Due to my umpiring and football referee duties, I've managed to miss the first two games vs. the Indians. And my, oh my, it seems like I've missed some great moments.. Dunn heating up? Cueto pitch a gem? please, someone fill me in. I know the results are good. Are they even hotter than when the Marlins were in town???
Hoosier do you know what the best thing about the 5 game winning streak is? Unlike the Indians, we are not relying on outstanding pitching to win the games. We haven't had to rely on one extremely hot hitter or an explosive home run barrage. It has been a complete team effort. Yes, the pitching has been good mostly competent. The hitting has really picked up the pace and been consistent and clutch and patient. The defense has hurt us (although Votto look a little shaky the other day). We have had good team play with different heroes every night. It looks as though this team is starting to gel. It still could use some tweaking. One more decent starter, a reliable relief pitcher or two. A bona fide lead off hitter that gets on base consistantly. But, over all they have been playing good fundamental base ball.
Sounds like more of what we saw against the Marlins. I could see the bats start to wake up last week against the Cubs and Mets. Poor Harang I still can't get a win, but he's still keeping us in games, which ultimately helped us win today.
And Dunn has two back-to-back GWRBI's? If we can get him hitting like he was in August and September last year for the rest of this year, watch out. I've been pretty quiet about it because I know a lot of people have been saying we need to trade Dunn (and we may very well be able to get someone good for him), but I think he needs to stay. I know his defense is...how could I say it?...well, I won't. But I really think he can be a key to this team. More than I can say for Griffey, who just looks plain sluggish at the plate to me.
Yeah Ken Griffey Jr. seems to have lost a step or two. Maybe it's time to bump Adam Dunn back up in the order and drop Jr? Just a thought. Anybody else notice that Joey Votto's been struggling lately? We need his bat, hopefully he can put fix whatever is bothering him. At least Brandon Phillips is hitting the heck outta the ball. He's gotta be playing with a chip on his shoulder against the Indians.
This could be said with any team, but if the Reds whole lineup was to click on the same cylinder, they would be a scary offense. Yeah, Votto's not quite as hot as he was. But, he has too good of a swing to get in a funk for too long. At least I hope. I haven't seen the last two games, but I don't think I've seen him swing and miss a lot or hitting the ball of the handle. I think he'll be alright.
Votto hasn't been swinging well, but an at-bat like the one he had to lead off the 9th is the type of at-bat that can break a player out of a slump.No, he didn't smash the ball off the wall, bomb an HR, or even actually hit the ball hard at all. With two strikes, he was forced to go down and hit a pitcher's pitch and me dumped it into left. Normally, when you're slumping, those find a way into a glove. His didn't, and he started off the ninth and then of course...well you know the rest of the story...
. Dunn heating up? Cueto pitch a gem? please, someone fill me in. I know the results are good. Are they even hotter than when the 