Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds ended a completely futile weekend yesterday, as the Seattle Mariners completed the sweep.

Apparently, the Mariners traveled back in time and signed Cy Young, Nolan Ryan, and Sandy Koufax in their prime because the Reds managed one measly run in 27 innings of baseball against one of the worst teams in the majors. It did not leave a good taste in the mouth of Reds fans.

Yesterday, the Reds needed an excellent outing from Aaron Harang to stop the losing, and he complied. Over 6 innings, he allowed 1 run, on 3 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 4. The bullpen even stepped in and put up 2 innings of scoreless baseball. Yay, bullpen! And hooray, Logan Ondrusek, who contributed 1 1/3 scoreless innings yesterday. He’s been a greatly improved pitcher since his time down with Louisville.

The offense, though, managed 3 hits against a guy who isn’t very good in Ryan Rowland-Smith. Rowland-Smith was winless coming into the game with an ERA above 6. Not so any longer.

The weekend sweep dropped the Reds from any share of first place. They are now in second place, 1.5 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Clubbing a seal isn’t an option.

Over the weekend, the Reds dropped 2 of 3 to the Kansas City Royals. That’s right, they lost a series to the Royal. It’s not exactly the pounding of crappy teams we’ve grown accustomed to so far in this 2010 campaign.

In both losses, much of the blame can be pointed directly at the struggling bullpen. The bullpen did okay in the first game, allowing only 1 run over 4 innings, but that 1 run broke the tie in extra innings. In the rubber-match of the series, Sam LeCure again kept the Reds in the game, until the bullpen entered and every reliever allowed a run.

What was a strength of the team last year has not been this year. The only Nasty Boy is Arthur Rhodes, and at 40, no one would mistake him for a boy.

Help is needed. Fast. The St. Louis Cardinals have struggled, but seem to be finding their winning ways again. This is no time to keep running the same relievers out there. Unfortunately, as John Fay writes, there isn’t much help in the minors. Bill Bray and Jared Burton continue rehabbing in the low minors, and despite some promising signs, aren’t ready yet.

That leaves the option of a trade or moving a starter to relief. With the plethora of good young starters available, the latter seems like a no-brainer to try first. Sam LeCure, at the very least, should be given a relief opportunity once Homer Bailey comes back.

Fay talked to Walt Jocketty, who confirmed that Travis Wood and Matt Maloney will be looked at as options for the bullpen. Don’t wait too long, Walt. As Reds fans have seen in years past, a bad bullpen can destroy the soul of a team. And I don’t want to get off this ride yet.

Boxscore

After the heart-breaking collapse in Atlanta, I was wondering how prepared the Cincinnati Reds would be for the Cleveland Indians interleague series. Apparently, I underestimated their fortitude.

The Reds won the first 2 games of the series and were going for the sweep on Sunday. The 2 wins put them back in first place, too, as they continue to go back and forth with the St. Louis Cardinals. I would love seeing that battle for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately, the Reds were unable to complete the sweep, and fell back into second place. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though.

With a tired bullpen and the need for a starter to go deep into the game, Homer Bailey came down with a tight shoulder in the 3rd inning. But the relievers pulled together and allowed just 1 run over 5 2/3 innings.

So often this season that has given the offense enough time to come back. They did tie it once–on Scott Rolen’s second home run of the game–but they never got hits to fall when threatening. Rolen was the sole source of runs this game.

But the series was won, and the Ohio Cup stays in Cincinnati. More importantly, the Reds have shown they can put terrible, terrible losses behind them and focus on the next game. That’s quite a bit different from previous teams, and it something to make me a little optimistic.

Boxscore

Wasn’t that an amazing game yesterday that the Cincinnati Reds had against the Milwaukee Brewers? It had everything. Good pitching, Joey Votto being awesome, and a late comeback.

It didn’t look at first that the Reds would sweep the Brewers. Homer Bailey threw 30+ pitches and allowed a couple runs in the first inning, but he rebounded. Over the course of the rest of his 7-inning outing, he returned to the pitch-efficient, effective ways of his previous start. In total, he went 7 innings, allowing 2 runs, 4 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 4.

The bullpen came in then, to make things even harder for the offense. It’s been hard to get the relievers work lately, what with 3 complete games in the last week. It’s a good problem to have, and I expect that if all the starters start averaging 7 innings a start that we’ll see a reduction in the bullpen staff. There’s no need for 7 relievers when only 2 innings are needed most nights.

Despite Mike Lincoln charging in with the white flag of surrender, his damage to the game was limited. And Joey Votto and Scott Rolen were having none of it. Votto hit a 460ft solo shot in the 8th–one that landed in the faux riverboat beyond center field. Then in the 9th, Paul Janish singled to get things started off Trevor Hoffman. Scott Rolen followed with a pinch-hit homer to tie it. This was no rally-killing home run, though, because Chris Heisey followed with a double. After a walk to Brandon Phillips, Votto stepped to the plate and I knew the game was over. He quickly drove in Heisey and another last-at-bat win was added to the Reds 2010 total. (It’s 10 now, I think.)

Sure, there are problems with the Reds, and it’s hard to ignore that niggling voice in the back of your head that says, “They’ve done this before. May isn’t the same as September.” But I urge you to squash that little voice and enjoy this moment. It hasn’t been often that we’ve gotten to see competent, enjoyable play out of the Reds, and it would be a shame to miss it.