Twitter was a powder-keg as tonight’s game started with the rumor that Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was going to have knee surgery and miss a couple weeks. It took a while, but the Reds did confirm that rumor, only it’s a little worse. He’s going to miss 3-4 weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery tomorrow to repair torn meniscus in his left knee.

John Fay reports:

From general manager Walt Jocketty: “Joey Votto met with the medical staff this evening and has been diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his left knee. He is going to have arthroscopic surgery tomorrow and should miss 3-4 weeks. Joey is very comfortable with the decision and is eager to return to the lineup.”

From Votto: “It is in my best interest and in the best interest of the team to do it now so that I can be healthy during the last two months of the pennant race.”

Votto injured the knee during a rough slide into third base in San Francisco on June 29 and missed a few games. Since his return, he’s struggled since then, going 8-31 (.258).

The timing on this feels strange to me. Why, if his knee bothered him that much, did he go to the All Star game? Those 4 days would’ve made him that much closer to recovering from the surgery. It’s kind of mystifying right now and doesn’t make the Reds’ medical staff look competent.

As for the team, they’ll finally find out how to score without Votto, assuming they want to continue winning. It’s going to be astruggle to keep that first place lead over the next month, but it will open room for Todd Frazier to play on a more regular basis. And for Scott Rolen to show he does have something left in the tank. Oh, and for general manager Walt Jocketty to make a trade or two.