Lance Berkman : the Cardinals :: Scott Rolen : the Reds

Both made a bigger name for themselves with a different NLC team, both are on the wrong side of 35, and both are now on the DL with mystery injuries to joints that have been giving them problems for a long time.

Berkman went on the DL yesterday after doing nothing in particular that looked like it would even smart, let alone take him out of the game. While playing first, he received a routine throw from the short stop and suddenly found himself hopping around on his left leg. Check out the video on the Cardinals’ site.

The prognosis is not yet clear; he’s supposed to have an MRI today. He’s already had two surgeries on each knee, though, so he should be able to redeem his punch card for a free one this time around.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman has been the definition of dominant so far this year. Over 21 innings, he has allowed 7 hits, walked 7, and struck out 38. Oh, yeah, and he’s not allowed a run.

A guy displaying excellent command and unhittability who becomes a mere mortal when used on back-to-back days would seem perfect to slip into the starting rotation. Mike Leake and his 6.21 ERA are a no-brainer target. But that would mean that the Reds are starting to figure out what to do with Chapman. And everybody knows that they are bound and determined to screw this up and waste his time as a Red.

“He’s been so good in the eighth,” Baker said. “Like I said, you’ve got to graduate to that position. Who knows maybe graduation time is here? We’re got to discuss it, talk about it. Matter of fact, we already talked to him about it.”

I can only shake my head and laugh at the Reds. The team as a whole has 4 blown saves: 1 from Chapman himself, 1 from a guy who was probably injured in Bill Bray, 1 from the closer Sean Marshall, and one from Logan Ondrusek. Moving Chapman into the closer’s role doesn’t help the team in any significant way. The bullpen is already very good, and the step up from Marshall to Chapman pales in comparison to the step up from Leake to Chapman.

It’s just stupefying how badly General Manager Walt Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker have handled Chapman. And clearly, the mishandling is going to continue.

Boxscore

The Cincinnati Reds showed that they do still know how to win a game of baseball, defeating the New York Yankees 6-5.

Homer Bailey turned in a quality start, pitching 6 1/3 innings while allowing 3 runs, 7 hits, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Bailey has been pitching better lately, as that quality start was his 6th in his last 7 outings.

The offense got on the board early against Yankees’ starter Ivan Nova. In the first, Drew Stubbs and Joey Votto both walked, and in what has been a rare occurrence this year, the cleanup hitter, Brandon Phillips, drove one of them in. In the second, a very hot Chris Heisey doubled in Devin Mesoraco. And then in the 5th, Joey Votto was pitched to with runners on and made the Yankees pay with his 7th home run of the year, a 3-run shot that gave the Reds a 5-2 lead they would not relinquish.

Not that they didn’t try to. Sean Marshall has had some very wild appearances this year, and yesterday was no exception. Marshall allowed two runs in 1/3 of an inning before manager Dusty Baker pulled him for Jose Arredondo. Where Marshall couldn’t, Arredondo did and picked up his first career save in the process.

The Reds finish the series with the Yankees this afternoon at 1:05pm EDT when Johnny Cueto takes on C. C. Sabathia.

Apparently, the Cincinnati Reds’ flame-throwing reliever who should be a starter Aroldis Chapman is being sued.

The suit, filed Friday in federal court in Miami, alleges that when Chapman was back in Cuba, he and his father worked with Cuban security forces and helped organize the arrest, imprisonment, and torture of another Cuban who lives in Florida. Chapman’s alleged motive for cooperating: to be restored to the Cuban national team after a defection attempt. The suit charges that Chapman met with Cuban president Raul Castro to win quick reinstatement to the Cuban team and they concocted the plan that resulted in the arrest of the Florida man on a visit to Cuba in 2009.

When I first read this, I was confused. I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but the allegations aren’t over things that were illegal in the country in which Chapman allegedly did them. I don’t think an American can sue a Cuban for working with the Cuban president. Then I noticed it was not a criminal suit, but a civil one. And you can sue anyone for anything in civil court.

So Chapman apparently had a failed defection attempt before the successful one that saw him end up with the Reds. After that failed attempt, the suit alleges that Chapman ratted out Curbelo Danilo Garcia to get back onto the Cuban national baseball team. Garcia is in Cuba serving a 10-year prison sentence.

I’ve never seen this kind of accusation against a player before. So far, the Reds have no comment. We’ll see if it affects Chapman’s stellar pitching.

You can read a little more about the suit on the already linked Enquirer article and on NBC Sports Hardball Talk, which broke the story nationally.

Boxscore

Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Mike Leake finally had an outing that was, without qualification, good. And Todd “The Crane” Frazier did what Scott Rolen cannot, and launched two home runs–a solo shot and a two-run homer–to propel the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-3 victory over the New York Mets.

Leake’s final line was 6 innings, 1 earned run, 7 hits, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts. The bullpen trio of Jose Arredondo, Aroldis Chapman, and Sean Marshall entered the game after that to shut the Mets down while the offense battled back.

In many ways, that 4-run 8th inning is something that it feels like the Reds should put together at least once almost every game. It was very, very nice to see it tonight. I hope that Dusty Baker can stay out of the way enough to let it happen again tomorrow and get the Reds the sweep of the short series when Mat Latos starts against R. A. Dickey at 1:10pm EDT.