Boxscore

The Reds set themselves up for a series sweep last night by winning the second game against the Astros, 12-9.

Mat Latos started for the Reds against notorious Reds killer, Wandy Rodriguez. However, Latos was in true April form and turned out to be closer to a Reds killer than his opponent. In 3.1 innings of work, he allowed 7 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits and a walk. Then came the parade of most of the bullpen:

• J.J. Hoover .2 innings/2 runs (earned)/3 hits
• Sam LeCure 2.0 innings/0 runs/0 hits
• Jose Arrendondo 1 inning/0 runs/1 hit
• Sean Marshall 1 inning/0 runs/0 hits
• Aroldis Chapman 1 inning/0 runs/0 hits

What are we to do with young Latos? He’s probably put too much pressure on himself. After all, here he is on a better team than he’s used to, where they paid a lot to bring him on board, and lots of other people around him are 50 shades of awesome. I wouldn’t like to see him given the Sean Marshall treatment, but they are going to have to figure something out. You can’t be running five relievers out there every five days.

For a change, though, the offense did the pitchers a solid and got back anything that got given away. Though they only lost the lead once, it felt to me, as a fan, like they were behind from the third inning on. It was oddly grim, especially considering how the line came out.

With so much offense, it’s hard to list everyone’s contribution. I guess games like this just lend themselves to bullet lists:

• RBIs were contributed by Drew Stubbs (4), Joey Votto (2), Brandon Phillips (3), Chris Heisey, Ryan Ludwick, and Todd Frazier.
• Votto, Frazier, Stubbs, and Ludwick each had hit home runs
• Joey Votto went 4-for-4 with a walk. His AVG after this game is .345. He was also caught stealing once and picked off once. Someone’s working on his running game.

The win brings the Reds record to 30-22 and gives them a 3.5 game lead in the NLC. They’re finished the series as I write this. Bronson Arroyo took on Jordan Lyles.

Boxscore

After losing a series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Cincinnati Reds as they opened a series with the Houston Astros yesterday. Especially with Mike Leake starting, who hasn’t been what you would call “good” this year.

Perhaps the offense was concerned, too, as they opened the top of the first inning with several strung together hits to give the Reds a 2-0 lead before Leake ever took the mound. Votto started things off with 2 outs in the first with a single. Brandon Phillips followed with a double that drove Votto home. And then Jay Bruce drove in Phillips. It’s awesome to see the heart of the lineup produce like that.

Then it was Leake’s turn to hold the lead, which he did over his 7 innings. He allowed just 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. Leake has two good starts out of his last three now, which coincide perfectly with his two wins. Hopefully, we’ll see more of the outings like yesterday and not like the one before when he couldn’t make it out of the 4th.

After Leake, the bullpen held the lead. Logan Ondrusek pitched a scoreless 8th, and Aroldis Chapman struck out the side in the 9th for his 4th save.

Thanks to the St. Louis Cardinals being no-hit by the New York Mets, the Reds now have a 2.5 game lead in first place. They’ll try to increase that even more today when Mat Latos starts against Wandy Rodriguez at 7:15pm EDT.

One of the hardest things about going to a new ball park is deciding where to sit. Especially for the highly sunburn-able like me, the stupid little diagrams that the MLB sites give you to make your selection utterly fail to provide the really important information.

So I ran across FromThisSeat.com today. You can go here and review the seats in the section you’re sitting in. It’s a nice contribution to the community to be able to warn future visitors about the lack of covering if it rains or let them in on the great view of the Rally Pack while they dance around on the dugout, catapulting t-shirts and hot dogs at the people in the crowd.

It doesn’t look like there are too many reviews of Great American Ball Park sections yet, so if you’ve got a tip to share, consider dropping by. And when you’re headed to a new ball park and can’t decide where to sit, check it out to make sure there isn’t a family of pigeons living in the rafters directly overhead.

If you’re like me and “working” for yourself from the home office, you’ll be happy to know that FOX Sports Ohio has picked up the June 14 game against the Cleveland Indians at 12:30 p.m.

It’s officially to make up for the rain-out on May 1, but this is even better, since it’s all against the team who gave up on Brandon Phillips and he always brings it when they play.

If you don’t “make your living” from the room over your garage, maybe you could take a late lunch at your local sports pub, call in sick, or claim that two days after Flag Day is a very important holiday for you. Even if you don’t watch the game, you’ve just gotta get away from work at least once in June.