Reds Sweep Astros

Bronson Arroyo threw a 92 pitch complete game to help the Reds sweep the Houston Astros on Wednesday night. Bronson gave up five hits and fanned three while allowing only one run. This was the seventh win on the season for Arroyo to go with his three defeats. His ERA has been falling but continues to be over 5.00 but a couple more outings of this type would but it back to a more respectable number.

Jay Bruce celebrating his first anniversary with the Reds went off at the plate. Jay smashed two home runs and a triple to boot. Bruce also had four RBI's and scored twice. This win put the Reds six games over .500 and a game and half out of first place in the NL Central.

The Reds hit the road again and open a three game set in Milwaukee on Friday night.

Homer Bailey Makes First Start Of Season

Homer Bailey making his first start of the 2009 season struggles in the first inning but gets out of the jam without being scored on. In the bottom of the inning Joey Votto, making his first start after being side lined with an inner ear infection for ten games, drives 3-2 pitch the other way to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning Homer again gets behind batters and it costs him as the Tribe plates four runs after eight hitters come to the plate. In the bottom of the inning Ramon Hernandez drives a ball 441' for a two run home run to get the Reds back to 4-3. Later in the same inning Joey Votto pulls one this time for his second home run in two plate appearances. This time it's a three run shot to give the Reds the lead back, 6-3 after two complete.

After Homer walks the bases full in the fifth Dusty Baker comes has seen enough and comes get him. At this point he has no chance to win as he only goes 4 and 1/3 innings, but he does leave with the Reds ahead 6-4. Jared Burton comes on in a very tough situation with the bases juiced. Burton gives up a two run hit to tie the game but holds the Tribe right there.

The Tribe scores the winning run off David Weathers in the eighth and he gets tagged with the loss. This game was played in a way that the Reds don't want to try to repeat. They have had pretty good starting pitching and lights out relief pitching. Neither were good tonight. This team has three players that can flat out smash the ball. Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips.....but this is not the way this team will win most of it's games this year. They have to be able to get the clutch hit with runners in scoring position with less than two out. Again tonight they stranded ten runners. The Reds can still win this series this afternoon and are sending Johnny Cueto to the mound looking to take two of three from the Tribe.

Reds 3 back of the Brew Crew

After the weekend debacle in San Diego, the Reds find themselves 3 games below the Brewers in the Central. The Cubs, even with all their injury woes, are now only 1.5 out. CRAP!

Bad Weekend in San Diego

Wow, what a bad weekend in San Diego as the Reds get swept by the last place Padres. Votto still isn't right as he left Saturday night's 16 inning marathon with dizziness again and did not play on Sunday. Something is very wrong with Votto. Should be interesting to see if the Reds bring up Baily or another pitcher to start Tuesday in place of Owings who had to pitch 5 2/3 of the marathon game.

First Place Reds Sweep Diamondbacks

I have been singing the praises of this young Reds team all season and see nothing to shut my genius down at this point. After a very nice home stand the Reds hit the road with the first stop to be in the desert of Arizona where 'MY REDS' swept the Arizona Diamondbacks three straight. After tonight's game there is a three way tie for first place in the National League Central, with the Cardinals and Brewers all having the same 20-14 record the Reds hold.

After a two for four night with four RBI's Brandon Phillips has went six for thirteen with eight RBI's, and a home run in this series. Brandon now has a team high 26 RBI's. Willy Taveras was three for six to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. Taveras was nine for fifteen at the plate, scored six runs, and added two RBI's from the lead off spot in this series. Taveras also had his tenth stolen base tonight. Jerry Hairston had a two for five night to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Johnny Cueto went seven innings for his fourth win. Cueto has not lossed in his last six starts and is sporting a 1.93 ERA for the year.

This is a very young team that is a lot of fun to watch. After a day off in San Diego tomorrow the Reds will open a three game series against the Padres sending Aaron Harang, 3-3 with an ERA of 2.93.....Edinson Volquez, 4-2 with an ERA of 4.40 and Bronson Arroyo, 5-2 with an inflated 7.02 ERA to the mound this weekend.

Reds Take Two Of Three From St. Louis

Not a bad weekend for the Reds, anytime you can take 2 of 3 three from the division leader you are doing your job. I finally got to Cincinnati yesterday to see my first live game this season. It happened to be the one the Reds dropped to the Cardinals, but it was still a great afternoon of baseball. After taking the first two games of this series it was fun to see fans at the park with the brooms in hand, almost getting to help clean the stadium. Joey Votto benched all weekend with the flu bug came in to pitch hit and blasted his fourth home run of the season. Quickly becoming another fan favorite, Adam Rosales also hit his very first Major League home run. Jay Bruce slammed his team high tenth home run. They still weren't done as the biggest shots came in the bottom of the ninth as Jerry Hairston started the inning with a home run to get the Reds back to within a run. This set the table for the biggest hit of the game. Micha Owings blasted a pitch hit home run to tie the game and send it to extra innings. Owings, tipped his cap on the top step of the dugout to a standing ovation.

The Reds would give up a tenth inning run to St. Louis and build a rally in the bottom of the tenth but come up just short leaving the bases loaded as Paul Janish fouled out to end. The biggest out in that inning was Jerrry Hairston not being able to lay down a bunt with runners on first and second with no outs.

I do think the Reds have sent word that they will never give up and yes that they can play with anyone in the National League. They are not headed to Arizona for a three game series starting tonight. Bronson Arroyo again looking to bounce back from a very poor outing will take the hill for the Reds.

Owings continues to stuggle

Micah Owings continues to struggle on the mound giving up 5 earned tonight but the Reds pulled out the 6-5 wins over the Brew-Crew. Owings did do the one thing he's good at as he tripled in the game. I'm all for Owings in the bull-pen and pinch hitting every night........

Johnny Cueto....Lights Out in Pittsburgh

It was all about the young Johnny Cueto today at PNC park in Pittsburgh. Today's performance was a career best for Cueto as he went eight full while fanning nine. Even Pirate manager John Russell acknowledged that "Cueto just never gave us a chance" in his post game comments. Johnny only allowed four hits and one walk so he was totally dominate this afternoon. He actually retired 13-14 in one stretch. Johnny has a team best 1.65 ERA in his five starts and now owns a 2-1 record that with a little more timely hitting could be much better than that.

Jay Bruce slammed his team high sixth home run this afternoon and in the past week has been among the National League leaders in offense. Brandon Phillips was two for four and looking to get on track at the plate. His glove has again been golden this season. Catcher Ramon Hernadez seems to be coming around at the plate as well. Ramon was two for three with three RBI's to raise his average to a more respectable .261 for the season. I was really beginning to wonder about Ramon hitting enough to hold this job down, well he's hitting now like he don't want to give it up.

The Reds have now won every road series so far this season. That's right taking two of three in Pittsburgh puts the Reds at 9-4 on the road this year. Now if we can get this kind of performance at Great American Ballpark this could be a really exciting season for my Reds!!!!!!!!!!

The Edinson and Adam Show.....With Cordero Dropping The Curtain

On a night when the Reds needed a win in the worse sort of way to end this sorry home stand, Edinson Volquez, Adam Rosales and Fransico Cordero all answered the bell.

Edinson went a career high eight innings and just totally dominated the Astros, only allowing only 'ONE' hit. Not sure about you but I can still remember when we shipped fan favorite Josh Hamilton to Texas for: Volquez....raise your hand if you asked, "who the hell is that guy." His performance tonight kept the Reds from being swept by Houston, yes Houston, before heading on the road again to PNC park to face the Pirates this weekend.

Adam Rosales called up to replace Edwin Encarnacion, who went on the DL, drove in two runs with a hit and a walk to give Edinson all the offense he would need this night.

Franciso Cordero notched his seventh save in seven tries to close out the Houston ninth.

Nothing New Here.....Another Loss To Houston

Somethings never change......Sunshine while you are at work and rain when you are off work.....Houston coming to Great American Ballpark and kicking the living shit out of my Reds. The Astros are 16-1 against my Reds at Great American Ballpark sense 2007.....home field advantage, really!!!!!!!!!! The Reds win 3 of 4 in Houston and then 'they' come to Cincinnati looking for the three game sweep on Wednesday night. The one loss the Reds had at Minute Maid Park was against Wandy Rodriquez who beat them again on Tuesday night. Wandy is now 2-2 and I guess he is marking his calendar for the next Houston/Reds series. Shut up Lance Berkman...the way you swing the stick in the Queen City speaks volumes for you. Lance killls the ball here.

Reds ace Aarong Harang took the loss to go 2-3 on the season. Aaron went five innings giving up six, five earned while just striking out two. The Reds are still just not hitting the ball with any consistency. After a very great opening road trip this team has fallen on hard times needing a win on Wednesday to go 2-4 on this home stand.

Reds drop 3 of 4

Not a good home stand after a great road trip for the Red Legs. Cueto matched Reds killer Roy Oswalt for 7 and then Cordero got rocked in the 9th. Dusty: DON'T BRING YOUR CLOSER IN FOR A TIE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S NOT IN THEIR MENTALITY!

Here's a couple of ugly Reds stats:

Left 10 on tonight.

Edwin Encarnacion- .127 I've saaid it many times.....this dude sucks.

Brandon Phillips- .174

Alex Gonzalez is a really good defender but just CAN'T hit the baseball -.180

Reds Riding Three Game Winning Streak

After winning two of three in Milwaukee, the Reds followed that up by taking three of four from the Houston Astros. It seems like every night the Reds are in a close game and tonight was no exception. The Reds held on to beat the Astros 4-3 tonight. The offense hasn't been exactly setting the world on fire, but tonight they banged out ten hits for the first time this season. Joey Votto was one of four hitters to bang out two hits apiece for the Reds tonight. Votto is still hitting .354 on the year and seems to be dialed in real good right. If the rest of this team ever starts hitting and the pitching holds up like it has so far, they could turn the NL Central into a very exciting race this season.

Bronson Arroyo is now 3-0, scattering nine hits and three runs over seven innings of work. Arthur Rhodes pitched a scoreless 8th to record his fourth hold. Rhodes is still unscored upon this season, sporting a 0.00 ERA. Fransico Cordero threw a scoreless 9th inning to record his fifth save.

The Reds are heading to Chicago for a three game series to finish up their first and the seasons longest road trip of the year. Right now the Reds are 5-2 on this ten game swing.

Ramon Hernandez First Red HomeRun

In a game where Roy 'The Red Killer' Oswalt pitched more than good enough to win, the Reds Ramon Hernandez came through in the clutch to win it for the good guys. Roy Oswalt threw six scoreless innings, giving up only five hits and striking out four. Oswalt left the game in line for the win and running his record against the Reds to 24-1. Ramon Hernandez would have something to say about that. In the Reds half of the ninth inning Hernandez slammed his first home run in a Cincinnati Reds uniform and it turned out that would be all the scoring the Reds would need. The Reds did hold on for a 2-1 win and spoil Oswalts night.

In the bottom of the ninth Reds closer Fransico Cordero gave up two hits to make it interesting, but left both stranded and finally shut the door to collect his third save of the season.

Joey Votto stayed hot as he was the only Red to collect more than one hit. Joey had a single and a double to keep his average at .400 through the first nine games.

Micah Owings First Reds Start

Micah Owings took the hill tonight in his first start as a Cincinnati Red. Although he didn't pitch a bad game he wasn't good enough tonight to help the Reds sweep the Brewers. It had been 10 days sense Owings had pitched and maybe he was a little rusty. Micah went five innings and gave up four runs on five hits to take the loss. Again after a very sharp spring Owings just needs some work. He had a 1.52 ERA this spring so we know the guy can pitch. Does anyone else wonder if Dusty should have hit Owings in the eight hole instead of the typical ninth pitching slot, he has been one of the best pitch hitters the Reds have had in his short time here.

As far as hitting goes, the Reds managed only seven hits off four different Brewer pitchers. Chris Dickerson got the big hit of the game for Cincinnati, his first home run of the season. The offense is really starting to worry me as the Reds are yet to have a ten hit game. I know it's early and typical springs belongs to the pitcher and summer the hitters, but this team needs to show a little more punch at the plate. Joey Votto is still at .387 and playing large, but he can't carry this load by himself.

After a day off tomorrow the Reds will face Reds killer Roy Oswalt in Houston on Friday night. Odds are in their favor to beat this guy.

Notes From A 2-0 Road Trip

For the first time this season the Cincinnati Reds are sporting a winning record. The Reds won for the third straight game on Tuesday night to go 4-3.

Bronson Arroyo wins to go 2-0 after a holding the Brewers to one run on four hits in his 6 1/3 innings pitched. So much for his carpal tunnel symptoms. Bronson did walk four but also had three strikeouts.

Jerry Hairston Jr. hit his first home run of the year to give the Reds a lead they would hold for the rest of the game. Jerry also walked twice and scored three runs to go with his two RBI's.

David Weathers, the Reds setup man out of the bullpen, made his 900th career appearance and recorded his second hold of this young season. Weathers has been lights out so far, and is sporting a 0.00 ERA. That's as low as it gets my friends.

Maybe the most over looked stat of this game was Daniel Herrera's double play ball he threw to Rickie Weeks to end the seventh inning and keep the 3-1 score in tack.

Joey Votto had two more hits tonight and added two more RBI's to give him ten on the season.

Down on the farm......Homer Bailey who has had two horrible starts so far this season for the AAA Louisville Bats was ejected for throwing at a batter after giving up a home run. It's clear Bailey has issues to work out before he can expect to get the call to come back up to the Reds squad. Let's hope he turns things around fast.

Season's First Road Trip Off To Good Start

The Reds traveled to Milwaukee for the season opening road trip and came away with a hard earned 7-6 win. Edinson Volquez went five not so good innings but came away with a win after giving up 6 runs, 7 hits, and walking 4. Not a good line at all and then you add two balls that left the building and Edinson has to be counting his lucky stars tonight. Does anyone else wonder what Aaron Harang was thinking after this outing by Volquez where the Reds score seven runs in the first three innings and hold on for the win. Burton, Rhodes, and yes David Weathers all threw a scoreless inning and each was credited with a hold. Fransico Cordero walked the tying run in the bottom of the ninth but kept him from scoring to record his second save of the season.

Jay Bruce off to a somewhat slow start slammed his first home run of the season. Not to be out done Edwin Encarnacion, who also was off to a rather slow start got the biggest hit of the game, a grand slam to finish off the Reds scoring and set the table for some pretty good pitching by the Reds bullpen. This was the third granny of Edwin's career. Maybe these HR's get these two guys going and the Reds can get above .500 on Tuesday night, at the very least they got this road trip off to a nice start.

Reds start series with Brew Crew

The Reds roll into a 3 game set with the Brew Crew tonight.

Here are the probable match ups:

Tonight: Volquez vs. Gallardo
Tuesday: Arroyo vs. Parra
Wed: Owings vs. Looper

Thursday, the Reds travel to Houston to deal with Mr. Reds Killer Roy Oswalt who is 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA on the year. He's something like 21-1 all time versus the Reds.

Dickerson needs to avoid doors....................

http://larrybrownsports.com/darwin-nominations/chris-dickerson-injures-head-bumping-revolving-door-hotel/6519

Aaron Harang......The ACE

Make no mistake about it, Aaron Harang was and still is the ace of this pitching staff. Aaron threw a complete game three hit shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates this afternoon to get the Reds a split in this rain shortened two game series. Not sure when the rain out will be made up, they were saying on FSN that the next trip the Pirates makes to GABP will probably be the make up date. Aaron DID NOT walk a batter and fanned nine as he had total control over his fast ball today. Harang actually only allowed one runner to get past first base today......That's spells dominance.

Brandon Phillips provided all the offense Harang would need today with his first HR of the season, a two run shot off hard luck starter Ian Snell. Willy Tarveras also got his first of many steals this season as well.

The only thing I didn't like about today's game was the fact they are still not scoring runs for Harang. The younger players are still swinging at the first pitch way to often. Is this what you want them doing when you are telling the world that we are now playing small ball. The Reds did manage five walks today, but they also were impatient at the plate most of the time. The Pirates also turned in a triple play against our Reds, maybe the easiest triple play I have ever seen.

Reds Avoid The Sweep

On a beautiful sunny afternoon at Great American Ballpark with their backs against the wall and down 3-0 the Reds avoid being sweep by the New York Mets this afternoon. It was a long hard fought battle but the Reds prevail 8-6. Bronson Arroyo not having his best stuff still picked up a win in his first outing of this young season, also giving the Reds their first win. Arroyo went six innings giving up five earned on eight hits while fanning four.

Joey Votto went yard for the second game in a row and added two more hits to go with his four RBI's and two runs scored on the day. Votto is off to a scorching start hitting .538 and already has seven RBI's to go with his two HR's.

Fransico Cordero Struck out the side in the Met's ninth to record his first of many many saves this year.

The home stand continues tomorrow night as the Pittsburgh Pirates come to town for a three game series.