Kuzul

Brandon Phillips is a great man and just made baseball really interesting. Unless you’re a St. Louis Cardinals fan, or don’t like the Reds, you should agree with that statement.

Phillips recently had some very colorful things to say about St. Louis that a ballplayer usually would say about their rival, comparing them to little female dogs.

With the Reds and Cardinals facing off this week in a showdown for first place in the National League Central division, Phillips, who suffered a leg injury over the weekend, made sure he would not miss this important series. After dropping the first game to St. Louis, the Reds were on the edge and, quite frankly, so was St. Louis after Phillips’ comments.

During tonight’s game (August 10th, 2010) while Phillips was in the batter’s box moving his bat around, St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina proceeded to move Phillips’ bat with his leg causing the two to go face-to-face. Exchanging words and letting each other know they don’t like them or their family, the benches soon cleared.

How is any of this good for baseball? A brawl started, people were thrown around and mean things were said among players. The reason being this brawl is one that can make us smile because it’s all for a fight for first place.

The Reds are clearly one of the best feel-good “Cinderella” stories in baseball this year, while the Cardinals are still the dominating force that they have been for the past five years and even longer. 

Phillips mouthing off about the Cardinals is exactly what baseball needed. The brawl can be a franchise symbol for the Reds, with Phillips stepping up for his team as they face the biggest challenge of their season. While none of the experts could have predicted the Reds to be in a tie for first in early August, every Reds player believed they could be. 

The Cardinals have been in first place during early August for many years and have no soft spot for the Reds. The fact that the Reds have sent a message to Major League Baseball that they will not back down should make fans proud.

While commissioner Bud Selig might soon be sending a suspension message to both teams, he really shouldn’t. It’s like when a bully gets beaten up in school you never want to punish the underdog (or nerd as they have been called).

The Reds and Cardinals will be fighting for first not only this season, but for many years to come, if both teams can keep their players together, which would be scary for the rest of the division. The other feel-good team in the National League, the San Diego Padres, should take notice. 

Get a little mean, talk some trash and fight for first and that’s how all eyes turn on baseball. Reds and Cardinals both bleed red, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a little blood shed by the end of the year.

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The Reds and Cards are in one of the longest running one and two pennant races in history. Neither team can really put substantial distance between themselves and the other.

Both squads have strong talent and deep rosters.

Let’s take a look at the way the teams stack up against each other, position by position.

CATCHER

Yadier Molina is one of the best defensive catchers in the game. His average has dropped this season to .243 and his run production has dropped as well.

The Reds do not have a “true” starting catcher. They rotate (not platoon) Ramon Hernandez and Ryan Hanigan, and with the production they get from the duo places them high on the list in both leagues.

Advantage: REDS

FIRST BASE

Albert Pujols is arguably the best player in the game today, and has been for a few years. He is a rare bird indeed, blending excellent power with a high average.

Prince Albert is currently batting .305 and is second in the NL in home runs and RBI. He is also second in the league in OBP.

His counterpart Joey Votto is only in his third full year in the majors. He has a legitimate chance at winning the Triple Crown this year, and is having an MVP-type season himself.

He leads the league with a .324 average and OBP at .423. He is currently tied for second with Pujols in home runs with 27 and is fifth in RBI.

Advantage: EVEN

SECOND BASE

Skip Schumaker ranks near the bottom in almost all offensive categories for second basemen. A natural outfielder, he was relegated to the middle infield position last season.

The Reds Brandon Phillips made the All-Star team for the first team this year and leads the league in runs scored and is second in total hits. Many people see him as the best defensive second baseman in the National League.

Advantage: REDS

THIRD BASE

Cardinal rookie David Freese was having an exceptional season until injuries forced him to the DL. He re-injured himself in a rehab game and it is unknown how long he will be out. Journeyman, Felipe Lopez is taking his place at the hot corner in the interim.

Scott Rolen has won seven Gold Glove Awards and is enjoying his best season since 2006 when he was still with St. Louis. He is hitting .299 with 18 HR and 62 RBI.

Advantage: REDS

SHORTSTOP

Brendan Ryan has played the majority of the season at shortstop for the Cards. He is batting .223 with two HR and 21 RBI.

Reds shortstop Orlando Cabrera came to the Reds just prior to Spring Training and has been a welcome addition. He is the missing link which makes the Reds the best infield in the National League.

He is batting .260 with three HR and 37 RBI, and has been a decent hitter in the clutch.

Advantage: REDS

LEFT FIELD

Matt Holiday has been on fire lately. Since July 18, he has hit 15 HR and driven in 40 while batting ,318.with an OBP of .393.

Prior to the All-Star break Gomes was batting near .300 and was in the top five in RBI in the NL. He has since slid downward to the .275 range with 66 RBI.

Advantage: CARDINALS

CENTER FIELD

Rookie Colby Rasmus is batting .276 with 18 HR and 47 RBI.
Reds rookie Drew Stubbs is batting only .226 with 13 HR but leads Rasmus in RBI with 49.

Advantage: CARDINALS

RIGHT FIELD

John Jay has taken over the reigns in right field after Ryan Ludwick was traded in July. In only 123 AB Jay is batting .366

Reds under-achiever Jay Bruce is batting .254 with 10 HR and 41 RBI.

Advantage: REDS (slightly)

STARTING PITCHERS

Adam Wainwright, Cris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, newly acquired Jake Westbrook, and Jeff Suppan is certainly one of the most formidable rotations in the Major League. The Cards ERA for their starters leads the league at 3.32. They are 45-32 and have held the opposition to a BA of .260. Wainwright has the lone shutout for the Cards this year.

The Reds have had many different starters this season. Their current rotation of Johnny Cueto, Bronson Arroyo, Mike Leake, Travis Wood, and Edinson Volquez could almost be called Bronson and the Babies.

The starters stats for the Reds are as follows: 41-28 with an ERA of 4.07 with an opposing BA of only .256. Homer Bailey and Cueto have the only two shutouts for the Reds this year, ironically back-to-back.

Advantage: CARDINALS (slightly)

BULLPEN

The Cardinal bullpen has not been their strong suit this season. Kyle McClellan, Blake Hawksworth, Mike MacDougal, Dennis Reyes, and Trever Miller are all front men for closer Ryan Franklin.

Their bullpen is only credited with 23 saves in 31 opportunites with an ERA of 3.71 with an OBA of .252

The Reds bullpen has been toyed with all season with men being sent back and forth to Triple-A Louisville. It is currently stocked by Sir Arthur Rhodes, Nick Massett, Logan Ondrusek, Bill Bray, and Jordan Smith with Francisco Cordero in charge of heart attacks and strokes.

They are credited with 31 saves in 42 chances and have posted an ERA of 3.99 while holding the opposition to a .251 BA.

Advantage: EVEN

BENCH

The Reds have a stronger bench by far. Chris Heisey, Layne Nix, Miguel Cairo, Paul Janish, Juan Francisco, and either Hernandez or Hanigan make choices alot easier for Manager Dusty Baker.

The Cards bench is lead by Randy Winn, Jason LaRue, Aaron Miles, and Aaron Craig.

Advantage: REDS

You may draw your own conclusions, but any way you dissect it, the teams matchup very well. It should be a nail-biting finish to a wonderful season.

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Fantasy baseball sees changes in position depth every year. What starts the season as a weak position may finish as the best, and vice-versa. Entering the season there were 11 second basemen ranked in the Top 100 players in mixed formats. 

Currently, there are only seven active players who will find their name on that Top 100 list, and only three of them were part of the original 11. Let’s take a look at the current rankings for second baseman after the first half of the 2010 season (Injuries Noted):

Robinson Cano NYY (100% Owned)    His numbers across the board are great for any position (66-18-63-.332). This is an MVP candidate who will continue to improve, and continue to provide consistent statistical production. 

Chase Utley PHI  (100% Owned)  Chase would be number one if he wasn’t injured, even with Cano’s great season. Utley’s consistency over the past seven seasons cannot be ignored, you can pencil in 100-30-100-.295 ever year. Upon his return from the DL, Utley should be considered the top player.

Rickie Weeks   MIL (100% Owned)  Finally his production is matching his potential (65-19-62-.277). Rickie was the second overall pick in the 2003 player draft, and after this season may be the second overall second naseman taken in 2011 fantasy drafts.

Dustin Pedroia BOS (100% Owned) Similar to Utley, Dustin would be third on the list after putting up excellent numbers (52-12-41-.292) when healthy. He has never had a bad single season in his young career. Look for him to immediately bounce back when he returns. (DL)

Tier 1A

Ian Kinsler TEX:  This All Star Second Baseman plays for a first place team with lots of lineup protection. Thus far (53-6-38-.304), and expected for a duplicate second half with the pennant in reach.

Brandon Phillips CIN:   Another player in the midst of a pennant race, and putting up potential career numbers (70-13-33-.288). With the Cardinals and Brewers battling the Reds for Central supremacy, Brandon will need to play to his max if they want to win. Expect an extra effort.

Tier 2

Martin Prado ATL:  All Star, First Place Team, NL Hits Leader (67-11-40-.317)

Ben Zobris t TB:  (49-5-44-19-.277) Multi Position Eligible, Continuous production.

Tier 3 

Dan Uggla FLA:  (59-15-53-.271) May or May Not be traded to Contender. If so he jumps Zobrist. You have to love his power from this position.

Kelly Johnson ARZ: (57-14-46-.275) Can he keep this up all season for the lowly Dbacks? My magic 8 ball says “Decidedly So.”

Howie Kendrick ANA: (42-7-53-.275)  Still a potential injury risk, but his run production in 2010 is undeniable for a second baseman. Worth a Start in any format.

Tier 4 

Gordon Beckham CWS: (26/71-14-3-12-0-.366) Over the Last Month…May be the HOTTEST 2B

Placido Polanco PHI:   (92/288-43-6-30-3-.319) Just back from injury and his timing is great already.

Juan Uribe SF:   (80/312-42-12-51-1-.256) Early Season Utility Super Star. Now Everyday Star.

Tier 5

Jose Lopez SEA:  Still Seattle’s Cleanup Hitter with TONS of potential 39 RBI.

Casey McGehee MIL: 13 HR 55 RBI.

Aaron Hill TOR: 13 HR (Great Upside)

Clint Barmes COL:  42 RBI

Ian Stewart COL: 13 HR, 47 RBI

Neil Walker PIT:  (.320 BA)

Chone Figgins SEA:  25 SBs

Ty Wigginton BAL: 16 HR, 48 RBI

Alberto Callaspo LAA:   (40Runs, 8HRs, 43RBI)

Here are some more articles that will help you win your league…

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Last Thursday, LeBron James decided to leave the Midwest for the sunshine in Miami, and with that, changed the entire landscape of professional sports in Ohio.

The Cavaliers, or more importantly James, had become the heart of the professional state. They had reached the 2007 Finals, had the best regular season record two straight seasons and the best player in the respective sport.

For Cincinnati, basketball has not been as relevant since the days of Oscar Robertson and the Cincinnati Royals. Therefore, I write this view not from a basketball perspective, but a whole “sport-state” perspective.

The state currently has seven professional sports teams that include:

Cincinnati Bengals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Columbus Blue Jackets and the Columbus Crew (MLS).

With LeBron now gone from the picture, there are truly only two franchises that can currently take claim at this time to being the Kings of Ohio: the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Browns.

An argument could be made for the Cincinnati Bengals, but their past season of success, a divisional title is not enough force to make up for their lean history of success.

Now, for those of you who want to argue for Ohio State, this is only an argument at the professional level, so Ohio State Football is not valid within these walls of argument. That is for a collegiate debate.

In this article, I will speak on the strength of reason the Cincinnati Reds should be considered the Kings of Ohio.

Right now as we lay at the All-Star break, the Reds lead the Central Division (49-41) by a game over the perennial division champ St. Loius Cardinals. The trio of Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, and National League home run leader (22) Joey Votto have all helped in creating the division lead. The Reds look as strong as they have since the 1995 Playoff season where they battled the Braves. That is just a jumping point to start off the discussion.

The Reds are the last team in the state of Ohio to win a pro championship. Cleveland has been high and dry, but the Reds were able to take home the title in a suprise at the time by dismantling the Oakland Athletics in the 1990 World Series.

If I mention the name Chris Sabo, I’m sure it will put a smile on a few faces who have forgotten him. There is always Barry Larkin, Eric Davis, the mean bullpen trio which included Norm Charlton and the dominant Jose Rijo. They brought luster to a team which had not seen it in the 80’s. However, the 70’s were not so bad for the Red Stockings either.

These were times when the roster included players such as: Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, George Foster, Dave Concepcion, Gary Nolan and the original Ken Griffey—a finely tuned bunch who won back-to-back titles in 1975 and 1976.

The titles are what people remember, and unfortunately, it has been two decades since they last took home the title, but the history remains. The fact that they have been around since 1882 (or 1869 depending on which Red Stockings team you recognize), shows the immense amount of time they have been able to hold a place in professional sports.

They have the Hall of Fame players such as Pete Rose, and the moments such as his all-time hits mark set in Cincinnati. You could make an all-time Reds roster that could compete with any other one in the league. They might not beat the Yankees all-time or Dodgers all-time team, but they would sure give them one tough game or tough series.

The Reds have an illustrious past to go from and a bright future ahead of them as we watch this season unfold and those to come. If the young men can continue to develop and the minor league players can continue to grow into productive players at the professional ranks, this could be a championship caliber team. 

Just the thing worth noting in a team to be considered the Kings of Ohio.

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The Cincinnati Reds brought their style of play to Anaheim, and the results paid off as the National League defeated the American League 3-1 in the 81st annual All-Star Game.

A pitcher’s duel for most of the night, Scott Rolen started a seventh-inning rally with a single off Phil Hughes. He then went first to third on a Matt Holliday single, hustling the entire way and sliding to safety.

All-Star teammate Brandon Phillips was miked up for the game and could be heard chanting:

“Yeah yeah. That’s what we do in Cincinnati. We go first to third.”

Ah yes, they do. They currently lead the majors in that category. The play didn’t win the game for the NL, but it altered the way Matt Thornton pitched to Marlon Byrd—who eventually earned a walk.

It also set a tone for the rest of the NL squad. The game does matter and Rolen is going all-out to win it.

One batter later with the bases loaded, Atlanta’s Brian McCann delivered big with a bases-clearing double. It marked the first time in All-Star Game history that a player knocked in three with the bases loaded (hard to believe isn’t it?). McCann was named MVP of the game.

Matt Capps of the Washington Nationals earned the win to become the first pitcher from a team based in Washington to win an All-Star Game since Dutch Leonard (1943 Senators).

While Phillips didn’t collect a hit, he made a dandy of a play in the field, tagging out Texas’ Elvis Andrus, who was trying to swipe second and slid past the bag.

Joey Votto was also hitless after earning over 14 million votes to be the last player selected to the team. But it was a great experience for the always level-headed Votto:

“I’m starting to learn you have to take a moment to say, ‘I’ve done pretty good. I’m an All-Star.’ I’ve given myself the next few days to pat myself on the back. I’ve never done that before, but I’m learning to. Not in an arrogant way. In the past, I’ve never said, ‘You know, that was pretty good.'”

From the seventh inning on, the NL infield was colored Red as 1B Votto, 2B Phillips, and 3B Rolen all finished the victory.

Unfortunately, the ageless Arthur Rhodes didn’t make an appearance. While I’m sure he needed the well-deserved rest, it would have been nice to see the 40-year-old at least pitch to one batter. 

All in all, it was a great experience for the Reds’ All-Stars. Phillips was all grins the entire game and looked to have really soaked up the entire experience.

Votto was able to realize he is an elite player and Rolen showed the world how the Cincinnati Reds are playing baseball in 2010.

The American League lost the All-Star Game for the first time since 1996, and now the National League will own home-field advantage in the World Series.

Nobody is crazy enough to say Game 7 will be at Great American Ballpark, but it sure is convenient to have home-field advantage for the first time in years—when the Reds are in first place for the first time in years.

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Entering the 2010 season, the top second baseman in the National League included: Chase Utley (Philadelphia), Dan Uggla (Florida), and Brandon Phillips (Cincinnati).

At the mid-way point of the season, Phillips is making a case to be considered the best. Martin Prado is emerging as a superstar in Atlanta, but does not have all the tools Phillips has.

The chart below clearly shows Phillips is the most complete second sacker in the league.

Player             Avg.  HR  RBI  Steals    Fielding%   errors

Phillips           .302    12   30       10        .995          2

Prado             .332    10   39        4        .990          4

Uggla             .285    16   51        2        .978          9

Utley              .277    11   37        5        .973         10

I am sure all general managers would be content with any of these four, but I believe many would prefer Phillips.

GO REDS!

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Through 82 team games (324 at-bats) this season, Reds’ second baseman Brandon Phillips is tied with Boston’s Kevin Youkilis for the major league lead in runs, with 62.

Phillips also has 10 homers and 10 steals at the mid-way point, putting him on pace for his fourth consecutive 20/20 season.

Perhaps the most surprising stat, however, is Phillips’ batting average. In 4.5 seasons with the Reds, Phillips has never finished with a batting average higher than .288, and his career mark is an uninspiring .269.

Yet somehow, the recently-turned 29 year old is batting .309 this season and appears to be gaining steam as the season progresses:

• April: .236
• May: .316
• June: .373

One explanation for Phillips’ success is Dusty Baker’s decision to move him up in the lineup, opposed to batting him in the cleanup spot where he’s hit in recent seasons.

In 206 at-bats hitting first or second this season, Phillips sports a .330 batting average with 45 runs and six homers, but just 14 RBIs.

This explains the spike in Phillips’ run-scoring total, but doesn’t necessarily provide a reasonable explanation for a batting clip that’s 40 points above his career average.

Phillips’ .335 BABIP, however, could.

His current line drive, ground ball, and fly ball rates, don’t suggest a change in Phillips’ swing, as they are in line with his career marks.

Phillips is striking out at a 13.9 percent clip, which is a bit lower than his career mark (16.3 percent), but higher than his total from last year (12.8 percent). 

Phillips’ tendency to hack at pitches off the plate hasn’t changed, as his o-swing rate (30.6 percent) is nearly identical to his career mark of 30.7 percent (2010 MLB average: 28.5 percent).

His contact rate (81.6 percent) is up slightly from recent years, which may suggest Phillips has shortened his swing. This, however, still isn’t enough to explain his unusually high average.

Based on these facts, there doesn’t appear to be a drastic change in Phillips’ approach at the plate. Therefore, we can only assume that his elevated batting average is a result of two things: His new spot in the Reds’ batting order, and pure dumb luck. 

In baseball terms, he’s simply hittin’ ‘em where they ain’t. Unfortunately for Phillips’ fantasy owners, pure dumb luck isn’t as reliable as actual talent.

Not only are the law of averages working against Phillips, but his history is too.

In 1,934 career at-bats before the All-Star Break, Phillips owns a .275 batting average. Following the Mid Summer Classic, however, that mark drops to .261.

Not surprisingly, May and June are generally his best months, while he tends to struggle in July (.258) and September (.241).

Because of recent injuries to Chase Utley and Dustin Pedroia, the second base position is somewhat thin. However, if you have the opportunity to pair Phillips with someone else for Robinson Cano, or acquire Martin Prado and another piece for Phillips, it’s worth a shot.

Phillips turns 30 next year, and both his power and speed numbers are declining.

HR/FB rates:

• 2007: 15.9%
• 2008: 13.2%
• 2009: 11.6%
• 2010: 10.3%

Stolen base efficiency:

• 2007: 32-of-40 (80%)
• 2008: 23-of-33 (69%)
• 2009: 25-of-34 (73%)
• 2010: 10-of-18 (55%)

Simply put, Phillips’ value will never be higher. He’s a great sell high option.

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When you are an uber-obsessed fan like me, who watches the majority of the games, you pick up on a few nuances along the way.  Obviously, we don’t really know these guys, and who they are as people, but for me, Brandon Phillips has always been a guy with a megawatt smile who built up his career after nearly tearing it apart, but displaying some annoying, almost diva-like tendencies at the same time.

From everything I’ve heard, he was a headache for the Cleveland Indians, which is a big reason why things didn’t pan out for him there.  Dealt for “a player to be named later” (who turned out to be Jeff Stevens), he took advantage of his second chance.  He posted steady numbers in 2006 and proved himself worthy of the everyday starting job at second base.

In 2007, he really took off, and as Reds fans know, became a 30/30 player while batting .288 and showing that Gold Glove defense at second base.

In hindsight, this may have been one of the worst things to happen to him in his young career.

The following two seasons, I saw a guy who was a total enigma, a guy playing for personal stats and not to help the team win.  His uppercut swing and his documented lack of hustle drove fans crazy, and even Dusty Baker, who is a big time “players’ manager,” was growing weary.

After a July game last year against the Dodgers when he didn’t run out a routine fly ball that ended up being dropped, here’s what Baker had to say:

“We should have gotten some more in that first inning, big time,” Baker fumed. “You have to hustle on that ball there or it’s a totally different inning. That was a rally killer for us.

“We’ve repeated it many, many times. You have to play hard all the time. That was big, real big. We had them on the ropes and we killed the rally…

“We’ve all talked to him until we’re blue in the face,” Baker said. “Evidently, this must have started long before I got here.”

In Cincinnati, with what Pete Rose did for this team back in his day, “hustle” is held in high regard.  In the modern era, you still see a lot of Ryan Freel shirts in the stands, even though he is a few years removed from the team.  Why such love for a marginal player?  Because he would run through a wall if it meant he could get to a fly ball.  He had no regard for his body.

Reds fans want to see that type of guy, and heading into this season, viewed Phillips with a certain degree of skepticism.  There was chatter that the Reds would look to slash some salary by dealing him at the deadline, if the team was out of contention.

Don’t look now, but Phillips is putting together the best year of his career, and contributing to winning baseball.  In early May, there was yet another infuriating incident where he admired a ball that he thought was going over the fence, but for the most part, I see a guy who is routinely getting from first to third on singles, shortening up his swing, and working the count more.

Not to mention, he’s putting up better numbers than perennial all-star and fellow second base counterpart Chase Utley.   His adjustment from the cleanup spot to the No. 2 hitter in the lineup has been fantastic.

His .308 average, .366 on-base-percentage (which thus far shatters what he’s produced in prior years), 9 home runs, and 24 RBI should net him serious all-star consideration.  Not to mention, his defense is still as awesome as ever.

Guys like him are how the Reds will win games.  They will likely never compete for the big name free agents, so they have two choices: Draft well, and pick up guys off the scrapheap.  Occasionally, Phillips needs a reminder where he came from, but more and more each day, I’m seeing the hungry player that came to the team in 2006, and not the diva from 2008-09.

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Hot hitting has been the reason for the Reds’ success to this point. It may astonish you to know that four of the top 11 batters in the National League wear Cincinnati uniforms.

That is correct. Scott Rolen is currently fifth in the league at .309, Brandon Phillips is ninth at .304, while Jonny Gomes and Joey Votto are tied at 10th, both batting .301.

I haven’t researched it but I bet it has been a good while since four Reds have been in the Top 10 in batting this far into the season.

Since June 1, Rolen is batting .425, with 3 HR, and 12 RBI, with an OBP of .455.

Votto is batting .316 since May 15. He also has hit 3 HR with 14 RBI, and an OBP of .419.

Since June 4, Phillips is batting .444 with a .474 OBP.

Going all the way back to May 5, Gomes is batting .364 with  5 HR and 29 RBI. His OBP during that stretch is .434. 

With runners in scoring position, Gomes is batting .435 with 36 RBI. With two outs and runners in scoring position, his average jumps to .500 with 13 RBI in only 16 AB.

Rolen is second in the league with 14 HR, and is fourth in RBI with 44.

Gomes is tied for 10th in RBI with 41. He leads all NL left fielders in average and RBI, including Ryan Braun, Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano.

Cincinnati leads the league in batting at a .280 clip, in runs, hits, RBI, in SLG and in OPS. They are second to the Milwaukee Brewers in HR, and second to the Atlanta Braves in OBP.

They were getting quality starts seemingly every outing until this past week. The starters have been getting roughed up, the middle relief corps has been spotty, and the closing department has sucked.

However, as Dusty Baker said, and I paraphrase, Don’t count us out as long as we have a bat in our hand.

It is so true, I have come to expect good things at the plate in the last inning. Last night, I couldn’t believe it when Rolen lined out to end the game.

As long as the guys are hitting, we will have a chance to win, 7-6, 14-13 or whatever. The starters will get back into the groove and hopefully the closer, formerly known as Moon Man, will get his act together on a consistent basis.

As much as I hate to admit it, great hitting trumps great pitching every time. Face it, you have never heard anyone say they got beat 0-0.

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The San Franisco Giants are exploiting the Reds vulnerability, the bullpen.

For the second straight night the Reds were either ahead or behind by one when the starter turned the keys to the car over to the bullpen. Mistake!  Don’t turn a close game over to this bullpen, it will be hazardous to your health.

On Monday it was Bobby Shantz look-alike Danny Ray Herrera getting roughed up and absorbing the loss. Johnny Cueto had not pitched up to his potential, but a rally had just put the Reds on top 5-4.

Last night rookie Sam LeCure was trailing Matt Cain and the Giants only 1-0 when he was lifted after six strong quality innings.

Logan Ondrusek and Sir Arthur Rhodes pitched scoreless ball before T-Pick handed the ball over to Nick Masset, who will soon be graduating from the Coco Cordero Academy of Late Inning Disasters. Now I know why Rolaids is the sponsor of the reliever’s award in MLB.

I know Rhodes can’t pitch every inning of relief for this sorry bullpen. But I am reasonably sure that he has more in his tank than to pitch to one or two batters at a time.

Look at Masset’s record for a moment if you will. He has given up 35 hits and 16 walks in only 25 innings, meaning his WHIP is over 2.  That should raise an eyebrow or two. If anybody is deficient in ciphering statistics, that means that in every inning Masset pitches, he is likely to give up at least one hit and a walk, or two hits, or two walks. That is no good.

In all fairness it would not have mattered if the relievers all pitched 1-2-3 innings, the Reds would have still lost, falling victim to the seven hit, 3-0 shutout performance of Cain. Brandon Phillips had three hits and Scott rolen added a couple, but for all intents and purposes the Reds weren’t on the job offensively.

While on the subject of Phillips let me work him him over for a moment. He is far too aggressive on the bases to suit me. I mean, if you like potential rally killers, then you love him, but i don’t.

He has only been successful on eight of his 14 attempts at swiping bases. That is not good. Does he have a perpetual green light or what?

Phillips is beginning to have a reputation that is less than good, when it comes to his sportsmanship, or lack thereof. In the weekend series with the Washington Nationals he had a couple of mishaps. On a play, running from second to third, he unnecessarily pushed shortstop Ian Desmond out of the way, compelling the umpire to rule obstruction on Desmond and rule Phillips safe at third.

The other instance came on Saturday night while he was on third base. Scott Rolen hit a ball to Desmond who threw to the plate as Phillips had headed home. A collision at the plate ensued and the ball was separated from catcher Will Nieves.

I am certainly not opposed to hard playing and train wrecks at home. What Phillips did after the play was what turned me on him. He stepped on the plate, thumped his chest King Kong style, and then did his best Hulk performance on his way to the dugout. The play was old school, the after-play antics was either New Age or Bush League.

Neives could have received a concussion from that impact. Personally, I was surprised Neives didn’t rise up and chase him down. Retaliation did come in the form of an “errant” pitch by reliever Miguel Batista which hit Phillips and promptly got tossed by Joe West.

Enough on Phillips, now where was I? Cain’s performance last night was fantastic and I don’t even like him. But serious ups to him.

Another round of props goes to the Los Angeles Dodgers for making it two in a row over the Cardinals, keeping the Reds deadlocked in a first place tie. That is a very good place to be, especially considering how badly the team has played.

Tonight the Reds will send Aaron Harang (4-5) against Jonathan Sanchez (4-4). The Giants lead the four game series 2-0.

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