OH YEAH

Reds Fall in Extras....AGAIN

This is getting as tough to drop as a bad habit. The Reds once again fell in extras, this time off a Derrek Lee jack. The Reds seem to be 0 for 100 in extra innings so far this year, and 1 for 1000 when it comes to getting game changing, timely hits. (Can't for get that opening day walk off right?)

Edinson Volquez started for the Redlegs, and it did not go well. His four run, four and a third inning performance has left many wondering if Dontrell Willis will get another shot in his place. It would not be a bad idea, Volquez clearly does not have it, he appeared to leave balls much to high in the strike zone or miss altogether throughout the night.

The Willis interest is interesting. It was said throughout the spring that nothing was wrong with him, he was just getting knocked around. Lately, including yesterday, Willis put on a show in Triple A Louisville. He pitched eight innings of 4 run good baseball and thanked his team for fighting for him on twitter later that night. Like I said before, if it came to it I would not mind sending Willis out for a start or two. As the old saying goes 'What's the worst that can happen?'.

Pittsburgh's win yesterday along with Cincinnati's lost means that the Reds are in forth place at the end of June. Scary statement indeed. Especially when Reds beat writers earlier in the year declared a Reds wire to wire season was a sure thing.

Am I worried yet? Nope! The Reds are fine, lets focused on getting the bats hot and we should be fine. Lots of people laugh but the Reds offense has SUCKED lately, and I feel that it is not because they are bad, but because it is a June Swoon. They will get out of it. Trust me, I own a blog.

Chapman Reactivated, so is First to Third

Hello again, I have no readership so I guess we will have to start over.

The Reds are right now 39-37 and continue to coast. With all of their problems they seem to have been able to stagger a big drop off. The shortstop position continues to be a splinter in the foot that is becoming infected. Much to the dismay of Reds fans who cried and shouted all off season hoping the club would get it fixed. Along with one left side of the field position there is another that seems to be giving the Reds a headache. Left Fielder Johnny Gomes has since been benched, only starting against certain left handed pitchers. Fred Lewis and Chris Heisey have been pleasantly good for the team so far just have not seem to be getting the opportunity to take the starters job. Much has made about trades to fill this gap, something I, a conservative baseball genius, agree with.

I am not one to out and demand a block buster deal every other season. I value prospects much higher than the normal baseball fan does and feel that if the teams not broke don't fix it. But I continue to see this team doing nothing in the playoffs if something is not done. So, if you conclude like me that a trade needs to happen in the near future, the rumors are painful.

Jose Reyes, Matt Kemp, David Price, J.J Hardy all have been mentioned for the Reds. Price a little silly but we may dream. Yet, all seem to be just dreams. The Reds continue to settle, hoping that one of the two shortstops break out of their season long funk. Left Field has a three man rotation (which I see is unfair to both Lewis and Heisey who's rhythm must be messed up because of it ) that is not producing near enough. Hopefully the Wolf (Walt Jocketty) is just playing his hand closely like he always does. About to make that ground breaking deal that will counter anything the Brewers or Cardinals attempt to do. Dreams.

The title says Chapman, I have yet to talk about him, lets do it now. Aroldis Chapman (who almost blew my entire day by giving the Cardinals a chance in game three in the last series when I was sitting front row taunting the crap out of the birds) has been reactivated from the 15 day disable list after 30 days. He has pitched nine times in the minors, and recently has looked good. So hopefully this will spark the Reds as they are set to compete against those O's.

That is my spill,
Parker Perry

Image credited to bret.patton.blogspot.com

Reds Pounced

six games doesn't make a season. Keep telling yourself that as you watch what has been the worst baseball fans have witnessed in the last three years. The Reds have not played winning baseball, in fact I can argue that they are playing losing baseball. The fact they have lost six games in a row proves my argument.

Bronson Arroyo was crushed last night and it was not even funny. He gave up nine runs in three innings and at no time looked comfortable on the mound.

Jay Bruce looked like he is getting his swing in shape, lets hope someone decides to back him up.

I am pretty upset at what I am seeing, this is not a good time to start playing your worst baseball of all year. I believe that the Reds are just as talented as both Cleveland and Philadelphia but are not playing like it. I think they can compete against these guys. But it does not matter what I think, what matters is the Reds regrouping and picking up a gosh dang win!

What Better Time?

I am going to start writing again. I am not the only baseball blog to take off for a month and comeback, so I don't feel too bad about it. Right now the Reds are at a 5 game low point, and have been swept by the Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates. I think I know why they where swept by the Indians, here are my top five reasons.

5. Thought the game was over when someone took the lead
4. Johnny Gomes thought a ball was a strike and vice versa
3. The smell of the poor people crapping in the streets of Cleveland was too distracting
2. Still sore because of the rape by the Butt Pirates days earlier.
1. Thought the World was going to end on May 21st.

Sure its no Letterman but it is something.

Anyway, tons of move by the Redlegs today, they wavered Daniel Ray Herra, (picked up by the Brewers) they dropped Jordan Smith and Edinson Volquez to Triple A and brought up Todd Frazier and Matt Maloney. There is also a shot former Miami RedHawk (fellow MAC School) Chad Reineke gets the start Friday in Atlanta. That should be exciting.

Oh well, lets see what this week brings us (hopefully more post!)

Janish is going to be out for several days.

With what appeared to be a rolled ankle yesterday, shortstop Paul Janish will have to sit out the next few days. He described his joint as tender.

Taken from Mark Sheldon
“It’s just so tender right now. Whenever I get up on my toe, it’s tough to do much. I think it will be a couple of days or taking it easy and it will be alright. It’s nothing too severe, just your standard issue ankle sprain. There’s nothing you can do about it, which really stinks.”

The blow of losing the starting shortstop is only made worse with the fact that the reds are already shorthanded. Third baseman Scott Rolen is still days away from returning and utility infielder Miguel Cairo is still limping around. Baker said Cairo would be available to pinch hit today.

The Reds line up (Once again taken from Sheldon will look like this.

Stubbs 8
Renteria 6
Votto 3
Phillips 4
Bruce 9
Heisey 7
Hanigan 2
Valaika 5
Arroyo 1

Renteria hitting in the two whole is something I look at a little weary. I would have loved to see Bruce there, but what do I know, I am just a simple college kid who is celebrating the upcoming summer days!

http://marksheldon.mlblogs.com/2011/05/07/janish-not-in-lineup/

Trying again

It is known around UA as The Hell Stretch. The several weeks after spring break teachers and professors cram as much as possible down the throats of their students so they can put it on the final exam. Well being a freshmen, I am new to this tradition. And though I feel that I did well with it, writing for this took a back seat. So lets play some catch up here.

The Reds are now two games above .500 and as I write this they are riding a three game win streak. Pretty great considering that they are now getting back two of their top pitchers and a solid third baseman in Scott Rolen back real soon. The Reds could easily have another May like they had back in 2010.

The three upcoming series are.

@Houston for three games
vs. St.Louis three games
2 games vs. Chicago Cubs

And lets not forget the game today and tomorrow against the Cubs.

Today it's Arroyo Vs. Coleman, and the Reds are -135 favorites. I hope they can get it done, we shall see here in an hour or two.

Lets hope we are back, reporting everyday. It is tough to write when you don't get quotes and opinions, so I will try to borrow some from fellow writers, I will be sure to give credit and a link with it.

Going to Start back this Weekend

These past two weeks have been Hell. I am a college student and because of that teacher has crammed in a lot of work in a little time period. Because of this I have literary Had trouble finding time to even watch the games, let along blog about them.

I think I can get back in the swing of things this coming weekend. Everything will be close to settling down and the summer is right around the corner.

I will not be laying around all summer either. I have just had an interview with clear channel yesterday, and I think I will be taking an internship with them! I am really excited, It is a dream of mine to work in radio.

Like I said, I think I will be able to get back in the thick of things this weekend, starting with the cardinals series, but I am going to go ahead and cover what has happened since I have been gone.

The Reds Have Fallen Apart.

Sure I knew that it was not going to be easy. That sweeps are tough to come by, and to think that we would run away division is ridiculous. But for them to go out this past weekend and lose three of four to the lonely Pirates is painful. Despite being swept last year by them, it still gives them no excuses.

They have also lost the first to Arizona. I really hope they can win these last two and go into St. Louis on a winning streak. God I hope.

I am kind of in a hurry, so this may be poorly written, I am sorry, I really and better then this, just got to go!

Parker Perry

Reds Get Back to Good Baseball

After losing two straight, the Cincinnati Reds got back on the good side of the scoreboard.

The first and last inning provided the most offense in the game. The mass majority of the rest were zeros. The Reds put up two runs in the first, off a sacrifice by Jay Bruce that plated two with an error throw. Then In the ninth, leading by one, Johnny Gomes doubled off the glove of a diving Melvin Mora to plate two. Two extra would come across in the inning the Reds sealed the deal, a 6-1 victory.

Bronson Arroyo is now 2 for 2. His season stats stand at 2-0, 2.80 ERA, 13IP, 4R and 11 Strikeouts. Dominating.

Also, point of notice the Reds Bullpen once again came in and shutdown the opposing offense this time for 3 innings. Bill Bray, Aroldis Chapman and Francisco Cordero pitched an innging each of no run baseball.

Thoughts on the Game

Really don't have much. Reds went out, played good baseball, and got the win. Reds will play for the series today at 4:10. It will be Mike Leake vs. Joe Sounders. Should be a good one. You know me and Leake are tight, so I will have full confidence in him to pitch this time 6 of 1 run ball.

And by the way, while the game was being played I was on the phone with MLB.tv trying to figure out why some games were being played on my computer and while others were not. The Pittsburgh-Colorado game was working fine but I could not upload the Reds game. Spent 40 minuets and went around the world trying to figure out what was wrong. Eventual I uploaded a ton of things onto my computer, and not only did the stream work, but my computer is running a lot faster now also. Moral of the story, don't ever settle for poor quality. Give the people a call and figure out what is wrong!

That is all.

Ian Kennedy and Dbacks Offense Destory Reds

That was not pretty. The Cincinnati Reds went west for their first road trip of the season and was caught in a trap of a sellout enthused opening day crowed. The Diamondbacks gave those fans a show.

Scoring 13 runs while Ian Kennedy used a breaking changeup that fooled every Red in the line up, the home team ran away with a 13-2 win. It was one of those games that seemed that everything was the Dbacks way. And against the Cincinnati Reds.

Not too much thought on the game, nothing to forget but everything not to drag on. Some thing that I have thought about is Matt Maloney. How tough is that on him and the organization. I hate to see him struggle, but I also hate to see him in the bullpen.

Maloney needs to be in Louisville working as a starter. He had some value going into the season, if nothing trade value. But now that Reds are converting him as a relief pitcher, I believe that he goes down just a bit.

But that's about it. Tell me what you think either here or on twitter (look below for the name). I think we need to ship him back to Louisville as soon as possible and try to trade him near the deadline.

Reds Drop First One of 2011

Losing sucks, losing by one is awful.

Sam Lecure took the mound in a Thursday low scoring affair. Pitching well all the way to the fifth Lecure only gave up his two runs by way of fielder choices. He looked good out there besides of the many walks allowed. I agree with Shawn Casey that Reds pitchers just need to pound the strike zone and let their defense do the rest.

The Reds offense, which was missing regulars Paul Janish and Scott Rolen, were unable to do much against Houston ace Brett Meyers. Meyers made the Reds look bad forcing them to pop up in almost every at bat.

With the score 2-1 in the seventh Baker sent up Rolen as a pinch hitter. He took the first pitch for a strike and the second he sent over the left field wall to tie it at two. Rolen had delivered what was much needed, momentum against a guy that the Reds could just not figure out. The Astros took Meyers out at that point and handed the ball over to a questionable bullpen. They did however take care of business.

Shutting down the Reds for the remainder of the game it took just one run in the ninth to seal the deal for them. Astros win 3-2

Some Thoughts on the Game

Drew Stubbs Did Not Look Good
Not at all. Popping out 4 times all to the right side of the field, it was a day to forget for number 6.

Defense Played Well
Especially Renteria. I am not sure just how much do we lose when we send him out rather then Janish

Bullpen
A lot of people are talking about how bad Nick Masset is, which I think is great. People expect this bullpen to perform perfectly because of the way they have been playing. And when that happens you know the team is doing something right.

5-1
No reason to panic, the Big Red Machine 2.0 is 5-1. If they continue to win 5 and lose 1 they will have 130+ wins on their hands, which is plenty enough to make the playoffs.

Volquez Receives First Win After Tough Start

OK I lied, it was horrible, not tough.

Edinson Volquez walked three (one that walked in a run with two outs) in the first inning. He single handily created a jam that he was not able to get out of giving up four runs before the Reds even picked up a bat. When the Reds did finally get there they were unable to produce anything. I was getting nervous (because I am a fan and not some superman journalist).

But all of a sudden something struck me, "The first may belong to the Astros, but the game will belong to the Reds". I should have put it on twitter, I forgot I owned that damn thing, but I did put it one Redszone. It just seemed that after the second the Reds had settled in, knew what the opposing pitcher Nelson Figueroa was bringing and was making good contact. Also, it did not hurt that Volquez had a quick second. And by George I was right.

In the third the Reds brought up nine hitters and scored five runs, taking a 6-4 lead. No home runs, all singles and doubles driving in runs. It was a beautiful sight. Everyone doing their part and to slowly rip the game away.

The rest of the game Volquez pitched well. Pitching against a maximum 4 batters per inning mixing in some 1,2,3's. While the offense brought the sticks again in the sixth scoring four runs. The game finally finished with the count of 12-4.

Some Thoughts on the Game

Volquez
Yea, it gets frustrating. Everyone appears to be on his side though, coaches, players and even most fans. I was a little critical of him during the first and through the first break, but I really do think the Reds should try to carry him through. He can be a great pitcher if he can find that out pitch or even just let the hitters hit the ball and let his defense take care of the rest. I'll keep an open mind for when he goes to San Diego to face the Padres

Scott Rolen
I am a huge fan of Scott Rolen. If you read my opening post I compared him to Pete Rose. Not in skill level, but in mentality and the things he has done for the the city of Cincinnati. Well he is back and kicking butt. He will be getting the day off tomorrow, so I am interested to see Francisco command third and see how he does.

Bullpen
Love having a shut down pen. I feel 100% confindent giving those guy the ball to shut down a game

Everything Positive!
How can you not be? The Reds are 5-0 and take this stat: The Reds have scored 33 runs while only making one error. ARE YOU KIDDING ME

Our New Tradition
Big Red Machine 2.0

I'm on Twitter

Oh lord. It took me a while to buy into Facebook, and now I have finally brought into Twitter. You can follow me at Parker_PerryUA. I will be tweeting my thoughts as the games and season goes along. I don't know what I am going to say, don't want to use up all my knowledge in tweets and make post boring, but I guess I'll figure it out.

I Told You So....Leake is the Man

The day I have anticipated since I heard Cueto went down came around today, Mike Leake took the mound for his first start of the season. While everyone worried about loosing these two games because of Bailey and Cueto going down, I laughed and pointed to the pitching depth this great franchise has. People wanted to trade away depth last winter, Thank God they did not.

Mike Leake pitched six innings of two run baseball. The only scoring was off a bloop single in the fifth. Leake kept hitters off balance all night, and while none of his stuff was over powering, he was able to get outs....18 of them to be exact.

Though I predicted seven innings of one run ball, I did not take in to account the fact that the Reds offense has been on fire, and scored eight runs Tuesday night. Because of the large lead Leake was able to settle down, take more chances and pick up the win.

The Reds offense really is impressive. I was in Class for the first few innings of the game today, but was getting updates from back home. My phone was going off the hook for about 30 minuets with all the scoring the Reds were doing. I am in Cleveland Country, but I had to turn around and tell someone the joyous news. Nobody cared besides me, but that was enough.

Thoughts on the Game

BP has an ouchie
BP was pulled in the fifth inning today, it was unclear what was wrong but apparently he went to Baker to tell him that there was no way of him going back out. Cairo came in to do the clean up work, luckily the game was well out of reach by the time BP was out.

OFFENSE
Nothing like scoring a lot of runs while giving up few. The Reds have won their last three games by the count of 24-7 and have the biggest run difference at +18 so far this season.

Bullpen
These guys came in today and shut the door. I love a good bullpen, the Reds have one.

4-0
The best start to the season since the 1990 team. The 1990 team won their first nine games, and of course went on to go wire to wire and win the world series.

Game 3...SWEEEEEEEEP

Now that is fun. After hearing all year how the Milwaukee Brewers will de-thorn the Reds and to come out and take care of business like the team from Cincinnati did is priceless. The Reds demolished the Brew Crew today with a count of 12-3.

Bronson Arroyo pitched a gem, and was sick with Mono. The guy is a stud and will pitch through anything, including sickness hailing from tounging young hot chicks.

Going through my head just about everyone contributed to the cause, including catcher Ryan Hanigan. Man is it nice to have stud catchers on the team. Those two guys are amazing! The Reds also has a stud in the Minors waiting to come up as soon as one of them gets hurt. Think of all the good teams in the past 20 years, and pretty much all of them will have a catcher who contributes offensively. The Reds have 2. A few thoughts on the Game

Ask and you shall recieve
In the last post, I hoped that Brandon Phillips would come alive and contribute to the sweep today, and boy did he ever. Hitting a three run bomb and putting a good gap between the teams, He deleivered.

Drew Stubbs
Is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. The guy is right where he needs to be, the lead off spot.

SWEEEEP A three game head start from the Brewers is AWESOME. when we look back in September and have a good lead we will see this opening series and say "Phew, glad we took care of bussiness then" trust me.

Off Day; Then my boy LEAKE! Can not wait to see him take the mound. Mike Leake will perfrom well against Houston, I am predicting 7 IP 1 run and 4 hits. Big Red Machine 2.o Yea I went there again.

Reds Beat Brewers Early, Wood Dominates

Yesterday is what I have been waiting to see all year long. In the first Drew Stubbs was walked, the young man stole second rather easily. That is what I want to see. I can not wait to see that out of my lead off hitter for the rest of the year.

Sure, he tried to take third and was caught, and it was probably not the best idea to even attempt, but he will learn that stuff as we go along. Right now, I am pumped for the one whole in the 2011 season.

But back to the game. Even though Stubbs was thrown out at third, Votto singled and Rolen hit his first home run of the year, 2-0 REDS.

They would add to it in the second, when Drew Stubbs hit a triple scoring catcher Ryan Hanigan from second. 3-0 REDS. Joey Votto would then hit a roller to second that had to be back handed and thrown to first quickly. The ball was in the dirt and Prince Fielder could not make the scope, scoring Stubbs from second. 4-0 REDS.

That would be all the Reds could muster, but it was enough with the phenom on the mound. Travis Wood took care of a great Brewer lineup. Pitching 7 innings and only giving up 4 hits (one being a solo home run), Wood seemed in control the entire way. A great start to the season for the young pitcher out of Arkansas.

Some Thoughts on the game

Brandon Phillips
Despite his sweet look, Phillips has seen trouble at the plate thus far. Striking out twice yesterday, it would be nice to see him go off today and help the Reds SWEEEEP Milwaukee.

Rolen
Told ya so. I mentioned Rolen in my opening day thoughts, and though he did not preform I was happy with his at bats. It paid off early on yesterday when he took Marcum DEEEP

Speaking of Marcum
Marcum who? Yea that starting pitcher from Toronto who was suppose to give the Brewers an edge this season. The Reds have something right now, and Milwaukee is going to need more then they have to stop The Big Red Machine 2.0

The Big Red Machine 2.0
Yea, I said it.

Opening Day-----A Dandy in Every Sense of the Word

Wow, what an amazing game to witness. At no point in that game did the Reds seem to have an inch of momentum, and then BOOM.

We saw 6 home runs today, three by Milwaukee (Weeks, Gomez, Braun) and three by Cincinnati (Votto, Stubbs, Hernandez). Five of them where solo shots, and the last one was a game winning 3 run bomb. How spectacular.

I am not going to give a recap of the game, you saw it, that is good enough for me. What I will do is touch upon some talking points that I saw throughout the game.

Volquez
Despite being saved from the first lost of the season, his performance today was under satisfactory. Five runs in six innings does not bold well for him, and gives credit to the concerns that people had coming into the year. I will look at the bright side today though: He gets to rest for a few days and get back in the rotation and cycle that is regular season baseball. I hope that this helps him settle down and get the job done as the Reds number 1 pitcher.

Drew Stubbs
How bout' this guy. Baker did start him leadoff (God I love that) and he produced. The guy looks like a different person from the few at bats he took today. But I am excited to see more to come from the second year man out of Texas.

Reds Bullpen
Nice job boys! Keeping it close, not letting what could have easily been a blowout occur. I love having a good bullpen, and the fact that neither Masset or Chapman was used and still seeing a good showing has me excited.

LOB
Leaving men on base became frustrating. often times the Reds had two men on but could not get that final puzzle piece to fit and score runs. Until the 9th that is. I hope that is not signs to come of course, because it was pretty disappointing.

Hernandez
The guy simply had a great game. Both Catching and at the plate, the man probably won the game for the Reds when it was all said and done. It is great having good catchers on the team, it just seems that good teams have good catcher(s)

Scott Rolen
Despite his bad stat line, I felt that he went to the plate like a professional and had some really good at bats. Just nothing to show for them, he'll get them next time.

Joey Votto
I love the Canadian, Simple as that.

This list can go on and on but I have to go to bed because I have a test in the morning

So yea, this is my take, probably will preview the Saturday's game tomorrow, so be on the look out for that. Until then enjoy the win and Go Reds!

We Are Now Just One Day Away

You feel those nerves in your chest? I do.

Baseball is now upon us! we are less then a day away from first pitch and all the waiting is behind us!

I don't have much to say really, just really excited about the start of the season, so I am going to end it here. Check back tomorrow after the game for a break down of what happened, and why it happened!

Gosh, I can not wait
Parker Perry

Leake Previews What is to Come

Mike Leake pitched against a very talented White Sox club looking to get ready to start the year off right. He went 5 2/3 or one run baseball as the reds pounced the White Sox 9-1 in the second to last game of the spring.

You see the title, I can not wait to see Leake out on the mound this coming season. The dude is a beast and can get the job done. Everyone is really upset at the injuries, and though I am not excited to see Lecure on the mound, I am ecstatic to see Leake.

Also yesterday, Drew Stubbs hammered a home run in the lead off position. A three run home run. You can score runs and with the pitcher bunting the runner over Stubbs will see a lot of RBI chances, and I think that will be perfect for him this year...just wait and see.

That is all.

Four Days

We are now just four days away from opening day, and with that in mind I want to take a look at the match up that we will witness when it finally does role around.

Yovani Gallardo will pitch the opener for the Brewers, he is a 6-2' righty out of Mexico. Reds fan last saw him pitch when he came to town August 31st. His stat line was 5 IP 9 hits, 8 runs, allowed a homer and received the lost in a 8-4 final.

Reds fans should be rejoicing as they do not have to see superstar and new comer to the national league Zach Greinke. He broke a few ribs playing basketball this off season and will be down for a month or two.

By the way, Gallardo last start was not his only start last season against the Reds. It was also not his only bad start. The Reds basically destroyed him in 2010. 0-2 with one no decision was his record, games getting progressively worse for him throughout the season. In May the Reds beat him 3-6, This was his no decision only giving up a run in 6 innings. In July he gave up 6 runs in 2.2 innings.

Now what does that mean for Thursday? probably not much. But it puts a smile on my face, and its my blog after all.

The Leadoff Situation: Part II

Scroll down a little bit and you will see how excited I was to see Drew Stubbs leading off for the Cincinnati Reds this season. I thought Stubbs was the lead off man of the future, and that the Reds had hit the jackpot with the prospect from Texas.

But after hearing the reaction of listeners of Dusty and Jocketty about opening day, it looks like Stubbs will not be in the one hole, rather you will probably find him back in the 7th racking like last year.

To be honest, when I first heard this news I was pretty T-off. I was the ring leader for the "Stubbs for Leadoff" renegade. I thought, and honestly still do, that if he can cut down on his strikeouts, he will almost be unstoppable.

But instead it looks like Brandon Phillips will once again take over the spot. And though I am slightly upset, I can understand why they decided to make the move. Stubbs destroyed the ball in the back of the line up last year, which was huge for the Reds down the stretch.

I guess we will just have to wait and watch this thing play out before we can criticize the defending NL Central Champions. But I would rather see number 6 in that spot right now.

Barry Bonds Trial

First non Reds article! Barry Bonds trial is now on its way (started on my birthday believe it or not) and after just three days of testimony the state has already brought out their star witness, Bond's childhood friend and business manager Steve Hopkins .

Hopkins has an alleged video recording of Bonds talking about steroids or something of that sort. He said that he saw Bonds and his trainer walk into bathrooms to shoot up, coming out with a needle. And that he was certain that Bonds KNOWINGLY took performance enhancing drugs.

You know it has got to be rough on a guy like Hopkins. After all Bonds was one of his best friends, and his testimony could easily have devastating consequence on his friends life. But of course he is the smart one in this whole ordeal. Unlike the two other players in this mess (Bonds and Greg Anderson) he is telling the truth (it has to be right?) and getting out of it as clean as possible.

Anderson is a whole nother story. The guy has now spent over a year in jail, because he does not was to talk about Bonds. That is crazy in my eyes, but maybe because I lack loyalty. If that is the case I am kind of glad I do, because taking the wrap for someone else and having to spend anytime in jail is just not for me.

But back to Bonds. When the trial first started I really could have cared less. I was with many people in thinking that this was 'sooooo last year'. but now that I am hearing all what is going on, I am struck with awe at the prospect of the home run king going to jail for steroids. Of course it won't be for using them, but regardless him using them has caused it. The asterisk talks have to pick up now I believe if he is convicted about lying about them. How can it not?

I, like any other right thinking person, thinks that he knew about steroids, and it is a shame that it has had to come to this. But at last it has. I do not think he should go to jail for it, but if they put him there, I would not be upset.

Johnny Cueto Hurt, Leake to Step In

This is kinda of a downer, but Johnny Cueto has shoulder inflammation and will sit out for the first couple weeks of the season. A lot of people are disappointed and I am too, but I am also excited to see if Mike Leake can repeat what he did last year, dominate the majors.

Don't listen to all the negativity surrounding Mike Leake now-a-days. It is undeserved and quit frankly confusing. Leake was arguably the Reds ace last year until he faced the Phillies in mid August. Leake was one of the surprises that helped the Reds stay in contention vs. St Louis, and went toe to toe vs Garcia as the NL Central Rookie of the Year. (There is no such award but you get the picture)

Cueto is obviously one of the guys the Reds hope will turn into a number 2 guy, and Leake may not have that potential when it is all said and done, but I am not crying over the prospect of seeing Leake on the mound. I hope to see Cueto back in the rotation soon, I really do. But until that time I will sit back and relax and watch probably my favorite pitcher for the Reds Mike Leake pitch 7-8 innings of one run baseball.

13 Days

We are now a little less than two weeks away from opening day. And with the excitement in the air, I figured I'd fill out the opening day line up card for Baker.

1. Drew Stubbs (CF)
2. Brandon Phillips (2B)
3. Joey Votto (1B)
4. Scott Rolen (3B)
5. Jay Bruce (RF)
6. Johnny Gomes (LF)
7. Paul Janish (SS)
8. Ramon Hernandez (Catcher)
9. Edison Volqueze (Pitcher)

This is not exactly how I would like to see it, but this is my guess what the line up card will look like. Baker is pretty predictable when it comes to these things.

Reds Hall of Fame and Museum

As ashamed as I am, I have never visited the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum (RHF&M) until today. It was one of those things that I planned on going, was excited about going, just never got there. Today though I did finally go, and I must say...I feel cheated.

If you ever watch a baseball game on Fox Sports Ohio then you know how great the RHF&M is. Because when it comes time to promote it at the beginning on the inning, not only will the announcers mention it, they brag about it for a good two minuets. They say how it is the best of its kind, how the displays on there are top of the line stuff. Well, from what I saw, it was rather boring and quite frankly disappointing.

After getting to to place, which was not easy as half of Pete Rose Way was closed today, we walked into the museum to find the first floor literary 3/4 empty. If you do not know, they had a full display of the 1990 season. 'HAD' being the optimal word.

Sure they had the 1990 world series trophy still out...but that is just about it. The room was empty, if you screamed I am sure you would find an echo. They had a horrible idea of setting two cases facing each other next to the wall. so basically you could see one side of one case, but the other behind it was blocked by another case that was next to the wall. History so close....yet so far. Really it was a 'piss poor' job. I was pretty upset.

Next you go down a hall and you find giant poster's of player who hold Reds records. I was impressed. Except for the fact it did not give the actual number the player had of the record. For instance, George Foster holds the single season home run record for any Reds player in the history of the franchise. For those of you that don't know how much that is...don't go to the RHF&M to find out. Instead what you will find is a giant poster of Foster, and below it saying something along the lines of "Most Home runs in a single season".

Now remember there are a ton of these, and I don't think it is that much to ask to actually put the record on the poster. By the way, Foster had 52 in 1977.

The second floor I guess was neat. It was a huge tribute to the 2010 Reds. I guess that sounds good, even through it is pretty recent history. I wish they would put something VERY historic in that spot. The Hall of Fame is mostly about the players that played in the 70's, especially Pete Rose. And though I understand why, I feel that they neglected some of the older times, after all Cincinnati was the first team to ever become pro.

The third floor was admittedly pretty cool. It is pretty sad on my part that it took some interactive games to get involved, but that was exactly the case. I did like the play by play booth. It allowed you to have fun and relive some great Reds moments. so I guess i would give a thumbs up for that.

Finally the plaques were poorly displayed. Stacking them one by one is pathetic. That place should be ligten up with players named bold. Give some history of the player and why they were great. Sure the plaque says a little but I think that they should give a more in depth view of the players, and why they deserve the honor.

Overall I would not recommend RHF&M. It was just average. Nothing spectacular, and I could have lived if I did not visit it. When I hear the announcers go on and on about it this season, I will shiver, but that is just my opinion.

The Leadoff Situation

First up to bat on this blog will be the first up to bat at the plate this season...the leadoff situation the Reds face in 2011.

Reds fans this year, like many previous years, are upset that the Reds did not go out and get a prototypical leadoff guy. Rumors swirled this off season as 'news sources' claimed to have inside information on a possible trade for Mets shortstop Jose Reyes. It almost made since that the Reds would want to grab a guy of his caliber, and with the position in question (I'll talk about Paul Janish later this week)to many it was a done deal. Of course a couple days later we found out that Jockety and co. had not even picked up a phone to talk to the Mets. Weepers ran rampant.

But I was not one of them. In fact, I was happy. The Reds would have had to given up too much for an aging player, and it just was not in the cards. I believe that the Reds have baked their cake, and now will eat it too with the young talent, who has experience in the majors.

Yes, I am talking about Drew Stubbs. One of the fastest players on the team and maybe the league, who has power and desire. I believe the Reds have an answer to their lead off problem. The only issue is his maturity at the plate and striking out.

Obviously a performance like last year won't cut it. I can not, and will not, argue that last year would have been a good year to see number 6 in the one spot. 168 strike outs (finished 7th in the league) can not be overlooked, and I am not asking you to do that. What I am going to ask you though is to keep an open mind.

Stubbs swiped 30 bases only hitting .255 last year. Which is pretty astonishing when you think about it. In his 514 at bats, only 21% percent of the time did he record an out because of a ground ball, mostly because he beats those out. In fact, he had more strikeouts then ground outs, the only position player on the team that can say that. Which is why I think Stubbs is so dangerous.

If the centerfielder can make contact with that ball he usually gets on base, which is exactly what you want out of a lead off hitter. Because of that, I hope that with the experience of last year and the natural growth that Stubbs will undergo I feel that he will be a great lead off hitter for the Reds... at least until this Dave Sapplet guy comes to flourish.

Welcome to First To Third Cincinnati

Sparky Anderson once said, "Ain't no English teacher from Indian Hill ever managed in the big leagues." And while that may hold true, they do have something to hang their hat on...they taught me everything I know about writing.

In 2010 I graduated from Indian Hill High School, a proud Brave, and traveled 3 and half hours north to start college at The University of Akron. I am currently pursuing a Mass Media (Radio/TV) degree there. While I love my Zips, who are currently in the NCAA tournament and going to be beat Notre Dame in the first round (a guy and dream right?) the Reds have always been my number one love. Though watching them has caused my heart to break over the years (I'm almost 19 so basically every year of my life) I have always loved the first week of April. Because that is baseball season, a brand new year.

This year we get a treat, the season starts in the last week of March. Although it is just a few days before usual it still means a lot when you are counting down the hours till first pitch. And this first pitch will mark the start of a year filled with hope.

Last year I saw my first form of good baseball pretty much ever in my life. Playing defense and running the bases was never a thought until I watched just how well the Reds played. Scott Rolen and crew helped many younger Reds fan realize how important hustle is, just like Pete Rose did for the older folks. Because of this, I have decided to name this blog first to third. The Reds I believe led the league in taking the extra base, and many feel that is why they had so much success last season.

In this blog I will take you through the entire 2011 campaign. I will stay up nightly pounding out thoughts and analysis, keeping track of major stories around the league and how they could impact the Cincinnati Reds. This should be fun.