Yesterday’s titanic struggle against the Chicago Cubs was game 34 of the 2011 season for the Reds, and the team’s 18th win. It was also the first game of the season in which Joey Votto started but did not get on base during the whole game. The on-base streak had been the matter of some discussion, as Votto was coming up on the Consecutive Games of Getting On Base to Start the Season, set at 34 by Dave Collins in 1981.

In fact, Votto didn’t have a particularly good series in Chicago at all this time around. He was 1-for-9 with 3 walks in the series, which is a far cry from the .333 he’s averaging and the .464 he’s on-basing so far this season. It seems a little too Griffey-ish to blame the down series on worry over the streak. More likely the Wrigley batter’s eye is painted just the wrong shade of black or something like that. But if there was any pressure from the streak having an effect on his performance, then I’m super-excited to see what he’s going to do now that it’s broken.

I saw this article about Joey Votto linked to earlier this week from Redleg Nation, and it’s the stuff that myths and tall tales are made of.

For starters, there’s the story about him asking for a pair of new batting gloves from the coach of his youth team, the Canadian Thunderbirds, every other day. They were free, but the constant need for new ones was suspicious. But young Votto wasn’t doing anything sly like selling them for cash. No, it wasn’t that. But the coach didn’t believe his answer.

So the two struck a deal. Every time Votto felt he needed a new pair, he had to trade his old ones in to prove it.

Not long after, the kid showed up ready for the first exchange. The pair he’d been given just a day or two before had holes in the palms. And blood stains all over them.

“They were from broken blisters,” Oswald says.

Votto swung the bat. A lot.

Also, don’t miss the story about Votto’s mighty throwing arm and the ball a teammate missed catching, and the time Votto eschewed metal bats and proved how his burgeoning awesomeness to a persistent scout.

I know it’s hard to predict the success of baseball players, but Votto’s intense focus has always been present. And I think all his practice might pay off soon.

I have so many disjointed baseball thoughts this evening, that I am going to whip out a page layout mechanism I used to use all the time–bullets. They’re even shaped like little baseballs:

• Broadcast in Technicolor I *hate* watching baseball in standard definition. I want to blame DirectTV for the fact that tonight’s game looks like I’m watching it through wax paper, but FSOhio sent me an email last week talking about how HD wouldn’t be available, which I guess means it’s their fault. I had lunch with a bunch of tech geeks today, and they all seem to have gotten rid of their television service entirely in favor of streaming programming from the internet to their televisions. I wonder whether the internets has the game in HD. It would work over dial-up, right?
• It Wouldn’t Matter if He Crapped Autographed Gold Ingots The Cowboy felt the need to defend Paul Janish after he popped out with the bases loaded in this game. A completely badass defensive shortstop, batting eighth no less, needs defending when he’s batting .353 in his first 34 ABs? Only in Cincy.
• Wardrobe Malfunction The ump just stopped Jordan Smith to make him adjust his sleeves to show the same amount of red peeking out from both sides of the jersey. Fashion police anyone?
• Call Him Sunny D Joey Votto is a concentration machine. The fresh-squeezed orange juice he drinks in the morning comes out as frozen concentrate a half hour later. If you’re going to beat this guy, you have to be better than him because he’s not going to give away anything. I think that has to be influencing the rest of the team too; I mean, you can’t boot a ball and expect everyone to be all like, “hey, it happens to everyone” in this dugout. At best, it would be like, “hey, it happens to everyone except Joey.”
• Down Boy It makes me sad that no one on the TV broadcast has mentioned Chris Denorfia coming up with the Reds, let alone called him “Hearththrob.” For old time’s sake, I’ve barked like Dino whenever he’s come up to bat, but it just isn’t the same.

And a bonus bullet, not about baseball stuff, but just a real head-scratcher:

• I Wish for 1,000,000 State Farm Agents When your kitchen table and/or ornamental birdbath are pulverized by the magical appearance of the crap you wished for from your own personal State Farm genie, are the damages covered by State Farm?

Joey Votto is not your average baseball player. Granted, that may be obvious from the numbers he’s put up for the last two years playing for the Cincinnati Reds, but I don’t mean that.

Whenever I read an interview with him, I come away marveling at the amount of thought Votto seems to put into his answers. Sports athletes are rarely known for their intellect because that’s not what they’re paid for. For brains, you watch Jeopardy! But the sports arena is for feats of athletic prowess.

Still, Votto displays his thoughtfulness whenever he appears in the media more so than your average player.

For example, yesterday Cincinnati Enquirer Reds beat reporter John Fay talked to Votto, and Votto first talked about how he didn’t think pitchers pitched around him.

Votto doesn’t expect a change this year: “I don’t imagine it. I’ll assume guys will go after me, and I’m going to be ready for it. The ultimate guy that got pitched around was Barry Bonds. He said he assumed every pitch was going to be a strike, every pitch was going to be coming after him. That’s the approach you have to take. That’s probably the most difficult thing about our job. From Day 1 to hopefully the last out of the World Series, you have to be ready.”

That sounds like an excellent approach. One pitch at a time, and never expect them to give you anything. With Votto’s intensity, I’d love to see him be able to show just what he learned from last year’s postseason appearance.

Votto expects to improve this year, which is kind of a scary proposition.

“I’d like to be more efficient. I’d still like to be a better teammate. I’d like to be a better defensive player. As far as a hitter, I’d like to be more efficient. I feel like I wasted a lot of at-bats last year.”

He got on base 42% of the time, and he felt he wasted “a lot” of at-bats. Just let that sink in for a minute.

Since having such an excellent 2010 season, getting voted onto the All Star team (Vote Votto!), and winning the National League Most Valuable Player award, Votto’s prestige has grown. He’s on the national radar now. Given his issues following his father’s death, there’s understandable concern about how he might handle that pressure. Votto mentioned how he felt about that attention.

“It’s paced itself really well. It’s not like it was dumped on me. A guy like Aroldis Chapman or Jay Bruce or even Homer Bailey at the beginning, it’s dumped on them. I’ve earned it. It’s taken it’s time. I’ll adjust to it fine. I don’t see a huge leap. Halfway through the season, people were chanting MVP. That’s a huge compliment. I feel like I had enough time to de-sensitize myself to that.”

That actually assuages some of my concerns. Votto’s a big, strong baseball player. And I think he might just be big enough and strong enough to handle all the additional pressure that winning and succeeding brings. And doggone it, people like him.