ByYou’ve seen Apple fanatics post videos of themselves unboxing their brand new iPads or Newtons. Well, at the Red Hot Household we are just as fanatical about Joey Votto as those guys are about their devices, so it just makes sense that’d we’d share our experience unboxing our VottO’s cereal.
By| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reds (6-8) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 2 |
| Cubs (3-11) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
The Cincinnati Reds are marching slowly back towards the land of the winning record. And they improved their record to 6-8 yesterday with the club’s 10,000th franchise victory.
The Reds are the 6th professional team to reach the 10,000 mark. Their opponents, the Chicago Cubs, had done it a while ago, as had the San Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Atlanta Braves.
As big of a number as that is, it doesn’t really affect the 2012 season, one which has seen the Reds struggle offensively to start the season. That wasn’t the case on a windy day at Wrigley Field.
The Reds batted around in the first inning and dropped a nice, big 4-spot on the board. Homer Bailey contributed a quality start. The defense behind Bailey was uncharacteristically shaky, but Bailey kept his cool, going 7 innings and allowing 1 earned run (3 unearned) on 5 hits, no walks, and 2 strikeouts. It was a nice outing for Homer. After he left, the bullpen kept the Cubs scoreless, thanks to Aroldis Chapman–who should be starting–and Jose Arredondo.
The scoring had contributions from almost everyone. Joey Votto, Chris Heisey, Willie Harris, Drew Stubbs, Homer Bailey, and Todd Frazier all knocked in runs. Stubbs drove in 3 as he extended his hitting streak to 6 games.
The game against the Cubs made the Reds seem a completely different team than how they appeared against the Marlins, Nationals, and Cardinals. I knew the Reds had played only good teams so far, but it’s a little disconcerting to see that they couldn’t hang with good teams very well. Hopefully, beating up on teams worse than them will get the Reds the confidence they need the next time some good teams come around.
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I saw this Sporting News article today on Redleg Nation, who are starting to beat the drum to make Joey Votto the next captain of the Cincinnati Reds. While I think it might yet be too early to bestow such an honor–the last one was Barry Larkin–it does strike me as an inevitabile choice at this point. Of course, that’s not what this little post is about. This post is about other ways Votto demonstrates his extraordinary awesomeness.
“I was getting tired of running into situations when I couldn’t communicate with my teammates,” he says. “I’d like to befriend some of my teammates and become a better teammate in general. I think speaking the same language and understanding their perspective would help a lot.”
Votto hired a private instructor this past offseason and took up to five hour-long classes a week during the winter He hasn’t had time for all the classes since the season started, but he still spends part of nearly every day studying Spanish. He conjugates verbs, works with the Rosetta Stone program and recently has made a point of hanging with Latin teammates during pregame stretches.
That is just so awesome. For most people outside of the US, learning another language isn’t an uncommon thing. Here, it often feels like an almost impossible accomplishment. Of course, that could be because the only place to practice in much of the US is in schools and classrooms.
But Votto has the perfect immersive environment. And he’s taking advantage of it, much like a certain other career Red did.
Votto isn’t the first North American in the Reds’ family to learn Spanish. Hall of Famer Barry Larkin grew up in Cincinnati but learned the language so he could get along better with all of his teammates. And as Votto says about Larkin, “He’s a good guy to emulate.”
Damn straight. This also means that someone on the team besides the trainer or Dusty Baker will be able to talk to the Spanish-speaking pitchers, including Johnny Cueto and Aroldis Chapman. Votto is so intent on improving all areas of his game that it’s even extending to learning Spanish.
Just when I thought I couldn’t like him any more. I certainly hope Jay Bruce is paying attention.
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After that straight-up ass-whooping that the Reds received last night, they’ve got a chance to redeems themselves this afternoon. Bronson Arroyo–the guy whose wrist is so sensitive he didn’t sign autographs on the “Red Carpet” on Opening Night–takes the mound in his favorite of all situations: the bright, sunny day games.
Here’s the line-ups:
Your Cincinnati Reds
Those Freakin’ Cardinals
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Notice that Scott “Still hasn’t quite gotten” Rolen–he of the .179 OBP–has been replaced in the clean-up spot tonight.
Instead, playing the role of Joey-Votto-shield will be…Brandon Phillips? He of the .231 OBP and ouchie hamstring? That’s sure to put the fear into ’em.
Replacing Phillips in the lead-off spot is Zack Cozart, which is a move I can entirely get behind. Baker can occasionally *do* sensible things; he just can’t ever *say* them. Hopefully the stress doesn’t get to young Cozart. It can be a lot of pressure to be the first guy left on base.
Mat Latos takes the mound for the Reds tonight, looking to bring down that 5.59 ERA. While that number certainly belies the skill of Mat Latos (but not the skill of Matt Belisle), it occurs to me that at this point in the season it’s pretty impressive that it’s almost the highest ERA that the Reds’ pitchers have. Ah, I remember those gaudy Eric Milton days, back when triple digit ERAs to start the season would only cost you a nickel. Nowadays, pitchers can’t even afford both Ts for their names. It’s a crying shame, I tell you!
Can you tell I’ve just woken up from a nap? The verbal meandering is getting entirely out of hand. And so is the Cardinals’ early season hot streak. Let’s see what our Cincinnati boys can do about that tonight.
