Bronson 3-0

Bronson continued his very strong pitching last night as the reds came away with a 4-3 victory. He pitched 7 innings concluding 6 strikeouts and 1 walk. Rhodes came in to relieve him but seems to struggle a little bit. He had hte bases loaded and gota huge strikeout with a full count to hunter pence who is pitched it seemed to be like 15 pitches. It was actually 9 but sitll thats a lot. Votto had another big hit wit ha 2 run rbi off the left field wall that allowed the reds to take the lead. I said before the season started that votto was going to have a breakout year and hes priving this so far this year. Votto had a few quotes that i liked about the game." The best part about it is I don't think a single player on that bench was concerned," Votto said. "There was a real confidence feeling because, combined with a strong bullpen, there are guys on this team that believe in us. The reds now have a 7-5 record with only trailing a half game to te cubs. Here we come CUBBIES!

Willy

The last couple of games have made me think about a stat (not even sure it is really a stat) that I never considered before the homers by Hairston and Dickerson the last two evenings. How much of an effect does Willy being on base have on the hitter's at bat? It's been obvious that the pitcher's have been very concerned about Willy on the basepaths and the hitters have got good pitches to hit that have led to home runs. I have always thought that speedsters are better suited for near the bottom of the lineup, where the hitters behind them have lower SLG. Why steal second in front of a guy like Howard or Berkman?. If he does get a hit, he is almost as likely to drive you in from first as from second. If you steal second in front of a hitter like Janish, it gives him a chance to drive you in that he probably would not have with you at first. If it does help the hitters, why not help the hitters who need the most help?Hairston was talking about this the other night when he was being interviewed after hitting his early game HR. He said that with a guy like Willy on base pitchers often revert to what he called a slide step. When they start doing that they are more likely to leave a pitch high in the zone. If you've got a batter that can take advantage of that there is no doubt that if what Hairston is saying is true this would translate into more flyballs and more HRs. I'm sure pitchers are more focused on getting through their motion faster, and even getting the ball to home faster. With a guy like Taveras out there, the difference between a fastball and curveball will make the difference between making a play at 2nd and a no throw as we saw a few days ago.

Close win

The Reds last night came away with a 4-2 victory. They still seem to be very shaky in my certin area. Specially in the hitting catagory. Micha owings had a clutch 2 rbi single inthe 7th drving in harriston and hernanzez. The only reason that owings pich hit was becuase of the lack of right handed bench prescence they had along with jay bruce being still sore. He was only able to pinch run. McDonald later added a pinch-hit triple in the ninth and scored an insurance run on Willy Taveras' sacrifice fly. I thought i was going to see the old reds when Reds closer Francisco Cordero threw a 32-pitch bottom of the ninth in which he allowed two walks, a single and a sacrifice fly. The winning run was at the plate when Kaz Matsui flied out to end the game. This was corderos 4th save of the year. Volquez piched 6 and 2/3 innings allowing 1 earned run and 3 hits. This should be a be confident booster for him. Hes needs to get on a good track for the reds to be a contention team. With him being able to produce this will be a very strong aspect for the reds this spring season.

Hitting Issues

The reds are coming into tonights game with 5 people batting below .200. This is not good what so ever. They reds will need to Start producing more runs or its eventually goin to catch up with them. As i can see it, with have a winnign record with the the amount of runs we have scored its simply amazing. This proves that the pitchign staff is doing an outstanding job. If we could keep every team below 2 runs i think we could have a excellent season. Possibly a winning season. When it comes to hitting, the reds deffentailly dont have a power hitting team, so they rely on little ball to produce runs. So far this seaosn i have seen no little ball. This is whats weird because its not like we are scoring 1 run here and 1 run there its like 4 or 5 in one inning because of a a big homerun or errors. With bruce stuggleing batting below .200 this is causing problemes i nthe midlde fo the linup. 5 of the starting players are batting blelow .200. This ia major issue. Votto is the only one producing along with his 10 rbi.s and batting over .300. I still think have brandon phillips in the 4 hole is astill a major issue and i bleive bruce or someone else should take his spot and but brandon i nthe 2 hole.

update

I know its been a while since i have updated but here we do. The Reds have started out to a 4-3 season with 3 wins in a row. They are in 3rd place in the division with only being back by 1 game. I feel that the strong pitching has alot t odo with this years success so far. Back in the days when the reds would get out fot here startes and start into there middle rotation i would always be pissed and turn the game off because i knew it was going to be a loss. Now when the reds get into the bullpen i actually have trust that they will come through with the victory. When strong performances from rhodes and corders and weathers i believe this is one of the most potent relievers a team could get besides the mets. With votto starting out with 9 rbi's this is a great sign. I told everyone before there season started that votto was going to have a breakout season. Hes going to put up big numbers. The only thing i dont agree with is still the discrepency for left field. As far as i can see it i all of the left fielders that are competing have the ability to start. I really like lance nix. Hes a player that i never really paid much attention to but he seems really confident up at the plate. Hes a very strong guy that seems like he can rip the cover off the ball. Im not much of a harriston fan but hes seems to be producing very greetly. Dickerson should be the starting left fielder in my opinion. If we have such a great outfield set up why not look for a strong shortstoop . gonzalaz has not got a hit yet this season. They finally realized this and put yahish in the field. I think hes better anyways.