Red Reposter - Still Speechless

Ahem...ok.

Red Reposter's Numbers are for Nerds, brought to you by Steve Phillips and Woody Paige.  In times like this, it's always nice to return to a familiar, comfortable place.  It reminds you that even though the impossible has happened, things still really haven't changed.  - 7 -  Number of quality starts Mike Leake has thrown so far this season.  He's started only 8 games. 

• Are you tired of barfing all over the damn place thinking about yesterday's game?
  Well then wipe off that chin, 'cause Interleague Play is here! The Reds actually have a very favorable interleague slate this time 'round, with 6 games against the terrible Indians and 3 apiece against the Royals, Mariners, and A's. Not one of these teams is above .500 as this Reposter goes to press. The Reds have had a winning record in interleague play only 3 times. This should make for an easy 4, right?

• Hal o' Famer Hal gives his take on yesterday's...non-conformity
  "I don’t believe what I just heard. I wouldn’t have believed it had I seen it. Hearing it was bad enough. The Reds led the Atlanta Braves, 9-3, heading into the ninth inning. Piece of cake, right? Well, the Reds choked on the icing, giving up seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to lose, 10-9. Un-Bee-Lee-Va-Bull. This is the kind of defeat that hurts and hurts and hurts. A team never forgets it."

• Dusty says he wants to make sure Chris Heisey is given the right opportunities to succeed
  I dunno. Dude's been with the big leaguers for almost a month and he's gotten 17 ABs. It's cool though, 'cause he and Janish got an iPad and are totally caught up on Lost. He says it makes a lot more sense when you watch it straight through like that. Jonny Gomes DH'd in all 9 AL interleague games last season though, so it looks like he might get some PT this weekend.

• Good news on Aroldis Chapman's blister on his middle finger (maybe get a blister on his thumb)
  Walt says "it's not serious" and he may not even miss a start.

• Chris Sabo's Goggles, that earnest publication dedicated to truth and balance
  laments the end of the Reds' tenure in first place. I don't think it's out of proportion at all.

• Mike Lopresti plays the Holmes to Paul Daughterty's Moriarty, the Habermas to Doc's Derrida, the Cap'n Crunch to his King Vitamin
  Lopresti notes the frugal Reds, Rays, Rangers, and Padres are all playing winning baseball while big spenders like the Mets and Cubs are eating dust. P-Doc can't get through a paragraph without banging the small market drum, but Lopresti is impressed that smart teams are succeeding. He's not convinced the Reds, Rangers, and Padres are in it for the long haul, but he says the Rays are the straight bomb diggity. I'd like to think the Reds can straighten out their bomb diggities as well.

• A few interesting tidbits in P-Doc's Morning Line (though by some cosmic editorial misfortune, this is the one TML where P-Doc DOESN'T harp about small market disadvantages)
  He says Jeff Brantley said that Volquez could pitch right now, and that he'll be more than ready in August. I'm not saying The Cowboy doesn't know what he's talking about, but he'll have to forgive this anonymous blogger's raised eyebrow and incredulous snort. He also says Walt knew all along that Mike Leake was better than Zach Stewart and ready for the majors, and that's why he was ok giving him up in the Rolen deal. I can more readily believe that. But I also don't want to dig up that dead horse.

• Do you believe Devin Mesoraco is the Reds' future at catcher?
  No? Well, Jeff Sackmann at THT profiles a number of catchers available in next month's draft. Bryce Harper won't be there when the Reds pick, and Yasmani Grandal probably won't either, but there are 50 rounds in this thing.

• Early-season risers and fallers: Top 100 prospect update
  Matt Hagen at THT takes at early season returns from a number of top prospects.  Our boys Mike Leake and Devin Mesoraco caught his attention, doing well to increase their prospect stock.  Keep it up, fellas.

• 5 Roster Moves the Reds Should Consider to Stay in First Place
  Some comedian at Bleacher Report wants to brighten your morning.  He suggests the Reds trade away Brandon Phillips and replace him at 2nd with...Chris Heisey?  Seriously, you should click through to read the rest of this one.  I'm assuming you could use the laughs.

• JinAZ updates his power rankings over at BtB
  The Reds have risen all the way up to 15th! Their xtW, or Extrapolated Wins, is 88. Extrapolated Wins "...are calculated by taking a team's current wins and adding to it the expected wins if a team adheres to its component winning percentage (cW%) the rest of the season." That makes me smile.

• Baseball Prospectus has the Reds 9th in their latest power rankings
  on the backs of Scott Rolen and Jonny Gomes. "Red Run: Scott Rolen hits a pair of big blasts, a first-inning shot off Brad Penny in the rubber game of a series with the Cardinals, and a ninth-inning game-tying pinch-hit homer against the Brewers. The Reds win both, part of a 9-1 stretch which helps them capture first place in the NL Central for the first time since April 2007. Rolen has eight homers, just three off his season high since 2006. Adding a pair of key game-tying shots along the way is Jonny Gomes, hitting .441/.474/.765 amid the streak."