He thinks the Reds are pretty sure of when he'll be back, but they arent saying anything about it (for obvious reasons). If that doesnt happen though, he suggests bringing up some of the kids. Drew Stubbs, Chris Heisey, and Todd Frazier are the names he brings up. He also suggests making a trade, naming Mark DeRosa and reviving the Jermaine Dye deal. He says the Reds are deep in pitching at AA, in addition to Homer Bailey and 1st round pick Mike Leake.

Here's what I think: First off, the pitching talent in the minors is far from deep.  I like Travis Wood and Zach Stewart, but I hardly believe what we have consitutes depth.  The real depth is in hitting prospects.  Moving on, if the Reds are going to make a run at the division, they arent going to do it with this lineup. So bring up Stubbs to play CF. Taveras can be a pinch-runner for all I care. Frazier should come up to play 3B or LF. I have a feeling that EdE will not play again this year, so we might as well forget about him. Whereever Frazier does not play, we need to trade for someone. I dont like Dye, and I've given my reasons a hundred times before, but I'm sure there is someone out there who is cheap enough and good enough.

DeRosa is just a rich man's Jerry Hairston, so I dont see how that helps. Adrian Beltre could be a nice pickup, but who knows if the M's will trade him. I dont like Matt Holliday so much because I fear that he will cost too much in prospects. I dont think we need to get a top-o-the-line hitter like him anyway. The pitching is going to carry this team as far as it will go, so the hitting needs only to be average. How about bringing back Felipe Lopez to play 3B? Is that crazy? As The Fay says, Walt has made these kinda deals before, so I'm pretty confident in his ability to do the right thing here. The biggest will be forgetting about Willy Taveras and bringing up Drew Stubbs.

Chad at RLN disagrees with The Fay concerning Gonzo's defense
The Fay says here that "anyone who sees him on a daily basis will tell you he's been outstanding". I think I've seen at least 75% of the innings played thus far this season, and my humble opinion is that Gonzo has definitely lost a step. I dont think he's Jeff Keppinger horrible, but he's certainly not the top-notch defensive SS this team signed to a multi-million dollar contract just a few years ago. His knee injury has really sapped his range, and while he can still make a dazzling play with his glove he's just not getting to as many as he used to. And he cant hit.

Redleg Nation has their latest installment of RLN Radio
They discuss Joey Votto and Edwin Enncarnacion, the draft, and good ol' Dusty Baker.

Ted Keith at SI has his weekly power rankings
and the Reds have slipped one spot to #12.

FanGraphs looks at their new pitch-type linear weights
to determine the best fastball in the majors this year. So who do you think it is? Tim Lincecum? Justin Verlander? Jonathan Papelbon? Tim Wakefield?

You thought I was joking, didnt you?