OK so I know we don’t have sole possession of first place in the NL Central, but even being in a three way tie for first is something I never thought was going to happen. Not even two weeks ago!

Since the last time I posted alot of stuff has went down. Is that Rosales guy fun to watch or what?? Of course, I don’t think he’ll continue with his .295 average the rest of the year but, at least he would be a good guy off the bench. 15.6 seconds around the bases for a home run.. HAHA! I sure hope, if he continues hitting the way he has, that he stays the starting 3b…I’ve never been a big EE fan.

Besides Rosales, I can’t pick out one particular player that has improved because EVERYONE has! It seems like everyone has started hitting better, which is always fun to watch!

BP has as many RBI as Votto- 26

Willy T is hitting .322

Ramon Hernandez is hititng .279

Votto is hitting .374- highest BA in the NL!

Hanigan is hitting .310

Look at our starting pitching- We could have four 15 game winners! Cueto 1.93 ERA

Even with all the good… there is still going to be somebody that is bad. Take in part, Mike Lincoln. God, I hate him. 13.1 IP 19 Hits and a 9.35 ERA… JESUS thats awful!

PLEASE, OH PLEASE Walt bring up Pedro Viola to replace him. We could add another lefty to the pen and look at his AAA stats… WOW. 14.2 IP 6 hits and a 0.61 ERA. Bring up Pedro!

I apoligize for not posting in awhile, however, I hope people check back more often because I will be posting more frequently.

First off, let me apologize for not posting anything for about a week and a half. My life has been pretty crazy, however, I’ve still manage to catch every reds game. As you know the Reds are looking pretty decent, besides their hitting, oh and Volquez and Lincoln.

Taking 2 out of 3 against Houston was great but man… taking 3 out of 4 from the Cubs was even better! I sure do hate the cubs and watching Votto tear them up was just so sweet to watch. Every Reds fan knows they aren’t hitting right now and every fan knows that Volquez is struggling (walking 5 straight batters in one game… JESUS) but some fans might not know the unfamilar facts and stats that are listed below:

1. Is Chris Dickerson a strike out machine or what?! What happened to the old Dickerson from last year… apparently he went away. 16 SO in 42 AB… GOOD GOD MAN!

2. Does AGon look smooth at short or what?! Man, he sure has been playing really good D lately. I forgot how nasty he once was. Although he is still struggling, he does have a hit in each of his last 5 games.

 3. Ramon Hernandez has played much much better lately… bringing his average up to .255. He has had two hits in each of his last three games.

4. Jay Bruce has brought his average up to .286 with 34 total bases. If he can lower his strike outs, he would be much much more consistent.

5. I made this bold because Mike Lincoln is the most frustrating player on the entire Reds team. The guy has pitched 7.1 innings and given up 12 ER!! That is TERRRRRRRIBLE. He has a 14.73 ERA and has walked 9 batters. He has WALKED more batters than IP! WOW. What is the world is he doing on this team?!? I hate hearing over and over from the announcers that he did great last year and hadn’t pitched in 3 years blah blah blah. I don’t care if he didn’t pitch for 3 years or 10 years.. ending the year with a 4.48 ERA doesn’t mean you “great” and “spectacular”.

Yesterday, the reds completed their fifth game of the season. Winning 1 out of 3 against the Mets isnt too bad and was what I expected. The mets have one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball, and competing very well in each game says alot about this ball club. Splitting the game with the Pirates was ok as well, considering we had to face Paul Maholhm. A lefty and a damn good one at that. Below I listed some positives and negatives from these two series:

Positives:

1. Aaron Harang- Good Lord! This guy looks nothing like last year. Pitching that complete game, 0er and only 3 hits was an AWESOME thing to see. His line of 14IP, 10 Hits, 3BB, 11SO, and a 0.64 ERA is impresive.

2. Joey Votto- Hard to put this guy second. He has been hitting the SHIT out of the ball. Hitting .400 with 7 RBI and 2 HR!

3. Brandon Phillips- Hitting .357 with 4RBI’s and 5 BB

4. Edwin Encarnacion- Although his average isn’t up to par, he does have 7 walks- the most on the team. Is this the year he has better plate discipline and turns into the player we have been wanting??

Negatives

1. Jay Bruce- hitting .200 with 5SO and only 1BB

2. Ramon Hernandez/Jerry Hairston/Alex Gonzalez- hitting a combined 2 for 29. They all look lost at the plate and swing and very bad pitches. Alex Gonzalez is still waiting to get his first hit of the year. It’s hard to watch these three.

3. Mike Lincoln- 34.71 ERA– IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!?? 2.1 IP with 9 ER. That is NOT GOOD.

Today the reds won their first spring training game 7-0 with 14 hits and allowing only 4. Jerry Hairston hit a grandslam in the 5th with Rosales contributing 2 RBI’s and McDonald with 1. Volquez pitched 3 scoreless innings; giving up 2 hits one walk and 3 SO’s. Volquez was good but also throw close to 50 pitches. He needs to get his pitch count down if he wants to last longer than 6 innings come regular season. Cueto was unstoppable today. He pitched 3 scoreless innings, giving up NO hits 1 walk and striking out 3. Bailey also looked good, throwing a scoreless 7th with 2 SO’s. Will we see more of that come this season?

There was some question on reds message boards about Hernandez missing a throw over to 3rd base. However, on the radio Brantley said the pitch was in the dirt and Edwin missed the tag.

Check out the reds box score:  http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/boxscore.jsp?gid=2009_02_25_cinmlb_tbamlb_1

Today, the reds will play their first ST game against the Rays. The reds will be in full force all the way until March 1st, when six players will go and play for their respective teams in the World Baseball Classic. First baseman Joey Votto will play for Team Canada, while starting pitchers Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto and center fielder Willy Taveras will play for the Dominican Republic. Utility player Jerry Hairston Jr. will play for Mexico, and catcher Ramon Hernandez will play for Venezuela. Joey Votto has already been told that he will be Cananda’s DH because Justin Morneau will be the starting 1B.

After seeing the dates for the World Baseball Classic, I was furious. I buy tickets to the Reds ST games RIGHT when most of the players I wanted to see are not going to play. Yes Jay Bruce and BP will be there but I was really excited about watching Willy T and Hernandez.

I’m excited to watch the WBC but I hope it doesn’t have a negative impact on our pitchers. Especially, Cueto being the youngest. I hope they don’t ask him to pitch more than he should. i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s about that time of year again which all reds fans look forward too- Spring Training. I personally am heading down for two games in the second week in March. Should be great to get away from the cold and rainy weather and be able to relax, drink some beers, and watch some baseball. LOL. Going into this ST without Dunn and Griffey penciled in as starters, poses a lot of questions.

1. Like the previous blog I posted, who is going to be our left fielder? Almost too many options to list!

2. Walt throughout the whole offseason was stressing the fact that the reds need a right handed run producer. Well Walt, we didn’t exactly acquire one. So, who is going to step up? Gomes? Hairston?

3. Do we have a dependable and serviceable catcher? Hanigan has alot to prove and Hernandez didn’t prove ANYTHING last season.

4. Volquez and Cueto. Can Volquez pitch like he did the beginning of the year and can Cueto pitch more innings and avoid the “sophomore slump”?

5. Will Harang pitch in his 08 form or his dismal 09 form? That will make or break out pitching rotation this year.

6. Who will step up to be the 5th starter? Josh Fogg was PATHETIC last year and so was pretty much everyone else they put into that spot.

7. Micah Owings. Owings has been kind of overlooked this offseason and could surprise. He is definitely a serviceable 5th starter when healthy and the guy can flat out rake. I can see him as definitely being a fan favorite.

8. Can Crusty Dusty not play favorites and prevent Jacque Jones from being a Corey Patterson clone?

9. Is Alex Gonzalez healthy? The guy hasn’t played in forever and is 31.

10. Homer Bailey. This is the season for decision time for Homer and the Reads. If Homer doesn’t show any promise, he is gone. However, if he does he could contend for the #5 spot.

11. Arthur Rhodes. A good, low risk signing in the offseason but can he fill the shoes of Affeldt. Many people overlooked the great job Affeldt did for us against lefties last year. If Rhodes puts up the same performance he did in 09 against lefties he could be an all-star.

Finally something to blog about here on the blog! On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles worked out a four player trade. Ryan Freel and two minor league infieldrs will be going to the Orioles and the Reds will be getting catcher Ramon Hernandez.

The two minor league players are Justin Turner and Brandon Waring.

As part of the deal, Baltimore will give Cincinnati cash to offset part of Hernandez’s contract. He is owed $8.5 million next year.

I personally do not like this deal for the Reds. Freel is a nice player to have in the outfield and he gives it his all on every play. The risk of injury is always there, and I expect that played into the decision a little bit.

What are your thoughts?