Red Reposter - Reds/Cards Edition

The St. Louis Post Dispatch breaks down last night's game from the enemy's perspective, and they've got some issues at hand. The Cards have been getting dominant pitching performances by their starters all season long, but an iffy and injured bullpen coupled with a streaky and inconsistent lineup has cost them games. Sound familiar, Reds fans? More than anything, I think it's indicative of two things: 1) it's early, and consistency is always hard to find in April. 2) cold, rainy weather. Summer's on the horizon, and we all know that as the temperatures rise, so does scoring.

Mark Sheldon gives his take on last night's 2-1 Reds win, too. It's always interesting to note the difference in tone between teams on either side of a 2-1 game since that empirically means that both teams pitched well and neither had a lot of big hits. The P-D focused on a lack of timely hitting and less than optimal offensive support for their pitching, while reds.com spoke highly of a locked-in starting pitcher and an "admirable" ground out from Xavier Paul (who was 0 for 4). Perspective is everything, folks.

One of the worst lineups that my little brain could remember just became, hands down, the single worst lineup I could fathom. With Stanton gone, Justin Ruggiano is now the only player in the Marlins rotation who is slugging over .400 (he's at .417, so aside from the damage he inflicted while in GABP, that's the best they've got). Be glad you didn't draft Stanton in the RR Fantasy Leagues like all those idiots that did.

It's officially official: Donald Lutz is a Major Leaguer. The Big Knockwurst kinda sorta maybe let it slip via twitter a bit early that he'd been given the call, but the Reds confirmed it, brought him to St. Louis, and gave him the first PA of his career last night (an übergrounder to the right side of the IF). I officially fear for all the schnitzel, wurst, and RHP in the Cincinnati area.

David Schoenfield gives grades out to the National League for the month of April. He likes Mat Latos and Homer Bailey, poops on Colorado, agrees with me about Starlin Castro, and doesn't even mention Shin-Soo Choo. I don't know why he's giving out grades. When you're taking a test, it's graded when you turn it in, not when you finish your first essay. Whatever, ESPN.