Cincinnati Reds

Joey Votto is beginning to show that he is a complete baseball player. The man has tools.

In yesterday's come-from- behind win over the Chicago Cubs, Votto sent a 439' rocket into the right field seats. It was a two out, three-run shot that gave Mike Leake his third win of the season.

The win gave the Reds the series at two games to one. It was a successful home stand as they had just finished winning a set against the New York Mets 2-1 as well.

The most impressive play, or non-play, of the Mother's Day game at Great American Ball Park came immediately after Cincinnati Reds' rookie sensation, Mike Leake allowed his first legitimate hit in the top of the seventh—a two-out double to Cubs' outfielder Marlon Byrd.

After pitching hitless baseball through the front five, Leake gave up an infield single.  If the official score keeper were a cool dude or dudette they would have ruled it an error.  In reality, the hot grounder off the bat of Starlin Castro was a single.

The Reds need some help smoothing out those rough edges that have been a thorn in their side thus far. Those rough edges creep up in all facets of their game, but luckily they have not been an every day, every game occurrence. You have to give the starting pitching a ton of credit for their performance over the last two weeks though.

A couple of weeks ago if you mentioned the name Aroldis Chapman, in any common fantasy circle, there probably would’ve have been a distinct buzz.

Brandon Phillips is a good player, one of the best players for the Cincinnati Reds. Yet he continually disappoints fans with his lack of hustle.

Case in point: Tuesday night against the New York Mets.

Phillips laces a pitch off the left- center field wall that ended up taking a weird bounce. Had he been hustling, Phillips would have easily cruised into third with a triple. Instead he admired his hit and managed to only make it to second.

Dusty, does this Cairo guy have an incriminating video of you smoking crack à la Marion Barry?  A Dusty Baker sex tape à la Paris Hilton?

We're fans.  We will understand and forgive your past indiscretions.

Seriously, why is this guy on the team?  And why do you keep using his weak stick to pinch hit?

Take Monday night for example: men on the corners, and you pinch hit Cairo for Mike Leake in the Reds half of the sixth?

New York Mets (14-11)  at Cincinnati Reds (12-13) 7:10 p.m.

Oliver Perez (0-2 4.35) versus Mike Leake (2-0 3.25)

TV: SNY, Radio: WFAN

What To Watch

The Cincinnati Reds' starters are pitching like we thought they would going into the season, including, yes, Aaron Harang. 

But the Reds have an unexpected problem. The bullpen, more specifically the middle relievers, are pitching like kids dropped on their heads as babies.

The back-end is fine. Coco Cordero is lights out. And if Arthur Rhodes keeps it up, he may be the first eighth-inning guy to win a Cy Young Award.

Daniel Ray Herrera has been fine for the two or three batters he faces, and Micah Owings is doing alright in the mop-up role.

The latest article by the Wall Street Journal puzzles me to say the least.

According to the report , the Cincinnati Reds are the third most hated team in baseball with a 1.5 ranking.

An Internet algorithm built by Nielsen Co . analyzes how people feel about certain things, and the nation apparently hates the Reds. The system uses various keywords to find out whether people have positive, negative or neutral reactions to different brands and products.

I'll take this as a tongue-in-cheek joke, because it is funny, but I really hope Aaron Harang doesn't really believe this:

“We're close enough to Kentucky. I should be able to find a horseshoe,” Harang said, insisting that bad luck has as much to do with his record as anything else.

This was after Harang tossed the Reds' first quality start in nine games and became just the second starter to pick up a victory this season, which is only a measly 20 games mind you.