Red Reposter presents Bronson's Two-Flapped Helmet. GUARD YOUR EARS! With Bronson's. - 13/10 - The home run totals of Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce respectively. I can guess confidently that not one us at the beginning of the season thought Stubbs would have more homers than Bruce at this point in the season without missed time to injury. There was plenty of reason to believe Stubbs' power surge at the end of last season was a fluke, while it was equally reasonable to believe that Bruce was going to break out and slug 35 dingers. Baseball is funny like that.
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Bronson Arroyo pitched a good game last night
giving up only 3 hits over 8 innings while striking out 5 and walking only 1. The problem was, of the 4 Brewers to reach base 3 of them came around to tap home plate. Tough luck, brah. "You hate to lose a game like that, especially when Bronson was pitching so well," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "It's rare you see three runs and three hits and that beats you." -
If you are looking for Reds to acquire some starting pitching before the deadline
you might be disappointed. The Reds are boasting some impressive rotation depth with Edinson Volquez now back from the DL and Aaron Harang and Homer Bailey just a few weeks away. They likely will not have a problem finding room for all of them either because just as Harang and Bailey will be coming back, Mike Leake will likely need to be shut down. The Reds will make a move before Saturday, but look for some bullpen help or Hanley Ramirez rather than a starter. -
Word from the Reds is that Scott Rolen was a day away from landing on the DL
After missing 10 days with a sore hamstring, Rolen returned to the lineup last night. If he couldn't have played, he would have went to the DL. This is mind-boggling. It took them this long to make a damned decision? Why would you willfully put your team at such a disadvantage? "There were a couple of times (playing short-handed hurt the team) but not really," manager Dusty Baker said. I think it's totally irresponsible. Rolen is clearly a key player on the team and has a long and storied history with injuries. Why not play it safe and just DL him that first day? I guess they hoped he would only be out a few days, but I would think that once day 5 hit you would have to pull that trigger. I don't know. The way this team deals with the DL is absolutely flabbergasting to me. -
Red Hot Mama recommends getting to the ballpark early on Saturday
The game time has changed to 4:10 and the bobblehead giveaway is Homer Bailey. Who says Cincy fans are fed up with Homer? How many washed-up prospects win fan choice bobbleheads? All those "sources" can suck it! Speaking of Homer: -
Hall o' Famer Hal was on hand for Homer Bailey's rehab start in Dayton
Homer only pitched 4 innings, but looked fantastic in 3 of them. "The first three innings were pretty good," he said. "I knew the fourth inning was my last inning so I tried to do too much. I did the one thing I’ve been telling the young pitchers here - don’t try to do too much. Early on, I pounded the zone and I felt physically well. All in all, I’ll take a lot of positives out of this and I know I have a little more work to do." Homer will start 2 more rehab assignments in Louisville before returning to the Reds, so look for him to return sometime next week. Whether he will pitch from the rotation or the 'pen has not yet been decided, but either way it will be good to have him back.
Brandon Phillips and Orlando Cabrera were flip-flopped again at the top of the order last night
Lando led off while BeeP hit 2nd. Collectively, the 2nd hitter has been much better than the lead-off hitter this year, with the 2nd hitter out-OPSing the lead-off man by a count of .824 to .601. Perhaps the fact that Joey Votto makes his home in the 3-spot has given the 2nd hitter better pitches to hit. I know the saber-community is a bit divided on the topic of lineup protection, but it seems like a reasonable explanation to me.
Chris Garber at our sister station Redleg Nation says Walt needs to call up the DBacks right now
"So, why should Jocketty be on the phone with Jerry DiPoto? Because if the D-Backs are trading Dan Haren for nothing, it means they’re probably also willing to trade shortstop Stephen Drew, a 27-year-old under team control for a couple more years. Drew’s not an exceptional upgrade over Orlando Cabrera right now, but the team doesn’t have a SS under contract for next year (it does have one bat boy (Janish) who can play there, but that’s a different story)." So what do you think? Would a package of Matt Maloney and Micah Owings get the deal done? Seems to me they could do it for less. Seriously, this has to happen. DiPoto is caaaaaaa-razy.
Breathe easy, Reds Nation
Edinson Volquez says he has figured out why he sucked so hard in his last start. "In my stance in the stretch, I was on my heels," he said. "I’m usually on my toes. I didn’t have good balance. That made me late with my arm." It's that easy, folks. Look for The Wagon to ford the river successfully this evening against the Brewers.
It looks like Mike Leake's season has already seen its apogee
Dusty Baker says they are going to start checking his pitch count at 90 instead of 100. Leake blew that 7-1 lead against the Phillies before the break after 90 pitches and then gave up 3 runs to the 'stros on Sunday after 90. I think it's a sound strategy. He's going to need to be shut down in the next month-and-a-half or so and I like the idea of keeping a close eye on him.
Tim Grimes, or "Grimey" as he likes to be called, takes a look at the pitchers that have shut out the Reds this year
It's an impressive list, with the likes of Chris Carpenter, Matt Cain, Cliff Lee, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Wandy Rodriguez among them. But then there are the head-scratchers like Wade Leblanc, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Felipe Paulino. He points to the lead-off spot as a weak point in the lineup. Hanley Ramirez or Stephen Drew would look mighty fine at the top of the lineup, right Walt?