Kuzul

As we approach the stretch run, in what has been a banner 2010 season thus far, much has been made of the struggles of Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce, and how their trials and tribulations may affect the Reds chase for the postseason.

Oh, if I had a dollar for every Stubbs strikeout, or every time Bruce was badly fooled by offspeed stuff…

Seemingly lost in these struggles is the third man in that outfield, Jonny Gomes.  Because his at bats are frighteningly quick, we are not given much time to psychoanalyze him.

A few months ago, Gomes was arguably one of the most productive outfielders in the National League.  

He has fallen off since, and heading into Wednesday, sits at .268, with 13 home runs and 65 RBI’s. A .227 average post-all star break has knocked that average down from the .300 mark he was at.

Anyone who watches the Reds on a regular basis knows Gomes is all about.  

Patience isn’t one of his virtues. He is very aggressive at the plate, often hacking away very early in the count. That’s good if he manages to get a hold of something, but the majority of his at-bats lately have ended in pop-ups or strikeouts.

Additionally, Gomes is no maestro of the glove. I can think of numerous times this season where ill-advised decisions on his part have hurt the Reds.

It pains me a little bit to write this, as I think Gomes is one of the most likable guys on this team.  

Fact is, a few years ago, his baseball career was on serious life support.  Kudos to him for picking up the pieces. He put together a nice year last season, and got off to a good start this year.

Additionally, his mohawk and theatrics when up to bat have been major hits with the fans. 

It was a stoic, serious clubhouse when Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn were in charge. With guys like Gomes, everyone has loosened up a little bit. That has certainly played a role in what the Reds have managed to do.

However, I believe the time has come to platoon Gomes with Chris Dickerson, who has been tearing it up in the minors. Gomes may pick it back up, but with the Reds in such a tight race, that’s a chance they can’t take.

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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.

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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 Cincinnati Reds were able to turn around their four-game series against the San Francisco Giants Wednesday night with a 6-3 win.

So, after losing twice to the Giants earlier in the week, what changed in this game that allowed the Reds to win?

For starters, the Reds did a much better job manufacturing runs. That’s the obvious difference shown by the final score. The six runs they scored were the most they’ve tallied in a game thus far in the series.

The Reds also did a better job of batting, and giving themselves an opportunity to score the runs they did.

This includes Drew Stubbs’ home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Jonny Gomes’ hit that scored two runs for the Reds in the seventh.

In addition to batting well, the Reds also received an amazing pitching performance out of starter Aaron Harang.

Harang tossed seven strong innings and fanned three. His solid pitching helped the Reds prevent the Giants from scoring more than their three runs.

On top of batting and pitching well, the Reds also did a decent job on defense. This stellar teamwork contributed to the Reds’ success.

One of the stronger infielders for the Reds was shortstop Orlando Cabrera. He played error-free ball, and had several song throws to the bases.

The Reds have had a rough start to the four-game series against the Giants.

If they play today’s final game against the Giants they way they played Wednesday night, they have a good shot at coming away with the series split.

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We have all been so impressed with the Reds starting pitchers and depressed about the ass-end of the bullpen, that we have not given notice to the rebirth of Jonny Gomes.

If you haven’t looked at the National League stats lately, he is currently the fifth best hitter in the league, sporting a .316 average, which makes him currently the best hitter on the team. He is also fifth in slugging percentage and 10th in the league in OPS.

Not bad for a man who was non-tendered by the team during the offseason. Just prior to spring training he was offered a deal and gladly accepted.

Gomes has really stepped on the gas this month. Since May 5, he is batting .429 with a .481 OBP, a slugging percentage of .771 and an unbelievable OPS of 1.253. He has also got 30 hits, belted 5 HR, and knocked in 20 during that sizzling stretch, spanning 20 games.

As a fan and a viewer of most Reds games, I can see the vast difference in Gomes from last season to this. He is much more selective on his swings. He doesn’t just go up an hit a homer or strikeout as he used to.

Last night (Friday) against the Houston Astros he went 4-4 with everything but a double. He scored two, knocked in four and drew one base on balls.

In a recent series with the St. Louis Cardinals, manager Tony LaRussa said Gomes was a very dangerous hitter and seemed to play every game as though it were his last. That is high praise indeed from arguably the best manager in the game.

During the Civil Rights Game at Great American Ball Park, Mr. Cub himself, Ernie Banks said that he didn’t know much about Gomes, but was very impressed with his intensity and by the way he played.

The Reds are certainly getting some serious return on their investment in the left-field position. According to ESPN, Gomes is making $800,000 (down from $1,275,000 last year) this season while Laynce Nix is playing for free (that is what it says on ESPN).

You can feel the excitement when Gomes comes to bat with ducks on the pond. You just feel that something good is going to happen, and it usually does. One of the Reds TV announcers, Jeff Brantley or Paul Keels, said that Gomes is leading the league in batting average (.455) with runners in scoring position. That number inflates to .583 when there are two outs thrown in the mix.

So, sure the Reds had yet another quality start, another by a rookie, this time Sam LeCure. It was very impressive indeed. But sometimes the moon is so bright you can’t see the stars around it. I am sure Gomes doesn’t mind being called the star in this instance.

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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.

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