- Bronson was pitching terrifically, then he stopped. - It feels odd for the Reds to lose two games in a row. In fact, it's been over a month since this team has been defeated in back-to-back games. That's pretty incredible really.
- The Hardball Times updates the "State of the NL Central," with a fancy graph and other nuggets. Don't expect the Reds to slow down anytime soon. With Votto close to returning the Reds appear to be primed to run away with the division title. It also helps to have a soft landing, as the THT article points out, "the Reds are about to play 22 straight games against teams with losing records, and their remaining opponents have a .471 winning percentage."
- Jay Jaffe at SI.com looks at the Reds improbable run of success without Joey Votto. - You have to love the way this team has been winning of late. Contributions seem to come from different players every night. It doesn't hurt to have an amazing bullpen to shorten the game, but the Reds have been scoring runs as well. In fact, the Reds are scoring more runs per game without Votto in the lineup than before he was injured. Obviously, SSS applies, but it is nice to see some of the non-superstars step up when needed.
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John Eradi (with some help from old friend Joel Luckhaupt) compares the current Reds to the 1990 team. - Amazingly, the Reds lead all of baseball in run prevention. Given the ballpark, and the struggles of Reds pitching over the last two decades, the Reds ability to prevent their opponents from scoring runs is quite a feat. It also goes to show that a below-average offense can be sustained with strong pitching and defense.
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