Kuzul

The Cubs may be known as the lovable losers, but Joey Votto doesn’t care.

Votto refused to congratulate Chicago Cubs outfielder Marlon Byrd when he made a big play in right field in the ninth inning of the 2010 MLB All-Star game, throwing out David Ortiz at second base for the second out of the inning. 

This play paved the way for the National League’s first victory since 1996.

“I don’t like the Cubs,” Votto told ESPN, “And I’m not going to pat anybody with a Cubs uniform on the back. But because he made that really cool play, it turned out to be a really cool experience. I’m really glad we got the win today,” Votto said.

He went on to explain why he harbored such cold feelings towards the Cubs.

“We are Cincinnati Reds,” Votto said. “We’re taught to hate everything in the Central Division. That’s just how it is.”  

Is it me or does Votto sound a little robot-esque?

It sounds like the quote should have ended with, “they must be destroyed.”

If Cubs fans needed more reasons to dislike the Dusty Baker-led squad, here you go.

Maybe Votto was just a little bitter that it took a final vote for him to get voted onto the All-Star team…

Read more: John Mark runs a blog that covers the Cubs and the Cardinals over at

TheOutfieldIvy.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

According to many reports, the Cincinnati Reds are on the verge of signing Gary Matthews, Jr. Matthews had a big year for the Texas Rangers way back in 2006. That year he put up .313/.371/.495/.866. The LA Angels then swooped in and signed Matthews for a huge deal.

Matthews’ big year in 2006 skewed his career numbers, but the Angles ignored that and tried catching four years of lightning in a bottle. It didn’t work out.

After three disappointing years, the Angels ended up getting the Mets to take him as insurance for Carlos Beltran. Recently, the Mets cut ties with Matthews.

Here is why he is a bad idea for the Reds.

Begin Slideshow

Fans of all sports love a comeback, a return to greatness, a story of redemption.

This year, much has been made of Barry Zito’s new-found pitching poise, Vladimir Guerrero’s resurgent bat, and Vernon Wells’ revitalized swing, among other motivating stories.

Rightfully so, but these are relatively minor turnarounds compared to some of MLB’s true, claw-back-from-the-brink comeback stories.

Here are 10 of the top comebacks in MLB history.

Begin Slideshow

The 40 year old Ken Griffey Jr. retired earlier this week after playing professional baseball since he was 19. He will always be remembered for his time in Seattle, not in Cincinnati. In the late 90’s he was the best player in the game and was in the discussion for possibly being the best all around player ever.

The announcement ends a 22-year run in the major leagues that included 13 all-star selections, 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves and a .284 career batting average.

After being drafted straight out of high school he became the face of Seattle. His swing, his super human-like play in center field, his smile and his backward-cap wearing enthusiasm was a match made in heaven for him, fans and advertisers.

He was known, simply, as “Junior.”

He was consistently among the leaders in home runs. He had seasons of 49, 46, 46 and 48 between 1996 and 1999. Fellow major leaguers voted him the player of the decade in 1999. He was on pace to break Hank Aaron’s career home run record.

Then he decided to go back to his hometown. Back to where is dad spent the majority of his career—the Cincinnati Reds. He grew up running around the Big Red Machine’s locker room and played high school ball at the local powerhouse Moeller.

Griffey signed for $116M over 10 years, a monsterous contract at the time. He was joining a team that had won 96 games the year before, a team that was losing relatively little in exchange for the best player in the game.

“Well,” Griffey said at his introductory press conference at Cinergy Field, “I’m finally home. This is my hometown. I grew up here. It doesn’t matter how much money you make; it’s where you feel happy. Cincinnati is the place where I thought I would be happy”.

It was suppossed to be a fariy tale story. Too bad it had a nightmare ending.

After hitting 40 home runs and driving in 118 runs for a 85 win Reds team, the injury bug bit him hard and often.

Injuries limited his output and robbed him of his natural abilities—right shoulder surgery, right knee surgery, left knee surgery, left knee surgery twice, hamstring surgery and five or six drainage procedures after the hamstring surgery.

In 2002, his worst season ever, injuries limited him to 70 games and eight homers. In 2003, early in the season, Griffey dislocated his right shoulder while diving in the outfield, an injury that held him to just 166 at-bats. After four years with the Reds, Griffey had played in only 58 percent of games, and hit no higher than .286.

His pre-30s numbers (398 homers and a .300 average) weren’t even close to his numbers in his 30s (.263 and 83 homers).

In 2004, Griffey played well enough to earn his 12th starting selection to the All-Star team. In early July he collected his 500th career homer. But in mid-July he suffered a tear in his right hamstring. Two days after he returned from the injury he completely tore the same hamstring when he attempted to make a sliding catch. Less than a week later he had season-ending surgery to fuse the tendon to the bone.

The player of the 90s simply grew old and frail as his days with the Reds went on. The team never finished above .500 after 2000. The fans tired of the constant injuries and they voiced their displeasure with . He got in a verbal dispute with one of the radio commentators and he even gave a fan the bird in Cincinnati.

In 2007, he was moved to right field. In 2008, he hit just .245 until the team traded him to the White Sox for relief pitcher Nick Masset and Triple-A second baseman Danny Richar. Griffey’s contract gave him the right to refuse the deal.

The Reds organization has nothing bad to say about him.

“He was always happy, always in a good mood”, said former teammate Bronson Arroyo. “I enjoyed him because he always didn’t talk baseball. I’d talk to him about flying his plane. He was always like a kid in that he was enthusiastic about things he was passionate about. That’s first and foremost as far as what I remember about him.”

“I’m glad he retired on his terms,” said manager Dusty Baker.

From all accounts, Griffey is a class act that will go down in history as one of the greatest center fielders of all time.

Griffey will be eligible for the 2016 Hall of Fame class. He will be enshrined with his Mariners hat on. Baseball fans will always remember him for his days in Mariner blue. The lost years that were his Reds years will be forgotten.

The dream of bringing home a championship to Cincinnati didn’t even come close. The Griffey era with the Reds is a long painful stretch of time that both parties involve hope to forget.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Dusty Baker has always been criticized for overusing his starting pitching. Critics point to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior as exhibits A and B. Then there is the whole fiasco with Aaron Harang in May of ’08.

I always thought he got a raw deal on that label. Wood’s delivery made him destined to screw up his arm, and Prior was simply a one-and-a-half-year wonder. Harang seems fine mechanically; he just hasn’t been able to avoid the home run ball.

Homer Bailey has recently been placed on the DL, and the critics are starting to blame Baker again. But his shoulder injury has nothing to do with Dusty, and Bailey looks to be ready to go in 15 days. Bailey himself got angry with the media when they tried connecting those dots.

The real problem for Baker and the Reds: his over-reliance on the back end of the bullpen. Sure, seemingly every game has come down to the final few innings. Sure, the Reds boast one of the best setup men in the league. But Arthur Rhodes, Nick Masset, and Francisco Cordero are all on pace to set personal records for appearances.

The 40-year-old Rhodes, who just pitched in his 800th career game, is on pace to pitch in a career-high 74 games. It’s hard not to use a guy with a 0.47 ERA and 0.62 WHIP. The problem is that he is ancient in baseball years and needs more rest if the Reds plan on using him in September.

The 28-year-old Masset hasn’t pitched well of late, blowing two games in the past week. Yet he is still a reliable setup man that can provide key outs in the eighth inning of a tight game. Giving up an Opening Day grand slam to the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina has left Masset’s 7.29 ERA as bloated as a Goodyear blimp.

He is projected to pitch in a whopping 88 games. That is 14 more than his career high of last year. He has closer velocity, but injuries are certainly a concern if he keeps this rate up.

Cordero, the $12M, 11-year veteran, has not been his usual dominant self this season. The 35-year-old “Co Co” has already blown three saves—he blew a total of four saves last year.

Is it because of his workload? His current career high in appearances is 77. This year Dusty has him on a pace for 90 games! That’s waaay too many. Sure, he’s on pace to have 54 saves, but there is no way his arm doesn’t fall off before that. In a five-game stretch last week, he pitched in four of them.

Why hasn’t Baker used the overpaid Mike Lincoln more? He’s only pitched three times since May 8. His ERA is a fat 5.87, but that is the result of two rough outings. Give him the ball a bit more to relieve the relievers.

What about Carlos Fisher? Pitching only twice since May 7, he hasn’t had a chance to deflate his 9.39 ERA. He has been better of late and is another fine candidate for a bigger part of the winning formula. After starting off the year on the DL, Fisher is 100 percent, young (27), and hungry for a bigger role. Why not give him a shot?

But the biggest head scratcher of the bunch is the lack of use of Micah Owings. I assume Baker views him as the long reliever, but why not utilize him more often? On pace for only 77 innings, the former starter threw 119.2 innings last year—including a stint on the DL. Clearly this guy has plenty of juice in his arm still. A perfect 3-0, and he averages a strikeout per inning so far.

The 27-year-old righty has a 3.43 ERA and is also a legitimate threat at the plate. Dusty always tiptoes around the pitcher’s spot in the batting owner, and Owings is an easy solution. Why can’t he be relied upon more often?

Baker has a bad rap for screwing up starting pitchers’ arms. Yet the real problem may be the lack of rest for the meat of the bullpen. Rhodes and Cordero are getting to the twilight of their careers and are being worked harder than ever. The results have shown lately in the multiple blown leads over the past week.

The time is now to ease up on them and give some of the others a larger role. If not, Baker could have a new title: reliever wrecker.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Not literally, but the Cincinnati Reds do need to do it figuratively.

Memorial Day weekend is just a few days away—marking the unofficial start to Summer—and for baseball, this weekend also marks the “real” start to the season.

The pretenders begin to show their true colors, and the contenders grab the bull by the horns as the temperatures rise.

For the last decade, Reds fans have been used to watching their teams melt in the humidity of competition—unable to handle the increasing heat and pressure of what it takes to be more than just a Spring fling.

If you examine it, the Reds (with all of their hot, or decent, starts in the past) resemble an addict who just cannot seem to “stay on the wagon”.

Cincinnati is currently “on the wagon,” and on the road to recovery (or in this case, on the road to success).

But that road gets seriously bumpy from this point on.

It will get hot—and muggy—making it more difficult to perform at the same level everyday. At the same time, as they struggle to compete, those teams who have been there before are primed and pulling out everything they have to win.

In the past, the Reds—not used to having to play even better than they are at the time—have struggled to stay at that level, and they begin to lose confidence in themselves.

They slowly return to the form of a punching bag, believing this is who they really are.

Thus, falling off the wagon—and returning to that nasty drug called mediocrity.

Cincinnati Manager Dusty Baker is well aware of how addicting mediocrity can be.

“Around here, people are a little skeptical because there are times we started out good and come August you couldn’t find us”, Baker said as he chatted with the media after the Reds shot past the St. Louis Cardinals to move into first place.

He’s right.

Seriously, the past does not lie my friends…

2004: Cincinnati finishes the first half six games over .500. The Reds scare themselves back to what they think is normal. Final record: 76-86.

2005: The Reds fall off the wagon early, and in July find themselves 19 games under, but crawl to within six games of .500. The effort comes to a quick end. Final record: 73-89.

2006: On June 25th, Cincinnati is rolling at 11 games over, sitting at 36-25. A mid-summer fade brings the Reds back to a losing binge. Final record: 80-82.

2007: The Reds just are not very good, but start May within a game of .500. The wheels then fall off…really fall off. Final record: 72-90.

2008: Similar to the year before Cincinnati must distrust their lack of true talent, and play with heart. June 1st has them one game under .500, but they never sustain a winning mindset. Final record 74-88.

2009: Cincinnati isn’t great, but not bad as April, and May prove they are worth watching. June and July crank up the heat, and the Reds fall into a stretch that has them go 34-53. Final record: 78-84.

We could go further back, but the enormity of the mediocrity is astounding.

These are images that we as fans—and more importantly, the Reds as a team—need to work on changing.

Baker, continuing the discussion on Cincy’s Summer collapses, went on to say, “I don’t think this is that kind of team.”

I totally agree.

That’s the point of the title of this article.

Cincinnati is used to these “clothes”—this mindset, this belief, that they just are not good enough.

They must change that expectation of losing or falling short.

Its going to get hot, and it will suck having to put out 100-percent effort and focus game-in and game-out just to be among the contenders.

But that’s what it will take.

Refuse to believe that “the winning was good, while it lasted.”

Losing is a type of drug—a drug that will rear its head every chance it gets. It’s an addiction that plays with your mind, and your psyche. It will take over if you believe the critics or doubt yourself at the very least.

There is a small market team bias that acts as a pusher, hoping to real-in its next helpless abuser or maintain that junky who can’t help themselves.

But so far, that has not stopped those teams from believing in themselves. 

A USA Today article by Mike Lopresti last week detailed how a number of baseball’s so-called lower class teams are proving money, power, and prestige do not always equate to wins. He focused mainly on the Tampa Bay Rays, but Cincinnati was prominently detailed as well.

As familiar Reds fans are with just a month or two of success (sobriety), followed by four months of what could have been—Lopresti, also, was not lost on the subject.

His article finished with these hopefully not-damning words, “They’re having fun in Cincinnati, Texas and San Diego, too; places where the bottom line hasn’t gotten in the way. At least, not yet.”

Cincinnati is playing well, and should not be afraid of success.

They must resist the temptation to believe they are not worthy of winning or beating the best.

This must be the season where there will not be a June swoon, July lullaby, an Au-GUH-st or September slumber attached to the Reds.

If they need a sponsor to assist in their path to maintaining a mediocrity-free lifestyle, just take a look around the stands at Great American Ballpark…you will find thousands of us who have their back.

Summers in Ohio do get hot, muggy, and sometimes unbearable.

But that’s the way I like it.

I don’t run from it. The Reds must now show the National League Central that same type of attitude, focus, and determination. There’s a reason St. Louis is always looking down, they don’t have to look up.

They believe.

Cincinnati—put on those fire suits because its gonna be sweltering.

And you will have to sweat it out.

Mediocrity, no more.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Remember that scene in the movie Bull Durham when Crash Davis (aka Kevin Costner) tells the manager what he should do to get his team to respond? Funny, you see those kinds of tricks work in the movies.

But believe it or not, the Cincinnati Reds manager may have hit a home run of his own with such a tantrum back in April.

If you don’t remember from the movie, Crash Davis tells the manager to remember that the guys are just a bunch of kids, and that you have to scare them to get them to listen.

The manager then goes ballistic, throws baseball bats all over the clubhouse, and rips the team for lollygagging , not being committed, and playing like horse pooh. Magically, the team responds, and they live happily ever after.

ANYWAY, back to reality. On April 24 , after the Reds were shut out by San Diego five to nil, Dusty Baker let them have it. And they deserved it.

Cincinnati produced all of four hits (to go along with being shut out), had three base running errors (caught stealing twice), Drew Stubbs lost track of how many outs there were, and starter Johnny Cueto added a wild pitch and hit a batter to a so-so mound performance. After this fiasco the Reds had all of seven wins to go along with 11 losses.

According to an article on Cincinnati.com from April 25 Baker was asked about the so-called closed door meeting with his bunch of lollygaggers . His response: “Anybody that’s a parent knows that sometimes you’ve got to chastise your child,” Baker said. “Even though you spank ’em, you still love ’em. It’s over now.”

Dusty had seen this poor play all to often, “It wasn’t just yesterday (April 24 ), it was a number of things,” Baker said. “You just gotta keep teaching and preaching.” He went on to say, “It’s not through lack of effort, it’s proper effort.” It was obvious to everyone.

Funny, Baker hasn’t been there long enough to understand that this is the type of play Reds fans have seen for the last 10 years. Surprisingly enough, the Reds actually took to Dusty’s get-your-butt-in-gear-or-get-out firestorm. Cincinnati has gone 16-5 since that time, had an 11-game errorless streak, and is playing the type of ball Reds fans enjoyed prior to 2000.

They have even produced some wins that still make me question whether or not I actually saw it, including Tuesday’s (May 18 ) come from behind 5-4 victory over Milwaukee where they scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth (four runs total in the final two innings)!

Not only are the Reds playing like winners, they are also playing the part. On ESPN Radio’s Baseball Tonight Monday night (May 17 ), rookie pitcher Mike Leake spoke with ESPN’s Chuck Wilson. The interview sounded like Wilson was conversing with a 10-year veteran: no frills, no over-the-top statements…just baseball.

Leake credited his success to watching and learning from the veterans (Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, and others) and pretending like you have been there before. Wow, it was refreshing to hear.

For those of you who still don’t believe, or are just waiting for the Reds to hit the brick wall (don’t worry, we’ve seen it all to often), I think you need to reconsider.

Or maybe rent Bull Durham and scare yourself at how eerily similar that flick from 1988 resembles the Cincinnati Reds of 2010.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

WhatIfSports.com utilizes its award-winning baseball simulation engine to present the most comprehensive and unbiased ranking possible of all 30 teams in baseball each Monday during the regular season.

To come up with the rankings, using only their statistical performance to date this season, each team is simulated against every other team 100 times (50 at home and 50 away) so that all five pitchers in the current rotation start ten times at each location.

(Note: If a pitcher who was in the rotation was recently put on the DL, he will not be included in the simulations.

Teams Ranked by Winning Percentage
(everyone plays everyone 100 times)

The Cincinnati Reds have been on fire over the last three weeks. They have now jumped from 22nd to 16th in WIS Power Rankings. After taking two of three against the Cardinals over the weekend, the Reds are now in sole possession of first place in the NL Central.

Taking a look at the stats, Cincinnati’s pitching has really led the charge up the standings after slipping out of the gate in early April. The Reds’ team ERA has dropped from 5.41 last month to 3.54 in May.

“Everybody has been clicking on all cylinders,” starting pitcher Homer Bailey told Whatifsports.com. “That’s what a lot of people didn’t see {in April}, was how bad we were playing as a team. We have started to get into our rhythm and we’re right there.”

The Cincinnati Reds are 9-5 in the month of May and have won 14 out of their last 20 games dating back to the end of April. The team’s bats have awoken from a spring slumber too. Jay Bruce is hitting .364 over the last seven days and is realizing his team can erupt at anytime.

“We’ve been playing good baseball,” Bruce told Whatifsports.com. “The tough losses have given us more character and a resiliency to know we are never out of games.”

Great American Ballpark, the Reds home field, has experienced a jolt in attendance numbers thanks to the team’s hot play.

“This is a baseball town when it’s going right,” Bruce said.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

In the words of my esteemed colleague, Jim Anchower , “Hola amigos. How’s (stuff) shaking out? I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but misery’s been flying at me from all directions, and it’s been a (dang) full-time job to just duck out of the way of all of it.”

Well not really—four days.

But it’s been a long time since I’ve stood on my anti-Dusty Baker soapbox (at least 10 days). 

I can no longer hold in a tirade that, if my brain were not totally in charge of editing the language of this piece, would make Rahm Emanuel sound like Norman Vincent Peale.

Before I get started, allow me to say that the Reds’ recent 7-3 run is all about the pitching.  More precisely, pitching coach Bryan Price. 

Dusty’s dugout dances have nothing to do with the streak.

I so much wanted to write a positive Price article tonight.

I swear was in a good mood all day.  Then I made the mistake of watching Friday night’s St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds game.

Price is the man. 

I almost long for the days of Dick Pole. 

If Pole were still the pitching coach, Dusty would surely be history by now and Reds’ faithful would not have to put up with his night-in, night-out blunders.

Formerly, I have begged the Reds to call Rick Sweet and offer him Dusty’s post. 

Now I would trust the team in the hands of Betty White. 

Dusty why do you continually bat strikeout-prone Brandon Phillips in the two-hole?

Oh yeah, you’re the hep cat who once said, “It’s called hitting, and it ain’t called walking. Do you ever see the top 10 walking? You see top 10 batting average. “

Have you never heard of a little stat called on-base-percentage?  Going into Friday night’s game Phillips had an OBP of .329, while hitting at a .263 clip.

By contrast, and again going into Friday’s contest, Ryan Hanigan is getting on base at a rate of .492 while maintaining a .380 batting average. 

Not only are you contradicting yourself, but you seem not to understand that by having men on base before your big boppers stroll to the dish is something that was done back in your playing days, before a remedial sabermetrics class became the norm.

A basic managerial prerequisite—like those courses that don’t count and start with a zero rather than, say, a 101. 

Back to Friday’s game.

Why, with one out, down by one-run in the ninth and runners on first and second did you send pinch hitter and right-handed batter, Ramon Hernandez to face the Cards’ right-handed closer, Ryan Franklin?  WHY?

Hernandez promptly grounded into a game ending 6-4-3 double play.

You obviously knew (or should have known) that righties were hitting .206 versus Franklin while lefties posted .300 average.

We all thought you had Nix on the bench.  Of course after the game you stated, “Nix wasn’t available.” 

Should we believe you? 

Earlier in the season you played Miguel Cairo at first base saying something to the tune of, “Votto has the flu.”  Yet Joey Votto came in later to pinch-hit, got a hit, and remained in the game, replacing Cairo in the field.

Do people really get over the flu in a matter of hours? 

My man, you could make serious bank during when the annual flu scare hits around October—just a matter of picking the proper animal.  Myself, I’m betting on a “puppy flu” pandemic.

Hernandez now has three hits in 22 at-bats versus Franklin.  While Nix was four for 16 against the pitcher.

If Nix indeed “wasn’t available” why not pinch hit Paul Janish? 

At least Janish doesn’t run like an 18-wheeler on a steep climb in the mountains of West Virginia.

Or was it because, as you have said, “Black and Hispanic players are better suited to playing in the sun and heat than white players. “

If that is your excuse: a) It was dark out, and b) The temperature was in the mid-60s—at most.

At what degree of heat is this magical threshold you speak of in regards to white players?

Dusty, my hatred is limited to mosquitoes. 

That said, your game management makes viewing the Reds less tolerable than gawking at two 97-year olds as they attempt to make sweet love.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The month of May has been good to the Cincinnati Reds. They have gone 7-4 through a Cardinals, Cubs, Mets and Pirates slate.

The hitting is coming around, currently ranked fifth in the N.L. with 158 runs scored. But the major turn-around as been courtesy of the starting pitching.

After a magical one-hit complete game shut-out by Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey followed suit. He gave up a whopping five hits over a complete game shut-out. The legendary Dayton Daily News beat writer Hal McCoy sums it up best:

“Reds pitchers gave up one run over 27 innings. The Pirates third base coach was as lonely as a cop directing traffic in the Arctic Circle”

Bailey (1-2) needed only 90 pitches—73 for strikes—to close out the Reds’ fifth straight win. He did not go to a three-ball count the whole game and only went to a two-ball count four times.

“That’s the epitome of pitch conservation right there,” manager Dusty Baker said. “He followed Johnny Cueto’s lead right there. That’s the most well-pitched two days that I’ve seen in a long time.”

Cueto and Bailey become the first pair of Reds pitchers to fire back-to-back complete-game shutouts since Jose Rijo  and Tom Browning accomplished the feat on June 9 & 10, 1989 at Los Angeles.

Bailey loves the Pirates—he has a 5-0 record lifetime against the AAAA club. Sure he got rocked against the Cubs last week, but he seems to have found out how to conserve his pitches better than in the past. He is still a work in progress, but the 23 year-old is finally learning from previous mistakes.

Couple the terrific past two days with a seemingly revived Aaron Harang, a steady Bronson Arroyo a phenom in the making in rookie Mike “who needs the minors” Leake, and the Reds suddenly have one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball.

Sure the ERA and wins, loss records aren’t there. Yet after a rocky month of April the Reds hold 16 quality starts—sixth in the N.L.

Sure it’s only May, there is plenty of games to be played (128 to be exact), but the season is over 20 percent complete.

Still too early to declare 2010 “the year”, last season the club was 26-20 at one point. But this team has the right chemistry. No more aging stars with ego’s too big for the clubhouse. No Corey Patterson’s or Willy Taveras’. Just a lot of youngsters that are enjoying the ride that is being a Major League baseball player.

Reds media relations guru Jamie Ramsey blogged about how manager Dusty Baker took the team out to dinner Sunday night. Baker seems to genuinely like this team:

“He gave a heartfelt post-dinner speech to the guys in which he called the group “special” and told the guys to believe they can win this season.  It was nice and the team responded to it.  There was a nice energy in the room”

Dusty picked up the check for the whole team too!

On the offensive side, the veterans (Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, Johnny Gomes) are starting to put up numbers usually expected when looking at the back of their respectiveve baseball cards. Joey Votto is on his way to the All-Star game, and even Jay Bruce has righted the ship.

“He’s been much better,” Baker said. “We try to give him some theories and philosophies. We have talk to left-handers who can hit left-handers.”

Baker has had Bruce talk to Luis Gonzalez and Raul Ibanez.

Bruce’s splits are pretty even this year, quite the opposite of ’09. He went into Wednesday hitting .250 off left-handers and .273 off right-handers. He has two homers off LHs and two off RHs, even though he had 49 more at-bats vs. righties.

He is second on the team with 16 walks and seems to not fall for the garbage in the dirt as much over the past few weeks.

So all is well in Red Leg land, but a larger question still remains. Can this team compete with the division leading St. Louis Cardinals? Beating the Pirates is one thing, but getting Albert Pujols out consistently is a whole different beast.

Nobody likes to throw the term “must win series” out in May, but the Reds need to take two of three to let themselves know it’s not just a one team race in the N.L. Central. The Reds sit only one game out of first, but it feels like the gap is much wider. This weekend the Reds can prove that’s not the case.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com