Boxscore

Johnny Cueto made his triumphant return to the active roster today and lead the Cincinnati Reds to a shutout 2-0 win over the hapless Chicago Cubs. With the win, as RHM accurately predicted over at View From the Bleachers, the Reds took the series 2 games to 1.

Cueto was very good in his first start of the season, going 6 innings, allowing no runs, walking one and striking out 4. He threw 102 pitches, and if he can continue to do that, maybe he’ll be able to finish out a 7th inning here soon. His weakness has always been throwing too many pitches.

The Reds’ offense continued to struggle, but this time they scored enough. Ramon Hernandez drove in the first run in the 2nd inning, and Drew Stubbs hit a solo shot in the 5th. Cueto and the bullpen made those 2 runs be more than enough.

A day after blowing his first save of the season, closer Francisco Cordero looked much sharper. In his save this time, he walked none, struck out 1, and allowed no hits. There’s nothing better than returning from a blown save with a perfect one.

As for the Cubs, Ryan Dempster was the starter and loser. It is always a pleasure to beat the former Red.

When I start up my work computer in the morning, Yahoo! instant messenger starts up too, and presents to me a list of top news stories. It’s just like scanning the morning paper, if your morning paper contains exclusively tips for becoming a millionaire by age 40 and gossip about who wore the same dress on the red carpet.

It’s like a big, fat jelly doughnut for your brain: no nutrients, but enough sugar to provide a nice little jump start.

The occasional sports blog is referenced in this list, and I was surprised yesterday to see Brandon Phillips’ smiling mug accompanying one of the stories. It was a post on Big League Stew: a Y! sports blog, which I think I’ve already linked to once before, and probably will again. It’s only fair to share the brain candy, since there’s plenty to go around.

This particular blog was all about Phillip’s between-the-legs dish on Tuesday night. I didn’t get to see it myself, being in class that night, but I could picture it in my mind:

On a slow roller hit by Houston’s Jason Bourgeois(notes) in the third inning Tuesday night, Phillips had neither the time nor the proper angle to make a conventional defensive play to retire the speedy baserunner at first base.

So, running toward home at full speed from his position at second, Phillips bent down, barehanded Bourgeois’ grounder and quickly flipped the ball between his legs — near his ankles — for the out at first base.

This is getting to be a habit. BP referenced a “better” play in San Diego in a tweet, and the Reds were posting today’s behind-the-back-while-lying-on-his-belly toss on Facebook before the game was even over.

I think I missed all three of these plays, between school and work and the stupidness of day games. Hopefully he’ll keep it up, though, so I can catch some of this awesomeness in the near future.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everybody!

What I’ve always found interesting about this holiday is how it’s celebrated more in the United States than it is in Mexico. One thing I never stopped to consider was, what does Aroldis Chapman think of the holiday?

You might remember that he’s from Cuba, a country that has nothing to do with the minor Mexican holiday. But don’t tell Pepto-Bismol that.

They contracted Chapman for this commercial showing a novel way of breaking apart a piñata.

What the hell was in that thing? Real stomach acid? This ad was weird in so many ways.

Maybe next year Pepto can tap Joey Votto for a St. Patrick’s Day commercial. You know, because he’s Canadian.

So far this year, the Cincinnati Reds have played like a .500 team. As Rob Lowe in Parks & Recreation would say, “They’ve literally been average.”

And they have. The Reds’ record stands now at 15 wins and 15 losses.

They won today, thanks to some 9th inning competence from Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, and uncharacteristically, Jay Bruce. Thanks to a solid pitching performance by Travis Wood and the bullpen, the team was only down by 2 in the 9th. Granted, the offense had mustered something like one measly hit against the Houston Astros to that point, but the pitching had managed to keep it close.

I keep hoping that this team will find rediscover the spark they had at the season’s very beginning. The fact that Bruce actually produced today is a good sign, but there needs to be more from him. Like last year, he’s started slow in 2010. He comes up too often in situations where he could help the team and is a key figure for success this year.

Of course, the pitching has been wretched lately, too. The two injured starters are returning this week, and I’d say that Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey are better than Sam LeCure and Mike Leake, who they’ll be replacing in the rotation. Maybe that will be enough to get this team going, although it feels like more is needed than just a couple guys coming off the disabled list. Heck if I know what, though.

It’s been a frustrating year watching the Reds play so far. The season is by no means over, and the Reds aren’t really in a hole in the standings–they’re in 2nd place. But they’ve been playing teams they should beat, and have instead been losing badly.

Today was a good first step after the team meeting with manager Dusty Baker and owner Bob Castellini. I’m hoping for another good step tomorrow afternoon when Bailey starts for the first time this year.

Damn it’s been painful watching these Reds lately. It’s about to the point that you pray for rain, except that if you’re in the tri-state area you probably already have a couple inches of water in your basement and any more water in your yard will mean you’ll have to stop playing catch with your kid and instead start playing water polo.

So, what the hell is wrong with this team? Here’s a little info about the team’s losses this season:

An average of 3.14 runs per game, featuring only three games where the Reds scored fewer than two runs. It ain’t the offense that’s the problem here, folks.

Not that we didn’t know there’d be problems with the pitching when a third of the rotation wound up on the DL. It just hurts when pitching seemed to be such a strength of this team. Alas, it’s a big difference between Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, and a big difference between Homer Bailey and Sam LeCure.

But take heart, Reds fans: they’re coming back. Bailey is scheduled to start on Thursday, and Leake will take the mound on Sunday. No word yet on whether they’ll be playing baseball or Marco Polo.